DESCRIPTION: It is currently the most frequently downloaded and read text published in SPCh and available in electronic form. Its author is Rev. Prof. Jan Krokos, a long-time, now retired, employee of the Institute of Philosophy at the Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński University in Warsaw, dealing, among other things, with the theory of cognition and phenomenology. In it, the author points out that speaking, conversation, dialogue and discussion are four synonymous terms and four related phenomena. Speaking is the meaningful articulation of sounds by a personal subject and as such is a prerequisite for other activities. A conversation is a mutual exchange of words between at least two people about a topic. A dialogue and a discussion, which are both conversations between people, differ in their subject, purpose and structure. For both, conversation is the foundation. The prerequisite for dialogue and discussion is the inner freedom of the people involved. The main objective of dialogue is to get to know the positions and views of the participants on a specific topic. The participants in the dialogue do not necessarily have to have equal competences. Discussion is a formalised, qualified dialogue. Its objective is to solve a problem. The discussion must therefore have a clearly defined subject and aspect, and the terms used must be agreed upon. The participants must have similar competence in the matters under discussion. The discussion also has its own internal, logical structure. "The distinctions made here between speaking, conversation, dialogue and discussion are not arbitrary. They show significant differences, but also similarities. Speaking, conversation, dialogue and discussion are related human activities, not always distinguished because they often pass into one another, and in speech, not only colloquial, they are called by the same words. Nevertheless, organising these activities and recognising the differences between similar phenomena can be helpful in realising them consciously" (pp. 337-338).
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