![]() ![]() Some have claimed that the dialectical context is never more than ornamental, that any argument presented in question-and-answer format could be presented just as easily, if less colourfully, in monologue. In 'Self-refutation and dialectic in Plato and Aristotle' Luca Castagnoli examines what we miss, logically and philosophically, if we take ancient arguments away from their dialectical context. The essays are too varied for a single description to suit them all. Only incidental passages deal with dialogues by people other than Plato, or with what people other than Plato and Aristotle said and did about dialectic. This book consists of essays on Plato's use of the dialogue, and on the theory and practice of dialectic in Plato and Aristotle. This made the rĂ´le of questioner ideal for Socrates, who liked to say that his wisdom consisted simply in knowing that he did not know anything much. One obvious beauty of dialectic is that the questioner need not claim any expertise on the subject of the conversation. If so, then the respondent is refuted if not, then the initial assertion can stand - at least for the moment. The questioner's hope is that, in answering these questions, the respondent will be led to deny the initial assertion. The questioner gets the respondent to assert something the questioner then tests this assertion by putting to the respondent a series of questions. This style of reasoning requires two people: the questioner and the respondent. The dialogue was a literary genre invented by the followers of Socrates to give written representation of dialectic, his conversational style of philosophical reasoning. 'Dialectic' and 'dialogue' come from the Greek word for conversation. ![]()
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