A dialogue (sometimes spelled dialog^[1]) is a reciprocal conversation between two or more entities. The etymological origins of the word (in Greek διά(diá,through) + λόγος(logos,word,speech) concepts like flowing-through meaning)) do not necessarily convey the way in which people have come to use the word, with some confusion between the prefix διά-(diá-,through) and the prefix δι-(di-, two) leading to the assumption that a dialogue is necessarily between only two parties. The term dialogue can refer to the following: A dialogue is a conversation. ... Lenin and Stalin in conversation Conversation is the verbalization of concepts involving abstractions and concrete objects which make up the reality in which we reside. ... An entity is something that has a distinct, separate existence, though it need not be a material existence. ... Not to be confused with Entomology, the scientific study of insects. ...

Literary and philosophical genre

When reported or imitated in writing, "dialogue" labels a form of literature used by the Greeks and Indians for purposes of rhetorical entertainment and instruction. This form has scarcely been modified since the days of its invention. Rhetoric (from Greek , rhêtôr, orator, teacher) is generally understood to be the art or technique of persuasion through the use of oral or written language; however, this definition of rhetoric has expanded greatly since rhetoric emerged as a field of study in universities. ...

A literary dialogue comprises a little drama without a of opinions. It has long served writers who have something to censure or to impart, but who love to stand outside the pulpit, and to encourage others to pursue a train of thought which the author does not seem to do more than indicate. The dialogue expresses and notes down the undulations of human thought so spontaneously that it almost escapes analysis. Commonly, records of the alleged actual words spoken by living or imaginary people and it appears in a dialogued format. One branch of this form of expressive documentation, the drama, depends upon dialogue almost exclusively. Yet, in its technical sense, the word 'dialogue' describes what the Greek philosophers invented, and what the noblest of them lifted to the extreme refinement of an art. Old book bindings at the Merton College library. ... This does not cite any references or sources. ... For other uses of Ambo, see Ambo, Ethiopia, Kom Ombo, ambulance Ambo (band). ... Personification of thought (Greek Εννοια) in Celsus Library in Ephesos, Turkey Thought or thinking is a mental process which allows beings to model the world, and so to deal with it effectively according to their goals, plans, ends and desires. ... The philosopher Socrates about to take poison hemlock as ordered by the court. ... This article is about the philosophical concept of Art. ...

Antiquity and the middle ages

In the east, the genre dates back to the Sumerian dialogues and disputations (preserved in copies from the early second millennium b.c.e.), as well as Rigvedic dialogue hymns and the Indian epic Mahabharata, while in the west, literary historians commonly suppose that Plato (c. 427 BC - c. 347 BC) introduced the systematic use of dialogue as an independent literary form: they point to his earliest experiment with the genre in the Laches. The Platonic dialogue, however, had its foundations in the mime, which the Sicilian poets Sophron and Epicharmus had cultivated half a century earlier. The works of these writers, which Plato admired and imitated, have not survived, but scholars imagine them as little plays usually presented with only two performers. The Mimes of Herodas give us some idea of their scope. Sumer (or Shumer, Sumeria, Shinar, native ki-en-gir) formed the southern part of Mesopotamia from the time of settlement by the Sumerians until the time of Babylonia. ... The Rigveda contains a number of dialogue hymns (s), hymns that are in the form of dialogues, representing the earliest surviving sample of this genre, and can be argued to be an early precursor of Sanskrit drama. ... The ancient Sanskrit epics, the Ramayana and Mahabharata, laid the cornerstone for much of Hindu religion. ... For the film by Peter Brook, see The Mahabharata (1989 film). ... Centuries: 6th century BC - 5th century BC - 4th century BC Decades: 470s BC 460s BC 450s BC 440s BC 430s BC - 420s BC - 410s BC 400s BC 390s BC 380s BC 370s BC Years: 432 BC 431 BC 430 BC 429 BC 428 BC - 427 BC - 426 BC 425 BC... Centuries: 5th century BC - 4th century BC - 3rd century BC Decades: 390s BC 380s BC 370s BC 360s BC 350s BC - 340s BC - 330s BC 320s BC 310s BC 300s BC 290s BC 352 BC 351 BC 350 BC 349 BC 348 BC 347 BC 346 BC 345 BC 344... Sicily ( in Italian and Sicilian) is an autonomous region of Italy and the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, with an area of 25,708 km² (9,926 sq. ... Sophron, of Syracuse, writer of mimes, flourished about 430 BC. He was the author of prose dialogues in the Doric dialect, containing both male and female characters, some serious, others humorous in style, and depicting scenes from the daily life of the Sicilian Greeks. ... Epicharmus (c. ... Herodas (Greek: ), or Herondas (the name is spelt differently in the few places where he is mentioned), Greek poet, the author of short humorous dramatic scenes in verse, written under the Alexandrian empire in the 3rd century BC. Apart from the intrinsic merit of these pieces, they are interesting in...

