Socratic Seminars are a highly motivating form of intellectual and scholarly discourse. They usually range from 30-50 minutes--longer if time allows--once a week. An effective Socratic Seminar relies heavily on empathy, the ability on the part of students to accept the opinions and values of others as equally valid to their own. This empathy creates dialogue as opposed to debate. Dialogue creates "better conversation." As William Issacs states in Dialogue and the Art of Thinking Together, dialogue is a conversation in which people (students) think together in relationship. Thinking together implies that you no longer take your own position as final. You relax your grip on certainty and listen to the possibilities that result simply from being in a relationship with others---possibilities that might not otherwise have occurred." The practice of Socratic Seminars teaches students to recognize the differences between dialogue and debate and to strive to increase the qualities of dialogue and reduce the qualities of debate in each Socratic Seminar. Some of the most significant differences between dialogue and debate are presented below. Finally, since Socratic Seminar is reliant on a focal text, the strategy is an effective form of close reading because students must rely on references from the text to support their premises.