The "Socratic method" is commonly understood as a style of pedagogy involving cross-questioning between teacher and student. However, there has long been debate among scholars of ancient philosphy about how this method, as attributed to Socrates, should be defined, or whether Socrates can be said to have used any single, uniform method distinctive to his way of philosophizing. This volume brings together essays by classicists and philosophers examining this controversy. The point of departure for many of those engaged in the debate has been the identification of Socratic method with "the elenchus" as a technique of logical argumentation aimed at refuting an interlocutor, which Gregory Vlastos highlighted in an influential article in 1983. The essays in this volume look again at many of the issues to which Vlastos drew attention, but also seek to broaden the discussion beyond the limits of his formulation. Representing a wide range of approaches in Platonic scholarship, they aim to enliven and reorient the debate over Socratic method so as to set a new agenda for further research.
About the Author :
Gary Alan Scott is Associate Professor of Philosophy at Loyola College in Maryland.
Review :
“This book puts philosophers and classicists who disagree over methodology in Platonic scholarship in direct ‘conversation’ with one another in a single volume. That makes this collection of essays attractive to a broad range of scholars, regardless of where they might place themselves on the issue. It has the further virtue of focusing on a single issue.”
—Jill Gordon, Colby College
“Although Gregory Vlastos seemed to have framed the terms for all discussions of Socrates, this volume by Gary Alan Scott shows how many questions remain unanswered. It recuperates the initial power of Socratic questioning, endlessly rebellious to all scholarship.”
—Michel Narcy, Directeur de recherche CNRS, Co-directeur de "Philosophie antique"
“Scott’s anthology recognizes both the critical attention that Vlastos’s interpretation received and his powerful impact on how certain issues of Socratic method have been discussed, and continue to be discussed, by Plato scholars. . . . As Scott notes, there is a deliberate effort by most contributors to break with the tradition, and rethink old assumptions about the Socratic method associated with Vlastos’s model. The current lack of consensus between scholars seems to be a desirable effect because it expands and stimulates discussion, especially about what terms one ought to use in talking about Socratic method.”
—Rebecca Bensen Journal of the History of Philosophy
“Despite their variations in topic and approach, the essays are uniformly excellent.”
—D.H. Calhoun Choice
“The fact that each interpreter is able to lend insight into one or another dimension of Platonic thinking without ever establishing anything like a definitive account of the Socratic method speaks well of both the genius of Plato and the construction of this collection of essays.”
—Christopher P. Long Review of Metaphysics
“The result is a refreshing change of focus that challenges commonly held assumptions about Socrates’ method of question and answer. . . . The authors of the collected essays have succeeded admirably in reexamining a notion that most Platonic (and non-Platonic) scholars blithely employ and in emphasizing some hitherto unexplored aspects of the Socratic elenchos, thereby deepening our understanding of its nature and function.”
—Zina Giannopoulou Ancient Philosophy
