Two near-paradoxes result. But they want students to acquire the ability to form justified beliefs for themselves, even if the cost is occasionally going astray. As all good teachers know, this feature of the pedagogical process makes certain students very nervous. Actually, as all good students know, it also makes certain teachers very nervous. The second semi-paradox concerns the tension between what is taught and the way it is taught.
Philosophers emphasize rational persuasion, rational discourse, and rational examination.
However, the way in which the importance of rational persuasion is instilled may have very little to do with rational persuasion. Humour, irony, analogy, intonation, sentence structure, allusion, arguments ad hominem and from authority, the perceived enthusiasm and confidence of the speaker, the amount of self-motivation required of the student, and a host of other factors, including even the very order in which opposing views are presented, all affect the likelihood of students' accepting or even comprehending the points presented. Even intellectually extraneous factors such as the room's light or the presence of moving air affect uptake and acceptance. Preaching the primacy of reason involves a host of non-rational methods. Plato believed that philosophy could only be taught soul to soul, and encounters in small groups provide the best way to convey both the excitement involved in, and the abilities required for, the practice of philosophy.