Most students now use AI in their tertiary studies. AI can also, under certain conditions, answer at least 65% of questions correctly in STEM subjects.
In the humanities, where the whole aim is critical and creative reflection, educators face a thorny question. How do you develop and measure thinking of the kind that a machine could not genuinely imitate?
AI has proven it can answer questions well. But can it ask questions? And can it ask the right questions?
This is the philosophical method at the heart of the work of the Ancient Greek philosopher, Plato. His Socratic method of teaching is, perhaps, the mode of thinking we need to emulate in our teaching and learning today.
The great questions
Plato wrote dialogues: texts that read (in nearly every case) like a conversation between Socrates (Plato’s teacher) and a partner drawn into conversation by Socrates after claiming to know something about living a good and virtuous life.
There is a dialogue for all the great philosophical questions: what justice is; what courage or love really requires; what makes a good friend; and even how we acquire knowledge.
In each case the conversation is set by Socrates, who questions someone who seems to possess knowledge about a certain thing, or who has come to Socrates for advice.
It is not just the...