Franklin on the Socratic Method

Gatto has a hilarious passage from Benjamin Franklin, describing his use of the Socratic Method:

I found this method safest for myself and very embarrassing to those against whom I used it; therefore I took a delight in it, practis’d it continually, and grew very artful and expert in drawing people, even of superior knowledge, into concessions, the consequences of which they did not foresee, entangling them in difficulties out of which they could not extricate themselves, and so obtaining victories that neither myself nor my cause always deserved.

I’ve never really read any of Franklin’s stuff myself, but he strikes me as being somebody I might enjoy. He did, after all, love to argue.


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This entry was written by happy thanksgiving, y'all!, posted on July 27, 2005 at 1:40 am.

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2 Comments

  1. albion
    Posted July 27, 2005 at 5:36 pm | Permalink

    …and so obtaining victories that neither myself nor my cause always deserved.

    heh. yep, that’s the method. and franklin, yeah he was kind of a crazy cat, what with the spectacles and the musical wineglasses and the electric kites and whatnot.

  2. Haeresis
    Posted July 27, 2005 at 8:33 pm | Permalink

    His autobiography is actually a very entertaining read, he definite;ly had a comic flair.

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