Some scholars take this critique even further, contending that the very expectation of dialog
between members of different cultures constitutes an act of cultural imperialism, however benign it
may seem. Comparative political theorist Jenco, for instance, points out that the privileging of
speech excludes cultural traditions that place greater value on other means of communication:
Practices that capture what cannot be expressed adequately in words–whether because too
sublime (as are some religious truths), too complicated, or because so instantiated in practice
that it is not comprehensible through language to begin with–can be acknowledged only with
difficulty:::. Practices that complement text-based interpretative traditions, or that constitute
traditions of their own–practices like imitation, ritual, dance, or other forms of non-verbal
expression–are rendered silent, passed over in favor of text-based reconstructions of
individual utterances.^22In merely assuming the priority of dialog over other modes of communication, the Socratic method,
on this view, favors a single set of cultural norms. It presumes that truth-seeking must take place
within a dialogic form. This critique likely owes its origins to works likeThe Birth of Tragedy from
the Spirit of Music, in which Nietzsche blames Socrates and Plato for initiating a corrosive shift
away from the Dionysian, life-giving art of tragedy to the rigidly intellectual activity of philosophy.
By implying the supremacy of giving an account of one’s reasons, the Socratic method allegedly
denies the validity of truths that cannot be thusly communicated.
It would be impossible to deny that the very structure of the Socratic method favors ques-
tioning, individual thinking, and discourse. By using the Socratic method in the classroom,
teachers therefore may be justly accused of privileging certain normative values over others. Yet,
as with the linguistic imperialism critique, this critique seems inescapable no matter which
teaching method one employs. A Confucian teacherimposes the ideals of authority, tradition, and
conformity for the sake of social harmony. A teacher whose courses heavily involve ritual dance
privileges non-verbal discourse over verbal discourse. No teaching method can be neutral; no
teaching method develops within a normative vacuum. Insofar as the Western philosophical
tradition is implicated in a long history of imperial conquest (although some prominent Western
philosophers resisted this movement), perhaps one ought to be more concerned about using
teaching methods from this tradition than from others. Yet, in Plato’s dialogs Socrates often
exposes the contradictions inherent in imperialism.^23 To implicate the Socratic method in
Western imperialism simply because it is of Western origin therefore seems problematic. Though
scholars often regard Western political thought as having originated with Socrates and Plato, this
does not mean their philosophies bear responsibility for every injustice Westerners have com-
mitted. To be sure, critics perform a valuable service by calling our attention to the norms
underlying the Socratic method–stripping practitioners of the false notion that the Socratic
method, or any teaching method, acts as a“neutral”tool. This in itself does not, however, con-
stitute a legitimate reason for abandoning the Socratic method. If it does, then any teacher who
does not use teaching methods from the cultures of the various students in her classroom is
behaving in an exclusionary, oppressive manner.
Additionally, one advantage of the Socratic method, as previously argued, is that it works with
the logic of the specific interlocutors at hand. Though the method favors discourse and the use
of the intellect, Socrates not infrequently appeals to his interlocutors by evoking images and myths.
In theRepublic, Socrates claims he can only provide what“appears to be a child of the good”–i.e.,
the image of the sun–because the“opinions”he himself now holds about it remain beyond the
range of the present discussion (506e). This implies both that Socrates cannot always convey the
greatest truths through dialectic conversation, and that he himself does not entirely grasp these
truths. Hence, contrary to Nietzsche’s criticism of Plato, the dialogs depict Socratic teaching as
reliant upon rather than simply dismissive of artistic or non-rational modes of knowing. At the same
Is Socrates Culturally Imperialistic? 131