Source: The Voice of Poetry in The Conversation of MankindIn a conversation the participants are not engaged in an inquiry or a debate; there is no ‘truth’ to be discovered, no proposition to be proved, no conclusion sought.
They are not concerned to inform, to persuade, or to refute one another, and therefore the cogency of their utterances does not depend upon their all speaking in the same idiom; they may differ without disagreeing.
Of course, a conversation may have passages of argument and a speaker is not forbidden to be demonstrative; but reasoning is neither sovereign nor alone, and the conversation itself does not compose an argument.
Credit: Michael Oakeshott
Posts where this quotation is embeddedQuotations: Michael Oakeshott
Tags: argument (35) | conversation (198) | Michael Oakeshott (6) | persuasion (11) | refutation (4)
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This quotation is part of a blook on Conversational Leadership. It is one of many quotations that have influenced my thinking on the subject. Parts of this blook have restricted access. You may browse the pages open to you, but you will need to register and be approved before you can login and access the full site. When you register, you may also sign-up to receive a quotation of the day by email.
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Thursday 27th February 2025, 15:00 to 19:00 London time (GMT)
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Thursday 27th February 2025, 15:00 to 19:00 London time (GMT)
Learn how to design & run a Gurteen Knowledge Café, both face-to-face and online.
Information and Registration