Book
On Dialogue
- David Bohm · Author
Dialogue is a practice of shared inquiry rather than debate. David Bohm explores how groups can suspend assumptions, listen together, and discover patterns of thought that remain invisible in ordinary conversation.
Find this book ↗Dialogue reframes conversation as a way for groups to think together. Bohm distinguishes dialogue from discussion, emphasizing collective meaning-making over persuasion, argument, or decision pressure.
Organizations are full of talk. Very little of it creates shared understanding.
Bohm distinguishes dialogue from discussion. Discussion breaks things apart, argues positions, and tries to win or decide. Dialogue creates a space where assumptions can be observed rather than defended.
Participants learn to notice their own thought as part of the system. The aim is not agreement. It is shared inquiry.
This makes dialogue powerful in situations where problems persist because people are trapped inside inherited patterns of thought. Bohm's work offers a practice for collective sensemaking at depth.
Why this belongs here
Knowledge Flow depends on the quality of conversation through which understanding forms. Dialogue belongs here because it provides a foundational practice for making hidden assumptions visible and learnable.
