Review: Socratic Dialogue in Education

Abstract

Introduction:  Enquiring Minds is the first publication of mostly German texts translated into English. It is a reflection of the growing interest in Britain, the USA, Australia and other English-speaking nations in learning more about Leonard Nelson’s Socratic Dialogue. Until now, those of us interested in learning about this method were limited to the few papers available in English by Heckmann, Boele, Kessels and most importantly, the short, poetic paper by Nelson himself which is also included in this recent publication. There are texts originally written in English (most notably in Australia, anything by Stan van Hooft), but these are few and far between. Hence, the arrival of this volume is much anticipated. The book is published by the Society for the Furtherance of Critical Philosophy, an organisation promoting Socratic Dialogue methods. Those familiar with this organisation and those who have only recently discovered Socratic Dialogue as an approach to doing philosophy alike will find Enquiring Minds an informative text. Notably the authors recognise that this is a guide only and cannot replace the teaching that comes from the experience of participating in actual classroom dialogue.