Hello, my name is Mrs. Rawbone, and I would like to welcome you today to our lesson on Socrates: Questioning Worldviews.

We are going to be looking at Socrates, the ancient Greek philosopher, and how he was one of the first recorded philosophers to really get people to think deeply about their worldviews.

We're gonna be tackling some challenging skills, but together, I know that we can achieve some great things.

So our learning outcome today is that by the end of the lesson, you will be able to explain how Socratic questioning and encourages critical thinking and how it challenges existing worldviews.

So let's think about what keywords we will need in today's lesson.

The first word we'll be using on our list today is critical thinking.

We're also going to be talking about Socrates, about Socratic questioning, and using the word worldview.

Critical thinking is the ability to think clearly and make good decisions.

Socrates was an ancient Greek philosopher, famous for his style of questioning.

Socratic questioning was a teaching style attributed to Socrates that involves asking questions.

And worldview is a person's way of understanding, experiencing, and responding to the world.

Today's lesson will be split into two parts.

In the first section of today's lesson, we will look at how Socrates challenged a worldview.

And in the second, we will be considering his tool for thinking about worldviews.

So let's get started on the first part of our lesson, how Socrates challenged a worldview.

Here you can see an image of a very famous painting called "The School of Athens," which was painted by an artist called Raphael between 1509 and 1511.

This was during a period called the Renaissance, which means rebirth.

And it was a time when many very ancient ideas were being rediscovered and celebrated.

Raphael was painting philosophers who now lived over 2,000 years ago from today, and he painted them because collectively, all of these philosophers had a very large impact on the worldviews he was experiencing, and they continue to impact on modern worldviews today.

In the fifth and fourth centuries BCE, Athens became home to many great thinkers like Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle.

Here you can see a map of Europe, and here you can see the location of Athens.

So let's look more closely at Raphael's painting.

Socrates is shown in the background of this painting over towards the left, and he lived from 470 to 399.

On the closeup, you can see him in the brown robes turned sideways using his famous method of questioning to understand what we can know.

Towards the very centre of the painting in the pinkish coloured robes, we have with the grey beard Socrates' student Plato, who live from 427 to 347 BCE, and he is pointing up towards the sky.

Aristotle is on his left, on our right, in the blue robes, and he lived from 384 to 322 BCE, and he was Plato's student.

His hand is extended outward.

And here we see a contrast between two very different ways to understanding knowledge.

Plato was concentrating on the abstract, the ideal pointing up towards the heavens as though what we can know is beyond this.

And Aristotle pointing towards the ground was interested in practical observation.

Now, Raphael deliberately painted these three most famous of the Greek philosophers together in the same room, although they and everyone else would never have been all in the same room at the same time.

In fact, Socrates was much earlier than Plato, even though Plato might look older in the painting, and he and Aristotle only crossed over by a few years.

But there was a reason why Rafael chose to paint all of these three philosophers in the same picture together.

Have a think about why that might be.

Pause the video and come back to me.

Yes, that's right.

Raphael was interested in showing how influential all of these ancient philosophical ideas were on the worldviews that he was interested in at the time.

And these are ideas that are still influential to us today.

So let's check your understanding.

What was the teacher-student relationship between Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle? Was it A, Socrates taught Plato and Plato taught Aristotle? Was it B, Plato taught Socrates and Socrates taught Aristotle? Or was it C, Aristotle taught Socrates and Socrates taught Plato.

Pause the video, take a moment to jot down your answer and then come back to me.

Well done if you said A, Socrates taught Plato and Plato taught Aristotle.

Although all three are pictured together, they actually followed consecutively from each other, one after the other.

One interesting fact about Socrates is that unlike other philosophers who came after him, he didn't write down his teachings.

Instead, he engaged in discussions about ethics and knowledge.

His ideas greatly influenced many people, including his famous pupil Plato, who recorded many of their conversations and many of the conversations that Socrates had with other people too.

He was a well-known figure who often wandered through the bustling marketplace of Athens, which was a lively place filled with merchants, artisans, and townsfolk going about their daily lives.

Socrates was well known, not just for his unusual appearance, his unkempt hair, his worn sandals and robes, but for his curious mind and his insatiable thirst for knowledge.

