The Dialectic: A Solution to Habitual Media

By Alexander Sasha Hsu

“Your eyes can deceive you, don't trust them,” Obi-Wan Kenobi cautioned Luke Skywalker when practicing his lightsaber skills. While this quote was introduced in 1977’s Star Wars: A New Hope, it is ever relevant in current times, especially regarding how people interact with social media. For most users, social media platforms, like Twitter and Instagram, are the main form of staying up to date with relevant news in the world. The ability to receive up to date information instantly is shockingly simple and as a result, has become a habitual and nearly unconscious practice of daily life. This is dangerous because, as we have learned, social media algorithms cater to personal preferences and consequently emphasize our confirmation biases and deepen the polarization that exists in nearly every aspect of society. Hence, our ability to partake in rational debate has all but vanished. 

After reading Plato’s Republic and Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics, I have come to realize that the dialectic is a crucial aspect of human interaction that helps us attain a greater field of knowledge. Like stretching our bodies, the dialectic is an intentional effort to put ourselves in an uncomfortable position in order to view a controversial subject in a new light. Further, this feat should take an immense amount of effort in order to embrace the discomfort and push ourselves past our predispositions. In Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle urges that “Shall we not, like archers who have a mark to aim at, be more likely to hit upon what is right?” This allegory demonstrates that in our quest for knowledge we must have a clear aim at what we wish to achieve. Without a clear direction, one is likely to be off mark and miss their intended target. To further expand on this idea, it is important to note that the dialectic is a mode of argumentation, not a cacophony of ideas. The dialectic aims to bring people from lightness to dark in pursuit of clarity. 

While the true form of a dialectic is an effective tool that society could utilize to ease the drastic polarization we face, it is worthy to note that the fundamental attributes of a civil discourse is not only easier to achieve, but also a great tool to help broaden our horizons in our quest to achieve the end goal of “the good”. Recognizing that we have an ethical obligation to our society, it is vital for us to understand that we must build this ethical approach into our foundation of beliefs. As we advance on our quest of achieving a virtuous state, we must revisit our foundations to remind ourselves of our core attributes. A willingness to revisit our fundamental state can be explained by the idea of aporia, or a beginner's mind. The ability to express openness is critical to a dialectic because it shows that one's aim is truly on achieving truth, not validation of their initial beliefs.