Socratic Dialogue: Philosophy & Narratives that Improve Our Management Skills (2235.YR.009245.1)

General information

Type:	OPT	Curs:	1	Period:	S semester
ECTS Credits:	5 ECTS

Teaching Staff:

Group	Teacher	Department	Language
Year 1	Sira Abenoza González	Ciencias Sociales	ENG

With this course we want to create a space for slow, respectful and insightful reflection, meaningful conversation, and a profound understanding of one another. We want to provide you with the tools and the time to ponder about the complexities of what makes us human- after all, as Socrates reminds us, an unexamined life is not worth living.

When we stick to prejudices and ideas that do not allow us to have a complex understanding of the world around us, the result is that we do not make the best decisions. Using the Socratic Dialogue methodology we will discuss some of the most important issues that appeal to us all. Each one of the 9 sessions will revolve around a specific topic which you will have explored beforehand.

By looking at what the most important thinkers have said about those matters we will work on improving our ways of thinking, in order to better understand ourselves, refine our thoughts, and appreciate the diversity of opinions that surround them. These exercises will help us improve our capacity to make decisions in complex environments, and thus become better managers and citizens.

The course objectives are:

- Understand the main tools of Socratic Dialogue and be able to implement them both inside and outside the classroom. Identify the main challenges and strengths you face both as a facilitator and a participant of Socratic Dialogue.
- Understand the situations and topics in which Socratic Dialogue is an appropriate tool and why. Be courageous to have difficult conversations.
- Broaden your scope of reflection with the help of classical philosophical and literary texts. Get comfortable with complexity and with the interaction of different areas of knowledge to produce rigorous analysis of today's challenges.
- Get used to reading philosophical, sometimes laborious texts that will require time and effort. Persevere in the face of intellectual challenges.

1. Introduction to the course In the first session of the course we will do an introduction to the methodology that Socrates created and that will be used along the course: Socratic Dialogue. This methodology will allow us to be more aware of our own prejudices and contradictions in order to better elaborate our thoughts.

2. Our Methaphors French writer and poet Anaïn Nin used to say we construct meaning through metaphors. We will lean on her work to get to know each other better.

3. Happines This session will be based on Aristotle. His work will help us guide the discussion about another fundamental topic: happiness. The main question we will try to answer is the following: - What is happiness for me? .

4. Fear In the fourth session we will approach two of the main hellenistic schools of thought: epicureanism and stoicism. Its philosophy will help us solve one of the main problems of the human being: fear. The two main questions we will try to answer are the following: - How does fear condition my decisions? - How can I overcome my fears?

5. Trust After the dialogue around fear, we will talk about a concept that is directly linked to it: trust. The two main questions that philosphy will help us answer are: - What is trust? Where does it come from? - Why is it important? Where do trust issues come from?

6. Conflict In this session, trying to trust each other with our responses, we will approach the sensitive topic of conflict. We will approach the following questions: -What is conflict for you? -Is it possible to live without conflict? -Is conflict always bad? -Do you ever struggle with conflict? .

7. Freedom In this session we will dailogue about another central topic of our existance and one of the main topics philoosphy has wrestled with throughout history: freedom. We are told to be free. But, -Do we feel so? -To what extent are we free? -What is freedom?

8. Success In this session we will question what are our prejudices around the concept of success. - What does being successful mean to me? - Is it what society tells me? - What would I be willing to give up for it

9. Symposium In the last session we will recreate a Greek Symposium to ponder the path we have shared together and aim at answering: - What is it that I have learned? - How will it accompany me in the future? - What would I like to share?

To achieve the objectives the format of the course will be the following:

Each week we will have a Socratic Dialogue in class around a different topic. As the course progresses you will learn how to facilitate and eventually partially lead the sessions yourselves. To prepare for class you will be required to do the following every week:

1. Read articles, book fragments and/or watch videos related to the week's topic. The material will be available on the course's Moodle page.
2. Write a post on Moodle based on the readings and videos of the week.
3. Have a Socratic Dialogue with someone from your environment. We will provide all the details once the course starts. After every dialogue, write your thoughts on the method in a journal. We will ask you to hand in the journal at the end of the course.
4. Keep a class diary and write an entry after every session. We ask you to record how you are feeling, what you are finding challenging or surprising, new learnings, questions that make you think, irritate you, make you feel uncomfortable, ideas that surprise you, shock you etc. This diary will help you write the final essay.

The weekly preparations will help you come to class having mulled over and explored some of the nuances of the topic at hand. This will bring richness and depth to our dialogues.

During the sessions, we will practice the art of dialogue in different formats depending on the objective of the session: at times we will practice in pairs or in smaller groups, at times we will be all togehter.

ASSESSMENT BREAKDOWN

Group	Teacher	Department
Year 1	Sira Abenoza González	Ciencias Sociales