Title: More on “Generational Ideas” (A Rejoinder to Ian Westbury and Handel Kashope Wright)
Abstract: The net outcome of a good discussion is the advancement of understanding. When Socrates asked his students far-reaching questions (such as What is virtue? or What is justice?), he knew what he was doing. He was basically finding a way to have a conversation about something meaningful. But the key to his conversations was not in identifying any certain answers (who could know what virtue is?), but in experiencing the varied responses being offered and challenged. To Socrates, the knowing was in doing the knowing. The trip, as it were, had a destination that could never be found, so it was the trip that really mattered. Christopher Phillip's (2004) wonderful Six Questions of Socrates, which puts a modern face on the Socratic dialogue, is a reminder of the gains to be had from the Socratic conversation. For those who have not read it yet, I highly recommend it. But good discussion is easier said than done, because traveling through a conversation can get bumpy and uncomfortable, and to extend the metaphor, even end in wreckage. Those of us in the curriculum field know this well because much of the curriculum dialogue over the past decade has left many of us wounded, walking away from a steaming pile of ruin.
Publication Year: 2005
Publication Date: 2005-01-01
Language: en
Type: article
Indexed In: ['crossref']
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Cited By Count: 5
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