Plato further simplified the form and reduced it to pure argumentative conversation, while leaving intact the amusing element of character-drawing. He must have begun this about the year 405 BC, and by 399 he had brought the dialogue to its highest perfection, especially in the cycle directly inspired by the death of Socrates. All his philosophical writings, except the Apology, use this form. As the greatest of all masters of Greek prose style, Plato lifted his favorite instrument, the dialogue, to its highest splendor, and to this day he remains by far its most distinguished proficient. In logic, an argument is a set of statements, consisting of a number of premises, a number of inferences, and a conclusion, which is said to have the following property: if the premises are true, then the conclusion must be true or highly likely to be true. ... Centuries: 6th century BC - 5th century BC - 4th century BC Decades: 450s BC 440s BC 430s BC 420s BC 410s BC - 400s BC - 390s BC 380s BC 370s BC 360s BC 350s BC Years: 410 BC 409 BC 408 BC 407 BC 406 BC - 405 BC - 404 BC 403 BC... Centuries: 5th century BC - 4th century BC - 3rd century BC Decades: 440s BC 430s BC 420s BC 410s BC 400s BC - 390s BC - 380s BC 370s BC 360s BC 350s BC 340s BC Years: 404 BC 403 BC 402 BC 401 BC 400 BC - 399 BC - 398 BC 397 BC... This page is about the ancient Greek philosopher. ... Look up apology in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...

Following Plato, the dialogue became one major literary genre in antiquity, and there are several examples both in Latin and Greek. Soon after Plato, Xenophon wrote his own Symposium, Aristotle is said to have written several philosophical dialogues in Plato's style (none of which have survived), and later most of the Hellenistic schools had their own dialogue. Cicero wrote some very important works in this genre, such as Orator, Res Publica, and the lost Hortensius (the latter cited by Augustine in the Confessions as the work which instilled in him his lifelong love of philosophy). Xenophon, Greek historian Xenophon (In Greek , ca. ... Xenophons Symposium records the discussion of Socrates and company at a dinner given by Callias for the youth Autolycus. ... For other uses, see Cicero (disambiguation). ... St. ... Confessions is the name of a series of thirteen autobiographical books by St. ...

In the 2nd century AD. Lucian of Samosata achieved a brilliant success with his ironic dialogues Of the Gods, Of the Dead, Of Love and Of the Courtesans. In some of them he attacks superstition and philosophical error with the sharpness of his wit; in others he merely paints scenes of modern life. The 2nd century is the period from 101 - 200 in accordance with the Julian calendar in the Christian Era. ... Lucian of Samosata (c. ... For other uses, see Superstition (disambiguation). ...

