Dialectic Logos and Internal Critique. The Pre-Socratics and the Origins of Political Argument

Abstract

The present essay makes the claim that political argumentation in the form of internal critique was already present in Pre-Socratic thought, specifically in Heraclitus’ dialectic conception of logos. This conception, which implies the human capacity of arguing for and identifying correct inferences, is valid in a contemporary context as well, and it underlies the idea of political life as an intersubjective condition of human existence.