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Plato's Dialectic As a Practical Experiential Method of Radical Transformational Moral Education

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Plato's Dialectic As a Practical Experiential Method of Radical Transformational Moral Education University of Massachusetts Amherst ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst Doctoral Dissertations 1896 - February 2014 1-1-1987 The practice of freedom : Plato's dialectic as a practical experiential method of radical transformational moral education. David D. Cicia University of Massachusetts Amherst Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations_1 Recommended Citation Cicia, David D., "The practice of freedom : Plato's dialectic as a practical experiential method of radical transformational moral education." (1987). Doctoral Dissertations 1896 - February 2014. 4255. https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations_1/4255 This Open Access Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst. It has been accepted for inclusion in Doctoral Dissertations 1896 - February 2014 by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst. For more information, please contact [email protected]. The Practice of Freedom; Plato’s Dialectic As A Practical Experiential Method Of Radical Transformational Moral Education A Dissertation Presented by David D. Cicia Submitted to the Graduate School of the University of Massachusetts in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF EDUCATION September, 1987 School of Education Copyright David D. Cicia 1987 All Rights Reserved ii The Practice of Freedom- Plato’s Dialectic As A Practical Experiential Method ^1—Transformational Moral Educatinp A Dissertation Presented by David D. Cicia Robert R. Wellman, Chairperson Horace Reed, Member 111 PREFACE; WHY PLATO? The sole purpose of this paper is to define and present a method that approximates as nearly as is practically possible, Plato's Dialectic, interpreted functionally and experlentially toward this end. The work of definition, as in Plato's Dialogues, plays a fundamental and crucial role in the dialectical process, and does so here also. The first section (chapters I and II) is an attempt to prepare the way for even the possibility of a definition of Dialectic which would be operational, practical, experiential and in tune with Plato's most basic moral and spiritual aims. The rest of the paper attempts Lo prcL!L*nt a fair approximation - what Plato called a "likely story" - to the actual process of dialectical inquiry as a practical discipline for here-and-now application. The whole movement within the paper is a sort of dialectical process of defining an idea. And, in the true dialectical sense, the idea does not readily form into a conclusive conceptual statement, but only emerges in the felt-experiential living through of the actual movement of the entire process, as a sort of gestalt of the whole. Therefore, this paper can really be understood only by living through and actually participating in the movement of its arguments, experiencing and questions. By right, the form of presentation should be in the form of dialogues, as iv in Plato. In that way the reader is more easily brought into the whole flow of the experiencing process. However, since this paper must take the format for a dissertation, there will be a necessary removal and distancing from the actual living experience that a true enactment of Dialectic would be. Please remember as you are reading this that what is being talked about is a living, feeling, experiencing process in real human beings in actual circumstances and predicaments. If you can in some way also enter into this feeling, experiencing process in your reading and pondering of this, the idea of Dialectic will more readily emerge for you. For, as seen time and time again in Plato's Dialogues, ideas are elusive, not easily captured by the nets of pure reasoning. The only way to fully understand an idea is to incorporate it, to radically enter into a deep-feeling relationship with and in it until its form and light emerge in you as a living experience. This is the process that I attempt to define and present in this paper, and it is the process that can open up a fuller understanding of the paper. Since this is a paper on method - and a very elusive and subtle method - there is no merely conceptual or easy path Lo iLs understanding. It is meant to be lived, not just applied; entered into fully and lived through in a deep-feeling way. Dialectic, as I see it and try to present it here, is not a detached intellectual method for V investigating abstract statements or concepts (even moral concepts about human action and experience), but a highly refined and experientially sophisticated way of radically and thoroughly engaging in the actual process of living a life. It is a means for bringing one' life, actions, feelings, desires, aims and experiencing in general, into clear focus, for moral right action, and the embodiment through authentic expression of a sense of natural intelligence which makes for true human satisfaction and happiness. Only when the process of understanding is entered in such a thorough way can Dialectic be most fully understood, not in abstraction but by living it and living through it as the very process of life itself, made conscious in your own discerning experiential awareness and modes of aware action. This is what the whole process of pursuing the idea of Dialectic has been for me. When I first read Plato's Dialogues extensively nearly twenty years ago I was touched by their existential, moral, intellectual and spiritual force. I was drawn into their dramatic action, not as an intellectual analyst, but as a participant in matters that had a real feeling base in me, and which at the same time challenged me to a play with universal meanings. I sensed in these moral/spiritual dramas a reality that went far beyond what is called Philosophy, an importance and intimacy greater than ordinary drama, and a depth that was much vi deeper than conventional educational practices. It had elements of all these but was so much more sophisticated, in a very subtle and deep way, than any of them. I decided that I wanted to learn how to do this activity of Dialectic. I had no idea whatever at that time how I would learn this. I just sensed that something was there that was thoroughly and comprehensively inspiring to me. I pursued this inspiration through the years, off and on, in various ways, always with the idea in mind that this Dialectic was and is an actual practice, and that it carries the excitement and upliftment of the highest kind of whole¬ feeling and intelligent life. There was something in it, tangible and elusive at the same time, that had the power to lead a human being to the highest range and fullest scope of life's possibilities, in areas and levels that most of us are not usually even dimly aware of. It would not be an easy path to follow, but one that to me had the definite ring of a deep, hidden and much needed truth to it. The Dialogues. as I read them, entered into them and was moved by them, embodied that sense of an essential, moral, existential truth that I felt was needed in order to live life as fully, rightfully and happily as is possible for a human. This truth seemed to be there, was indicated very directly in the words of the Dialogues, but where was it really? How could it be known? How to get to it and really live it? The truth most needed for human happiness seemed vii to be there within easy reach, but at the same time almost completely elusive. In other words, I was inspired to action but didn't know what to do. As I have come to understand, this perplexing situation is actually the form that Dialectic naturally and necessarily takes: the frustration of mental desire and curiosity, leading to a deeper, living experiential process in which what was desired emerges in and through you as you engage life, rather than as an object which you can hold onto and fix attention on as a steady possession. The pursuit of the intuitively obvious but practically elusive truth in Plato's Dialectic, led me into actual experiential processes which forced me to engage life rather than contemplate abstractions. The functional learning disciplines presented in chapter III, are the results of my search through the processes of conscious experiencing, and my subsequent distillation of methods and perspectives from very many sources on this. These disciplines are not definitive or conclusive for dialectical practice. Dialectic is a universal process in the flow of life itself that is not exclusive, and also not to be defined by any single method or even by a summation or a synthesis of methods. The methods presented here merely serve as experiential ways Into the dialectical process that I have found to be useful in moving toward and into a practical working approximation vi i i to the living process that is Dialectic. They are useful, in this way, both as preparatory disciplines and as means for getting at a practical operating definition, for the dialectical process (remembering that, in Dialectic as a living process of engagement, no definition is definitive.) I hope that my presentation of these disciplines will help you to at least conceive of ways of experientially approaching the living process of Dialectic and entering into its life in some way. The last section of the paper (chapter IV) goes into the forms and workings of a method of dialectical practice that is based on these disciplines but not determined by them. Dialectic is not these methods, but these methods help to bring us to a place where we can begin to conceive of an experiential dialectical practice.
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