Philosophical dialogue as spiritual exercise: A Hadotian reading of Jiddu Krishnamurti's method

This research explores dialogue as a transformative form of philosophical practice by unveiling the method behind the unique dialogue developed by mystic and thinker Jiddu Krishnamurti (1895–1986). While Krishnamurti himself generally rejected the cultivation of systems and techniques, I argue that there are easily identifiable patterns through which Krishnamurti strove to realize his dialogical aims. For this reason, I refer to this method, whose existence has evaded Krishnamurti’s followers and scholars alike, as the Krishnamurti dialogue. I argue that these discursive patterns serve to broaden our understanding of the possibilities of philosophical and religious dialogues and further illuminate established forms of dynamic discourse, such as the Socratic method. Krishnamurti’s group conversations and one-on-one dialogues with disciples, scientists, philosophers, psychologists, and theologians are analysed against the backdrop of classical forms of the philosophical dialogue. Inspired by Pierre Hadot’s revolutionary reading of the classical Greco-Roman texts, I centre my attention on Plato’s Socratic dialogues and the guru–disciple conversations in the Hindu Upaniṣads, which fall within the scope of what may be termed ‘the transformative dialogue’: dialogues that have been written with the intention of bringing about a transformation in the mind of the interlocutor and reader and reorienting their way of life. Furthermore, Krishnamurti’s most fundamental techniques are compared to the use of questions in the Socratic dialogue and the kōan tradition of Rinzai Zen, and to the use of negation in Nāgārjuna’s and Śaṅkara’s works. Ultimately, this research demonstrates that the Krishnamurti dialogue is not only a continuation and development of the transformative dialogue, but that it also amalgamates ingredients of classical Western philosophy and South Asian mysticism. Moreover, this type of dialogue encourages us to revisit the lost practice of transformative philosophy, in that it reveals new pathways of philosophical and religious inquiry that bear thought-provoking practical implications.