The dialogue was frequently used by early Christian writers, such as Justin, Origen and Augustine, and a particularly notable dialogue from late antiquity is Boethius's Consolation of Philosophy. The genre survived up through the early scholastic period, with Peter Abelard composing his Dialogue with a Jew, a Christian and a Philosopher in the early 12th century AD, but later, in the wake of the powerful influence of writings by Bonaventure and Thomas Aquinas, the scholastic tradition adopted the more formal and concise genre of the summa, which largely superseded the dialogue as philosophical format. Justin may refer to: Justin (name), a common given name Junianus Justinus, 3rd century Roman historian Justin I (c. ... Origen Origen (Greek: Ōrigénēs, 185–ca. ... Boethius teaching his students (initial in a 1385 Italian manuscript of the Consolation of Philosophy). ... This early printed book has many hand-painted illustrations depicting Lady Philosophy and scenes of daily life in fifteenth-century Ghent (1485) Consolation of Philosophy (Latin: Consolatio Philosophiae) is a philosophical work by Boethius written in about the year 524 AD. It has been described as the single most important... Abaelardus and Heloïse surprised by Master Fulbert, by Romanticist painter Jean Vignaud (1819) Pierre Abélard (in English, Peter Abelard) or Abailard (1079 – April 21, 1142) was a French scholastic philosopher, theologian, and logician. ... (11th century - 12th century - 13th century - other centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 12th century was that century which lasted from 1101 to 1200. ... Saint Bonaventura, John of Fidanza, Franciscan theologian, was born in 1221 at Bagnarea in Tuscany. ... Saint Thomas Aquinas, O.P.(also Thomas of Aquin, or Aquino; c. ...

The modern period to the present

Two French writers of eminence borrowed the title of Lucian’s most famous collection; both Fontenelle (1683) and Fénelon (1712) prepared Dialogues des morts ("Dialogues of the Dead"). Contemporaneously, in 1688, the French philosopher Nicolas Malebranche published his Dialogues on Metaphysics and Religion, thus contributing to the genre's revival in philosophic circles. In English non-dramatic literature the dialogue did not see extensive use until Berkeley employed it, in 1713, for his Platonic treatise, Three Dialogs between Hylas and Philonous. Landor’s Imaginary Conversations (1821-1828) formed the most famous English example of dialogue in the 19th century, although the dialogues of Sir Arthur Helps also claim attention. For other uses of Fontenelle, see Fontenelle (disambiguation). ... Events June 6 - The Ashmolean Museum opens as the worlds first university museum. ... François de Salignac de la Mothe, more commonly known as François Fénelon (1651 - 1715), was a French Roman Catholic theologian, poet and writer. ... // Events Treaty of Aargau signed between Catholic and Protestants. ... Nicolas Malebranche. ... George Berkeley (IPA: , Bark-Lee) (12 March 1685 – 14 January 1753), also known as Bishop Berkeley, was an influential Irish philosopher whose primary philosophical achievement is the advancement of a theory he called immaterialism (later referred to as subjective idealism by others). ... Year 1713 (MDCCXIII) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Wednesday of the 11-day slower Julian calendar). ... Walter Savage Landor (January 30, 1775 - September 17, 1864), English writer, eldest son of Walter Landor and his wife Elizabeth Savage, was born at Warwick. ... Year 1821 (MDCCCXXI) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian Calendar (or a common year starting on Saturday of the 12-day slower Julian calendar). ... Year 1828 (MDCCCXXVIII) was a leap year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian Calendar (or a leap year starting on Thursday of the 12-day slower Julian calendar). ... Alternative meaning: Nineteenth Century (periodical) (18th century — 19th century — 20th century — more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 19th century was that century which lasted from 1801-1900 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar. ... Sir Arthur Helps (July 10, 1813–March 7, 1875), English writer and dean of the Privy Council, youngest son of Thomas Helps, a London merchant, was born near London. ...

