This week, we have…

• Sponsorship

• A fun fact inspired by Chronogram

• Answers to last week's games

• Reader survey

Socrates: the Original Man on the Street

Have you ever been walking down the street and been approached by someone with a microphone and a camera, asking you what you think the meaning of life is, or love? You might be surprised to learn that your experience may not be so unlike that of someone walking down the streets of Athens in fifth century BCE, running into the philosopher Socrates (Chronogram answer #621). Socrates is the inventor of the Socratic method, a form of logical argumentation that involves a teacher asking a student a series of probing questions in an effort to explore the underlying beliefs shaping the student’s views and opinions. It’s a dialectical form of questioning that much of Western learning strategies are based on. It also resembles modern “Man on the Street” interviews, like the Billy on the Street series and viral TikTok trends. The theory behind it is that continual questions are necessary to uncover and understand the truth. Rather than being told an answer, you come to it yourself through answering the prompts. This form of learning is more powerful than rote memorization, since it requires the student to think and engage with the content.

Socrates was said to roam the streets of Athens, interrogating passing strangers about topics like how to lead a life of integrity. He apparently had little regard for outside appearances, often walking around unwashed, barefoot and wearing the same clothes day to day. According to legend, the Oracle of Delphi said Socrates was the wisest man in Athens. While he was alive, however, he was often the object of ridicule, and his ideas of individualism were so revolutionary in a time of political instability that he was eventually sentenced to death for impiety and corrupting youth. Much of what we know about his methods of questioning come from conversations that were written down by his students after his death, such as Plato. 

The Socratic method can be seen nowadays in many places, such as legal education and cognitive behavioural therapy. Who knew asking questions could be so powerful?

Learn more: Britannica, National Geographic, History.com.

Trivia

Answers to last week's games

Monday, December 9 to Sunday, December 15.

Linxicon

The following are the shortest paths from last week:

• #301 adopt → orphan → poor → strong

• #302 formula → mathematician → student → teenager

• #303 port → boat → speedboat → speedy → short → brief

• #304 interested → interest → growth → plant

• #305 admire → worship → church → location

• #306 east → map → remapped → repeated → twice

• #307 act → behaviour → habit → permanent

• #308 Play now!

Forgeous

Play Forgeous for Dec 16