The Socratic method of teaching is based on Socrates’ theory that it is more important for you to think for yourselves than to merely know the ”right” answers.
You will be given an opportunity to research a topic and respond to open-ended provocative question.
This will provide you with a chance to think critically, analyze multiple meanings in text, and express ideas with clarity and confidence. A seminar is based on dialogue not discussion/debate.
Dialogue is exploratory and involves the suspension of biases and prejudices. Discussion/debate is a transfer of information designed to win an argument and bring closure. While we are often good at discussion/debate, engaging in a dialogue is a harder skill that needs practice. The point is often to pose meaningful questions that stimulate thought than about proving that your answer is “the answer.” This link outlines the differences between dialogue and debate.
As a participants in a Socratic Seminar you will respond to one another with respect by carefully listening instead of interrupting. You should to “paraphrase” essential elements of another’s ideas before responding, either in support of or in disagreement. Members of the dialogue look each other in the “eyes” and use each other names. A seminar should not be divisive but be a team of well intentioned people helping each other understand a question of importance.
The Topic
Capitalism is an economic system characterized by private ownership of capital goods, by investments that are determined by private decision, and by prices, production, and the distribution of goods that are determined mainly by competition in a free markets, rather than by the state. Capitalism’s ability to ensure the public good has been the subject of intense debate and discussion since Feudal times.
Capitalism’s harshest critics argue that this economic system is built on greed and selfishness and the public good can never be ensured without the intervention of governments.
The seminar will address this topic and in preparation you will need to undertake some research and prepare points you would like to raise. You need to bring along your readings to share with the group.
Issues:
Capitalism offers the best chance for poor nations.
This review of a book outlines why free markets can help developing nations.
Capitalism and Free Markets are not the best way for poor nations to develop.
Another damning indictment of global capitalism.
This article outlines the benefits of the free market.
Capitalism and Free Markets have enriched us all.
Richard Branson defends capitalism.
Capitalism and the Free Market system have and will continue to destroy our planet.
See this link that discusses ecological economics.
This organization argues that only free markets can safeguard the environment.
Capitalism and the Free Market System exploit and disempower women.
See this link which shows the work of feminist economists on the Global Gender Gap Report.
Capitalism and the Free Market System do not take ethics and the health and well-being of individual into account.
See this review of the work of Amartya Sen who argues that life is more than just acquiring wealth.
Capitalism and Multinational Companies exploit workers.
Advocates of free markets argue that all parties benefit from market exchange as choice is involved. However the idea that markets are voluntary ignores the power dimension and though agreements are reached it does not mean that they are fair.
For example, Nike has been accused of exploiting workers in sweatshops around the world. See a personal journey of discovery.
The organization CorpWatch also take a critical view of corporations and seek to document corporate abuse.
Capitalism has turned people into unhappy consumers driven to buy material goods in a futile search for happiness.
This article from the American Psychological Association raises the issue of affluence and happiness.
Capitalism has allowed the rich to use governments for their own ends.
Dean Baker’s powerful attack on how the wealthy use government to grow richer under the guise that they believe in market forces. (Reading the introduction will provide you with the main ideas of his argument.)
Resources by Ms Qua
The Capitalist Manifesto: Greed is Good (to a Point) by Fareed Zakaria
Newsweek editor Zakaria argues that we face a crisis of globalization instead of a crisis of capitalism (page 4).
Capitalism and Freedom by Milton Friedman
Nobel prize winner Friedman wrote this seminal book on the role of capitalism in a liberal society.
Theory of Capitalism from Columbia University’s Center of Capitalism and Society
Identifies key issues and relevant economists (Adam Smith, Keynes, Hayek etc.) in the debate over capitalism.
When Capitalism Works for Good by Liam Vaughan
This New Statesman article examines how non-profits benefit from capitalism by outsourcing fund raising to private companies.
Why Capitalism Works in the West but Not Elsewhere by Hernando de Soto
Bill Clinton has referred to de Soto as the “world’s greatest living economist.”
A Failure of Regulation, Not Capitalism by Edward L. Glaeser
A Harvard economics professor responds to calls that capitalism has failed.
Making Capitalism More Creative by Bill Gates
Bill Gates asserts that poverty can be alleviated by corporations “who have the skills to make technological innovations work for the poor.”