In Germany, Wieland adopted this form for several important satirical works published between 1780 and 1799. In Spanish literature, the Dialogues of Valdés (1528) and those on Painting (1633) by Vincenzo Carducci are celebrated. Italian writers of collections of dialogues, following Plato's model, include Torquato Tasso (1586), Galileo (1632), Galiani (1770), Leopardi (1825), and a host of others. Christoph Martin Wieland (September 5, 1733 _ January 20, 1813), was a German poet and writer. ... 1780 was a leap year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar). ... 1799 was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ... Juan de Valdés (c. ... Events June 19 - Battle of Landriano - A French army in Italy under Marshal St. ... Events February 13 - Galileo Galilei arrives in Rome for his trial before the Inquisition. ... Vincenzo Carducci (1568-1638), was born in Florence, and was trained as a painter by Bartolommeo, whom he followed to Madrid. ... The tone or style of this article or section may not be appropriate for Wikipedia. ... 1586 was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar or a common year starting on Saturday of the Julian calendar. ... Galileo Galilei (15 February 1564 – 8 January 1642) was an Italian physicist, mathematician, astronomer, and philosopher who is closely associated with the scientific revolution. ... See also: 1632 (novel) Events February 22 - Galileos Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems is published July 23 - 300 colonists for New France depart Dieppe November 8 - Wladyslaw IV Waza elected king of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth after Zygmunt III Waza death November 16 - Battle of Lützen... Ferdinando Galiani (December 2, 1728 - October 30, 1787) was an Italian economist. ... For the village in Queensland, see 1770, Queensland. ... Giacomo Leopardi, Count (June 29, 1798 – June 14, 1837) is generally considered, along with such figures as Dante, Petrarca, Ariosto and Tasso, to be among Italys greatest poets and one of its greatest thinkers. ... Opening of the Stockton and Darlington Railway 1825 (MDCCCXXV) was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar). ...

More recently, the French returned to the original application of dialogue. The inventions of "Gyp", of Henri Lavedan, and of others, tell a mundane anecdote wittily and maliciously in conversation, would probably present a close analogy to the lost mimes of the early Sicilian poets. This kind of dialogue also appeared in English, exemplified by Anstey Guthrie, but these dialogues seem to have found less of a popular following among the English than their counterparts written by French authors. Gyp may either be A slang term (see Gyp (slang), or The pen name of Sibylle Gabrielle Marie Antoinette Riqueti de Mirabeau, Comtesse de Martel de Janville This is a disambiguation page, a list of pages that otherwise might share the same title. ... Henri Léon Emile Lavedan (9 April 1859 - 30 September 1940), French dramatist and man of letters, was born at Orléans, the son of Hubert Léon Lavedan, a well-known Catholic and liberal journalist. ... An anecdote is a short tale narrating an interesting or amusing biographical incident. ... Thomas Anstey Guthrie (8 August 1856 - 1934) was an English novelist and journalist, who wrote his comic novels under the pseudonym F. Anstey. ...

The Platonic dialogue, as a distinct genre which features Socrates as a speaker and one or more interlocutors discussing some philosophical question, experienced something of a rebirth in the 20th century. Authors who have recently employed it include George Santayana, in his eminent Dialogues in Limbo (1926, 2nd ed. 1948; this work also includes such historical figures as Alcibiades, Aristippus, Avicenna, Democritus, and Dionysius the Younger as speakers), and Iris Murdoch, who included not only Socrates and Alcibiades as interlocutors in her work Acastos: Two Platonic Dialogues (1986), but featured a young Plato himself as well. For other uses, see Plato (disambiguation). ... (19th century - 20th century - 21st century - more centuries) Decades: 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s As a means of recording the passage of time, the 20th century was that century which lasted from 1901–2000 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar (1900–1999... George Santayana George Santayana (December 16, 1863, Madrid – September 26, 1952, Rome), was a philosopher, essayist, poet, and novelist. ... Alcibiades Cleiniou Scambonides (Greek: ; English /ælsɪbaɪədi:z/; 450 BC–404 BC), also transliterated as Alkibiades, was a prominent Athenian statesman, orator, and general. ... For the medieval Sicilian translator, scholar, and courtier, see Henry Aristippus. ... Ibn Sina (full name AbÅ« ‘AlÄ« al-Husayn ibn ‘Abd Allāh ibn SÄ«nā al-BalkhÄ«; Persian: ), also known as Avicenna) was a Persian [2][3][4] Muslim polymath: a physician, astronomer, alchemist, chemist, logician, mathematician, metaphysician, philosopher, physicist, poet, scientist, theologian, statesman, and soldier. ... ‎ Democritus (Greek: ) was a pre-Socratic Greek philosopher (born at Abdera in Thrace ca. ... Dionysius the Younger or Dionysius II (c. ... Dame Jean Iris Murdoch DBE (July 15, 1919 – February 8, 1999) was an Irish-born British writer and philosopher, best known for her novels, which combine rich characterization and compelling plotlines, usually involving ethical or sexual themes. ...

