Dr. Jan De Maeyer, Socratic speaking
Speaking to each other, respecting the opinion of another, listening to the other and mutual respect is not always evident in our society.
Socratic speaking is a method of understanding another person better. You do this by suspending your own judgment. So we are not going to debate, but we are investigating. We try not to convince the others of our own knowledge. Socrates is an example in this: we agree that no one knows. So we talk with each other and not to each other. In this way we arrive at new thinking and better insights.
We go back to an age-old method that is of course adapted today. In any case, it remains a conversation in which everyone’s judgment is suspended, where they listen closely to each other and think critically on the basis of concrete experiences.
Socratic conversations can be used anywhere, in organizations and in schools. It can be in a one-to-one relationship, but also in a group. And depending on the context, there will be variation in the way these conversations will proceed. The Socratic method will be applied differently in schools than in organizations. But the essence of such a conversation remains the same.
In this lecture, Jan De Maeyer will introduce the participants to the foundations of Socratic thinking. Naturally, concepts such as maieutics, elenchus, regressive abstraction, etc. are discussed.