tained the kernel of his teaching. The tendency of the teachers of 

 his day was to supply the individual with a quantity of methodised 

 knowledge. Socrates saw the futility of such a pedagogic method, 

 and was one of the first to emphasize a more adequate procedure. 

 Moreover, though the Sophists, as those travelling teachers, who 

 flourished from 450-400 B.C., have been called, accomplished much 

 that was good, especially along lines of grammar, the conclusions 

 of the majority of them were definitely sceptical. This tendency 

 was, no doubt, due to the positive influence of the Heracliteans, 

 and the Atomists. But Socrates was not to be satisfied with any 

 such conclusions, and his method is the result, mainly, of his attempt 

 to overcome the argumentation of Protagorean individualism and 

 the negative theses of Gorgias. 



According to Aristotle's Metaphysics, XIII, 4, 1078 b 23, two 

 things may justly be ascribed to Socrates. These are generally 

 called Induction and Definition. These sum up his method and 

 his aim. But to know whether these terms, in their ordinary 

 connotations, are here applicable, one must study the actual process 

 which Socrates used in concrete cases. Fortunately, many exam- 

 ples of this so-called Socratic method are given to us in the works 

 of his brilliant pupil, Plato, and especially in those of Xenophon, 

 the historian. The situations depicted in the Memorabilia of the 

 latter show Socrates to be a man vitally interested in the everyday 

 pursuits of his fellow-men; he endeavours, now, to find the essence 

 of virtue, now, the duties of men under specific circumstances, now, 

 he carries on animated conversations with Sophists, and, again, 

 he is giving valuable advice to friends, generals, tradesmen, artifi- 

 cers. Socrates makes use of cross-examination, and, in so doing, 

 reveals often the ignorance of the questioner ; but he does not stop 

 there. Once he has succeeded in making the pupil see the inade- 

 quacy of his own opinions, once that presupposition and bias are 

 overcome, the teacher begins to lead the inquirer towards the shin- 

 ing goal of truth. 



A splendid example of the preliminary stages of the method 

 employed is found in the Memorabilia IV, 2. Euthydemus aspires 

 to become a statesman, and Socrates, accordingly, is intent to show 

 him the value of justice. Euthydemus thinks he can hold his own 

 against all-comers as an upright man, and, when Socrates suggests 



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