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"This is the peer-reviewed version of the following article: [“The Socratic

Teaching Method: A Therapeutic Approach to Learning” Teaching
Philosophy: Volume 31, Issue 3, September 2008] which has been published
in final form at [10.5840/teachphil200831328]. This article may be used for
non-commercial purposes only."

Title: The Socratic Teaching Method: A Therapeutic Approach to Learning

Author: Mehul Shah, Ph.D.

Affiliation: Bucks County Community College

Correspondence: Mehul Shah

Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences
Bucks County Community College
275 Swamp Road

Phone: (215) 703-7876

E-mail: mehul.shah@bucks.edu

Abstract: This paper will show how the three principles of the Socratic teaching method
– midwifery, recollection, and cross-examination – are utilized in the treatment of
learning diseases, that is, attitudes that interfere with effective learning. The Socratic
teaching method differs from the traditional lecture model of teaching, but it does not
sacrifice the therapeutic for the informative task of teaching. Rather, by indirectly
imparting content and uncovering implicit content through careful questioning, it
provides a careful balance between the informative and therapeutic aspects of teaching.
Insights from client-centered and cognitive therapy can enhance the effectiveness of the
Socratic teaching method.
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Professor: The assigned paper is due next Monday. Does anyone have any questions now
about the topic so that you can get to work on it?

Student: I don’t have any questions now because I’m not going to start working on the
paper until Sunday night.

Professor: I appreciate your candor but why are you going to wait until Sunday night?

Student: Because I always do my best work when I am under pressure.

Professor: Very interesting. Have you ever done a paper when you were not under
pressure?

Student: No.

Professor: Then how do you know that you do your “best” work when under pressure
when the only work you do is under pressure? You have no basis for comparison.

I would be surprised if a professor never experienced a procrastinating student

with a similar excuse. It is possible that this student does his best work under pressure,

but it is more likely that this student holds a belief that interferes with his learning. I

label such attitudes “learning diseases” and claim that the Socratic teaching method is

ideally suited to treat these barriers to learning. In fact, the Socratic teaching method

involves principles that are also practiced in client-centered therapyi and cognitive

therapy.ii Overall, the Socratic teaching method involves a careful balance of the

informative task of imparting information and the therapeutic task of treating learning

diseases.

A learning disease is an attitude that interferes with the learning process such that

a person with a learning disease is limited in his/her ability to learn effectively. Learning

diseases can be distinguished from physical diseases. A physical disease compromises

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the physical functioning of the body, but there is no essential connection between

physical diseases and learning diseases. A physical disease could compromise the ability

to learn effectively, as when a high fever causes delirium and makes one unable to focus,

but it is also possible for one to be physically compromised and still to learn effectively.

Learning diseases are technically a type of mental disorder, but they can be

distinguished from the standard mental disorders that have been classified by the

Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. Whether one is diagnosed as

schizophrenic or bi-polar is independent of how effectively he or she can learn, although

certain mental disorders can interfere with effective learning. Still, learning diseases can

be considered a type of mental disorder because they involve psychological attitudes that

interfere with learning.

This paper will proceed as follows. After some background to the three principles

of the Socratic teaching method – midwifery, recollection, and cross-examination – I will

explain how each principle works and how it is utilized in the treatment of learning

diseases. Midwifery is relevant to treating the ‘passive approach to learning’ disease

where a student thinks that learning is something that happens to him/her. The principle

of recollection is relevant to treating the ‘lack of effort’ disease where a student thinks

that learning is too hard and does not read the texts on time or at all. Cross-examination

is relevant to treating both procrastination and the ‘lack of articulating a

misunderstanding’ disease where a student chooses not to express a misunderstanding.

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Background

We know little of Socrates’ life directly, since he did not write anything. Most of

what we do know comes from his most celebrated student, Plato. In Plato’s dialogues

Socrates was the main character, so it is not clear what Socrates’ actual positions are.

