Dialogic Civility in a Cynical Age

Dialogic Civility in a Cynical Age: Community, Hope, and Interpersonal Relationships

Copied from CRTNET NEWS
November 18, 1999, Number 4568
Communication Research and Theory Network
a service of the National Communication Association

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Date: Thu 11/18/99 9:26 AM
From: Pat Arneson arneson@duq.edu
New book: Civility

Dialogic Civility in a Cynical Age: Community, Hope, and Interpersonal Relationships
By Ronald C. Arnett and Pat Arneson
SUNY Press. 1999. 332 pages.
Paperback $20.95, ISBN 0-7914-4326-4

Description: Dialogic Civility in a Cynical Age offers a philosophical and pragmatic response to unreflective cynicism. Considering that each of us has faced inappropriate cynical communication in families, educational institutions, and the workplace, this book offers insight and practical guidance for people interested in improving their interpersonal relationships in an age of rampant cynicism.

"It is a rare pleasure to read a scholarly book that offers a realistic basis for hope about the possibilities for enriched communication. In their book the authors offer hope--hope for human thought and action and, most especially, for human communication praxis." --Julia Wood, University of North Carolina

"Dialogic Civility in a Cynical Age provides a dialogue with some common sense voices of reason, civility, caring, and interpersonal relations. It is truly a praxis--applying theories of dialogic communication and civility to our moment in history. The book doesn't give a naive view of the world. It takes a realistic look at dialogic communication and its possible role in countering much of today's unenlightened, unreflective cynicism about our communities and the future of our society." --T. Dean Thomlinson, University of Evansville, IN

Contents:

Part I: Interpersonal Praxis: From Communicative Crisis to Narrative Action
1. Introduction: Beginning the Conversation
2. Voices of Cynicism and Hope
3. Historicality and Presence
4. Common Ground: Interpersonal Narrative
Part II: Interpersonal Voices

Section 1: Narrative Decline: Interpersonal Dialogue and the Self
5. Carl Rogers: A Voice of Pragmatic Optimism
6. Abraham Maslow: Science, Values, and Additive Change

Section 2: Narrative Confrontation: Interpersonal Dialogue and Crisis
7. Martin Buber: Attending and Response Between Persons
8. Carol Gilligan: Gender and Moral Voice
9. Paulo Freire: Dignity and the Limits of Inclusion
10. Sissela Bok: Crisis and Ethical Imagination
11. Viktor Frankl: Meaning, Displacement, and Courage

Section 3: Narrative Construction: Interpersonal Dialogue and Story
12. Nel Noddings: Re-Storying an Ethic of Care
13. Robert Bellah: Re-Storying Broken Covenants

Part III: Dialogic Civility
14. The Interpersonal Praxis of Dialogic Civility

Ronald C. Arnett is Chair and Professor of the Affiliated Departments of Communication and English at Duquesne University.
Pat Arneson is Associate Professor of Communication at Duquesne University.

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