Ask Socrates your questions in 399 BC — at the time of his trial for impiety and corrupting the young. He answers with questions, turns your certainties upside down and invites you to think for yourself. Just as with his contemporaries — except this time you're the one holding the hemlock.
Socrates (c. 470–399 BC) is one of the founding figures of Western philosophy — and, paradoxically, he left no writings. Everything we know about him comes from his disciples, mainly Plato. The son of a sculptor and a midwife, he spent his days questioning Athenians in the public square, testing their certainties about justice, beauty, courage and virtue.
His method — maieutics, the “midwifery” of the mind — is not about passing on knowledge but about helping ideas be born: through a series of seemingly naive questions, he leads the other person to discover the contradictions in their own beliefs. It remains one of the most powerful methods in teaching.
On Parlova, you meet him in 399 BC, at the time of his trial. He has just been accused of impiety and of corrupting the youth of Athens. He knows he risks death. He still chooses not to stay silent. This dramatic situation gives every answer a particular depth.
Philosophy at school often suffers from a paradox: critical thinking is taught through lessons that ask students to memorise and reproduce. Talking with Socrates reverses this. He doesn't give the answers — he asks questions that force the student to build their own.
When a student claims to know what justice is, Socrates asks for an example, shows that the example doesn't cover every case, then offers another that contradicts the first — until the student admits the question deserves rethinking. That is exactly what a philosophy essay asks you to do.
For teachers of older students, Socrates is ideal for introducing the big philosophical questions (knowledge, virtue, politics, death) without imposing a ready-made system. Students reach their own conclusions — which is precisely the aim of teaching philosophy.
Be warned: he may answer with a question.
The philosophical ideas students work with as they talk with Socrates.
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