Comments on: Wait, What? Oh. Never Mind.

By: TRE

TRE — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 07:42:13 +0000

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.

By: Stuart Buck

Stuart Buck — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 23:07:40 +0000

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.”

By: PayDoh

PayDoh — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 22:48:14 +0000

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?”

By: Nate

Nate — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 00:05:10 +0000

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 . . .

By: James Grimmelmann

James Grimmelmann — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 21:57:06 +0000

As a student, I found that most of my professors were about evenly split between the Sophistic method and the Heraclitic method.

By: TRE

TRE — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 19:47:14 +0000

If you really want to shut up your professor throw in a little Eleatic method.

By: TRE

TRE — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 19:44:50 +0000

If you really want to shut up your professor throw in a little Eleatic method.

By: James Grimmelmann

James Grimmelmann — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 18:43:37 +0000

By: matt

matt — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 18:41:25 +0000

It’s an old joke that The Republic can be summed up in one sentence, “Of course, Socrates.”

By: A.J. Sutter

A.J. Sutter — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 18:34:41 +0000

Given the ancient Athenian context, I meant straight man strictly in the comedy sense, of course.

By: Eric Goldman

Eric Goldman — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 18:21:36 +0000

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.

By: Sarah Lawsky

Sarah Lawsky — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 17:50:42 +0000

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.

By: A.J. Sutter

A.J. Sutter — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 17:38:10 +0000

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?

By: Liz Glazer

Liz Glazer — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 17:16:57 +0000

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