Friday, September 07, 2007

Today's English

Maieutics: 1. Midwifery.
2. Of or relating to the dialectical method used by Socrates to elicit and clarify the ideas of others. Both terms come from the Greek "maieutikos'', which pertains to midwifery. Socrates believed that knowledge was innate to the individual, and that the teacher helped the individual to ''give birth'' to truth by posing the right questions. This is the basis of the Socratic method.

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