The Gadfly Talks

Welcome to The Gadfly Talks, one woman’s answer to a world of soundbites and clapbacks. It’s inspired by Socratic dialogue, which involves cooperative, open-ended exploration rather than defensive one-upmanship or intellectual dominance. 

This type of dialogue is portrayed in Plato’s Symposium by the temple priestess and mystic, Diotima of Mantinea, as she guides Socrates to insight about the nature of love (or eros, for my fellow Greek nerds).  

The goal of Socratic dialogue is to temporarily suspend our beliefs, to allow space to explore ideas relationally and arrive at deep, collective insight — together. Refreshing, right? Think of it as making love to an idea rather than, well, the alternative.

This dialectical approach goes beyond black-and-white, zero-sum thinking to embrace complexity, paradox, and mystery. It helps us resolve ideological tension and factionalism not with concrete answers, but cooperative inquiry and the ability to sit