Given this qualification, there are some things that can be generally attributed to Socrates

and his mission. Socrates was especially interested in caring for the soul, and not just his

own but others’ as well (Apology: 30b). One of the ways his caring for the soul

manifested itself was in helping people overcome attitudes that interfere with effective

learning. For instance, Socrates attempted to help people who were ignorant of their own

ignorance. Those who did not know that they did not know acted as if they knew, and

this dogmatism interfered with their learning. Since they thought they knew, they

consciously ignored all new information. This attitude constitutes an impediment to

learning, and Socrates’ mission was to treat people with this learning disease.

The general framework for the Socratic teaching method is embodied in three

principles. The central principle of the Socratic teaching method is “maieutikos” or the

doctrine of midwifery. Socrates would not actively impart wisdom but would passively

assist in the birth of knowledge within each person. Client-centered therapists – and

other non-directive therapists – practice a form of midwifery when they help clients find

answers for themselves. Closely related to the doctrine of midwifery is the Socratic

principle of “anamnesis” or the doctrine of recollection. Socrates believed that each

person had knowledge within his or her soul that is forgotten at birth. The process of

learning was not one of gaining new information but of recollecting the forgotten

knowledge contained within each person through the assistance of a Socratic midwife.
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Client-centered therapists also work on the premise that clients already have the

knowledge they need in order to make positive personality change. The third principle is

“elenchus” or the doctrine of cross-examination. This involves the refuting of another

person’s position. Socrates would question others’ claims to knowing in order to show

that such claims were not rationally grounded. Cognitive therapists practice a form of

elenchus when they expose inconsistencies in their clients’ belief systems.

The Doctrine of Midwifery

The most important aspect of the Socratic teaching method for treating learning

diseases is the principle of midwifery. In the Theaetetus (149a-151d), Socrates claims

that he serves as a midwife to knowledge in that he does not give knowledge to another

but just assists in the birth of knowledge that already resides within each person.

Socrates states that he “shall do no more than ask questions and not teach” (Meno, 84d).

Although Socrates implies that asking questions serves a different function than

imparting information, asking questions is one of the tasks of a teacher. That is, teaching

involves both the informative task of imparting information and the therapeutic task of

treating learning diseases through asking questions.

It is accurate to say that Socratic midwifery does not involve the direct imparting

of information as is found in the traditional lecture model, but the Socratic teaching

method does not completely ignore the informative task. That is, Socratic midwifery can

still involve the indirect transmission of content from teacher to student. Both the

imparting of information and the treatment of learning diseases are necessary for

effective learning, and one cannot be sacrificed for the other. Teaching will not be
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effective if it is solely concerned with the informative task to the exclusion of the

therapeutic task and vice versa.

The way Socratic midwifery satisfies the informative task without ignoring the

therapeutic task is by transmitting content indirectly. The indirect transmission of

content in Socratic midwifery can occur in two ways. The first way is through carefully

crafted questions. In the Meno, Socrates claims not to impart any information to the

slave boy. However, his questions clearly contain information. Since his questions are

carefully crafted, the slave boy does not feel as if he is being fed information but rather

that he is finding out the answers on his own. Thus content is imparted, but indirectly. In

the classroom, if a student asks why Aristotle thinks that happiness is the goal of all

human action, instead of just saying that only happiness is self-sufficient, I engage the

student in a series of questions concerning the goal of various actions so that the student

can realize on his/her own that only happiness is self-sufficient.

The other way that information can be imparted indirectly is that instead of

immediately answering questions posed by a student, the teacher can answer the student’s

question at another time when the student is not expecting the answer. For instance,

when a student asks why Socrates thought that gaining knowledge was impossible,

instead of immediately answering the question, I would impart information about

Socrates’ theory of recollection. Once I explained how Socrates thought that all

knowledge was innate and that the innate knowledge provides an absolute standard by

which to judge knowledge claims, I would then explain the problem of justifying

knowledge without such a standard. In this way, I would give an answer to the student’s

question, just not when the student was expecting it.

