Small-p ‘dialogic’ philosophy
Dialogue seems like a straightforward concept, at first blush, but come to find it is much misunderstood. My students, for instance, tend at first to think of face-to-face conversation when they hear me emphasize the importance of dialogue in learning. And some even take this to mean they needn’t read at all, only talk about what’s at issue. A real head slapper! But oral exchange is only the most obvious sense of the word, not the truest meaning of dialogue that the ancient would have us remember. It’s true that person-to-person discussion has a special value all it’s own, but it is mutual understanding in mind-to-mind connection that constitutes true dialogue. And to understand this better, we can (and may have to) look to other, perhaps far off times and places, when this learning process was taken more seriously than it is today.
For me, discovering ancient philosophy was like finding old friends, some who seemed to know me better than I knew myself. For all the limitations of the written word (and the ancients will tell us there are many) this is the true beauty of it - that it can bring minds together over time and space, and help us find those who understand and can improve us, though they may be far away or long gone. And for this reason, I supposed, a philosopher ought to write, not merely for the living, but for those still unborn. (Perhaps they would not live in overstimulation, as we do, and have time to ponder ideas in depth.)
The beauty of the written word is that it can bring us new eyes with which to see more of the truth of the world. Henry David Thoreau put it this way:
“For what are the classics but the noblest recorded thoughts of man?”(75) “There are probably words addressed to our condition exactly, which, if we could really hear and understand, would be more salutary than the morning or the spring to our lives, and possibly put a new aspect on the face of things for us.”(161) But “the noblest written words are commonly as far behind or above the fleeting spoken language as the firmament with its stars is behind the clouds. There are the stars, and they who can may read them.”(76) “Books are the treasured wealth of the world and the fit inheritance of generations.”(77) And while “the orator yields to the inspiration of a transient occasion…the writer… speaks to the intellect and heart of mankind, to all in any age who can understand him.”(76)
And as Plato reminds us, a true seeker of knowledge is not satisfied with the simple truth, but seeks the whole truth.
"It is curiosity, I suppose, and a delight in fresh experience that gives some people a passion for all that is to be seen and heard... So the philosopher, with his passion for wisdom, will be one who desires all wisdom, not only some part of it... Only the one who has a taste for every sort of knowledge and throws himself into acquiring it with an insatiable curiosity will deserve to be called a philosopher." (Republic, 183) Indeed, "the genuine lover of knowledge cannot fail, from his youth up, to strive after the whole of truth."(191)
And John Stuart Mill would quite eloquently add:
“On every subject on which difference of opinion is possible, the truth depends upon a balance to be struck between two sets of conflicting reasons.... He who knows only his own side of the case knows little of that.... nor is it ever really known but to those who have attended equally and impartially to both sides and endeavored to see the reasons of both in the strongest possible light... the only way in which a human being can make some approach to knowing the whole of a subject is by hearing what can be said about it by persons of every variety of opinion, and studying all modes in which it can be looked at by every character of mind. No wise man ever acquired his wisdom in any mode but this; nor is it in the nature of human intellect to become wise in any other manner…"(On Liberty)
So I found many dear friends in the philosophers of old, who seemed to know me better than I as of yet knew myself.. And come to find, these eclectic voices - Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle, Buddha, Confucius and Lao Tzu, and even Jesus, to name a few - had so much more to say than what has found its way to us. And what’s more, they didn’t say much of what has been attributed to them! (See Education as a game-of-telephone here…)
So this was the genesis of my obsession with purposeful dialogue and ancient philosophy, which moved me to both write and teach all these years. These and other great teachers inspired me to take aim at my own better self, and to listen for this higher purpose in others – including my own child. And it helped me to keep faith that one voice can make a difference, even and perhaps especially in a chorus of many others. Since these great voices had made a critical difference in my life, it was the least I could do to try to bring them to others…even if it might take a whole lifetime to do that well.
Dialogue seems like a straightforward concept, at first blush, but come to find it is much misunderstood. My students, for instance, tend at first to think of face-to-face conversation when they hear me emphasize the importance of dialogue in learning. And some even take this to mean they needn’t read at all, only talk about what’s at issue. A real head slapper! But oral exchange is only the most obvious sense of the word, not the truest meaning of dialogue that the ancient would have us remember. It’s true that person-to-person discussion has a special value all it’s own, but it is mutual understanding in mind-to-mind connection that constitutes true dialogue. And to understand this better, we can (and may have to) look to other, perhaps far off times and places, when this learning process was taken more seriously than it is today.
For me, discovering ancient philosophy was like finding old friends, some who seemed to know me better than I knew myself. For all the limitations of the written word (and the ancients will tell us there are many) this is the true beauty of it - that it can bring minds together over time and space, and help us find those who understand and can improve us, though they may be far away or long gone. And for this reason, I supposed, a philosopher ought to write, not merely for the living, but for those still unborn. (Perhaps they would not live in overstimulation, as we do, and have time to ponder ideas in depth.)
The beauty of the written word is that it can bring us new eyes with which to see more of the truth of the world. Henry David Thoreau put it this way:
“For what are the classics but the noblest recorded thoughts of man?”(75) “There are probably words addressed to our condition exactly, which, if we could really hear and understand, would be more salutary than the morning or the spring to our lives, and possibly put a new aspect on the face of things for us.”(161) But “the noblest written words are commonly as far behind or above the fleeting spoken language as the firmament with its stars is behind the clouds. There are the stars, and they who can may read them.”(76) “Books are the treasured wealth of the world and the fit inheritance of generations.”(77) And while “the orator yields to the inspiration of a transient occasion…the writer… speaks to the intellect and heart of mankind, to all in any age who can understand him.”(76)
And as Plato reminds us, a true seeker of knowledge is not satisfied with the simple truth, but seeks the whole truth.
"It is curiosity, I suppose, and a delight in fresh experience that gives some people a passion for all that is to be seen and heard... So the philosopher, with his passion for wisdom, will be one who desires all wisdom, not only some part of it... Only the one who has a taste for every sort of knowledge and throws himself into acquiring it with an insatiable curiosity will deserve to be called a philosopher." (Republic, 183) Indeed, "the genuine lover of knowledge cannot fail, from his youth up, to strive after the whole of truth."(191)
And John Stuart Mill would quite eloquently add:
“On every subject on which difference of opinion is possible, the truth depends upon a balance to be struck between two sets of conflicting reasons.... He who knows only his own side of the case knows little of that.... nor is it ever really known but to those who have attended equally and impartially to both sides and endeavored to see the reasons of both in the strongest possible light... the only way in which a human being can make some approach to knowing the whole of a subject is by hearing what can be said about it by persons of every variety of opinion, and studying all modes in which it can be looked at by every character of mind. No wise man ever acquired his wisdom in any mode but this; nor is it in the nature of human intellect to become wise in any other manner…"(On Liberty)
So I found many dear friends in the philosophers of old, who seemed to know me better than I as of yet knew myself.. And come to find, these eclectic voices - Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle, Buddha, Confucius and Lao Tzu, and even Jesus, to name a few - had so much more to say than what has found its way to us. And what’s more, they didn’t say much of what has been attributed to them! (See Education as a game-of-telephone here…)
So this was the genesis of my obsession with purposeful dialogue and ancient philosophy, which moved me to both write and teach all these years. These and other great teachers inspired me to take aim at my own better self, and to listen for this higher purpose in others – including my own child. And it helped me to keep faith that one voice can make a difference, even and perhaps especially in a chorus of many others. Since these great voices had made a critical difference in my life, it was the least I could do to try to bring them to others…even if it might take a whole lifetime to do that well.