In common society dialogue is an art of knowing better than the other, where we are searching polarity. In this way a dialogue is a verbal form of war. The Socratic form is the opposite, we seek to connect, deepen and use common knowledge.
How can we have a dialogue which accumulates the power of collective thinking? To examine this we are using the techniques of a Socratic Dialogue, facilitated by philosopher Rik Tuithof.
A Socratic dialogue is a conversation method to activate collective thinking power. Successful collective thinking starts with listening very carefully and real understanding of shared arguments. Contrary to other conversation forms like ‘debate’ or ‘discussion’, in a Socratic dialogue there are no owners of specific ideas and there is no winner in the end. The purpose of the dialogue is to find true answers and in the meantime have an enjoyable thinking experience.
The dialogue is formally facilitated by chairman Rik Tuithof. To achieve the goals of a Socratic dialogue he adheres to a strict set of rules. The conversation exists between 8-15 participants, others can analyze the talk. The subject of the dialogue is a philosophical question and preferably chosen collectively by the group itself. To help answer this question we rely on a variety of thinking tools.