ABSTRACT
A “learning community” is defined as any human grouping whose primary objective is the support of and engagement with the ongoing process that is human learning. It is a community that facilitates learning for its individual members as well as for the group-as-a-whole—the living human system—whatever the focus of that learning may be. The scientific community would be one example of this kind of human system. The author also offers his experiences of the tango community as one that cultivates particular forms of learning for its members, both locally and globally. The characteristics of these different learning communities are described, with references as well to what are called “learning organizations” in the organization development literature. The role of human language is discussed, including the importance of dialogue, attention to the way certain words are used, awareness of the creativity and destructiveness that can emerge through acts of speech, along with sensitivity to the overall aliveness or deadness of the words chosen within any given community.
