Dialogue and Discussion: Reflections on a Socratic Method

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 con-sidering 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 Ar-endt’s writing on imagination.