Increasing political polarization indicates that many of us lack skills for dialogue across difference. In classrooms, this often means teachers and students avoid discussing controversial issues, or that such discussions end in misunderstandings, ill-will, and pain. In this session, participants will be introduced to the case study of a philosophy course entitled Dialogue and Civil Discourse that brings together students from across the political spectrum to discuss difficult issues (abortion, immigration, gun control, speech on college campuses). The course foregrounds dispositions like curiosity, intellectual humility and empathy as pre-requisites for learning better dialogue skills. Participants in this session will learn about the course aims, methods and results; participants will also engage in example listening and discussion exercises from the course.

 

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