MAIEUTICS AS A METHODOLOGICAL PRINCIPLE OF PEDAGOGICAL MANAGMENT: PHILOSOPHICAL RECONSTRUCTION AND EDUCATIONAL IMPLICATIONS

Abstract

The article examines the topical issue of maieutics as a methodological principle of pedagogical management through the lens of philosophical reconstruction and analysis of educational implications. It is substantiated that the dominance of the technocratic paradigm in contemporary educational management reduces subject-to-subject interaction to linear administrative procedures, depriving pedagogical management of its essential connection with the nature of subjectivity. It is demonstrated that the maieutic principle ensures the transition from the logic of external influence to the logic of knowledge generation from within.

The purpose of the study is the philosophical reconstruction of the maieutic principle and the substantiation of its methodological potential for contemporary pedagogical management.

The methodological foundation comprises hermeneutic analysis of the Platonic corpus of dialogues and an interdisciplinary synthesis of ancient philosophical heritage and contemporary pedagogical reflection. The conceptual apparatus of H.-G. Gadamer, P. Freire, D. Schön, and G. Biesta is employed to substantiate the managerial ontology of maieutics. It is established that maieutic management is enacted through the deconstruction of pseudo-certainty, the structuring of the field of possibility, and the transformation of the vertical axis of power into a horizontal plane of dialogic collaboration.

The scientific novelty consists in identifying the functional correspondence between the Socratic method and contemporary managerial practice, as well as in constructing an integral managerial ontology that synthesises the concepts of subjectification, reflection-in-action, and communicative rationality.

The conclusions confirm that the effectiveness of maieutic management is measured not by conformity to standards, but by the degree of subjectivity attained by participants in the educational process. Management is thereby transformed from a system of «planning – control» into a system of «provocation – reflection», complementing rather than negating the necessary technical rationality.