I READ lately , in a book review , that modern men , or at any rate the modern young , do not like the dialogue form .sx I do not know whether that is generally true , but it interested me , since I have written dialogues , and set me thinking about the merits and difficulties of the form .sx This paper is the result of my meditations .sx All dialogues that have been preserved were , of course , written , but the origin of the form was conversation .sx In the west it sprang from the conversation of Socrates , and he , it is interesting to learn from Plato , had an aversion from written treatises .sx The reasons , we are told , were as follows :sx There is much truth in this criticism , and we may pause for a moment to inquire how much .sx The answer , I think , depends on the subject-matter treated .sx There was not , when Socrates was talking , very much of what we call exact science .sx Books were mostly either poetical speculations about nature , or discussions and instructions about the conduct of life .sx We , on the other hand , have an immense mass of knowledge about nature which can be handed on didactically to students ; and for conveying this the dialogue is not a proper form .sx No doubt the foundations of any science are open to much debate , and possibly the debate might be properly conducted in dialogue .sx But the mass of verifiable knowledge ( facts as such ) is better set forth either by text-book or lecture or instruction and demonstration in laboratories .sx The Greeks of the fifth century had no laboratories and little , if any , experiment .sx They had , indeed , mathematics , which is the purest of the sciences ; but it never occurred to them , so far as I know , to write dialogues about that .sx For mathematical arguments are the very type of demonstration .sx There is no room for difference of opinion , and therefore no room for discussion .sx And what is true of mathematics is true , to a less degree , of all knowledge that has reached the stage of science .sx Broadly that class of subject-matter is unsuited to dialogue .sx But there remains a large field of human thinking and feeling , and that of the utmost importance .sx It includes everything which involves ideas of goodness and badness what are now called values whether they be ethical or aesthetic or religious .sx In this immense region demonstration seems to be impossible .sx There is agreement or disagreement , partial or total ; and that may , and often does , provoke passion , indignation , even fury .sx Consider , for example , the reaction of most men's minds to such words as " pacifist " or " communist " or " atheist " ; and , though in a less degree , to the most modern painting or sculpture .sx You must have observed ( and I think the fact is rather significant ) that few people are content to say simply " I don't understand art , " or " I don't care about it .sx " They lash themselves into a rage over it , and want to have their money returned at the door if they are confronted by pictures that contradict the convention to which they happen to have got accustomed .sx Now the implication of this passion is , I think , that most people believe that there is a " right " and a " wrong " even in art , and certainly in ethics .sx For the easy way out , sometimes adopted , that one opinion is as good as another , is contradicted by actual behaviour , as soon as any occasion felt to be important arises .sx On the other hand , if there is a right and a wrong , it is not self-evident who knows it .sx Much of the disputation , it is true , may be due to ignorance or misapprehension of facts .sx But behind and beyond that are real differences of valuation , and controversy may , or might , be reduced to such differences .sx For instance , when it comes to the point , are you going to vote for measures that will make the rich pay to improve the lot of the poor , assuming that the lot of the poor will really be improved ; or do you care .sx more about the power and greatness of your country than about the peace of the world ?sx And so on .sx We believe , then , that in this region there is right and wrong , though we dispute about what it is .sx Most of us believe also that there are some men who know , or have known , better than others .sx Such are the founders of religion , like Jesus , or Mahommed or Buddha ; and , in ethics , certain great names , such as Socrates or Confucius ; or even in aesthetics , let us say , Ruskin , or Mr. Roger Fry .sx These facts show how important men feel these questions of value to be , and also how little they are inclined to apply to them the cold and detached methods of science .sx We must add , however , that the reason of this passion is not merely , or perhaps mainly , man's concern with the truth .sx Interest also comes in .sx The most common attitude is that we advance principles which look objective , and which we persuade ourselves are so , while in fact we are being determined very largely by something else .sx The greater part of our morality is thus mixed .sx That is why all of us can always accuse other people of hypocrisy with a certain amount of truth .sx Well it is all this region that is suitable to the dialogue form .sx For dialogue is argument and discussion purged of its chaos and its intemperance .sx A good dialogue will therefore preserve the manner of conversation and also its dramatic qualities .sx In our time indeed , our most prominent dramatist , Mr. Bernard Shaw , uses the stage as Socrates used the market-place or the gymnasium .sx Whether his dramas as such suffer by that method is another question , into which I shall not enter here .sx I refer to him only as illustrating the enduring fascination of dialogue if it is handled effectively ; for large audiences , in fact , are spellbound by Mr. Shaw's discussions , even when they arrest the action of his play .sx He is , in fact , the best modern parallel to Socrates , in method if not in matter or opinion .sx The conversations of Socrates are known to us only in the representations of them given by Plato and Xenophon .sx Xenophon's is