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The socratic way
Learing to belive in reason

The socratic way

JAMMIEG
Nuke Survivor

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Posted 06/30/08 - 06:33 PM: Subject: The socratic way	#1
If I remember right, socrates had a trick he used on his pupils to teach them, not what to think but how to think. He beleived that if one asked the right questions and applied reasoning they could find the truth in anything; he used this method to guide his students into rediscovering things for themselves, such as the pythagorean theorm, which by today's starndard might be like asking a 16 year old questions and guilding and correcting their logic to lead them to rediscover E=mc2 kind of on their own. It doesn't seem like a big deal, but then some of his students went on to become some of the greatest minds ever. I wonder, what would happen to today's thinking students if they were taught in this way, rather than just told this is how things are without the real explanation as to why? We belive things like E=mc2 are way beyond most people's capablility, yet maybe it's just a matter of logic and questions and most importantly, learning to believe in the power of them. I want to share something with anyone who is willing that was shared with me, a discovery unlike any other, but more importantly, belief. I'll start with the general clues and you begin attempting to figure it out yourself, I'll add more clues later and answer questions unless no one is interested, but I can say without a doubt that it is probably among the greatest discoveries of all time and is unknown to most, and considered way beyond the capablility of most anyone. The puzzle has to do with gravity, and the question is how does gravity work? Not what does gravity do, but how it actually works. To give you a hint on just how important this is, ask yourself, if we truly understood gravity why can we not do much with it unlike electricity or light or magnetism or nuclear forces? Here are some pointers to start with: All matter is composed of positive and negative charges in some kind of relationship, and in motion. Gravitational forces diminish to the square of the distance like electromagnetic forces. Meaning as 2 objects approach each other the force between them curves upward dramatically like falling out of earth orbit and plummeting to the ground. Wether it's 2 galaxies or just 2 atoms seperated by a distance there is still a gravitational force between them, and so the mechanism of it must lie within both, or one. It's easier to understand things to break them down into their simplest essential elements. So for the sake of simplicity could atoms be thought of as magnets? What would magnets do if...? Gravity always attracts. What goes up must come down. Man will never fly.
If you have proof you have to pursue it! LA DEE FRICKIN DA!!!

unenlightened
psychobabble

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Posted 06/30/08 - 08:08 PM:	#2
Thanks for the pointers, but you forgot to ask a question, Socrates.
The observer is the observed. J Krishnamurti "Philosophy, to the Philistine, is an evolutionary process, watched over by some sort of brisk dynamic Providence, and culminating in the supreme insight of modern thought." John Cowper Powys

thinkingnow
Aspirant

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Posted 07/25/08 - 07:54 PM:	#3
I wonder, what would happen to today's thinking students if they were taught in this way, rather than just told this is how things are without the real explanation as to why? Yeah that's so true, I am also wondering why in school we never get questions that require us to write a correct answer or examinations where they ask you certain questions and you have to give an answer. Shame on those who teach us. Also, a 16 year old is perfectly capable of comprehending the logic behind E=MC^2, so why can't we ask them the appropriate questions so they can understand it?

Verybadman?
Student

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Posted 08/10/08 - 03:57 AM:	#4
What you've brought to the table is very interesting, and I do agree that problem based learning is a very effective way of learning. With regards to the problem - it seems from the evidence given, one can deduce that gravity would have to be, or at least in close relation to magnetism itself. By definition magnetism is the attraction between two entities or species (in chemical terms).

Virtue
Meus vitualemen

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Posted 08/14/08 - 04:22 PM:	#5
Hello JAMMIEG, JAMMIEG wrote: If I remember right, socrates had a trick he used on his pupils to teach them, not what to think but how to think. He beleived that if one asked the right questions and applied reasoning they could find the truth in anything; he used this method to guide his students into rediscovering things for themselves, such as the pythagorean theorm, which by today's starndard might be like asking a 16 year old questions and guilding and correcting their logic to lead them to rediscover E=mc2 kind of on their own. From what I understand Socrates spent many years philosophising and came to a conclusion of the following, in his own words : '' I know everything in that I know nothing ''. You all know this. Socrates obviously then, taught his students with the same philosophical mindset. He taught, unless I'm sorely mistaken, that one should never assume, only question. One must never tell answers, only ask the questions. He taught that there is only one truth : There are no truths. And because of this, he taught his students that they should base logic on logic, ethic on ethic, and philosophy on reason as a whole ; not base them on what they had been taught about life. That they should ignore what they were taught during their lives, and learn it on their own. It doesn't seem like a big deal, but then some of his students went on to become some of the greatest minds ever. Some of the greatest things and miracles in the world happen because of something that doesn't seem ' a big deal ' . I wonder, what would happen to today's thinking students if they were taught in this way, rather than just told this is how things are without the real explanation as to why? I would suggest two things : 1 - Mankind would get much much wiser 2 - Mankind would get much much worse It is important that the reason in learning is applied properly, reason misaplied leads to just that : Misaplied reason in life. We belive things like E=mc2 are way beyond most people's capablility, yet maybe it's just a matter of logic and questions and most importantly, learning to believe in the power of them. Sadly pessimism is human nature. It's always ' It can't be done ' , ' That's impossible ' , and most often ' That won't work ' . Ironically if mankind was to use reason in the first place, it would realise it is capable of absolutely anything, especially intellectual advancement. - Thanks, Take care
The blind man see's more than the man who can see ever will, because he see's the world for what it is ; an illusion.

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