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Hey, brother!
Ben, today, I want to talk about Dumbledore,
the guy with all the answers.
The guy who is maybe pulling all of the strings.
It's kind of hard to tell because throughout the series
Dumbledore is almost comically never giving Harry
all of the answers.
Why tell you what to do when I can just let you fumble about
in the dark and maybe stumble into the answer?
Don't go down the third corridor.
Harry, do go down the third corridor.
There's a three-headed dog and a trap door,
and a deadly plant, and flying keys,
and a killer chess set, and a troll!
And also potions.
But let's face it,
they're never gonna put that in the movie.
A logic problem? Pfft!
But it just leaves us all on the sideline.
Like Dumbledore, can you just tell him what to do
and where to go,
and then him and Voldemort are destined
to duke it out in the end 'cause he's the chosen one?
No!
Let's wait the full seven years
and then cryptically leave him a sword and a ball
and see what he makes of it.
Oh, wait, I'm sorry.
Can he not actually have the sword?
No, he can't.
And did Dumbledore know that?
He did.
Okay, so just give him the ball?
Oh, this will be fun.
Oh, the ball has a riddle on it.
Oh, and the answer...
Die. Cool.
So yeah, all he really leaves Harry with is the Snitch
and a bunch of other conversations along the way,
during which he had plenty of opportunities to tell Harry
how to destroy a Horcrux, or to be like,
"Hey, remember when you destroyed the diary?
"Do that again."
Like come on, Dumbledore,
at the very least tell him how a goblin-made silver works.
And let me be clear, in today's video
I'm not exactly going to be defending Dumbledore
for subjecting Harry to all of this.
But then again, prophecy-based ethics are just a...
(sighs) But that's a whole different ballgame.
Honestly, I'm just not there yet.
So today, what I'm going to do is try and reveal
the method to Dumbledore's madness.
And spoilers. This isn't exactly a new idea.
In fact, it's roughly 2,500 years old
because what Dumbledore is implementing
is called the Socratic method.
And honestly, Dumbledore might just be Socrates.
But before we begin, would anyone like to share
with the class what the Socratic method is?
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Link is the description down below.
The Socratic method, as you may have guessed,
is a method of teaching developed by Socrates.
Socrates was an ancient Greek philosopher
from way back in the fifth century BC,
and he is considered to have one of the greatest influences
over the Western world,
along with his student Plato, and Aristotle.
Although on the whole,
and I'm sure if this'll sound familiar
given the topic of today's video,
he's a bit of a mysterious figure.
He didn't actually author any texts.
And most of what we know about him come from accounts
from his student Plato.
But one of his signature contributions to the world
as we know it is the Socratic method.
The short version of it goes like this.
Uh, but why?
We've lost the kingdom.
But why?
Well, because we lost the battle.
But why?
Well, we had one less warrior.
But why?
Well, I guess really because we had one less horse.
Why?
Because one of our horses lost a shoe.
But why?
Because we didn't have enough nails.
Therefore, why did the kingdom fall?
Because we didn't have enough nails.
Honestly, I'm surprised Socrates had to think so much
to come up with this.
I mean, this is a game that's super popular
with every three-year-old ever.
Because your hair is messy.
Because you put honey in it.
I don't know why!
You tell me, son!
But like I said, that's just the short version of it.
Longer version is the idea of promoting learning
by asking questions and engaging in further discussion
with your student.
And hopefully that will lead to critical thinking
and a better understanding of the subject.
So for example, a teacher may ask, "What is a square?"
And you might say a square is a shape with four sides.
Ah, well, the door to this classroom has four sides on it.
Is it a square?
No. A square is a shape that has four equal sides.
And then they get into an argument about rhombuses
and eventually discover right angles.
But you get the idea.
And Dumbledore is doing this constantly,
and sometimes it's possibly an excuse for not giving Harry
all of the information,
all in the name of Harry just figuring it out on his own
to grasp a better understanding.
Which if you ask me is putting a lot of faith in Harry.
I mean, if he doesn't figure it out, it's like, you know,
the literal end of the world.
But that said, Harry is a smart kid
and normally does figure it out.
Take for example when he's concerned about whether or not
he should have been sorted into Slytherin.
He knows the Sorting Hat considered it.
And then when he meets Tom Riddle
in "The Chamber of Secrets,"
he learns that they're actually very similar,
which Harry hates and it just furthers his concern.
And in this case, Dumbledore could have just said to Harry,
"Don't worry about it, Harry.
"If you were supposed to be in Slytherin,
"the hat would have put you in Slytherin."
And that could have been the end of it.
There. Done.
The headmaster said it so it must be true.
I'm sure Harry would have just forgotten that worry entirely
and gone on to win the House Cup year after year.
Hooray!
But of course, that's not how it works.
Have you ever told someone to just stop feeling sad
about something or stop being anxious?
Does that work?
I mean maybe if the Sorting Hat itself tried it,
but Harry even goes to the source and it's like,
"Hmm, I don't know. Maybe you could have been a Slytherin."
