Overview
Why would a man whose favorite weapon was a question be sentenced to death? Is the goal of an argument to win or to find the truth? John Papola, joined by author and persuasion expert Jay Heinrichs, travels back to Athens in the fifth century BC to find the roots of debate: the Sophists, who charged fees to teach the art of persuasion; Socrates and his question-based method of teaching; and Plato’s Allegory of the Cave.

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Lesson Insights

Grade level and subjects
• Recommended for grades 6-12
• Subjects: Government, History
• Works in Classroom, Hybrid, and Homeschool settings

What students will learn
By the end of this lesson, students will be able to:
• trace how the Sophists, Socrates, and Plato shaped the practice of debate in ancient Athens;
• contrast the Sophists’ goal of winning an argument with the Socratic method’s goal of finding the truth;
• interpret Plato’s Allegory of the Cave as a lesson about how groups treat people who challenge a shared belief; and
• assess whether a democracy can threaten free speech, using the trial of Socrates as evidence.

Key concepts and terms covered
Allegory, Allegory of the Cave, Arete, Athenian Democracy, Collective Illusion, Confirmation Bias, Consensus, Dialogue, Gadfly, Great Barrington Declaration, Groupthink, Hemlock, Martyr, Relativism, Rhetoric, Socratic Method, Sophists, and Steelman.

Sample discussion questions
• Who were the Sophists, and what did they teach?
• What is a collective illusion?
• Is it more important to win an argument or to find the truth? Explain.
• A jury of Athenian citizens voted to put Socrates to death. Can a democracy threaten free speech? How?
• The video compares the authors of the Great Barrington Declaration to the prisoner who escaped the cave. What might the public health officials who disagreed with them say back?

What’s in the free teacher’s guide
This printable 26-page Teacher’s Guide includes a lesson description, learning objectives, key vocabulary, a fill-in viewing guide with answer key, discussion and analysis questions, classroom activities, and the full video transcript.

Related resources
• America: Founded on Debate — A companion video from the Death of Debate series. John Papola and Jay Heinrichs trace America’s history as a long public argument, from John Adams’s defense of the British soldiers to the Kennedy-Nixon debate.
• The Power of Debate — John Stossel on the need for debate and the power of free speech.
• Speech for Me, Not for Thee — What happens when leaders claim to defend free speech, but only for people who agree with them? John Stossel looks at how politicians from both major parties, once in power, have tried to silence their critics.
• Both Sides: Free Speech — Should there be limits on freedom of speech? Is online speech different from offline speech? A video pairing built for classroom debate.