Socratic

Did You Know?

Socrates lived and taught in Athens in the 5th century B.C., but left no writings behind, so all we know of him comes through the works of his disciple Plato, almost all of which claim to be accounts of Socrates' conversations with others. Today Socrates is best remembered for his method of teaching by asking increasingly difficult questions, the so-called Socratic method. This generally involves the use of Socratic induction, a way of gradually arriving at generalizations through a process of questions and answers, and Socratic irony, in which the teacher pretends ignorance while questioning his students skillfully to make them aware of their errors in understanding.