The philosophic dialogue, with or without Socrates as a character, continues to be used on occasion by philosophers when attempting to write engaging, literary works of philosophy which attempt to capture the subtle nuance and lively give-and-take of discourse as it actually takes place in intellectual conversation.

Compare: Closet drama A closet drama is a play that is not intended to be performed onstage, but read by a solitary reader or, sometimes, out loud in a small group. ...

Platonic dialogues

The philosopher Plato wrote a series of dialogues, mostly between Socrates and some other person. In all these dialogues there is an explicit or an implicit disagreement, and the purpose of these dialogues is to resolve the disagreement. The typical way is for Socrates to probe his partner for further beliefs until a contradiction is reached with the disputed belief or hypothesis by implication. In this way the interlocutor is made to see the impossibility of his hypothesis, and then tries some other hypothesis, which is again subject to the same scrutiny. Most of these dialogues break off without a final resolution—as in real life. PLATO was one of the first generalized Computer assisted instruction systems, originally built by the University of Illinois (U of I) and later taken over by Control Data Corporation (CDC), who provided the machines it ran on. ... This page is about the ancient Greek philosopher. ... This page is about the ancient Greek philosopher. ... Belief is assent to a proposition. ... Look up Hypothesis in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... An interlocutor (pronounced in-ter-lock-you-ter) describes someone who informally explains the views of a government and also can relay messages back to a government. ...

Philosophical, theological, and social concept

Martin Buber places dialogue in a central position in his philosophy: he sees dialogue as an effective means of on-going communication rather than as a purposive attempt to reach some conclusion or to express some viewpoint(s). Martin Buber (8 February 1878 – 13 June 1965) was an Austrian-Israeli-Jewish philosopher, translator, and educator, whose work centered on theistic ideals of religious consciousness, interpersonal relations, and community. ...

David Bohm originated a related form of dialogue where a group of people talk together in order to explore their assumptions of thinking, meaning, communication, and social effects. This group consists of ten to thirty people who meet for a few hours regularly or a few continuous days. Dialoguers agree to leave behind debate tactics that attempt to convince and, instead, talk from their own experience on subjects that are improvised on the spot. People form their own dialogue groups that usually are offered for free of charge. There exists an international online dialogue list server group, facilitated by Don Factor, co-author of a paper called "Dialogue - A Proposal," with David Bohm and Peter Garrett. (http://www.david-bohm.org/mailman/admin/bohm_dialogue) David Bohm. ...

Russian philosopher and semiotician^[2] Mikhail Bakhtin’s theory of "dialogue" emphasized the power of discourse to increase understanding of multiple perspectives and create myriad possibilities. Bakhtin held that relationships and connections exist among all living beings, and that dialogue creates a new understanding of a situation that demands change.^{[citation needed]} In his influential works, Bakhtin provided a linguistic methodology to define the dialoghe, its nature and meaning:^[3] ... Mikhail Bakhtin. ... Broadly conceived, linguistics is the study of human language, and a linguist is someone who engages in this study. ...

Dialogic relations have a specific nature: they can be reduced neither to the purely logical (even if dialectical) nor to the purely linguistic (compositional-syntactic) They are possible only between complete utterances of various speaking subjects... Where there is no word and no language, there can be no dialogic relations; they cannot exist among objects or logical quantities (concepts, judgments, and so forth). Dialogic relations presuppose a language, but they do not reside within the system of language. They are impossible among elements of a language.^[4] Logic (from ancient Greek λόγος (logos), meaning reason) is the study of arguments. ... The term Composition, in written language, refers to the process and study of creating written works or pieces of literature. ... For other uses, see Syntax (disambiguation). ... An utterance is a complete unit of talk, bounded by silence. ...