- You would have done well in Slytherin.
- The point is anyone could just tell Harry
he's meant to be in Gryffindor,
and maybe it would help, and maybe it would.
But Dumbledore is able to recognize
that this is the sort of thing Harry needs to understand
at a fundamental level.
"'Professor Dumbledore, Riddle said I'm like him.
"'Strange likenesses.'
"'Did he now?
"'And what do you think, Harry?'
"'I don't think I'm like him.
"'I mean, I'm, I'm in Gryffindor, I'm...'
"'Yet the Sorting Hat placed you in Gryffindor.
"'You know why that was. Think.'
"'It only puts me in Gryffindor
"'because I asked not to go in Slytherin.'
"'Exactly.'"
In this situation, Dumbledore knows exactly
why Harry is meant to be in Gryffindor,
but rather than just tell him,
he's coaxing him into working out the problem
so that he understands it himself.
Asking him questions like, "What do you think, Harry?"
and, "Think."
And this helps Harry discover
that the information he already knows
might contain the answer.
He just has to figure out how to work
the puzzle pieces together.
But I also think there was a greater lesson
Dumbledore was trying to teach Harry in that moment.
It's emphasizing the idea that our choices define us,
which is a bit of wisdom that can stretch far beyond
just what house you belong in.
It's the classic, "Give a man a fish
"and feed him for a night,
"but teach a man to fish
"and feed him for the rest of his life."
You can tell Harry he's meant to be in Gryffindor
and that might help him for a night.
But if you can help him understand the impact of his choices
and what it means to be in Gryffindor
beyond just what a hat told you,
then you can defeat the Dark Lord.
That said, maybe Dumbledore actually should've taught Harry
how to fish because apparently it's as easy
as just summoning salmon out of the river,
which Harry, Ron, and Hermione couldn't figure out
for months out on the road while they were starving
camping next to rivers.
Rivers, the body of water,
not the codename for Lee Jordan on Potterwatch.
Who he's actually camping next to is Dean Thomas
whose party is fishing for salmon in the river.
Afterwards, they still don't do it!
Okay. Rant over.
Fast-forward to Harry and Dumbledore's conversations
about the prophecy and you can see the Socratic method
at work again.
"'Imagine please, just for a moment,
"'that you had never heard the prophecy!
"'How would you feel about Voldemort now? Think!'"
Just tell people to think, that's all.
"Harry watched Dumbledore striding up and down
"in front of him, and thought.
"He thought of his mother, his father, and Sirius.
"He thought of Cedric Diggory.
"He thought of all the terrible deeds
"he knew Lord Voldemort had done.
"A flame seemed to leap inside his chest,
"searing his throat.
"'I'd want him finished,' said Harry quietly.
"'And I'd want to do it.'"
Okay. Blood thirsty much, Harry.
It's the same as before.
He can't just tell Harry this information.
He can't say, "I need you to want to kill Voldemort."
Harry needs to understand it for himself
because Harry doesn't have to do anything.
He couldn't just abandon the plan
and go along his merry way.
I mean, the prophecy doesn't enforce anything.
But the fact is, Harry is brave,
and he has lost a lot at the hands of Voldemort,
and he is uniquely positioned to take him down.
And once he realizes that
and once he's armed with that knowledge, he can't not do it.
It's not natural to him.
It's against the logic of the situation.
And finally, we get to one of the best examples
which happens surprisingly
on the Astronomy Tower with Draco.
It's after Harry and Dumbledore have returned
from getting the fake locket
and Draco has Dumbledore at wand point.
"'They won't be long. I came on ahead.
"'I've got a job to do.'
"'Well, then, you must get on and do it, my dear boy.'"
And the two converse back and forth for a while,
with Draco revealing how his master plan ultimately worked.
Until Dumbledore finally says the following,
"But as for being about to kill me, Draco,
"you have had several long minutes now,
"we are quite alone, I am more defenseless
"than you could have dreamed of finding me,
"and still you have not acted."
And here is the lesson that Dumbledore
is laying out for Draco.
If you want to kill someone,
your best opportunity is when they're defenseless
and you're all alone with them.
And in this moment, Dumbledore has no wand
and has been severely weakened by the Emerald Potion
he just drank trying to retrieve the locket with Harry.
And they are, as far as Draco knows, alone on the tower.
And they've been conversing for several long minutes
and Draco has still not acted.
Therefore, the argument is against him.
He is alone and defenseless.
You are armed.
These are the necessary pieces for this plan
you claim to want to do to be put into action.
And yet, you have not acted.
Therefore, you do not wish to act.
In this case, I really think Dumbledore is truly trying
to do one last good deed.
He's not arguing with Draco.
He's not even trying to stop him.
He's not even making a case for Draco to spare him.
He's even egging him on, like,
"If you're here to do a job, then do it."
But the lesson he's trying to instill in Draco
by pointing all of these things out,
by asking him question after question
is to let Draco come to the realization
that he actually does not want to kill Dumbledore
because he is not a killer.
