Legal Education, Feminist Epistemology, and the Socratic Method

Abstract

I have been asked to comment on the papers presented by Judith Resnik and Deborah Rhode. Deborah and Judith have both demonstrated how certain elements of feminist theory would move us toward transformations of legal education, and of law practice as well. I would like to talk about the contribution made by another aspect of feminist theory: the feminist critique of mainstream epistemology.1 First, I'll say a few words about how Deborah's and Judith's transformative goals rest on a feminist epistemology, and then I will turn to a more specific example of transformation. The Socratic method is perhaps the clearest expression of mainstream epistemological assumptions in traditional legal education. I'd like to explore whether a feminist Socratic method is possible and what it might look like.