Educational Theory of Socrates

The purpose of this essay is to give the reader an insight into the educational theories of Socrates. It is rather difficult to gain any information from first hand written accounts of Socrates work as he hardly ever took down notes and the only accounts that have stood the test of time are those that were documented by Plato, a student of Socrates. In actual fact most of what we know is from later people such as Aristophanes, Xenophen, Plato and Aristotle. These accounts are what have been formulated into Socrates theories. This poses some questions as to whether the theories that have been accredited to the man himself were actually his or rather a second hand interpretation from those that came after. Born in Athens in 469 B.C and thought to have born into a working class family. It is not documented what his father did for a living but the general opinion is that he was a stonemason and his mother was believed to have been a midwife. Socrates fought for Athens in the Peloponnesian war sometimes participating in the politics that ensued after the war had finished. He married and raised one child with his wife but it is thought that he had another two children with his second wife. It was after this that he started to develop his thoughts and theories. He began to question what knowledge was, how it was acquired and what made humans different from animals in their learning and education (see appendix 1). Socrates believed in the individual learning capabilities of his students. By asking them continual questions he would never lead them to an answer but rather enable them to find the answer that they sought themselves. Only by clearing the mind of prior formed ideas could the student have the space and depth to examine the question and find an answer. He “felt that life is not worth living unless you examine your life to know whom you are, what you believe, and what you want to become. To know yourself should be a major undertaking in your life. If a

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