Socratic

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. adj. Of or relating to Socrates or the Socratic method: a Socratic approach to teaching.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. Of or pertaining to the methods, style, doctrine, character, person, or followers of the illustrious Athenian philosopher Socrates (about 470–399 b. c). His father, Sophroniscus, was a sculptor, and he was brought up to the same profession. His mother, Phænarete, was a midwife. Socrates was unjustly accused before the council of the prytanes of being a corrupter of youth and of not believing in the gods of the city, was condemned, and died by drinking hemlock. His philosophy is known to us by the account of Xenophon, written to show the practical upshot of his teachings and the injustice of his sentence, and by the Dialogues of Plato, in most of which Socrates is introduced only to give an artistic setting to Plato's own discussions. Some things can also be inferred from fragments of Æsachines, and from the doctrines of other companions of Socrates. He wrote nothing, but went about Athens frequenting some of the best houses, and followed by a train of wealthy young men, frequently cross-questioning those teachers whose influence he distrusted. He himself did not profess to be capable of teaching anything, except consciousness of ignorance; and he bargained for no pay, though he no doubt took moderate presents. He called his method of discussion (the Socratic method) obstetrics (see maieutic), because it was an art of inducing his interlocutors to develop their own ideas under a catechetical system. He put the pretentious to shame by the practice of Socratic irony, which consisted in sincerely acknowledging his own defective knowledge and professing his earnest desire to learn, while courteously admitting the pretensions of the person interrogated, and in persisting in this attitude until examination made it appear bitter sarcasm. He was opposed to the rhetorical teaching of the sophists, and had neither interest nor confidence in the physical speculations of his time. The center of his philosophy, as of all those which sprang directly or indirectly from his—that is to say, of all European philosophy down to the rise of modern science—was morality. He held that virtue was a species of knowledge; really to know the right and not to do it was impossible, hence wrong-doers ought not to be punished; virtue was knowledge of the truly useful. He was far, however, from regarding pleasure as the ultimate good, declaring that if anything was good in itself, he neither knew it nor wished to know it. The great problems he held to consist in forming general conceptions of the nature of truth, happiness, virtue and the virtues, friendships, the soul, a ruler, a suit of armor—in short, of all objects of interest. These conceptions were embodied in definitions, and these definitions were framed by means of analytic reflection upon special instances concerning which all the world were agreed. He would not allow that anything was known for certain concerning which competent minds opined differently. This process of generalization, the Socratic induction, together with the doctrine of the necessity of definitions, were his two contributions to logic. The disciples of Socrates were Plato, Euclides, Phædo, Antisthenes, Aristippus, Xenophon, Æschines, Simonias, Cebes, and about twenty more. Properly speaking, there was no Socratic school; but the Academy and the Megarian, Elean, Eretrian, Cynic, and Cyrenaic schools are called Socratic. as having been founded by immediate disciples of Socrates.
2. n. A disciple of Socrates: as, Æschines the Socratic.

Wiktionary

1. adj. of or characteristic of the philosopher Socrates or his philosophical methods and/or views.
2. n. a follower of Socrates.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. adj. Of or pertaining to Socrates, the Grecian sage and teacher. (b. c. 469-399), or to his manner of teaching and philosophizing.

WordNet 3.0

1. adj. of or relating to Socrates or to his method of teaching