The presupposition of the Socratic method is that there is a truth of the matter
and that that truth can be known through discourse, or, more specifically, through
the elenetic process. The elenchus is a systematized question and answer process
that is directed by the teacher and depends upon student involvement. Its purpose
is to help those engaged in a dialogue discover true propositions through a sustained
inquiry (Boghossian, 2002a).
In the Platonic dialogues, the reason Socrates engaged in discourse was to find the
truth. For example, in the Meno, Socrates approaches a slave boy because he wanted
to teach him, or elicit from him, a true proposition about geometry. Before he even
enters into the discourse he knows that truth exists independently of his belief. He
does not ‘construct’ a geometrical truth; rather, truth exists in the world, and he
expresses and discovers that through language. Socrates also knows that through asking a series of directed questions he can, along with his interlocutor, arrive at the truth
(i.e. he not only knows that there is a truth, but he knows that it can be known
through a dialectical process). Ultimately, the main purpose of the Socratic method
is to help the students, and the teacher, find the truth (Boghossian, 2002b)