Socratic questioning is disciplined questioning that can be used to pursue thought in many
directions and for many purposes, including: to explore complex ideas, to get to the truth
of things, to open up issues and problems, to uncover assumptions, to analyze concepts,
to distinguish what we know from what we don't know, to follow out logical implications of
thought or to control the discussion.
The key to distinguishing Socratic questioning from questioning per se is that Socratic questioning
is systematic, disciplined, deep and usually focuses on fundamental concepts, principles,
theories, issues or problems.
Socratic questioning is referred to in teaching, and has gained currency as a concept in education
particularly in the past two decades.
Teachers, students or indeed anyone interested in probing thinking at a deep level can and
should construct Socratic questions and engage in these questions.
Socratic questioning and its variants has also been extensively used in psychotherapy.
Pedagogy When teachers use Socratic questioning in
teaching, their purpose may be to probe student thinking, to determine the extent of student
knowledge on a given topic, issue or subject, to model Socratic questioning for students
or to help students analyze a concept or line of reasoning.
It is suggested that students should learn the discipline of Socratic questioning so
that they begin to use it in reasoning through complex issues, in understanding and assessing
the thinking of others and in following-out the implications of what they and others think.
In fact, Socrates himself thought that questioning was the only defensible form of teaching.
In teaching, teachers can use Socratic questioning for at least two purposes:
To deeply probe student thinking, to help students begin to distinguish what they know
or understand from what they do not know or understand.
To foster students' abilities to ask Socratic questions, to help students acquire the powerful
tools of Socratic dialogue, so that they can use these tools in everyday life.
To this end, teachers can model the questioning strategies they want students to emulate and
employ.
Moreover, teachers need to directly teach students how to construct and ask deep questions.
Beyond that, students need practice to improve their questioning abilities.
Socratic questioning illuminates the importance of questioning in learning.
It illuminates the difference between systematic and fragmented thinking.
It teaches us to dig beneath the surface of our ideas.
It teaches us the value of developing questioning minds in cultivating deep learning.
Integrating Socratic questions in the following manner in the classroom helps develop active,
independent learners: Getting students to clarify their thinking
e.g., ‘Why do you say that?’, ‘Could you explain further?’
Challenging students about assumptions e.g., ‘Is this always the case?’, ‘Why
do you think that this assumption holds here?’
Evidence as a basis for argument e.g., ‘Why do you say that?’, ‘Is there
reason to doubt this evidence?’
Alternative viewpoints and perspectives e.g., ‘What is the counter-argument?’,
‘Can/did anyone see this another way?’
Implications and consequences e.g., ‘But if...happened, what else would
result?’, ‘How does...affect...?’
Question the question e.g., ‘Why do you think that I asked that
question?’, ‘Why was that question important?’, ‘Which of your questions turned out to be
the most useful?’
The art of Socratic questioning is intimately connected with critical thinking because the
art of questioning is important to excellence of thought.
What the word "Socratic" adds to the art of questioning is systematicity, depth, and an
abiding interest in assessing the truth or plausibility of things.
Critical thinking and Socratic questioning both seek meaning and truth.
Critical thinking provides the rational tools to monitor, assess, and perhaps reconstitute
or re-direct our thinking and action.
Socratic questioning is an explicit focus on framing self-directed, disciplined questions
to achieve that goal.
Psychology Socratic questioning has also been used in
therapy, most notably as a cognitive restructuring technique in cognitive therapy, Logotherapy
and Classical Adlerian psychotherapy.
The purpose here is to help uncover the assumptions and evidence that underpin people's thoughts
in respect of problems.
A set of Socratic questions in cognitive therapy to deal with automatic thoughts that distress
the patient: Revealing the issue: ‘What evidence supports
this idea?
And what evidence is against its being true?’
Conceiving reasonable alternatives: ‘What might be another explanation or viewpoint
of the situation?
Why else did it happen?’
Examining various potential consequences: ‘What are worst, best, bearable and most
realistic outcomes?’
Evaluate those consequences: ‘What’s the effect of thinking or believing this?
What could be the effect of thinking differently and no longer holding onto this belief?’
Distancing: ‘Imagine a specific friend/family member in the same situation or if they viewed
the situation this way, what would I tell them?’
Careful use of Socratic questioning enables a therapist to challenge recurring or isolated
instances of a person's illogical thinking while maintaining an open position that respects
the internal logic to even the most seemingly illogical thoughts.
See also Socratic method, broader set of techniques,
of which questioning is just a part.
Socratic dialogue, a literary genre, not directly related.
Critical thinking Interrogation
Dialogue with Meno's slave Intellectual virtue
Cross-examination References