[Commlist] cfp: Dialogue as Community Building and as Philosophical Method

*Ecrea’s Philosophy of Communication Workshop, *
*Subject: DIALOGUE AS COMMUNITY BUILDING AND AS PHILOSOPHICAL METHOD*
*Start 22.09.2025*
*End 23.09.2025*
*Location: Freie Universität, Berlin*


https://www.ecrea.eu/event-6215099

ECREA Philosophy of Communication Section, 2025 workshop

Institute for Media and Communication Studies

In an age acutely defined by digital fragmentation, the relentless logic 
of the attention economy, and increasingly polarized public spheres, 
dialogue emerges not merely as endangered but as an existential, 
epistemic, and civic necessity. This workshop seeks to radically revisit 
and reclaim the notion of dialogue, not only as a communicative ideal 
but also as a foundational philosophical practice, an ethics of 
relationality, a crucial means of co-constructing shared worlds, and an 
essential practice for cultivating positive freedom. We approach this 
exploration keenly aware that dialogue never occurs in a vacuum, but 
always within, and often constrained by, pre-existing discourses that 
articulate and enact power, shaping what is considered sayable, 
knowable, and legitimate.

The contemporary dominance of monological forms of expression, often 
performative, algorithmically amplified, and emotionally charged, 
threatens to erode the very conditions for authentic dialogical 
encounter. This erosion is compounded by inherent human tendencies: our 
reasoning is frequently driven by partisan loyalties and 
identity-protective cognitions, creating anthropological and 
psychological impediments that render the cultivation of genuine 
dialogue—and by extension, the exercise of positive freedom—both more 
challenging and more urgent. This necessitates a critical engagement not 
only with our own biases but also with the power structures embedded in 
our communicative ecosystems.

We propose to explore dialogue as a liminal space where understanding is 
not a pre-existing entity to be unilaterally imposed, but rather emerges 
processually and intersubjectively. This emergence is contingent upon 
profound openness, radical listening, and mutual recognition of the 
Other in their irreducible particularity – a feat requiring conscious 
effort against our more primal, self-justifying inclinations, critical 
vigilance towards how discourse itself can marginalize or silence, and 
an active exercise of our capacity to co-determine our shared realities.

Can dialogue, in its Socratic spirit of maieutic inquiry, still function 
as a robust method of philosophical investigation and critical thinking 
in a world increasingly structured by immediacy, curated visibility, and 
self-affirming echo chambers, especially when confronted with our innate 
biases and the subtle yet pervasive workings of discursive power? What 
does it truly mean to think with others, engaging in a shared pursuit of 
understanding that consciously strives to transcend motivated reasoning 
and actively challenges hegemonic narratives? How can dialogue serve not 
only as a method of inquiry but as a practice that cultivates positive 
freedom: the capacity to act, to participate meaningfully, and to 
co-shape our institutions and collective life, even against the grain of 
dominant discourses? How might embodied dialogical practices resist the 
pervasive atomization, the instrumentalization of communication, and the 
deficit of presence that characterize contemporary societies, while 
simultaneously fostering the self-awareness needed to navigate our own 
cognitive limitations and our complicity in, or resistance to, 
prevailing power dynamics? How can dialogue cultivate the phronesis 
(practical wisdom) needed to navigate complex ethical and political 
landscapes with humility, intellectual honesty, active agency, and a 
critically discerning eye for power? How can, in turn, cultural 
practices, such as art, open dialogues in an increasingly disaffected world?

This event is an invitation to collectively reflect, converse, and 
experiment with the multifaceted possibilities of dialogue: as a 
rigorous philosophical method, as an ethical praxis rooted in care and 
responsibility, and as a vital force for community-building, democratic 
renewal, and the empowerment of individuals to exercise their positive 
freedom by critically engaging with and seeking to reshape the 
discourses that define our world, fully acknowledging the profound 
challenges this entails.

We welcome contributions that engage with (but are not limited to):

    Ontological and Epistemological Foundations of Dialogue.
    The Epistemic Functions of Dialogue
    Psychological and Cognitive Barriers to Dialogue
    Dialogue and Positive Freedom.
    Dialogue and Recognition.
    Dialogue, Debate, Discussion, Conversation
    The Phenomenology of Listening and Encounter.
    Dialogue and Education.
    Dialogue in Digital Spheres.
    Dialogical Resistance and Praxis.
    Dialogue, Power, and the Public Sphere.
    Dialogue and Democracy
    Dialogue as Method
    Dialogue and the Arts
    Dialogue and Monologue
    Ethics of Dialogue
    Approaches to Dialogue in the History of Philosophy and 
Communication Theory

Please send your abstract by Friday, 27 June to the Management Team of 
the ECREA Philosophy of Communication section via EasyChair at 
https://easychair.org/my/conference?conf=ecreaphilcomm2025 AND BY EMAIL 
(ioan.suhov2 /at/ mail.dcu.ie)
---------------
The COMMLIST
---------------
This mailing list is a free service offered by Nico Carpentier. Please use it responsibly and wisely.
--
To subscribe or unsubscribe, please visit http://commlist.org/
--
Before sending a posting request, please always read the guidelines at http://commlist.org/
--
To contact the mailing list manager:
Email: (nico.carpentier /at/ commlist.org)
URL: http://nicocarpentier.net
---------------