He didn't have a job, but he lived a very simple life and he seems to have survived on handouts from his wealthy friends.

Now, Socrates believed that most Athenians accepted their beliefs without questioning them, and this he saw as dangerous.

He famously declared the unexamined life is not worth living.

Now, at the time, most Athenians believed in many Gods, performing rituals and sacrifices in their honour.

But Socrates challenge this worldview by questioning whether the gods truly existed.

He urged people to examine their worldviews and seek truth through reason rather than by blindly following tradition.

When Socrates said the unexamined life was not worth living, he was using exactly the same word as we do when we translate what he said in Greek.

So it comes from the Greek word that he would have used originally.

Unexamined has two parts to it, un meaning not, and examined meaning tested.

So examined relates to the word exams that we use today where we test and try out our knowledge.

Take a moment.

What do you think Socrates meant when he talked about the unexamined life? Pause and come back to me.

That's right, Socrates was talking about the kind of worldviews and life where people just accepted what they were presented with without testing it out, without challenging and seeing if it worked.

So let's check your understanding.

Complete the sentences by adding the correct words.

Socrates asked deep probing to encourage critical thinking.

This method is known as.

Take a moment to write down your answers, pause the video if you need to, and then come back to me.

So let's check your answers.

Well done if you wrote down questions and Socratic questioning.

Socrates asked deep probing questions to encourage critical thinking.

This method is known as Socratic questioning.

So Socrates' whole approach to life was centred on critically examining ideas and encouraging people to live more thoughtfully.

He tried to help them achieve a better understanding of their own worldview through the use of questioning and dialogue.

When confronted with a statement like, "Everyone should obey authority," Socrates might ask, "Why should we obey? What if the authority is wrong?" He wanted to push people to consider the consequences of their beliefs and to ensure that they had strong reasons for holding them.

If he were told being rich is good, Socrates might respond, "Does it bring happiness or does it bring problems?" He believed that making assumptions and just accepting values without thinking about them could lead people astray.

If someone claimed that lying is always bad, Socrates might ask, "Do all lies cause harm?" He encouraged his fellow citizens to avoid making assumptions and instead to think deeply about the truth behind their beliefs.

So let's have a go at a task and practise what we have learned.

Sofia is explaining her worldview.

She says, "I think it's not always wrong to lie.

It can be acceptable in some situations." So I would like you to think carefully about Sofia's worldview where she says, "It's not always wrong to lie," and I'd like to think about one way in which someone might challenge what she thinks.

So take some time, pause the video and explain one reason why someone might challenge Sofia's worldview, what she's thinking on the question of lying.

Pause the video and come back to me when you are ready.

So let's have a look at how you did on your answer.

There are a few things that you could have said.

Here's one example.

One reason someone might challenge this worldview is that Sofia has not considered the consequences of thinking it is not always wrong to lie.

Lying could lead to someone not trusting you, and it often leads to more lies, creating bigger problems in the long run.

Well done if you said something like this, or if you have an alternative suggestion of how someone could get Sofia to think a little bit more deeply about what she has said here.

We've learned how Socrates challenged a worldview, and now we're going to look in more depth at the tool he has left us with for thinking about worldviews.

Socratic questioning is a back and forth dialogue.

It might be good with Socrates asking a question such as, "What is courage?" This would prompt Socrates' companion to provide an answer.

Perhaps they might have said it's facing your fears, but rather than leave the answer there, Socrates would probe further.

He might ask something along the lines of, "Can you explain that more?" His companion would again be prompted to reply.

This time, he might go a little bit deeper explaining it's doing brave things even if you're scared.

Again, that wouldn't be enough for Socrates and he would challenge his companion even further, perhaps asking something such as, "Is it still courage if someone jumps into danger without thinking?" Of course, the companion will be led into replying again.

Perhaps he would say, "Maybe not, that could be reckless." Not yet satisfied, Socrates would likely ask another question.

In this example, he asks, "So does courage involve thinking before acting?" Again, his companion is pushed to think more deeply.

Finally, he has a clearer answer of what he means by courage and says, "Yes, courage means being wise about when to act." So Socratic questions are designed to get someone to think critically about their worldview.

