A dialectic is represented in the following cycle:
- Thesis: the initial idea
- Antithesis: an opposing argument
- Synthesis: a new, evolved understanding
Socrates, a great inspiration to this program, practiced dialectic without passing judgments.
Speech is King
He believed that speech was the best way to show what you know because it’s the ultimate synthesis of information.
He said that writing or text only appears to make people wise, text is a replacement for memory, and text provides only a shallow understanding. Using text places knowledge outside the self, while true power of it inhabits the mind.
He argued that asking a book questions provides no clarifying answers because the words only repeat themselves. He preferred discussion over text since clarification of meaning was more accessible and each session was personal.
Even Marcus Aurelius, the famous Stoic and Roman emperor, agreed with this philosophy, but he was surrounded by flatterers. He wrote journals and played a dialectic between himself, like playing a solo chess match where each side strove to win. Whatever dialectic is chosen, the goal is to test the participant’s understanding.