And in doing this he's preserving Draco's ability
to come back and do other good things.
It's very funny, if you think about it.
He's like tricking Draco into realizing
that he's actually a good person.
And honestly, what I really just love
about this entire insight into Dumbledore's methods
is that it offers an explanation
to the very common complaint
that Dumbledore just left Harry fumbling around in the dark.
That he left way too much to chance
and should've just told Harry what to do.
And the point is, yeah, he could have,
but instead he took his time.
He asked Harry questions.
He let him come to the conclusions himself.
And in that way, he's actually leaving less to chance.
And on the whole, that's about as far as I needed to go
for this particular topic.
But as I kept digging, I actually found way more parallels
between Socrates and Dumbledore.
For example, much like Dumbledore, Socrates also believed
that death was nothing to fear at all,
and that possibly death was the greatest blessing
of the soul.
A sentiment which very much reminds me of Dumbledore's line
from "The Philosopher's Stone."
"After all, to the well-organized mind,
"death is but the next great adventure."
Speaking of death though,
Socrates himself was eventually sentenced to death
by drinking a slow-acting poison, known as hemlock.
And in similar fashion, Dumbledore himself dies
shortly after ingesting the Emerald Potion
that was guarding the locket.
Also Snape contributed pretty heavily to live to this cause
but that's kind of besides the point.
The point is that hemlock and the Emerald Potion
actually caused a lot of the same symptoms.
I mean, the Emerald Potion has a lot
of extra magical damaging stuff inside of it.
But here are a few of the things that they both cause:
trembling, muscle pain, loss of speech,
convulsions, and unconsciousness.
In general, that's considered the way Socrates
was sentenced to death was pretty brutal.
And continuing the parallel even further
is how Dumbledore acts post-mortem.
Once again, you see the Socratic method at play
as he helps Harry understand why and how and where he is.
"'Explain,' said, Harry.
"'But you already know,' said Dumbledore.
"He twiddled his thumbs together.
"'I let him kill me. Didn't I?'
"'You did.'"
Think, Harry!
But he also gets a little into
what is known as the Socratic paradox.
The Socratic paradox states that the only real wisdom
is in knowing that you know nothing.
"'I, meanwhile, was offered the post of Minister of Magic,
"'not once, but several times.
"'Naturally, I refused.
"'I had learned that I was not to be trusted with power.'
"'But you'd have been better, much better,
"'than Fudge or Scrimgeour!'
"'Would I? I am not so sure.
"'I had proven as a young man
"'that power was my weakness and my temptation.
"'It is a curious thing, Harry,
"'but perhaps those who are best suited to power
"'are those who have never sought it.
"'Those who, like you, have leadership thrust upon them
"'and take up the mantle because they must,
"'and find their own surprise that they wear it well.'"
Harry insists that Dumbledore would have been
a better Minister of Magic.
And while I think Dumbledore kind of agrees,
he also knows that that only remains true
as long as he never actually becomes Minister of Magic.
His greatness is only intact
as long as he never takes the job he would be great for.
And being aware of that is what actually makes him great.
Wait. Do you see the paradox?
But Dumbledore believes the same is actually true of Harry.
That he is a great leader
not because he wants to be a leader,
but because he is forced into the role,
which, again, you can contrast with young Dumbledore
who was actively trying to seize power
as a young boy with Grindelwald.
Was he a great wizard? Yes.
Did that make him a great leader? No.
The way Dumbledore gets around this with Harry though
is by understanding it on his behalf,
never encouraging Harry to seek power,
just be presented with power and deal with it accordingly.
Horcruxes, not Hallows.
It's like the opposite of,
"With great power comes great responsibility."
Dumbledore knows Harry is burdened with great responsibility
and that with that will come great power.
Oh, that was a lot of philosophy to try and think about it.
But anyway, guys, I hope that gives you
a greater understanding for why Dumbledore
was acting the way he did,
and just the Socratic method in general.
Also a quick reminder that this week is SCB Spirit Week.
Today is Harry Potter Tuesday.
Here are some of the awesome posts
people have already been posting today.
If you wanna participate, it's not too late
to post all of your Harry Potter fandom stuff today.
And we have a bunch of other days this week
celebrating different fandoms.
Tomorrow is Marvelous Wednesday.
Thursday is Disney-Pixar.
Friday is Formal Friday.
That's where you dress up just for fun.
Saturday is "Star Wars" Saturday.
And Sunday is SCB Sunday
where you just celebrate whatever you want
or wear some SCB merch.
If you want to participate,
all you have to do is post a picture
of you celebrating your fandom based on the theme of the day
and make sure you use #SCBSpiritWeek.
Ben and I are gonna be reposting pictures all week.
I'm already having so much fun with it.
But guys, thanks as always for watching today's video.
Don't forget to leave a like on it
if you haven't already,
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If you wanna see Dumbledore's big plan
and how he was pulling the strings the entire time,
you can check out this playlist right here.
But Ben, until next time, I will see you in life, brother.