Educators employing the Socratic Method in classrooms accept the conclusion that Socrates is a teacher and that he embraces and practices a reproducible and transferable method for learning. This essay argues against this conclusion, which indeed was the view of Socrates’ accusers in the Apology, and instead defends the claim that Socrates is not a teacher, at least not in terms of a traditional educator. In doing so, the notion of Socratic ignorance is taken seriously, that is to say, Socrates’ claim to ignorance, linked with the limits of human knowledge regarding the understanding of the virtues, holds legitimate weight and is irreducible to instances of so-called Socratic irony. Despite not being a teacher, the essay considers what might be learned about education from Socrates, highlighting the potential benefit educators might draw from the portrait of Socrates sketched by attending to his portrayal in Plato’s Dialogues as a seeker of truth and co-learner in the process of becoming educated.
James Magrini (Sun,) studied this question.