id: socratic-seminar
title: Socratic Seminar
description: >-
  A structured discussion of a text where participants ask and answer
  questions to deepen collective understanding, using Socratic dialogue
  methods. Named for the ancient Greek philosopher Socrates and formalised
  in modern education by Mortimer Adler.
source: Mortimer Adler, "Paideia Proposal"
source_url: https://www.paideia.org/
tags: [socratic, seminar, education, dialogue]
forked_from: null
image: null
steps:
  - headline: Read the text closely
    description: >-
      All participants read a short text in advance, marking passages and
      preparing one question they genuinely wonder about.
  - headline: Open with a question
    description: >-
      The leader poses an opening question that has no single right answer
      and invites the group into inquiry.
  - headline: Refer to the text
    description: >-
      Participants respond, grounding their contributions in specific
      passages: "On page three, the author says..." rather than free
      association.
  - headline: Ask follow-up questions
    description: >-
      The leader and participants ask follow-up questions that probe
      assumptions and invite evidence, rather than offering opinions.
  - headline: Close with reflection
    description: >-
      The seminar closes with each participant naming one idea that shifted
      or deepened for them.
outcome: >-
  The group reaches a deeper shared understanding of the text and the
  questions it raises, through disciplined inquiry.
practice: >-
  The leader asks, does not answer. If the leader becomes the expert, the
  inquiry collapses into lecture. Ground every claim in the text.