For section 4 of your project, you will engage in a written or typed dialogue with a peer about your topic. The concept here is the idea that it’s important not only to have the courage of your convictions, but also the strength to have them challenged.
The two roles here are the “writer” and “responder.”
Here is the structure for today:
- Open a new Google Document. Create a name for it (“philosophy dialogue” perhaps) and share it with the person / people you will be working with today.
- I think it will also be helpful at this point to decide on a color or font for each person to use, so you can distinguish the different voices.
- Write an “opening statement.” This paragraph needs to include both your question and a general sense of how you are answering it at this point.
- Responder reads this statement and writes a paragraph that includes their answer to the question and reasons / justifications for it.
- Then, the responder will ask a question, trying to dig deeper into the beliefs of the writer. The responder may, but it not required, to use one of the following questions we've previously used to expand / focus philosophical questions:
- What are its assumptions and premises?
- What are its implications?
- What different types or contexts exist?
- When does / doesn’t it work?
- What do the specific terms mean?
- What are the reasons underlying the questions / answers?
- Who else shares this belief or perspective, and why?
- Writer now responds to this question with a combination of ideas, reasons, explanations, and examples. This should conclude with a question back to the responder.
- Dialogue continues this way for the rest of the period.
- Both sides are encouraged to challenge the ideas and beliefs of the other person. The idea behind that is to push the writer’s thinking, to consider new possibilities, and to potentially reach new conclusions.
- Feel free to add in personal stories or make up hypothetical situations ("would your beliefs hold true if...") - philosophy is always at its best and most challenging when it has to be specific and not just theoretical.
- You will be turning in this dialogue as is - the reflection on it will come in Part 5 as you link all of the sections together. Don't worry about the grade here - just have an authentic dialogue for the whole period.
- ** There are two ways to do this:
- Have both dialogues at the same time.
- Do one dialogue at a time, spending roughly 25 minutes on each one
- Enjoy the opportunity to have a powerful, deep conversation!
