Is It Ever Dangerous To Ask Questions?

An Introduction to Socrates
> Susan Andrews <

Strand | 1 – Foundations for Doing Philosophy

Author |Susan (Kyne) Andrews / Temple Carraig Secondary School Greystones, Francis O’Sullivan & Daniel Mccrea
Type | Class Presentation & Assessment
Keywords | Socrates, Socratic Questioning, Branches of Philosophy, Socratic Reasoning
Recommended Year | 1st Year myshortcourse.com
 Notes on Usage
From the author…
These teacher-made resources are intended for anyone doing philosophy with children or teens and are my attempt to share
some ideas I use in the classroom. The emphasis in the Short Course is on "doing" Philosophy and facilitating enquiries and there
is no prescribed curriculum that must be covered. However, if you have not studied Philosophy before, the slides can provide an
awareness of basic philosophical topics in a bite-sized form and help you feel more confident taking on the Short Course. The
information about philosophy does not need to be taught explicitly to students but you may find after laying the foundations of
"doing" philosophy, that students' philosophical awareness and curiosity grows and they enjoy being introduced to great thinkers
like themselves!
The slides are mere examples of lessons and include sample activities that have worked for me in class. They are by no means
exhaustive and they are not intended to be completed or rushed through in one session. Depending on your group, you will find
that some are too detailed and you may disregard half the material or return to it at a later date. I have put a recommended year
group but this is a guide and depends on your group. Anything for 3rd years will work well for TYs too. It is important to check the
suitability of any suggested stimulus and do not use anything you are not comfortable with. Hopefully this will inspire you to find
even better spring boards for your enquiries.
The sessions are student led so you never know where you will end up but by having examples of stimuli and an insight into the
background philosophy on some topics, it will hopefully help you spot the philosophy in the students' discussions and show you
how enjoyable it is to co-explore these ideas together with your students.
These specific notes draw on materials kindly provided with permission by Francis O’Sullivan.

From the team…

All materials are presented as is and are protected under our understanding of fair, non-commercial use for educational purposes per Copyright and
Related Rights Act, 2000, Esp. Section 54. However, if you are the creator of any content presented on this site and object to its use, please contact us
using the form http://www.myshortcourse.com/about/ for immediate no-quibble removal.

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 Introduction to Socrates

Joshua Hehe
Learning Objectives

> To investigate Socrates

and his reasoning

> To Practise Questioning

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 Warm Up Game

Play in Pairs – Come Up With Your Own Questions

💭 If blue is the answer, what is the question?

💭 If Ireland is the answer, what is the question?
💭 If dog is the answer, what is the question?
💭 If friend is the answer, what is the question?
💭 If good is the answer, what is the question?
💭 If love is the answer, what is the question?

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 Match The Branch Of Philosophy to The Definition
A | The study of the most basic features of reality,
like time and cause
1. Epistemology

B | The study of what the mind is and how it relates

to the body.
2. Metaphysics

C | The study of Art and Beauty 3. Philosophy of Mind

D | The study of concepts like justice, rights etc., and

4. Aesthetics
how we should organise society.

E | The study of knowledge – what it is, how we

5. Ethics
achieve it, and whether we can truly know anything.

F | The study of morality, right and wrong, and how

6. Political Philosophy
to live a good life.
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 Is It Ever Dangerous To Ask Questions?
Is there anything you think

Amazon
is worth dying for?

Note down anything you think

is, with a brief reason why.

We’re going to read through

the story of Socrates, a man
who died, we could say, for
Truth.
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 Socrates (469-399 bce)

...believed that if he
asked enough people,
he would find out the
truth. He developed
the Socratic method —
trying to find truth by
asking and answering
questions.
The Independent

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 Research Socrates

Research Online Extension Research

Find out about Online find…
Socrates Life. 1.Examples of the types
Draw an outline of of questions he asked
your hand and on 2.Why many people
each finger write think his ideas were
down 5 facts about so important
his life. 3.A picture

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 Socrates – Some of His Ideas
In Philosophy, intellectual humility is
very, very important. The true
Philosopher is smart enough to know
that truth can be very difficult to
achieve, and that we always to need
proceed carefully, considering
arguments or evidence which goes
against our own views.

We have to learn to live with

uncertainty, and be sceptical of people
who claim to be absolutely certain of
things, especially those who claim to
have certain knowledge about the
important ‘big’ questions in life.
The Independent

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 Socrates (469-399 bce)
Could you
explain again,
Socrates used a method of using
questioning in his discussions. It has So is that different
been come to be called the Socratic always words?
Method. true?

The Method was a series of

questions, by which Socrates made
the people who answered the
questions understand not only the
point he was trying to make but also
that they didn't know as much as What would
they thought they did. Socrates was that mean
obsession with definitions. This for… Can you
comes from his own desire for clarity clarify
and understanding. An example of what you
the Socratic Method is this.... mean?

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 Socrates and Courage
SOCRATES | You seem wise and say you know what courage is. What is this thing ‘courage’ then?

GREEK CITIZEN: Ummm, I think courage is taking a risk.

SOCRATES | Do you think it is risky to rob a house, or to take a dangerous drug?

GREEK CITIZEN: Well... Yes.

SOCRATES | So would you say that courage means robbing a house, or taking drugs?

GREEK CITIZEN: I suppose not.

SOCRATES | So would you agree then that courage must be more than taking a risk?

GREEK CITIZEN: That seems to be now shown.

SOCRATES | Do you think courage must be taking a risk but for a noble cause then?

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 Socratic Questioning
Your turn!
In pairs you can ask the below questions and answer each reply with another question
to discover deeper meaning. The guiding questions can help guide you.

Guiding Questions
Do you mean that….?
• What is friendship?
Can you tell me more?
• What is equality? Can you say why?
• Are humans naturally So… [repeat the question]?
greedy? Can you give me an example?
• Are we born free? How do you mean?
Why is that important?
How could you disagree with yourself?
Is that always so?
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Socratic Reasoning

Socrates carries on his search for the

truth by the method of questioning
What started him questioning?
One of his students went to Delphic
oracle (one of the most important
religious centres in the Greek world)
and asked whether there was
anyone wiser than Socrates.
Oracle replied no.
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 Socratic Reasoning

Socrates then went to those in Athens who had the greatest reputation for wisdom and on cross
examining them was able to show that they were ignorant. He upset a lot of people in Athens by
his line of questioning. Socrates came to conclusion that oracle was right about his being wiser than
all the rest in that he at least was willing to acknowledge his ignorance.

This “embarrass all of the most important people in society” approach did not end well for him…
 Thinking Routines Headlines
Write a headline for Socrates that captures an important
aspect or core idea of his Philosophy or life.

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 Assignment: Examine Ideas
Write a headline for Socrates that captures an important
aspect or core idea of his Philosophy or life.

Choose one of his

famous quotations and
Some Important Ideas Of Socrates
as a group present on a
poster what the
“the unexamined life is not worth living” statement means
whether you agree
“know thyself” with it and why a
“The only thing I know is that I know nothing” description of what the
perfect student would
"Ignorance is the only evil” be like based on
Socrates ideas.

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 Further Resources
http://www.myshortcourse.com/resources/strand-01-foundations-for-doing-philosophy/

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