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Feigned Ignorance: Socratic Irony Defned

Have your parents ever pretended not to know about something you'd

done, only to ask you a series of seemingly innocent questions leading to

your inevitable confession? They may not realize it, but parents everywhere

employ Socratic irony to get to the bottom of things, since it is the practiceof simulating ignorance in order to reveal the errors in another person's

viewpoint or argument

There are several types of 'irony' out there, but Socratic irony is the

one that started it all The !reek term eironeia was "rst used by #lato in his

$epublic %c &( )*+ to refer to the type of 'feigned ignorance' so often

displayed by Socrates This famous !reek philosopher on whom #lato's

dialogues centered was in the habit of pretending to know much less than he

actually did hile also subtly ingratiating himself to his various

interlocutors, Socrates would play dumb, asking them a series of ostensibly

harmless questions related to the particular topic of the day )y carefully

choosing the questions he posed, though, Socrates was able to use the

answers his fellow conversationalists provided to demonstrate their true lack

of knowledge in areas where they often claimed to be e-perts

Socrates employed this method of questioning not to make his

companions look foolish %although he doesn't seem to mind it+, but rather as

a means of directing people on their own paths to the truth .or this reason,

in the world of education, the act of using series of questions to guide

students toward an answer instead of simply providing them with it is known

as the Socratic /ethod However, Socratic irony may also be used in a

manner comparable to your parents' implementation of it 0n the case of your

parents or perhaps a detective, Socratic irony's purpose is to e-pose the

truth that the person being questioned is trying to hide, but which the

interrogator already knows 1eep reading to see how this sort of irony is used

by both its originator, as well as a famous T2 detective3

What Is Socratic Irony?

Socratic irony is a particular device often used in rhetoric in which oneperson pretends to be ignorant about an issue to lure the other person intoe-plaining it 0n a debate or argument, for e-ample, two people may holddi4ering points of view about a particular sub5ect 6ne of the two participantsmay then pretend that he or she does not understand an important aspect ofthe sub5ect, and ask the other person to e-plain it 7s the other persone-plains it, the "rst participant then comments on weaknesses inherent in

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the other person8s argument and has used Socratic irony to make him or herreveal them

0n general, the term 9irony: typically refers to an idea in whichsomething seems to mean one thing but actually means another 2erbal

irony, for e-ample, is typically an e-pression in which someone sayssomething while meaning the opposite of that thing 0f a person talks tosomeone else about a hated rival, he or she may state ironically, 96h, he'smy best friend: hile Socratic irony refers to a similarly deceptive concept,the purpose of it is to disarm an opponent in an argument or debate in orderto make them damage their own position

The most basic use of Socratic irony takes the form of one person in anargument feigning ignorance about a particular aspect of the argument 6neof the most important aspects of this method is that the ignorance is notreal; the person using Socratic irony should actually know a great deal about

the sub5ect 0n pretending that he or she does not, however, the opponent inan argument or debate can gain a false sense of con"dence 7s the "rstperson pretends to be ignorant about the sub5ect, he then asks the otherperson to e-plain it to him or her

hen the second person in the debate begins to e-plain the issue thatthe "rst has pretended to be ignorant of, then the "rst person can beginweakening the argument Socratic irony allows someone to step back from atopic or argument, especially one that has become emotional or irrational,and to start at the foundation of an issue Someone arguing for gun control,for e-ample, might pretend that he or she does not fully understand the laws

or legal precedents that have been used to establish any forms of guncontrol in his or her country 7s the other person begins to discuss them, theperson using Socratic irony can then point out