Maieutic Ideas Method Bringing Thought Midwife May Yoo Tik Adjective

adjective

Relating to or resembling the Socratic method of eliciting new ideas from another.

["Maieutic" comes from "maieutikos," the Greek word for "of midwifery." In one of Plato's "Dialogues," Socrates applies "maieutikos" to his method of bringing forth new ideas by reasoning and dialogue; he thought the technique analogous to those a midwife uses in delivering a baby (Socrates' mother was a midwife). A teacher who uses maieutic methods can be thought of as an intellectual midwife who assists students in bringing forth ideas and conceptions previously latent in their minds.]

"I am grateful to him for his maieutic inquiry about my own views, which had not crystallized." — From an article by William F. Buckley, Jr., in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, December 27, 1973