How and Why to Analogize Socratic Questioning to Zen Buddhist Koan Practice

Authors

Keywords:

Socrates’ philosophical method, Socratic Questioning, Zen Buddhist koan practice

Abstract

The nature and aim of Socrates’ philosophical method is a contested matter in ancient philosophy scholarship. Among scholars who believe that there is a coherent method in Plato’s dialogues, it is generally agreed that Socrates’ method is a practice that aims to elicit something by way of question and answer. I, among others, believe that something to be a transformation (in the sense of an awakening) on the part of the interlocutor to his own ignorance and conceit of knowledge. Instead of pointing to Plato’s dialogues for evidence in order to argue for this, I analogize the method and aim of Socratic Questioning to Zen Buddhist koan practice.

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How and Why to Analogize Socratic Questioning to Zen Buddhist Koan Practice

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Published

10-10-2014

Issue

Vol. 2 No. 3 (2014): Issue - September

Section

Philosophy

License

Revised Copyright/CC license that applies to all the articles published after 05-02-2017

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Date of revision: Creative common license: 05-02-2017
 

Copyright/CC license that applies to all the articles published before 05-02-2017

Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)

Author(s) will retain all the right except commercial and re-publishing rights. In the case of re-publishing, they will have to obtain written permission from the journal. Additional licensing agreements (Creative Commons licenses) grants rights to readers to copy, distribute, display and perform the work as long as you give the original author(s) credit, they can not use the works for commercial purposes and are not allowed to alter, transform, or build upon the work. For any reuse or distribution, readers and users must make clear to others the license terms of this work. Any of these conditions can be waived if you get permission from the copyright holders. Nothing in this license impairs or restricts the authors’ rights. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ or send a letter to Creative Commons, 171 Second Street, Suite 300, San Francisco, California, 94105, USA.

Research Papers published in SOCRATES are licensed under an Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)

How to Cite

How and Why to Analogize Socratic Questioning to Zen Buddhist Koan Practice. (2014). SOCRATES, 2(3), 27-45. https://www.socratesjournal.com/index.php/SOCRATES/article/view/16

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