ABSTRACT
Once a society loses this capacity [to dialogue], all that is le is a cacophony of voices battling it out to see who wins and who loses. ere is no capacity to go deeper, to nd a deeper meaning that transcends individual views and self-interest. It seems reasonable to ask whether many of our deeper problems in governing ourselves today, the so-called “gridlock” and loss of mutual respect and caring … might not stem from this lost capacity to talk with one another, to think together as part of a larger community.
