A philosopher who is not taking part in discussions is like a boxer who never goes into the ring.
Books and harlots have their quarrels in public.
Freedom is hammered out on the anvil of discussion, dissent, and debate.
If I tell you that I would be disobeying the god and on that account it is impossible for me to keep quiet, you won't be persuaded by me, taking it that I am ionizing. And if I tell you that it is the greatest good for a human being to have discussions every day about virtue and the other things you hear me talking about, examining myself and others, and that the unexamined life is not livable for a human being, you will be even less persuaded.
Information, usually seen as the precondition of debate, is better understood as its by-product.
It is not he who gains the exact point in dispute who scores most in controversy — but he who has shown the better temper.