ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the troubled relationship and complex reception of the Socratic method during the American Founding. Although the Socratic method is touted as fostering critical thinking in American classrooms, it was not universally admired during the time of the American Founding and even seen by a small number as dangerous to religion. For example, James Madison believed that that the Socratic method was too coarse and belligerent a method for modern times; Ben Franklin warned that the Socratic method created good scholars rather than good citizens; Abigail Adams thought that the Socratic method should be disregarded for more practical studies; and Publius in Federalist 55 warns about the limits of reason and philosophy in a democracy: “Had every Athenian citizen been a Socrates; every Athenian assembly would still have been a mob.” This problematic relationship between the young American republic and the Socratic method has led to a subtle transformation of what the Socratic method means for Americans today, turning a quest for self-knowledge into a technique for individual critical thinking and self-expression.
