However, this does not imply the discussions in the dialog are haphazard or simple random
deductive exercises. Plato’s dialogs are carefully constructed to mimic the dialectical activity of
human reflection. This is especially relevant for reflecting on moral questions, which in its purest
form, is a social activity requiring people comingtogethertodiscussandexamineopinions,
regardless of outcomes.
If we are to mimic Socrates’example, it is significant that the interlocutor Socrates never directly
addresses how to go about this kind of questioning. As Seeskin puts it:“our knowledge of elenchus
is derived from watching Socrates in action.”^32 From Seeskin’s perspective, the action of the
dialogs reveals not a methodper se, but an approach to questioning that remains subject to rules of
argumentation, such as not engaging in hypotheticals and remaining logically consistent, even if
views change. The quality of the logic of the argument remains the crucial factor in the search for
essences or questioning the truth of opinions.
In contrast, Cain takes the view of“Socrates in action”a step further by arguing that as a
philosopher-dramatist-poet, Plato unavoidably incorporates poetic and dramatic elements into the
fabric of his philosophic themes to educate the entire soul in the process of moral improvement.^33
Cain further argues Socrates never relies solely on straightforward deductive or inductive logic, but
unlike the contemporary method that demands transparency and clarity, Socrates employs such
techniques as intentional ambiguity, exaggerated speech, sophistic forensic style, or shameful
examples to engage and challenge his interlocutors. Hence, the dramatic form is“exemplary
Platonic philosophizing,”in which the dramatic level or“internal frame”is central to understanding
his philosophy.^34
It is possible, however, to take the relevance of Plato as the philosopher-dramatist-poet a step
further than Cain by drawing attention to the relevance of dramatic context. As has been noted many
times, despite his critique of the poets in such dialogs as theRepublic, Plato himself employs not
just a poetic style in the craft of the dialog, but Socrates makes continual reference to poets and
employs myth as part of his argument in the dialogs.^35 Socrates will resort to myth in cases in which
human knowledge is impossible, such as afterlife myths found at the end of several dialogs
(Apology, 40c–42a;Gorgias, 523a–27e;Republic, 613b–21c). In other examples, such as the myth
of the metals in theRepublic(414c–17b), Socrates provides a“how to”guide for crafting“useful”
stories of political origin. In other cases, however, Socrates appears to use myth or stories as an
elaboration on, or as part of, the logical content of the ongoing discussion. In this case, Socrates tells
such stories as elaborate allegories or, as he calls them,“images”(eikonos)(Republic, 487e).
Significantly the stories Socrates tells in this context are often the most memorable parts of his
dialogs and the most easily recalled by students long after the details of his logical argument fade.
As such, storytelling may prove to be the most essential aspect of mimicking Socrates’technique of
questioning opinions, especially as part of the ongoing social activity of human conversation
regarding the most important things.
Socratic Method: The Storytelling
The Pilot and the Sailors
As Plato has Socrates admit to his interlocutors, one of the most provocative arguments he makes in
theRepublicis his digression into the details of the city in speech in Book Five. The wealthy metic
Polemarchus prods Adeimantus into demanding Socrates revisit his comment in Book Four (424a)
that in a just city women and children will be held in common. The discussion of the city in speech
began in the interlocutors’attempt to understand the origin of justice and injustice. Cities or pol-
itical communities come into being because each of us is not self-sufficient, but in need of much
(369b). Thus, because specialization creates finer work and each of us is not the same but differs in
our nature, it seems (dokei) to Socrates, that justice is performing the function in the city best suited
Poetic Questions in the Socratic Method 13