Community of philosophical inquiry online and off: Retrospectus and prospectus

This chapter addresses, in psychohistorical, philosophical, and educational terms, the emergence of and prospects for the practice of a specific form of philosophical pedagogy in an online environment. It explores a form of structured group dialogue known as "community of philosophical inquiry," a communal critical thinking discourse that reflects the ongoing transformation of the contemporary information environment into a hybrid zone which combines the literate, the oral, and the imagistic. After a description and analysis of the structure and process of CPI as a complex system, a discussion of the distinctive pedagogical role of a CPI facilitator, and a genealogical look at the post modern information environment, the chapter explores how this "ideal speech situation," which is also a hybrid, is challenged or enhanced through its insertion into the post modern information environment, and how it satisfies the conditions for the communicative ideal of social democracy.