διαλεκτική (dia-lectic) refers to "through speaking", or "conversation", which has its ultimate roots in the term διαλέγεσθαι. dialectic is also strongly related to διάλογος (dia-logos), or "dialogue". as we know, plato gives the socratic method of reasoning in his own "dialogues", of which are said by hegel to be the origin of dialectical philosophy, as per diogenes laërtus;
<"Diogenes Laertius says of Plato that, just as Thales was the founder of natural philosophy and Socrates of moral philosophy, so Plato was the founder of the third science pertaining to philosophy, namely, dialectic"https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/hegel/works/hl/hlabsolu.htm#HL3_824 concerning plato's (socrates') dialectical method, there are these remarks: [cratylus, 390c]. here, dialectic refers to the "art" of conversation (διάλογος), and also here: [phaedrus, 266c]. there is a dispute made by phaedrus between a rhetoritician and dialectician however, which socrates responds to with this: [phaedrus, 276e-277a]. so the difference between mere rhetoric and dialectic is the "seed" of knowledge which breeds its own fruit. the "artful" speech he concludes [277b-c] is the speech which seeks to discern the indivisible variables of discussion, or the formality of the discourse itself (what in "parmenides" would refer to the forms, or in "cratylus" would refer to the names of things). concerning this art then, the "method" is given here: [protagoras, 336c-d]. it is described as a "question-and-answer dialogue" by alcibiades, which indeed is socrates' manner of inquiry. within this method however is a negative movement, which is further commented upon here: [republic, 511a-e]. in this, socrates appears to see how a negative movement from the non-hypothetical is superior to self-limiting hypotheses. it is by the "power" and "science" of dialectic that reason grasps the intelligible. socrates continues this line of thought: [republic, 532a-b], where dialectic is described as a "song" and "journey" from the allegorical "cave" of ignorance to the "sun" of knowledge, and too, here: [republic, 533d]. glaucon then refers to earlier notions: [republic, 534b], such as discussed in phaedrus, where the knowledge of being is possessed by the dialectician. dialectic is seen to be the highest art here: [republic, 534e
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