1, let those who think they know know what they don't know.

As for how Socrates changed his interlocutor from knowing himself to knowing him, Xenophon, a disciple of Socrates (430- 354 BC), used "midwifery" in the dialogue between Socrates and Su Yu Deimos about "justice" in Remembering Socrates.

Su Yu Deimos is determined to become a politician. Socrates intends to discuss the issue of "justice" with him: Sue: Can you distinguish between justice and injustice? Yes Sue: Does hypocrisy belong to justice or injustice? Is it just or unjust to cheat, do bad things and enslave people? You: unfair.

Sue: Is it unjust to enslave unjust enemies, cheat them and steal from them? Y: No Sue: Can it be summarized as follows: hypocrisy and deception are just acts when applied to enemies, and unjust acts when applied to friends.

Y: that's right. Sue: If when morale is low, it is just or unjust to lie that reinforcements are coming, that my son is ill and refuses to take medicine, and that his father deceives him and eats medicine as a meal? You: That's right.

Sue: You mean that under no circumstances should you be honest with your friends? You: Not really. If you allow me, I would rather take back what I said.

This example shows that Socrates asked questions for the interviewee to answer, gave examples contrary to the other party's conclusion, and let him discover the fallacy of the conclusion himself. This is a method of "perjury".

2. Let those who think they don't know know know what they know.

Socrates took the initiative to talk to someone on the assumption that others might be smarter and know more than himself. When the interviewee changes from what he thinks he knows to what he doesn't know, don't lose confidence that the participants can solve the problem, guide them step by step, and finally deduce the answer, so that students can change from what they think they don't know to what they know.

Take him and his students discussing what "virtue" is as an example. When the students learned that "virtue" was not what he thought, they were very depressed. He continued to encourage them to "get close to this concept if possible".

When the other person doesn't know the concept of "virtue", he turns the topic to a simpler "picture" than the problem of "virtue" to make the conversation object analogy; When the other person realized that virtue is "the desire for noble things and the ability to acquire such things", he turned the topic to "good" and "evil".

In this way, according to the logic of the problem itself, he naturally turned to the topic of "good" and "evil" and came to the conclusion that "virtue is knowledge"

Extended data:

Advantages:

1 was originally called "discovery method".

Socrates often uses discussion in conversation to express his views through questions and answers, conversations or arguments, and does not directly impart specific knowledge to students.

He asked the students questions first, and the answers were all wrong. He didn't directly point out where and why they were wrong, but only suggested supplementary questions to stimulate students' thinking and find the answers to the questions together.

In this sense, "midwifery" is the earliest "discovery method".

On the one hand, the "discovery method" can stimulate students to think actively instead of passively receiving education, and it is also beneficial for teachers and students to exchange ideas and discuss problems.

2. "Midwifery" is conducive to mobilizing the subjective initiative of teachers and students. "Midwifery" not only requires students to study actively, but also requires teachers to guide, encourage and assist students.

Just like in the process of midwifery, if there is only the unilateral guidance of the midwife or the efforts of the mother, the baby cannot be born smoothly.

Similarly, in the process of education, "truth" cannot be produced without the efforts of teachers or students, because Socrates believes that truth is like a child in the womb, hidden in everyone's heart, and the process of obtaining truth is the process of producing truth.

3. "Midwifery" is conducive to developing students' potential. Socrates believes that the task of philosophers and teachers is not to fabricate and spread the truth, but to become "midwives" of new ideas.

Truth exists in everyone's mind, but not everyone can find it in himself. [4]40 The task of teachers is to help people discover the truth that exists in people's hearts and help people discover their potential abilities.

"Midwife" education method is to awaken students' potential and urge them to produce a kind of spiritual strength from their hearts.

Baidu encyclopedia-spiritual midwifery