ABSTRACT
Dialogism tells us that our freedom cannot be based on our independence from others, primarily because we are not independent of others. It requires us to redefine freedom in terms of our mutual responsibility to work with others to shape our common, shared destinies. Anything that undermines this collective possibility would be unfreeing. In effect, conditions that undermine the possibilities for dialogue threaten human freedom. Human freedom involves the rights of individuals collectively to determine their mutual fates. Genuine dialogue requires at least two differently situated persons who recognize their mutual embeddedness in one another's lives, who meet and work together. Conditions that thwart this possibility, whether based on a refusal to recognize the embedded nature of persons or on power arrangements that transform dialogues into monologues held by the powerful in order to rule the rest, undermine any serious hope that justice can prevail.
