The Pedagogy of Irony?

In pedagogical treaties, irony is usually neglected or little analysed. As it is placed at the antipode of seriousness, objectivity, scrupulousness, features that characterise scientific knowledge, we ask if irony can be considered, in this circumstance, as an instrument of transmitting or generating knowledge. By means of two great personalities, Socrates and Aristotle, we establish in this paper the border between irony and scientific research, indicating the statute of irony and its value in the act of the formation of the man.