Document Type
Article
Publication Date
1999
Journal / Book Title
Analytic Teaching
Abstract
The most distinctive feature of the theory and practice of community of philosophical inquiry, which at first glance appears contradictory, is how it promotes both communal, intersubjective meaning and thinking for oneself. Typically we think of the two as, if not opposed, then not particularly related. Thinking for oneself is usually associated with 18th century Western Enlightenment - the automatic problematization of collectively held beliefs - skepticism, and individualism. Community is usually associated with the affirmation of collectively held beliefs and assumptions, and with the necessary sacrifice of individual opinion for a greater good. Human dialogue is the intersubjective location where individual and communal, self and other, thinking for oneself and thinking with others, are possible. It is a characteristic of dialogue that it is never automatic-for that is a sure index of objectification, or the I-It relation. Dialogue always involves risk, for it is a continuous process of mutual reconfiguration. It is only as predictable as the next response, and if the response can be predicted, dialogue has ceased or is in remission.
Book Publisher
Viterbo University
MSU Digital Commons Citation
Kennedy, David K., "(1999) Thinking for Oneself and with Others" (1999). Collected Papers of David Kennedy. 19.
https://digitalcommons.montclair.edu/dkennedy/19
Published Citation
Kennedy, David (1999) Thinking for Oneself and with Others. Analytic Teaching 20(1): 40-45; URL = https://journal.viterbo.edu/index.php/at/article/view/709.