Celebrated Brazilian educationalist Paulo Freire, who is known for developing popular education, advanced dialogue as a type of classroom pedagogy. Freire held that dialogued communication allowed students and teachers to learn from one another in an environment characterized by respect and equality. A great advocate for oppressed peoples, Freire was concerned with praxis—action that is informed and linked to people’s values. Dialogued pedagogy was not only about deepening understanding; it was also about making positive changes in the world. Paulo Freire Paulo Freire (Recife, Brazil September 19, 1921 - São Paulo, Brazil May 2, 1997) was a Brazilian educator and influential theorist of education. ...

Today, dialogue is used in classrooms, community centers, corporations, federal agencies, and other settings to enable people, usually in small groups, to share their perspectives and experiences about difficult issues. It is used to help people resolve long-standing conflicts and to build deeper understanding of contentious issues. Dialogue is not about judging, weighing, or making decisions, but about understanding and learning. Dialogue dispels stereotypes, builds trust, and enables people to be open to perspectives that are very different from their own.

In the past two decades, a rapidly-growing movement for dialogue has been developing. The website of the National Coalition for Dialogue and Deliberation, at http://www.thataway.org, serves as a hub for dialogue (and deliberation) facilitators, conveners, and trainers and houses thousands of resources on these communication methodologies.

Groups such as Worldwide Marriage Encounter and Retrouvaille International use dialogue as a communication tool for married couples. Both groups teach a dialogue method that helps couples learn more about each other in non-threatening postures, which helps to foster growth in the married relationship. Marriage Encounter (M.E.) is a weekend program designed to help married couples improve their marriage, grow closer to each other, and improve a couples commitment to and relationship with each other. ...

Obstacles

Dialogue is a delicate process. Many obstacles inhibit dialogue and favor more confrontational communication forms such as discussion and debate. Common obstacles including fear, the display or exercise of power, mistrust, external influences, distractions, and poor communication conditions can all prevent dialogue from emerging. ^[5]

See also

• Conversation
• Chat
• Speech
• Bohm Dialogue
• Facilitation
• Deliberation
• Interfaith dialogue
• Dialogue Among Civilizations
• Intercultural Dialogue
• Distributed Dialogue Processing - Politics, Democracy, Technology and Collective Learning

Lenin and Stalin in conversation Conversation is the verbalization of concepts involving abstractions and concrete objects which make up the reality in which we reside. ... Look up chat in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Bold text This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Bohm Dialogue or Bohmian Dialogue is a form of free association conducted in groups, with no predefined purpose in mind besides mutual understanding and exploration of human thought. ... In organizational development (OD) and consensus decision-making, facilitation refers to the process of designing and running a successful meeting. ... This article refers to legal deliberation; for other meanings of the word refer to its Wiktionary entry. ... It has been suggested that Interfaith be merged into this article or section. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Cross-cultural communication looks at how people, from differing cultural backgrounds, endeavor to communicate. ...

Notes

Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era. ... is the 109th day of the year (110th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...

References

• Bakhtin, M. M. (1986) Speech Genres and Other Late Essays. Trans. by Vern W. McGee. Austin, Tx: University of Texas Press.
• Maranhão, Tullio (1990) The Interpretation of Dialogue University of Chicago Press ISBN 0226504336
• This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.
• The National Coalition for Dialogue and Deliberation
• NCDD's Learning Exchange - for thousands of guides, videos, articles, books, and other resources on dialogue
• Selected Websites on Dialogue
• dialogue: journal for cultural literacy

Encyclopædia Britannica, the eleventh edition The Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition (1910–1911) is perhaps the most famous edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica. ... The public domain comprises the body of all creative works and other knowledge—writing, artwork, music, science, inventions, and others—in which no person or organization has any proprietary interest. ...

External links

• Smith, M. K. (2001) Dialogue and conversation, the encyclopaedia of informal education