TOWARD AN ACTION THEORY OF DIALOGUE

Abstract

This paper explores the theoretical and practical dimensions of dialogue as a means of harnessing profound and previously unrealized levels of coordination and insight. Dialogue is not only a philosophical concept, but also an actionable skill available to individuals and teams. Often the claim is made that the difficulty in making dialogue more concrete or actionable is inherent in the nature of the phenomenon itself—that dialogue cannot be “willed”, that it is a process that questions the instrumental rationality which arises from the subject-object Cartesian split. The paper seeks to address this and other concerns and makes more explicit how the dialogic process might work in concrete settings, in particular by identifying and removing face-to-face obstacles, and by inviting inquiry into the underlying shared “field” of meaning in which the interactions and conversations take place.

Acknowledgments