Dialogue and discussion: Reflections on a Socratic method

Abstract

This article starts from the observation that Socratic dialogues in the Nelson-Heckmann tradition can create a sense of belonging or community among participants. This observation has led me to the current argument that Socratic dialogue offers an alternative to more prominent forms of conversation, which I have called 'discussion' and 'discourse of uncritical acceptance'. I explain the difference between these forms of conversation by considering the role of experience in Socratic dialogue and the requirement that participants put themselves in each other's shoes. My argument is structured according to the different phases in a Socratic dialogue and placed within the literature on this method, as well as Hannah Arendt's writing on imagination.

Energy and Sustainable Communication

“…The dialogue is a spoken or written conversation between two or more people, but it goes beyond a conversation. The Socratic method (Altorf 2016) is still used in our time to find out through dialogue how a problem could be made up. In a dialogue, clarity is obtained about the different opinions and feelings, about motivations and presuppositions.…”

Sustainable Communication

“…The dialogue is a spoken or written conversation between two or more people, but it goes beyond a conversation. The Socratic method [4] is still used in our time to find out through dialogue how a problem could be made up. In a dialogue, clarity is obtained about the different opinions and feelings, about motivations and presuppositions.…”

Enhancing Critical Awareness through Socratic Pedagogy

“…515-536 The Socratic method creates a sense of belonging in a community among its participants as they grow closer to each other during the discussions since it is based on the vicarious feature of being a human. This feeling of a community might sometimes last only during the period of the discussion (Altorf, 2016), or it may continue and become the class culture and may manifest itself even when there is no formal seminar being held. In the Socratic method participants try to understand each other.…”