:Agora Laboratory and Class:       

The Agora laboratory and class consists in a semester class in which the students experiment on a single simple (basic) phenomenon/ concept (light diffraction/ structure for instance), look for and persistently oppose (debate) the main points of view (from history or from their own experience) on that basic phenomenon/ concept. The purpose is to EDUCATE and RESEARCH systematically the reviewing and renewing of a basic unerstanding. It is not a lecture class but rathera class of experimenting - hypotheses inventorying and analysing - debating on a single basic concept/ phenomenon.

The old Greek method of Debating consists of looking for, opposing and analyzing different points of view on a concept/phenomenon, again and again, for years, by a group of individuals, for the purpose of developing a hypothesis, an understanding or a concept, or for the purpose of educating people for the development of basic concepts. The method starts from recognizing that finding simple explanations to intricate problems is usually not a "quick-shot" individual task, but rather a long process that needs to be taught and institutionalized.

This method gave birth to many wonderful concepts in philosophy, ethics, politics, logic, geometry, physics, used with great benefits today. This is true even for the physics of the microscopic world. "De Rerum Naturae", a book by Lucretius, gives a close account of an atomistic view developed before him, which is very close to the current kinetic theory of heat.

In the ancient times, the Greeks did not have the experimental method/ scientific method to combine with Debating. In our times, Debating can be used in conjunction with the scientific method, for instance in the process of the formation of the hypothesis, one of the steps of the scientific method. In fact Debating is applied in a limited extent during the work of any individual or group doing research in our times. This very limited Debating takes place during the periods of communication with the research group, in the writing of reports, and in formal public presentations. This limited Debating insures mainly a compliance of the research results with existing concepts, methods and theories. The depth of this application of the Debating method is very limited because of the timing imposed on any research activity.

While it is not possible to apply the Debate fully in all research, we suggest that an extremely serious profit can be obtained when Debating is used to review and improve our views on the very basic phenomena/concepts. For instance we can apply the Debating method to answer the how-can-it-be-like-that questions for the current view on light diffraction and light beam structure. This application could be simply done and taught if we institutionalize in the University a laboratory and class for this purpose. We call this class Agora Laboratory and Class. The structure of this class is defined on this page.

Debating can be applied in quite an extensive way even by individual scientists, and outside of a research group. Indeed, there are scientists who would talk to anybody willing to listen. In such cases, the effort to answer the how-can-it-be-like-that questions is more pronounced, and considering the different points of view is more advanced. L. Boltzmann is probably a good example of this kind of scientist. It is a matter of personal style when a scientist does so. One of us (C. Costescu) followed this individual Debating style during a personal attempt for a revision of the light diffraction and of the light beam structure. The idea of mixing systematically the old Debating method with the scientific method for the renewal and for teaching the renewal of a basic concept, is a result of observations during his personal experience.

Three possible great benefits from Agora Laboratory and Class:
- The growth of complementary and more physical approaches to the current basics in physics.
- The education of many graduate students for the basic concept renewal.
- A more logical evolution of the scientific theories (T.S. Kuhn's problem)
Other extremely important benefits, such as better education for tolerance and finer solutions for justice in a broader sense, could be obtained if the Agora Laboratory and Class are applied to the basic concepts in social phenomena.

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