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Related Discussions
Socratic Method
Bamboosprout
Alum Member
I am very curious about something, and I can't seem to find any information on it anywhere, on or off of the 7sage forums. It should be something that, I imagine, we would all benefit to know a bit about, and should be curious about, since we're aiming to go into law school to study and eventually practice jurisprudence. It's about the socratic method. I was wondering if any 7sage students or alumni has experience or resources on learning how to approach or use the socratic method. Personally, I find the method fascinating even outside of its applications in law school, and would love to learn more about it. I am especially eager to learn about it before going to law school, because although I'm not afraid to make a fool out of myself, I have always been a terrible public speaker. I simply want to improve, and I feel like many other students would benefit from any resources available on this topic.
Comments
Hmm I know at my University our Gov law classes use the Socratic method. It is a little gentler then law school but it gets you prepared. Are you still in undergrad? Perhaps take a few classes that use it at your college.
You've rightly identified that there are at least two elements at play in the socratic method: public speaking and engaging dialogue.
If the former makes you apprehensive, then joining a debating society or just practicing giving speeches is likely the best way to combat the anxiety (which is very natural).
If you also want to get used to the need to "think on your feet" while publicly engaging with a law professor, debating - so long as not all just prepared remarks - or maybe taking an improv class might be beneficial.
And don't forget to read the Socratic dialogues to see the master at work.
I think that the Socratic method has some interesting applications but mostly it exists because it's fun for the professor. Teaching in this way is far easier and far less repetitive than conventional lecturing. Not an expert but that's my two cents.
I think it's an interested teaching method for law school because it really gets you to think on your feet. I have very little experience with it, but I can understand why professors use it. My public speaking professor used to give extra credit if you gave a 5-minute impromptu speech on anything you wanted. Doing those speeches taught me a lot, including to trust myself to speak coherently and convincingly while knowing very little lol. Anyway, I like @LSATisland's idea about taking an improve class if that kind of thing makes you nervous.
I head the Socratic method has kind of phased out or is phasing out in the last decade or so. It's still used but just not as much. Any recent graduates or current students verify if this is true or not?
From what I’ve seen this summer I really like the Socratic method. Professors don’t do it to be rude but they push students to dig deeper and understand legal issues. Plus when someone is being called on everyone else pays attention bc they don’t wanna be randomly called and not know what they are talking about.
Been out of college for more than 2 years now, unfortunately.
Oh, great suggestion! Let me search up his dialogues... Do you have a specific translation that you would recommend?
Yeah, I actually did a lot of research on this, and have decided to focus my application efforts on schools that emphasize the Socratic method. Currently, my dream schools have shifted from Georgetown and NYU to UChic and UPenn (and just maybe Yale, if my score is good enough fingers crossed).
All are ok but I like Plato, Complete Works edited by John Cooper. You may find a pdf version through google.
Holy cow. That thing is almost 2k pages long.
Crito is a good one to start with IMO!
Oh, thanks. This seems like a much more manageable starting point.
Haha @Bamboosprout! Well you gotta start somewhere.
Crito is great and if you start with it, you might want to take a look at a great law professor's analysis of the Crito, law and friendship: https://bit.ly/2MGfZEA
The link doesn't work for me =(
Hmm, try this maybe?
https://poseidon01.ssrn.com/delivery.php?ID=682025021087126107028010079120073121029022041052070026086029025005003004120001082121054013022125049112043065118020114076101027007071082078061113014120117071067121035077003106103000115118080106084101127026071088006008004029010001097083084003069021104&EXT=pdf