Socratic Pedagogy

Abstract

This book, simply put, explored the potential of Socratic pedagogy as an effective educational strategy for developing the social and intellectual capacities and skills for active citizenship in a democratic society. As we have seen from the preceding chapters, philosophical dialogue is about reconstruction, or as Fisher puts it, making the familiar strange. This involves both evaluative and generative thinking as we challenge our assumptions about taken-for-granted knowledge and then begin to seek alternatives to come up with new knowledge. It also involves connective thinking as we inquire within a communal dialogue. However, theorists and practitioners who advocate the teaching of philosophy or philosophical inquiry in schools need to also engage in professional dialogue on matters of concern with regard to educational philosophy, in particular philosophical pedagogy. Professional discussion must also occur in communities. In the previous chapter, I pointed to Lewis’ imagery of two friends looking forward, out to the horizon, in the same direction. This metaphor is particularly poignant for this book because it reflects what I consider to be a common practice among practitioners of Socratic education. They are friends who walk side by side down the same pathway. They look forward in the same direction and follow each other down well-trodden paths. These pathways may have proven in the past to be reliable, predicable and unchanging. The friends, however, may discover new horizons, so to speak, by looking sideways to other pathways well-worn by other friends. By diverging onto other pathways, the friends may gain a new outlook. While the friends may choose to remain on their chosen paths, it will be with the added perspective of new pathways.