Summary of Ward Farnsworth's The Socratic Method

By IRB Media

Get the Summary of Ward Farnsworth's The Socratic Method in 20 minutes. Please note: This is a summary & not the original book. Original book introduction: About 2,500 years ago, Plato wrote a set of dialogues that depict Socrates in conversation. The way Socrates asks questions, and the reasons why, amount to a whole way of thinking. This is the Socratic method—one of humanity’s great achievements. More than a technique, the method is an ethic of patience, inquiry, humility, and doubt. It is an aid to better thinking, and a remedy for bad habits of mind, whether in law, politics, the classroom, or tackling life’s big questions at the kitchen table.

Drawing on hundreds of quotations, this book explains what the Socratic method is and how to use it. Chapters include Socratic Ethics, Ignorance, Testing Principles, and Socrates and the Stoics. Socratic philosophy is still startling after all these years because it is an approach to asking hard questions and chasing after them. It is a route to wisdom and a way of thinking about wisdom. With Farnsworth as your guide, the ideas of Socrates are easier to understand than ever and accessible to anyone.

• Language: English
• Publisher: IRB Media
• Release date: Dec 7, 2021
• ISBN: 9781669341857

IRB Media

With IRB books, you can get the key takeaways and analysis of a book in 15 minutes. We read every chapter, identify the key takeaways and analyze them for your convenience.

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Insights on Ward Farnsworth's The Socratic Method

Contents

Insights from Chapter 1

Insights from Chapter 2

Insights from Chapter 3

Insights from Chapter 4

Insights from Chapter 5

Insights from Chapter 6

Insights from Chapter 7

Insights from Chapter 8

Insights from Chapter 9

Insights from Chapter 10

Insights from Chapter 11

Insights from Chapter 12

Insights from Chapter 13

Insights from Chapter 14

Insights from Chapter 15

Insights from Chapter 16

Insights from Chapter 17

Insights from Chapter 18

Insights from Chapter 1

#1

The real Socrates lived around the time of Jesus, and is known almost entirely through the writings of his student Plato.

#2

The life of Plato is mostly derived from his writings. We know very little about his real-life activities.

#3

The evidence available to us shows that the historical Socrates was a very interesting man with many different traits. He was a philosopher, a teacher, and a soldier. But unlike other figures who lived around the same time as him, such as Alexander the Great, we have no writings or accounts from those who knew him.

#4

The question of whether or not the historical Socrates existed is irrelevant. All that matters is whether or not the Socrates in the dialogues is real. Most scholars today believe that at least some of the dialogues do portray the historical Socrates.

#5

The most common view today is that Plato started out writing dialogues that showed Socrates more or less as he was, but then he began speculating about what the real Socrates would have said, and his own ideas started to appear. Finally, late in his life, Plato decided to write a historical account of Socrates, and wrote the Apology.

#6

Those who believe that Plato shows the genuine Socrates often point to the Apology, in which Plato presents Socrates speaking in his own defense at trial. Hundreds of Athenians would have attended this event, and thus