Meaning & use
dialectic
A method of examining ideas through structured argument between opposing viewpoints to reach a truth.
See it in a sentence
Their dialectic moved from thesis to counterargument until a shared conclusion emerged.
Philosophy students practiced dialectic by defending and then attacking the same claim.
A note on using this word
Dialectic is closely associated with Socratic questioning and later with Hegel's thesis-antithesis-synthesis model of reasoning.
Words with a similar meaning
debatereasoning
Choose a synonym to suit the sentence. Meanings can overlap without being identical.
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