In an earlier post, I stated that Socrates (469 – 399 BC) lived in ancient Greece and is considered to be the father of Western philosophy. Eastern sages like Gotama the Buddha (563 – 483 BC) and Confucius (551 – 479 BC) lived and taught before Socrates, and prominent Greek pre-Socratics like Pythagoras (580 – 500 BC) and Xenophanes (570 – 480 BC) did the same. Nevertheless, Socrates produced Plato (427 – 347 BC) and Plato produced Aristotle (384 – 322 BC). The rest is philosophical history.
Socrates is also known for his Socratic method of teaching. Instead of lecturing in monologue, an instructor uses this method for conversing with students in dialogue. Instead of merely teaching facts and information, an instructor asks students a series of open-ended questions, and students are encouraged to ask questions of their own. Therefore, the Socratic method allows an instructor to facilitate classroom discussion about a specific topic or issue and avoid only providing information about a specific topic or issue.
If you are looking for resources and/or recommendations, several books have recently been published which exemplify the Socratic method and employ this technique directly to topics and issues of Western philosophy. The first book is What Would Socrates Say? An Introduction to Philosophy by the Socratic Method by Peter Kreeft. The following books are from the Socrates Meets series by Peter Kreeft and are available in a box set.
- Socrates Meets Machiavelli, author of The Prince
- Socrates Meets Descartes, author of the Discourse on Method
- Socrates Meets Hume, author of An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding
- Socrates Meets Kant, author of both Critique of Pure Reason and Grounding for the Metaphysics of Morals
- Socrates Meets Kierkegaard, author of Philosophical Fragments
- Socrates Meets Marx, author of The Communist Manifesto
- Socrates Meets Freud, author of Civilization and Its Discontents
- Socrates Meets Sartre, author of Existentialism and Human Emotions
~ Boethius ~