Chapter 15. Socrates in the Armed Forces: the Role of the Socratic Dialogue in Military Training

Abstract

The classical Greek philosopher Socrates (470-399 B.C.E.) would be surprised if he knew how many people, more than two thousand years after his death, are still discussing the dialogue form that bears his name. Socratic dialogues are held today in schools, universities and training centres. This chapter describes precisely what a Socratic dialogue is and how Socrates himself applied it. The importance of Socrates' ability to teach his collocutors to think is extrapolated with the help of Hannah Arendt's vision of Socrates. The chapter discusses the moral dimension of the Socratic dialogue, after which explains why such a dialogue does not lead to relativism as is sometimes believed. It illustrates these points with a short discussion of how the Socratic method can be put into practice, and concludes by answering the question of whether this form of dialogue is suitable for the different echelons in the armed forces. Keywords: armed forces; Hannah Arendt's vision; relativism; Socratic dialogue