Asian-Arab philosophical dialogues on globalization, democracy ...

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Asia-<strong>Arab</strong> Philosophical Dialogues on Globalization, Democracy and Human Rights
Any function in the child’s cultural development appears twice, or on two planes. First it appears
on the social plane, and then on the psychological plane. First, it appears between people as an
interpsychological category, and then within the child as an intrapsychological category. Social relations
or relations among people genetically underlie all higher functions and their relationships. 59
That dialogue between the child and the more competent other might be the origin of the child’s
discursive thought is the counterpart to John Dewey’s claim that thought continues to come to fruition
only through communication, and that its realization is most complete when we think together in “faceto-face
relationships by means of direct give and take” by sharing our experience through dialogue:
“Signs and symbols, language, are the means of communication by which a fraternally shared experience
is ushered in and sustained. But the winged words of conversation in immediate intercourse have a
vital import lacking in the fixed and frozen words of written speech. . . Logic in its fulfilment recurs to
the primitive sense of the word: dialogue. Ideas which are not communicated, shared, and reborn in
expression are but soliloquy, and soliloquy is but broken and imperfect thought”. 60
For Dewey, dialogue is the natural form of linguistic thought. This is because language is essentially a
means of communication and problem-solving in social life. Dewey is right to claim that the private
interludes of soliloquy are imperfect. Lacking a proper interlocutor, they are linguistically derivative and
incomplete. They beg for a respondent, someone who listens to what is said and who offers advice or
consolation. Little wonder that soliloquy so easily gives way to those even more obviously derivative
episodes where, as Plato says, we become our own interlocutor and converse inwardly with ourselves.
This connection between dialogue and forms of thought leads me to three brief points:
(1) There is typically a two-way movement in dialogue. A suggestion is proffered and then it is considered.
A hypothesis is stated and then assessed. A rough idea is put forward and then worked upon. We can
describe these as the interplay of the creative and the critical phases of thought. Since this kind of
interplay is inherent in dialogue, dialogue provides a natural basis for people to learn to think at once
critically and creatively.
(2) To temper our experience by submitting it to the judgment of others is to become more reasonable. I
have in mind such things as learning to listen to other people’s points of view, to concede the implications
of our own opinions, to learn to explore our disagreements reasonably, and to change our minds where
that is warranted on the basis of reason and evidence. Reasonableness and associated traits (such as
fair-mindedness, open-mindedness and tolerance) are the hallmarks of a thoughtful person, one whose
thinking is socially well developed.
(3) By extension, exploring different points of view, discussing disagreements reasonably, and keeping
an open mind, all develop forms of regard and practices of open intellectual exchange that support the
development of more open societies. They are the ways of thinking and forms of regard desperately
needed if people anywhere are to develop more deeply democratic ways of life.
Finally, let me express what has been said about <strong>philosophical</strong> dialogue in terms of an evolutionary
understanding of universality and contextuality. In dialogue different perspectives or points of view
come into critical and creative engagement. Dialogue helps to loosen our attachments to preconceived
ideas. It makes us more self-aware and self-critical by bringing us to look at ourselves through the
eyes of others. It enables us to reach beyond the limits of previous experience, enlarging the sphere
of possibilities that we are prepared to entertain. And it stimulates us to create something new from
the warp and weft of disparate experience. Given this, dialogue is surely one mechanism through
which culture evolves. From an evolutionary viewpoint, when thoughts and ideas that are expressive of
cultural variation and diversity enter into the generative process of dialogue their progeny are wouldbe
adaptations within an environment reconstructed by tentative cultural commingling. Initially these
59 Vygotsky, Lev. 1978. Mind in Society: The Development of Higher Psychological Processes. Boston, Harvard University
Press, p. 57.
60 Dewey, John. 1991. The Public and its Problems. Athens, Ohio, Ohio University Press, p. 218. (Originally published in
1927.)