This paper introduces the special issue.

Taking up an issue explored by John Dewey, Austin Sarat, and Walter Parker, as well as many others, I continue my study of the conditions under which people choose to listen to a perspective that challenges their own beliefs.

This volume explores the relationship between teachers and texts. It does so within a structure that departs noticeably from the usual format of the yearbooks of the National Society for the Study of Education. Unlike the typical volume in this series, ours does not offer a systematic coverage of a single topic nor does it examine a controversial issue from a variety of perspectives.

The essays which make up Section One of this volume draw our attention to teachers who appear in the works of Plato, John Dewey, Charles Dickens, and Charlotte Brontë. Each of the teachers studied here differs dramatically from the others, as does their creator's view of education. And so, these essays arouse in us a succession of queries, worries, puzzlements, and perspectives on the subject of teaching. We find ourselves wondering about such things as the nature of the ideal teacher, the effects of teachers upon students, and the consequences of teaching for the teachers themselves. The power of these essays to provoke our thought derives in part from the fact that they take moving portrayals of educators as their subjects.

What was it about Socrates that has so immortalized him as a teacher? Whether we admire him or not, why does he symbolize the paradigm pedagogue for so many of us?

The methods of evaluating a teacher's effectiveness are many, yet all assume instructional intentions on the part of the teacher. This paper examines Socrates in order to identify his pedagogical aims and whether his intentions or lack thereof make a difference in explaining why he does what he does.