1/5 Socrates and the Life of Inquiry (Rick Roderick)

[hootiepaladin]

Pendejo?

[Tazwegian]

What's the queen doing there at 3:52?

[langengro]

This is the first time I hear the phrase "unforced force of the better argument" in a context where it's not related to Habermas. And the way Roderick presents this idea, namely as related to the ancient opposition of dialectics vs. rhetorics (or rather, more interestingly, to the status of free men vs. slaves), one wonders whether Habermas has taken the phrase from some classical text. Unfortunately, a Google search on this fails. So if anybody knows the source of that phrase, plz reply.

[lorenzo5454]

@langengro I am not sure of the origin of that phrase, but given that Roderick published the book 'Habermas and the foundations of critical theory' in 1986 (4 years before the release of this video in 1990) he may have picked up some of Habermas's language during the research for that book. So it could well still be original Habermas, despite the unrelated context. Sorry I couldn't give a definitive answer.

[callumjohnburns]

@lorenzo5454 just watched the habermas lecture, he used it a few times in conjunction with that, so maybe just part of his lexis. it's a good old phrase!