Socratic Method (from the DVD "All About Law School"

Socratic method is an excellent way to make you read. But you're in law school you must read whether you're going to be picked or not. When i was chosen i did faily well. I do read everything a few times just incase i missed anything the first time, the second time... Lucky for me after the professor saw i knew the correct answers after about 10 minutes of torture he moved on to the next. Made me nervous but i tried not to show it. I showed confidence.

This is NOT the Socratic Method. What Socrates said about his own method was,that he used questions to cause someone to debunk their own theories,and then would would "birth" their own wisdom as a midwife helps bear children. What these professors are doing is not Socratic, its interrogation.

Socrates did not in fact invent the socratic method he just adapted it

Been here on the Literary end of the dialectical spectrum. But I am also fascinated by Philosophy and Law.

Pretty negative attitude. Realize grading is blind and is based only on the exam, and then just take the Socratic method as an exercise to (1) keep you paying attention in class; and (2) see how quick you are on your feet. If you struggle routinely, don't go into litigation. Cheers.

Yeah, I find the last part of the video stragnge. I thought Aristotle got his inspiration from Socrates, being a discipline of Plato, who was in turn a student of Socrates... How could they mess this up? Apparently, they didn't prepare for class... and if law school students came up with this video... the socratic method didn't work quite as well.

haha! I was just going to mention something about this. According to wikipedia (who couldn't possibly be wrong) Socrates died in 399BC and Aristotle was born in 384BC. That would mean Socrates was dead 15 years before Aristotle was born. Considering this, It's pretty amazing that Socrates was able to borrow aspects of his method from an unborn Aristotle.

What do you mean "falls for"? The point is to expose what you don't know; to resist that is to imply that you know everything.

I should have explained myself fully. What I meant by 'falls for' is the negative effect of the socratic method. When you hear of students 'throwing up' and 'crying' after lectures, there has to be something wrong in that, surely. When other students join in the 'entertainment' its just plain pathetic. It slows the pace of the lecture. I'd much rather the lecturer tell the student the work should have been covered and to sitdown. I don't want the drama and the supposed 'humour' the goes with it.

No one at my law school would dare make fun of or laugh at someone's response during the socratic method (unless they said something they intended to be funny) because they know they'll be next!!