I will focus on the oral mode, but the essential nature of dialogue is the same, whether in oral or written form. I begin by distinguishing dialogue from some activities with which it is sometimes confused. Dialogue is not conversation . Sharing experiences with family or friends at dinner or cocktails, casual chat with neighbors, and informal talk about television, movies, sports, and politics, are examples of conversation. Generally these activities lack serious purpose, filling the time, amusing, and entertaining, but seldom with any definite aim or goal.
Conversation is free-floating.
Those who introduce serious topics with a definite goal or purpose into such contexts will probably not be invited again. Though some philosophers have questioned its value, this kind of communication performs an important function in lubricating normal social life. Dialogue, is not discussion . Radio and television talk shows, political meetings, religious gatherings, and much of what goes on in classrooms at schools, colleges, and universities qualify as discussion, differing from conversation because they generally do treat serious topics and often have definite goals or purposes. They seek to instruct, inform, persuade, or convert.