the pedestrian , Plato's the dramatic and poetical record .sx I will not pause to consider the debatable and debated question which .sx is more like the original .sx - I incline , myself , to Plato .sx At any rate , it is he who gives the scene and the atmosphere with the greater vividness .sx And the scene in ancient Athens was peculiarly favourable ; for life was lived much out of doors ; there was a large society of people who knew , or knew about , one another and one another's relations ; and the population , or some part of it , was perhaps the most quick-witted that has ever been gathered together .sx Plato had therefore a unique opportunity for the setting of his work .sx In illustration , let me give a passage from one of the earlier Platonic dialogues :sx There is perhaps no one who has given the background so exquisitely as Plato , but Berkeley runs him close .sx Take for example the following :sx Many other examples might be given , such as the opening and the close of Dryden's essay on dramatic poetry .sx The background , in short , is an admirable if not essential device for enlisting at the outset the interest and sympathy of the reader .sx Still more important is the characterization of the speakers .sx In the best Platonic dialogues Socrates himself , the known and loved master , is the centre of interest .sx His personality is the main source of the undying popularity of much of Plato's work .sx He has survived all changes of time and language and intellectual climate .sx " Age cannot wither him nor custom stale his infinite variety .sx " And he is only one of a whole gallery of portraits Protagoras , Gorgias , Theaetetus , Phaedrus , Alcibiades .sx I do not remember any other example of characterization so complete , except in Diderot , whose Neveu de Rameau is as living as any character in drama .sx Landor seems to me in this respect less satisfactory .sx The perfection of his style shines with an equally clear and cold light upon all his personages ; but though they are clearly enough conceived , they do not somehow live .sx That , however , is an opinion which not everyone may share , and I do not advance it too dogmatically .sx Good dialogue , then , has a strong dramatic element .sx But just here a difficulty arises .sx For even where that element is most effective , it is difficult to sustain throughout a long and complicated argument .sx Much , no doubt , depends here upon the subject-matter .sx Nothing , for instance , could be more sparkling throughout than the dialogues of Lucian .sx The same may be said of Diderot in his ` Entretien d'un philosophe avec la Marechale .sx ' But commonly dialogue has been used for a more definitely intellectual purpose .sx Plato more than anyone else has been the .sx model , and Plato's object was to clarify other people's ideas on ethics and politics , and to expound his own .sx Now when that is the purpose , an incompatibility is soon felt between the drama and the subject-matter of the dialogue .sx Thus , most readers , I think , must have felt in reading Plato , at certain points , a sense of weariness and irritability supervening upon their delight .sx The dialectic sometimes seems trivial or unfair , or the problems too difficult to be suited to that form of discussion .sx Plato , it is true , had extraordinary resources to meet this difficulty .sx He lightens the strain by beautiful , amusing or dramatic passages and digressions , as in the Theaetetus ; or again , if he has to expand a difficult conception , he takes refuge in allegory or myth a procedure made easier for him than it is for a modern writer , because he belonged to the race which has created the most beautiful and plastic mythology known to history .sx Thus , he could build upon legends already familiar to his readers .sx Take , for example , the famous allegory of the cave in the Republic .sx Plato is there endeavouring to make clear a fundamental point in his theory of ideas .sx He has stated his doctrine in abstract and logical form ; he now turns to make it clear and more vivid by allegory ; and I believe that most readers still feel the thrill of his conception , because of the vivid imagery in which it is enshrined .sx I can only quote in part :sx Some of you , I think , will agree with me about the moving quality of this passage .sx Plato's philosophy at this point takes wings and flies ; but it flies into a clear heaven , not , as so often happens with poetical thinkers , into mist and cloud .sx It should not , I think , properly be called mystical .sx For Plato bases himself on facts and logic , and finds these pointing away into something which lies beyond and behind , and which is the " real " world of which the prisoners in the cave saw only the shadows .sx This real world , in Plato's philosophy , is intimately bound up with love ; and it is in his dealing with love that we find his most inspired passages .sx I will venture to quote from the myth of the ` Symposium,' as translated by the poet Shelley , who had a natural sympathy with Plato which gives a peculiar swing and beauty to his rendering .sx In this myth also you will note how useful to Plato was the popular mythology :sx Most readers , I think , will feel the beauty of this myth .sx But some may also feel a certain discomfort and even irritation , and that leads me to another point of importance .sx There are two ways in which dialogue may be treated and both are illustrated by Plato .sx The first , which seems to have been peculiarly the method of Socrates , is to criticize and dissect opinions and prejudices in order to expose the confusions and contradictions in which they are involved .sx In doing this it is not necessary to come to a conclusion at all .sx It is enough to raise the questions ; and that is what Socrates seems to have preferred to do .sx The only criticism that an intelligent reader is likely to make of such treatment is that all the meanings and mis-meanings have not been sorted out .sx But it is another matter when the philosopher not only invites to scepticism , but endeavours to substitute conviction .sx