Conversation as the communication method of choice: Designing new agoras for the 21st century

Abstract

Interest in the idea of civil society seems to have resurged lately, along with a corresponding interest in dialogic methods as the vehicle of its manifestation. This idea of civil society pertains to the hope for an ethical ideal of the social order that can offer an arena for harmonizing diverse individual interests with the social good (Seligman, 1992). Especially since humans have acquired the power to destroy the world, the imperative to establish the conditions for civil society seems increasingly evident to many individuals. Moreover, this interest seems to be intensifying, as more and more people become concerned that a haphazard cacophony of particularized interests is being played out in the public sphere-perhaps ultimately resulting in grievous and unrecoverable outcomes. © 2008 Springer-Verlag US.