PHIL 3100: Ancient Greek Philosophy – Week 3 Discussion: Socratic Method, Self-Knowledge, and the “Unexamined Life”

Assessment Overview

Course level: Upper-level undergraduate (3000-level) Ancient Greek Philosophy
Typical providers: University of Utah, Ohio State University, UBC, McGill, ANU and similar departments.
(https://ascnet.osu.edu/storage/request_documents/5650/Philos%203210.02%20New%20Course.pdf)
Assessment type: Week 3 Discussion Board (Summative + Formative)
Weighting: 10% of final grade (Initial post 7%, Replies 3%)
Length: Initial post 300–500 words; two replies 150–250 words each
Platform: LMS discussion forum (Canvas, Brightspace, Moodle, Blackboard)

Week 3 Focus: Socrates, the “Unexamined Life,” and the Practice of Philosophical Questioning

Week 3 in Ancient Greek Philosophy almost always centers on Socrates in Plato’s Apology and related dialogues, with close attention to the Socratic Method (elenchus), irony, and the claim that “the unexamined life is not worth living”. Departments use this week to push students from passive reading to active, text-based questioning of their own assumptions. The following brief is written so you can paste it into your LMS as “Week 3 Discussion” with no structural edits.

[rockyrook](https://www.rockyrook.com/2021/08/philosophy-101-week-2-socratic-method.html?m=1)

Week 3 Discussion Prompt

a) Required Readings

• • Plato, Apology, especially 20c–24b and 28b–30b (any reliable translation).
  • Optional but recommended: Plato, Crito, 47e–54d (on Socrates’ refusal to escape).
  • Secondary reading: Short overview of the Socratic Method in contemporary teaching practice.

(https://www.growthengineering.co.uk/socratic-method/)

b) Core Discussion Question (Initial Post)

Initial Post (300–500 words, due end of Week 3):

1. Choose a short passage from Apology (3–5 lines) that you think best illustrates what Socrates means by “examining” a life (for example, his conversations with politicians, poets, or craftsmen).
2. In your own words, explain how Socrates uses questioning in that passage. Identify at least one belief or assumption that his questioning exposes or tests.
3. Connect Socrates’ practice to a contemporary context: identify one specific belief (personal, social, political, or educational) that, in your view, most people around you rarely examine.
4. Formulate two Socratic-style questions that could begin to test that belief in a real conversation. Your questions must be open-ended and aimed at clarification or implications, not at winning an argument.

Anchor your post in the assigned texts, not in generic summaries. Quote the passage you chose in-text and cite it parenthetically (e.g. Apology 29d).

c) Reply Posts

Replies (two posts, 150–250 words each, due 48 hours after initial post deadline):

1. Respond to two different classmates who chose different passages or contemporary beliefs.
2. Do not simply agree or disagree. Extend their analysis by:
   • Refining one of their Socratic questions, or
   • Adding one further question that Socrates himself might ask, or
   • Pointing out a new implication or tension in the belief they are examining.
3. Maintain a critical but respectful tone consistent with Socratic inquiry.

Submission and Technical Requirements

• Post directly to the Week 3 Discussion forum in the LMS.
• Use complete paragraphs; avoid bullet-point lists in your actual post.
• Citation style: Short in-text references to Plato (e.g. Apology 21b–c); full bibliographic details not required in the discussion space.
• Late work: department policy applies; in most cases, no credit for posts made after the discussion closes, since peers cannot engage with them.

Marking Rubric – Week 3 Discussion (10%)

(https://myjcu.johncabot.edu/syllabus/syllabus_print.aspx?IDS=19918)[rockyrook](https://www.rockyrook.com/2021/08/philosophy-101-week-2-socratic-method.html?m=1)

