Dialogue as the way to the truth about man

Abstract

The article discusses thoroughly some problems connected with the use of dialogue in the educational sciences. We analyze the history of the concept of dialogue, its different notions and definitions, its synonyms and antonyms, its dialectical structure, functions, conditions and the crucial problem of its truthfulness and intersubjectivity when used as an instrument of cognition. Most of all we are interested in the multiplex relation between the dialogue and the truth especially when dialogue is seen as privileged way to the knowledge of man. We notice that in the educational studies the notion of dialogue is generally treated as a positive value. It has here two principal meanings: as a specific method of education, i.e. teaching and learning through dialogue, and as an objective of education to foster the skills and habit of dialogue, necessary in any democratic society and community. Exploiting possibly ample contemporary literature, we pay a special attention to two traditions of dialogue: the philosophical hermeneutics of Hans-Georg Gadamer and philosophy of dialogue (M. Buber, F. Rosenzweig). We conclude that even though the notion of dialogue has in educational sciences an imprecise meaning it is used here broadly not only for a theoretical characterizations of education but as a tool in many educational strategies.