Education has become one of the main themes of
philosophy due to its common points and correlations. Education can be defined
as a process of learning and teaching which can be actualized on one’s own or
with a teacher using various materials and methods. In its simplest form,
philosophy is the search for knowledge and truth by judging and critical
thinking. In the history of Greek Philosophy, philosophers used different
methods to teach their students philosophy and educate them with their own
techniques. Socrates, who known as the founder of Philosophy, constituted a
method whose name is the dialectic method or the Socratic method and it was
based on making dialogues. Other than this, his well-known student Plato
justified a different method, which is almost the opposite of the Socratic
method, for effective education in society. He also mentioned his and
Socrates's method in The Republic. Throughout the history of philosophy, it is
debated by philosophers to decide which one is more productive and applicable
in society.
The Socratic method or the dialectic
method is based on the dialogue technique which requires consistently asking
and criticizing. Socrates believed that argumentative dialogue between
individuals and asking question after question stimulate critical thinking and
good reasoning. With that, he also asserted that it helps to solidify students’
knowledge of the case by thinking critically under pressure. But the disputed
part of his method was about the belief that claims it can be applied and
succeed with everyone. According to Plato’s book whose name is Menon,ın order
to prove that, he asked a geometry problem to an illiterate peasant and helped
him to find the correct answer by regularly asking questions and criticizing.He
believed that through this method the individual can find his own mistakes and
think again until he finds the correct answer. Because of that reason, having
knowledge about something is not a necessary factor or in other words, it isn’t
a priority to achieve the right answer.
The reason for emphasizing critical thinking
and giving less importance to having knowledge in the Socratic method was his
thought that asserts knowledge is the only tool to find answers; The
fundamental way to learn something is thinking and making criticizes about
information by using your mind effectively.His explanation for this idea was
knowledge can only take you to a particular place, in order to proceed and to
be aware of other options, you have to review and make criticisms about your
argument. That may explain to us why most of the education systems don't use
‘Essentialism’ which teaches just by giving information and use ‘Progressivizm’
which provides a contrast with essentialism due to learning by experiencing and
thinking for effective learning.
As an illustration to
the usage of the Socratic method in the classroom, we can exemplify a teacher
who randomly picks a student and ask her/him questions continuously. Today,
some colleges use this technique due to its efficiency. In Harvard Law School,
the professor starts asking question to dozens of students during a class
session and then, some of the other students oppose his/her idea or specify the
wrong points. In that way, students can see the unobserved parts of the case
and represent different solutions. Furthermore, the student may become a more
accountable person and join the discussion by reading before lectures. With this
in mind, it might be a disturbing situation for a student who couldn't answer
the professor’s question at the first time and also it may condition the
student to join next lecture because of this experience. In this wise, her/his
confidence might be affected badly and this way causes unwillingness to attend
the professor’s lectures. In order to prevent this harm, teachers can start to
use this technique in elementary school and students can become habituated.
Plato’s method for education can be
contrasted with Socrates’s even though he was educated by him.First of all,
Platon believed that education should be used as a tool to protect public order
by society.In order do that properly, education should be institutional instead
of being individualist and learning must be a process of transferring
information which is the opposite of learning by criticizing and experiencing
like in the Socratic method.He mentioned his ideas about social structure in
the ideal state that is shaped by education in his famous book ‘The Republic’.
In the book, he wrote that every individual should be educated according to his
nature, capability, and skills. In order to ensure the accordance between
capability and education, he classified the society in three groups which are
rulers, soldiers or in other words protectors and workers. He thought that the
people who have a tendency to work in a job which requires physical ability
should be in the group of workers.In the same way, the people who are innate courageous and brave should be in the group of protectors.
But, when it comes to the rulers, he believed there must be more specific
elimination.Plato thought that rulers should be chosen from among protectors’
group with an examination. In that way, the purpose of education for Plato was
defining the appropriate social status of individuals according to their
capacity. In that way, every person can devote his life to what is the best fit
for him.
He believed in teaching math, philosophy
or geometry to the people who are just in the group of rulers because
intellectual aristocracy is the rule of the intellectual elite. He believed
that knowledge should be given to the people who can evaluate, criticize, and
use it widely.With this in mind, he was against compulsory education and
explained it in The Republic with this sentence; Knowledge which is acquired
under compulsion obtains no hold on the mind. Forcing someone to learn
something without considering his abilities won’t be beneficial for the person
or the state. Therefore, education has to be individualistic and done by the
correct person.
Socrates’s
philosophy and method in education are different from Plato’s philosophy in
many ways. Primarily, Socrates interpreted education as an active process that
individuals took part in themselves. In contrast, Plato asserted it was a
passive process because the people get all information and acquire knowledge
from a teacher and don’t try to find the right answer by criticizing. Secondly,
Socrates believed that education has to be non-dogmatic while Plato argued the
opposite one ‘dogmatic education’.As a result of reasoning in the Socratic
method, he used induction in the learning process.On the contrary, Plato used
deduction while teaching something. Socrates taught a lesson by talking and
discussing the issue with his students and his philosophy was based on having
argumentative conversations. But Plato interpreted philosophy as a whole of
truths and taught it by writing and reading.
As another difference between Plato’s and
Socrates’s philosophy in education is the possibility of having an education.
Plato thought education has to be individualistic while Socrates asserts it has
to be institutional. The reason for this and other clashes of ideas might be
their approach to the regime; Socrates justifies democracy, on the other hand,
Plato takes the side of autocracy. Because Socrates was justifying democracy,
he asserted that everyone should be educated in equal standards and take part
in education.For Plato, he considers education as an individualistic process on
account of autocracy.He believed that education should be given to the elite
which he defined as the rulers. It may seem unfair and hierarchical at first
but, if we think about today’s education and the people who work in jobs that
they are not fit to do because the job wasn't given to them considering their
capacities and abilities, the idea of
hierarchical education might seem right and feasible.
SUEDA DİNÇ
