Dialogic Teaching and Myth - Blake Bauserman

While researching for my term paper, I had an article sent to me by Dr. Elizabeth Jelinek that concerned teaching the Euthyphro dialogically instead of the more common method of as an illustration of questioning authority, whether divine or human. He proposes a method that views it as a discourse between the philosopher and "the expert."

'The expert," in this case, asserts his authority, much like Euthyphro on a subject they know nothing or very little about. On the other hand, the philosopher recognizes his place in the world and begins to question everything around him, leaving no stone unturned in his investigation or taking any belief for granted. This approach perhaps should be taught more in philosophy classrooms rather than the more common one outlined above.

This, too, would play well into interacting with myth. In this class, one of the first things I have had to do is explain to people that we are operating under a different definition of myth than the popular construction of the nature myth. Perhaps if challenging our base notions becomes more common, especially within a science-heavy world demanding of empirical analysis, discussions of the unseen might become more commonplace. Much of the world I know dismiss philosophy and myth as nothing more than stories or empty words. By learning from Plato and displacing ourselves as experts, the world might learn to see the value beyond life's practical concerns.