Wait, What? Oh. Never Mind.
posted by Sarah Lawsky
Helpful law school tip! If you have a class that is taught using the Socratic method, you’re in luck! No need to prepare! You should be able to handle class using only the following phrases (all from Jowett’s translations of The Republic and Meno):
You are quite right.
Certainly not.
To be sure.
That is true.
Precisely.
Clearly.
Certainly.
That is the inference.
Assuredly not.
I think that what you say is quite true.
It cannot be otherwise.
And, my personal favorite–
I agree, as far as I am able to understand you.
July 17, 2008 at 10:07 am
Posted in: Humor, Teaching
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Responses (14)
Liz Glazer - July 17, 2008 at 10:16 am
Hilarious and insightful post all at once, Sarah. I’ve often wondered about the gap between Socrates’ method and the Socratic Method. Your post articulates that gap brilliantly.
Hope all is well,
Liz
A.J. Sutter - July 17, 2008 at 10:38 am
One catch: As I recall, that’s typically what the straight man says (Crito, Meno & al.), not Socrates. Do you let your students get off so lightly?
Sarah Lawsky - July 17, 2008 at 10:50 am
A.J. Sutter–Crito and Meno aren’t just straight men–they are also students. And this is, of course, a tip for students. Or, er, perhaps not.
Eric Goldman - July 17, 2008 at 11:21 am
I would add one more essential response to this list (from the Princess Bride, of course):
“You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.”
Eric.
A.J. Sutter - July 17, 2008 at 11:34 am
Given the ancient Athenian context, I meant straight man strictly in the comedy sense, of course.
matt - July 17, 2008 at 11:41 am
It’s an old joke that The Republic can be summed up in one sentence, “Of course, Socrates.”
James Grimmelmann - July 17, 2008 at 11:43 am
See also Plato’s Lost Dialogue.
TRE - July 17, 2008 at 12:44 pm
If you really want to shut up your professor throw in a little Eleatic method.
TRE - July 17, 2008 at 12:47 pm
If you really want to shut up your professor throw in a little Eleatic method.
James Grimmelmann - July 17, 2008 at 2:57 pm
As a student, I found that most of my professors were about evenly split between the Sophistic method and the Heraclitic method.
Nate - July 17, 2008 at 5:05 pm
The Hereclitic method only works once, because you can never enter the same classroom twice.
But at least you can get in once . . . poor Zeno and his arrow are still stuck outside . . .
PayDoh - July 19, 2008 at 3:48 pm
Wonderful, Sarah, but you left out of one of the best ones of all, to be delivered verbatim to the professor: “How could it be otherwise, Socrates?”
Stuart Buck - July 19, 2008 at 4:07 pm
Here’s another option, which might be a bit harsh (it’s from the old-school Socratic days). I heard this from Vester Hughes, who was recalling his law school days at Harvard in the early 1950s. He was taking a class with professor Austin Scott, who was then in his 70s and always wore a vest. One day, Scott responded to a student’s remark by saying:
“Inconceivable. Inconceivable. Well, actually, it IS conceivable, because you just conceived of it. But it SHOULD have been inconceivable.”
TRE - July 20, 2008 at 12:42 am
I almost want to go through 1st year again just to use these lines. PayDoh’s is essential material for any future 1ls reading this.
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