Word-Built World: Maieutic

ma·ieu·tic/ˌmāˈyo͞odək/adjectiveadjective: maieutic

  1. of or denoting the Socratic mode of inquiry, which aims to bring a person’s latent ideas into clear consciousness.

nounplural noun: maieutics; plural noun: maieutic

  1. the maieutic method.

Origin

mid 17th century: from Greek maieutikos, from maieuesthai ‘act as a midwife’, from maia ‘midwife’.

One thought on “Word-Built World: Maieutic”

  1. Always nice to meet a new word.

    The definition of this one contains a particularly interesting sub-definition, that the Socratic mode of inquiry aims to bring a person’s latent ideas into clear consciousness.

    With all due respect to the Socratic method, it always seemed to me that the questions were intended to elicit agreement with Socrates’ ideas in a way that would not be likely if S. had tried a more direct approach. This is because the other person in the dialog had already registered doubt or skepticism.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *