maieutic

Maieutic, from the Greek maieutiké meaning midwifery, is a method of questioning and dialogue traditionally associated with Socrates. In the Platonic tradition, he is described as a "midwife of ideas" who helps others give birth to knowledge they already possess rather than transmitting new information. The aim is to elicit clear definitions and justified beliefs by exposing hidden assumptions through careful questioning.

Practitioners or interlocutors engage in a sequence of probing questions to examine concepts such as virtue, justice, or knowledge. The process is collaborative: the facilitator refrains from supplying explicit answers and instead assists the participant in articulating, refining, and reconciling ideas. Through this elicitive dialogue, implicit beliefs are surfaced, contradictions are addressed, and the learner becomes aware of the foundations of their own understanding. Some scholars connect maieutic with anamnesis, the idea that learning is recollection of knowledge already within the soul.

Maieutic is distinguished from the broader dialectical method by its productive aim rather than merely testing opinions. In modern pedagogy and psychotherapy, the term is used to describe guided questioning or facilitation techniques intended to help learners articulate and examine their own ideas rather than passively receiving information. It remains a central concept in discussions of the Socratic method and epistemology.