Socratic irony
- noun
- /səˈkrætɪk ˈaɪrəni/
- Formal
:
ironía socrática
- During the debate, he used Socratic irony to gently expose gaps in his opponent's logic.
Examples
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The philosopher skillfully applied Socratic irony to reveal the flaws in the politician's reasoning.
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Through Socratic irony, she led her class to recognize their own contradictions.
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In his debate, John used Socratic irony to challenge his opponent's claims.
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Can you explain how Socratic irony works?
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The teacher employed Socratic irony during the debate to reveal the contradictions in her students' arguments.
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In the discussion, he used Socratic irony to challenge his friend's assumptions by asking seemingly innocent questions.
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Through Socratic irony, the philosopher effectively highlighted the weaknesses in the politician's stance on education.
Synonyms
165
4.1
Saying the opposite of what you mean to be funny or critical
The use of words that say the opposite of what you mean in speech or writing
Surface Forms
Morphology
The parts give a partial clue: 'Socratic' signals a Socrates-style method and 'irony' signals a form of saying something contrary, so a learner can infer this is a kind of ironic technique. However, the specific pragmatic tactic—feigning ignorance or questioning to expose contradictions—is a specialized rhetorical notion not fully predictable from the constituents and requires cultural/academic knowledge, so it is only partially transparent to a B1 learner.
Etymology
Socratic irony comes from the teacher Socrates, who used a form of irony by acting as if he did not know answers. By asking simple questions while seeming to 'pretend not to know', he made others 'show their mistakes', so today the phrase means to reveal weak or contradictory ideas.