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Socratic midwifery opposes directly imparting information. When information is

directly imparted to students their relationship with the material is jeopardized, especially

if they have the passive approach to learning disease. This disease involves the attitude

that learning is something that happens to a student without any effort on his/her part.

For students with this attitude, as soon as a teacher offers a position, these students tend

either explicitly or implicitly to accept the position without developing their own

position. Paulo Friere (1970) calls this the “banking” method of acquiring knowledge.

Friere argued against this method of acquiring knowledge because it diminishes freedom

of thought. While some students learn effectively in this way, students who wrongly

believe that learning is something that passively happens to them rarely remember the

information stored and rarely develop a deep relationship with it so that they can utilize it

effectively.

The indirect transmission of content in Socratic midwifery is central to treating

the passive approach to learning disease. While answering a question directly does not

harm every student, answering a question directly does harm students afflicted with the

passive approach to learning disease. When a student with this disease asks a question,

he/she either implicitly or explicitly treats the teacher as an authority and accepts any

answer without reflection. These students are looking for an answer so that they can just

have the answer and be finished without thinking it through for themselves. This attitude

allows them to develop only a superficial understanding of the material. Not answering

questions directly actually helps these students. The teacher as midwife can encourage a

deeper understanding of the material by helping students find answers for themselves in a

way that results in higher level understanding and greater retention.

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Being an effective Socratic midwife requires special interpersonal skills. Insights

from client-centered therapy can enhance the therapeutic effectiveness of Socratic

midwifery. When Socrates was acting as a midwife, questioning others and leading them

to perplexity, he claimed that he was as perplexed as they were (Meno, 80c). That is, he

claimed not to know the answers to the subjects he was discussing. If Socrates’

interlocutors did not believe his ignorance, he would not have been as effective. In fact,

there is good reason to believe that Socrates knew much more than he actually claimed to

know and that his ignorance was feigned. This feigned ignorance goes against the

qualities of an effective client-centered therapist. A client-centered therapist acts

analogously to a Socratic midwife, in that the therapist does not act as a diagnostician

who provides treatment but rather as a passive sounding board so that clients can find

answers for themselves. Rogers (1957) argued that the qualities of genuineness,

empathy, and positive self-regard on the part of the therapist are necessary for therapeutic

growth in the client. That is, the therapist needs to act with integrity and truthfulness, and

this applies to the Socratic midwife also. In the beginning of the semester, I tell my

students that I will not directly answer their questions, which will most likely be

frustrating for them. I apologize to them in advance for their future frustration but

explain that if I directly answer their questions I will not be helping them to learn

effectively. Thus a teacher can know the answer to a student’s question and can still give

good reasons for not directly giving the answer. At the same time, a teacher should admit

if he/she genuinely does not know the answer to a question. These acts of truthfulness

and integrity make Socratic midwifery more effective.

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The Doctrine of Recollection

The second principle of the Socratic teaching method is anamnesis, or the

doctrine of recollection. This principle is the constructive correlate of Socrates’ principle

of not providing answers. Socrates did not always leave his interlocutors in a vacuum, as

in the Euthyphro. From the Meno onwards, Socrates defended the claim that all

knowledge was contained in each person’s soul. This was the knowledge that Socrates

helped to uncover by the careful use of cross-examination and midwifery. Socrates’ view

of the relationship between teaching and recollection is that “there is no teaching but

recollection” (Meno, 82a). Socrates’ mission only concerned helping students develop a

better relationship with the information that is inside them and not with imparting

information.

There are good reasons for taking the therapeutic task to be the primary role of

teaching. On this view, all that is required for the Socratic teaching method to be

effective is that students have some content inside them. Whether this content is innate –

as Socrates claimed – or is the result of students’ effort in reading and preparing before

class and/or the teacher’s imparting of information during class, the Socratic teaching

method can assist students in making implicit information explicit and thus improving the

student’s relationship with the material. If students read the required text before the class

session, then the teacher and students can engage in meta-discussions of the material,

because information will be inside the student. Then it will be possible both to review

content and to open avenues for deeper reflection. The teacher can also make explicit
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what is implicit in the students based on what they have read. When students read the

texts, especially philosophical texts, they internalize more information than they realize,

and the use of midwifery can make explicit this implicit knowledge. Learning is most

effective when students collect information first and then develop a deeper relationship

with it by interacting with a teacher who practices the Socratic teaching method.

For certain advanced topics in philosophy, and in certain empirical disciplines, it

will not be possible to either indirectly impart content or to draw connections between

general principles and the specific concept in questions. In these situations, the best way

to address the therapeutic task of teaching is to offer the information as a theory and not

as a fact. In this way, the authority of the teacher will be minimized and the students will

have a chance to examine the information in the most unbiased fashion possible, thus

allowing them to develop their own authority and a deeper relationship with the material.

The doctrine of recollection is relevant to treating the lack of effort disease.

Students with this learning disease believe that learning is too hard and they do not make

any effort to learn. However, the belief that knowledge already resides within each

person provides a positive psychological attitude towards learning, increases self-esteem

and strengthens one’s own sense of authority. Socrates thought that thinking of learning

as recollection “makes them keen and energetic on the search” (Meno, 81e). When

Socratic midwifery and cross-examination are used strategically, students can have

experiences of remembering that reinforce this positive psychological attitude towards

learning, such as the ‘aha’ experience that comes from realizing something on one’s own.

One obvious problem with this approach is that some students do not read the

required texts, either before or after class. While the cause of this learning diseases could
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be due to lack of interest, or time, the principle of recollection is potentially relevant here

also. While I grant that some students will not do the assigned reading no matter what, if

students could develop the attitude that learning does not require the assimilation of

knowledge that is outside of them that they do not know at all but rather that learning is

the uncovering of what is already inside them, then the learning experience would not

feel as daunting as it sometimes does. For some students, this would provide a separate

encouragement to make the effort required to learn effectively, especially if they are able

to have those ‘aha’ experiences of understanding something which they thought they

could not understand. When they finally get it, it seems as if they knew it all the time.

The Doctrine of Cross-Examination

Elenchus – the doctrine of cross-examination – is the third principle of the

Socratic teaching method. What this term means has been the subject of some

controversy, but Vlastos’ later definition is the one I employ:

Socratic elenchus is a search for moral truth by question-and-answer

adversary argument in which a thesis is debated only if asserted as the
answerer’s own belief and is regarded as refuted only if its negation is
deduced from his own beliefs. (Vlastos, 1994: 4)

Vlastos (1956) had earlier argued that elenchus involves only the refutation of another

position and does not involve any further goal. Vlastos’ later definition accords better

with Socrates’ divine mission to aid in the cure of souls. That is, cross-examination is

only effective in treating learning diseases if it is practiced in the service of midwifery

and recollection. The goal is to help students learn more effectively, so it is not enough

to refute their attitudes that interfere with effective learning. The teacher has to help

replace those attitudes with those that allow for more effective learning. In this regard,
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elenchus helps cure learning diseases by challenging the rationality of certain beliefs with

respect to learning thereby paving the way to replacing irrational attitudes about learning

with more rational ones. With more effective attitudes towards learning, students are

able to learn the material more effectively.

Elenchus can address those learning diseases that involve sets of beliefs that are

not supported by empirical evidence, such as beliefs that lead to procrastination. In the

dialogue that opens the paper, the procrastinating student harbors an unreasonable belief

concerning his writing ability. The professor exposes how his belief is unreasonable

because the student has failed to get the empirical evidence needed to support his claim.

Albert Ellis, one of the founders of cognitive psychotherapy, argued that procrastination

involves absolutistic demands about oneself, others, and/or the world that are not

supported by empirical evidence. These irrational beliefs lead either to self-downing, low

frustration tolerance or hostility, which in turn lead to procrastinating behavior (Ellis and

Knaus, 1977: 15-24). If the dialogue in the beginning of the paper were continued, cross-

examination would have revealed that the student’s delay in writing was caused by an

absolutistic demand about himself that his work be excellent. The fear that he may not be

able to achieve that standard leads to self-downing and unhealthy avoidance behavior.

Cognitive therapists expose and challenge these irrational beliefs in order to replace them

with more rational ones. In this way, they too practice a form of elenchus.

Elenchus can also treat beliefs that are internally inconsistent, such as the ‘lack of

articulating a misunderstanding’ disease. There are students who do not completely

understand what the teacher is saying, but they either fail to or choose not to attempt to

resolve the lack of understanding. This failure to resolve misunderstanding impedes their
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ability to learn. This attitude occurs for various reasons, such as shyness or not wanting

to be labeled “stupid” for not understanding. Some shy people will resolve their

misunderstanding in other ways, such as talking to the teacher after class, or coming to

office hours. Those students who are too shy to resolve their misunderstanding in any

way are afflicted with this disease. It takes careful interpersonal skill to help these shy

learners realize that if they do not understand something yet do not attempt to resolve it,

then their misunderstanding will grow. If they say nothing, the teacher will move on to

the next topic and their misunderstanding will grow exponentially. Helping those

students who fear being labeled “stupid” requires a similar process of getting them to

realize that their feeling of “stupidity” will grow the longer they fail to resolve their

misunderstanding. Elenchus in these situations respectfully exposes the inconsistencies

in students’ views so that harmful views about learning can be replaced with more

healthy views.

Conclusion

Socrates provided a remarkable insight into the therapeutic aspect of teaching.

Using midwifery as the foundation of his teaching method, Socrates employed carefully

crafted questions in order to expose unhealthy views about learning and to help students

develop a deeper relationship with the information that is inside of them. In this

Information Age, students need not only to absorb information but to engage critically the

vast stores of information available. The lecture model of direct transmission serves only

a particular kind of highly motivated student who has very few barriers to learning.

Teachers that can use the Socratic teaching method effectively will be able to both impart
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information and to treat the barriers to learning that prevent students from succeeding.

With apologies to Kant, being therapeutic without imparting information is empty and

imparting information without being therapeutic is blind.

Bibliography

Ellis, A. & Knaus, W., 1977, Overcoming Procrastination, (Signet Press)

Friere, P., 1970, Pedagogy of the Oppressed, (Continuum Publishing)

Nelson, L., 1949, Socratic Method and Critical Philosophy, (Yale University Press)

Plato, Five Dialogues tr. G.M.A. Grube (Hackett)

Rogers, C. 1957, The Necessary and Sufficient Conditions of Therapeutic Personality

Change, Journal of Consulting Psychology, 21, 2, 95-103.

Vlastos, G., 1956, Plato’s Protagoras, B. Jowett (tr.) (Bobbs-Merill)

Vlastos, G., 1994, Socratic Studies, (Cambridge University Press)

Endnotes

i
Client-centered therapy is the label for Carl Roger’s version of non-directive therapy.
Contrary to the medical model of treatment, in non-directive therapy the therapist does
not diagnose conditions and prescribe remedies. Rather the non-directive therapist
provides an environment so that clients can find answers for themselves. Carl Rogers
argued that when the therapist practiced genuineness, unconditional positive regard, and
empathy, and is able to convey these qualities to the client, it provided the necessary and
sufficient conditions for constructive personality change (Rogers, 1957, 96)
ii
Cognitive therapy is based on the idea that psychological disturbances are caused by
faulty belief systems. Cognitive therapists identify these faulty beliefs and provide
methods for changing these faulty beliefs into more rational ones. Cognitive therapy was
founded by Albert Ellis and then Aaron Beck developed his own version.