There are lots of different types of Socratic questions.

Here are a few examples.

There are questions asking for clarification, making things clearer.

There are questions about reasons, explaining why.

There are questions about consequences, thinking about the results.

And there are questions about the question itself, reflecting on what is being asked.

So let's have a look at some Socratic questions.

What is wisdom? This is an example of a question of clarification, making things clearer.

Why is wisdom knowing many things? This is a question about reasons.

Would this mean someone who has knowledge but doesn't use it is wise? This is a question about consequences.

What happens next? Why is wisdom important? This is a question about the question itself.

So let's check we've understood the different styles of Socratic questions.

Think about the question, what do you think wisdom is, and decide which type of Socratic question it is.

Is it A, a question of clarification, making things clearer? Is it B, a question about reasons, so about why? Is it C, a question about the consequences, so the results? Or is it D, a question about the question itself? Take a moment to jot down your answer.

Pause the video if you need to, and then come back to me.

Well done if you said it was a question of clarification.

What do you think wisdom is? It's about making things clearer.

What exactly is the person being questioned trying to say? Now, Socrates could have saved himself from dying by drinking the poison, but he chose not to.

He was not prepared to give up his life of questioning.

I'd like you to reflect on everything you've learned about Socrates and how he challenged worldviews.

And just take a moment.

You can talk to someone nearby or you can talk to me.

Pause the video if you need to.

Have a think about why Socrates might have chosen to die rather than to give up questioning.

That's right, Socrates had already said the unexamined life was not worth living.

If you examine something, you ask questions about it, and Socrates did not feel life was worth living unless you asked questions about it.

In this task, there are some styles of Socratic questions that someone might ask in a discussion about good.

I'd like you to look carefully at the information, and I'd like you to match the question style to the example of the question.

So we have on the left of our table the four question styles we've looked at today.

Questions asking for clarification, making things clearer.

Questions about reasons, explaining why.

Questions about consequences, so thinking about the results.

And questions about the question, reflecting.

And the four questions to match up are: A, why should we ask what is good? B, what do you mean by good? C, why do you think pleasure is good? And D, what if something is good for some, but not for others? Take some time to jot down the numbers one to four and then to put what you think the correct letter is near each number.

Pause the video and then come back to me for some answers.

So let's see how you got on.

You should have said that one, questions asking for clarification, the example was B, what do you mean by good? That for two, questions about reasons, our example was C, why do you think pleasure is good? That for three, questions about consequences, our example was D, what if something is good for some, but not for others? And that for four, questions about the question, our example was A, why should we ask what is good? Well done if you've got any of those right, if you matched the question example to the style.

So for the second part of our task, let's think about Sofia's worldview from earlier.

What Socratic questions could you ask Sofia about her worldview that in some situations, it can be acceptable to lie? And you're going to be using the information and completing the sentences on the right.

I'd like you to note down the numbers one to four and to give an example of each type of question that you could ask Sofia about her worldview.

So number one will be a question asking for clarification, and you can use the sentence stem, what do you mean by? Number two will be a question about reasons and you can use the stem, why do you think? Number three, a question about consequences, and you can use the stem, what would happen if? And number four, a question about the question, you can use the stem, why should we ask for this one? So take some time, write down the numbers one to four, pause the video and try and come up with a question that you could ask Sofia to get her to think more deeply about her worldview for each type of question.

Once you have finished, come back to me and we'll have a look at your work together.

So let's check your work.

Now, there are lots of things that you could have said.

Here are just four examples.

You could have asked, what do you mean by lying? Why do you think lying is sometimes acceptable? What would happen if everyone lied? And why should we ask whether it's acceptable to lie? If you've got any of these questions or something similar, then well done because you have challenged Sofia to think more deeply and critically about her worldview.

Well done for completing today's lesson.

Today in Socrates: Questioning Worldviews, you have learned that Socrates was an ancient Greek philosopher who was executed for challenging the established Athenian worldviews.

That Socrates developed Socratic questioning, using it to stimulate critical thinking.

And that Socrates has given us the tool of Socratic questioning to respectfully challenge worldviews.