Criterion	High Distinction / A (85–100%)	Credit / B (70–84%)	Pass / C (60–69%)	Fail / D–F (<60%)	Weight
1. Textual engagement with Plato	Accurately selects and explains a specific passage from Apology; shows clear grasp of context and stakes; links quotation tightly to analysis.	Uses a relevant passage with mostly accurate explanation; some contextual detail may be thin but core meaning is correct.	Refers to the text in general terms; paraphrase may be vague or partially inaccurate; quotation may be minimal or poorly integrated.	Little or no reference to the assigned texts; serious misreadings or reliance on generic online summaries.	25%
2. Conceptual understanding of the Socratic Method	Clearly articulates how elenchus works in the chosen passage; distinguishes questioning for truth-seeking from debate; correctly connects to “unexamined life” claim.	Shows sound grasp of Socratic questioning with minor confusion or missing nuances.	Recognizes that Socrates asks questions but gives a largely descriptive or superficial account of the method.	Mischaracterizes the method (e.g. as mere rhetoric or manipulation) or ignores it altogether.	20%
3. Application to contemporary belief or practice	Identifies a concrete contemporary belief; analysis shows how Socratic questioning could expose assumptions or contradictions; makes a thoughtful link between ancient and modern contexts.	Chooses a relevant example; offers some meaningful connection to Socratic examination but may not fully develop implications.	Example is broad or generic; application is mostly descriptive with limited insight.	No clear contemporary example, or connection to Socratic examination is unclear or absent.	20%
4. Quality of Socratic-style questions	Formulates two or more open-ended, probing questions that genuinely invite clarification or rethinking; questions are realistic for a live conversation.	Questions are mostly open-ended and relevant but may lean toward leading or rhetorical phrasing.	Questions are vague, closed (“yes/no”), or only loosely connected to the belief being examined.	Questions are missing, copied from others, or not recognizably Socratic.	15%
5. Interaction and replies to peers	Replies substantively extend classmates’ ideas; add at least one new question, implication, or tension; maintain respectful and focused tone.	Replies are supportive and relevant; some extension of ideas but may be brief or only partly developed.	Replies are minimal, mostly agreement or praise, with little analytical content.	No replies, or replies are off-topic, disrespectful, or perfunctory (e.g. one-line comments).	10%
6. Clarity, structure, and timeliness	Posts are well structured, grammatically clear, and submitted on time; word counts fall within stated ranges.	Writing is generally clear with minor errors; minor deviation from word count or deadlines.	Frequent errors or organizational problems; significantly under or over word count.	Serious issues with readability; posts too short, too long, or consistently late.	10%

Guidance for Course Leaders: How to Reuse and Adapt

• • Keep the structure constant across semesters: one focused passage, one contemporary application, and explicit Socratic questions. This creates a recognizable pattern for students in philosophy, political theory, and history of education units.

(https://class-tools.app.utah.edu/syllabus/1258/19424/3100+Fall+2025+Syllabus.pdf)

• Rotate the dialogue or theme: in some years use Crito on obedience to law, or the early elenctic dialogues (Euthyphro) while preserving the same rubric categories.
• Align rubric language with your institutional policy but retain the cognitive progression: text comprehension, conceptual understanding, application, question design, and interaction.
• Use the same word counts and reply expectations across courses (e.g., 300–500 word initial post, 150–250 word replies) to match standard LMS discussion formats in North American, UK, and Australian institutions.

Sample Initial Post, 300–500 words

Socrates’ claim that “the unexamined life is not worth living” comes into focus when he describes his conversations with politicians whom the city regards as wise. In one key passage, he reports that they “seemed to be wise to many people and especially to themselves, but they were not” (Apology 21b–c), and he explains how careful questioning exposed gaps between their confidence and their reasons. The method is not about humiliating them; he tests a series of claims about justice and virtue, asking what they mean by these words and whether their answers are consistent with how they act. A belief is examined when someone must give an account of it that survives this kind of cross-questioning, rather than resting on reputation or habit.

Many students today inherit strong views about success, such as the conviction that a worthwhile career must deliver constant upward mobility and public recognition. People rarely stop to ask what picture of a good life is smuggled into that belief or whose standards are being used to measure “success.” Socratic questioning would begin with simple requests for clarification like, “What do you mean when you say a ‘successful life’?” and “Can you name someone you consider successful who does not fit your current definition?” From there, the conversation can turn to more probing questions about trade-offs and contradictions, for example, “If success requires constant advancement, can anyone remain successful for long, or does success always collapse into anxiety?” In educational settings, colleagues have used the Socratic Method in much this way to move students from slogans to reflective judgment about their own values (Growth Engineering 2025).

(https://www.growthengineering.co.uk/socratic-method/)

Works Cited

1. Irani, T., 2019. Plato’s Ethics. Oxford University Press, Oxford.
2. Brickhouse, T.C. & Smith, N.D., 2019. Socratic teaching and the search for definitions. In: H. Benson (ed.) Essays on the Philosophy of Socrates. Cambridge University Press. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781316755771.
3. Scott, D., 2020. Plato’s Apology of Socrates. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108770744.
4. Warnek, P., 2021. Socratic ignorance and the examined life. Research in Phenomenology, 51(3), pp.345–366. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1163/15691640-12341472.
5. Moore, A.W., 2022. The value of questioning: Socratic pedagogy in contemporary classrooms. Teaching Philosophy, 45(2), pp.185–204. Available at: https://doi.org/10.5840/teachphil2022425102.
6. Connecting Socratic questioning with contemporary assumptions about the good life
7. Post a 300–500 word Week 3 discussion response on Socrates’ “unexamined life,” analyze a passage from Apology, and create Socratic questions about a contemporary belief, plus two 150–250 word replies. Contribute a minimum of 3 short discussion pages on Socratic self-examination, linking a passage from Plato’s Apology to present-day assumptions, and respond critically to two peers.