SAJ Leonen said Socratic method does not develop critical thinking

Senior Associate Justice Marvic M.V.F. Leonen stated that the Socratic method of teaching in law schools requires review because it often fosters subservience to legal doctrine rather than true independent critical thinking.

Leonen shared this perspective during his public interview with the Judicial and Bar Council (JBC) for the position of Chief Justice.

"Sometimes the Socratic method does not really work,” said Leonen.

“The Socratic method is really inculcating the student to be subservient to a doctrine and not creating more critical minds. So that is one concept that I think we need to review,” Leonen said during his JBC interview on Thursday, 22 October.

Leonen was interviewed by Justice Secretary Fredderick Vida, Senator Kiko Pangilinan, Batangas Representative Gerville Luistro, retired SC Associate Justice Jose Catral Mendoza, lawyer Nesauro Firme, retired Court of Tax Appeals Associate Justice Erlinda Piñera, and lawyer Jose Mejia.

The JBC concluded on Thursday its interview with Justice Alfredo Benjamin S. Caguioa for the position of Supreme Court (SC) chief justice ahead of the compulsory retirement of Chief Justice Alexander G. Gesmundo on 6 November.

Caguioa, speaking before the Council, emphasized the importance of leading by example at all levels of the judiciary, as well as promoting transparency to dispel public doubts.

“We have to have the courage to simply do what is right,” he said during the interview.

He was admitted to the Philippine Bar in 1986 after placing 15th in the 1985 Bar examinations.

Before his appointment to the SC in January 2016, he served as Justice Secretary and Chief Presidential Legal Counsel (CPLC) under the Aquino administration.

He also had two and a half decades of experience in litigation and arbitration.

At present, he chairs the Sub-Committee on Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) Oversight and is a member of the Sub-Committee for the Revision of the 1997 Rules of Civil Procedure.