A Public Sphere Development Site
Dear Habermas
Volume 38, Issue No. 2, Week of April 24, 2011
All underlines represent HOT LINKS. Just click on them.
Dear Habermas Sites:
Community Site: Jeanne (Los Angeles)
UWP Site: Susan (University of Wisconsin, Parkside)
CSUDH (California State University, Dominguez Hills) Site
University of Wisconsin, Parkside (UWP)
California State University, Dominguez Hills(CSUDH)
Created: April 12, 2011
Latest update: April 30, 2011
E-Mail to Jeanne in L.A.
E-Mail to Susan at UWP.
Listening to Others in Good Faith
from jeanne's perspective
The world seems to have come to an impasse in which everyone is shouting at everyone else some version of "my way or the highway." That's a very real problem right now for the U.S. Congress. But it's also a very real problem for most of us, even in our personal relationships. This is a story about one of my students who listened to his heart in good faith.
This is Allan's story. But it's my story, too, because all stories are interactive. This is because the meaning of the story depends on the writer's conception and how that conception is interdependent with the reader's perception. In a like sense, the meaning of a portrait depends on what the viewer sees in the portrait, as well as what the artist saw in painting the portrait. This is a story of collaboration and interdependence. Most stories are. It's a story of teaching and learning, for all of us. . . .
More soon. Revising all the links takes time. And I'm getting old. . . . More tomorrow. jeanne
References
- Stuff on Bakhtin, on Nielsen and answerability. etc. How could what you might answer, change what I might say? Empathy means understanding that the Other is a human, just like you and me, and respecting that his/her apperceptive mass might have shaped his conclusions differently from how my apperceptive mass shaped my conclusions. To refuse to listen to the Other with empathy and good faith means that we disrespect the Other, who may in turn disrespect us. With all the disrespect going around these days, we need to think on such ideas. They've been with us for a very long time. But we managed to live together until the last part of the 20th Century. The 21st Century may mean we have to learn how not to disrespect each other.
Here, I'm summarizing what I've gained from so many writers like Gide, Bakhtin, Habermas, and on and on and on. Slowly, I'll get up summaries and references. You can find them already on the Dear Habermas Site Index. Problem is that online pieces change servers, change URLs, and then I have to hunt for them again. That's what takes so much time. Patience, please. jeanne
Online Reference Sources for Conversations that Matter
Liberal Newspapers:New York Times - Los Angeles Times - The Washington Post
The Boston Globe - The Chicago TribuneConservative Newspapers:The Wall Street Journal - The Washington Times - The New York Post
Manchester (N.H.) UnionLeader - The Oklahoman- Los Angeles County Library. Online service.
- World Cat Online search for finding books available in your local librairies. This may have become far more essential as funding for librairies is being cut. Check it out.
- PolitiFact.com
PolitiFact.com will give you extensive information on what's truth and what's rumor and what's not in news reporting and viral vidoes and e-mails. This is offered as a Public Service by the St. Petersburg Times, for which we thank them profusely. These are times for checking your facts.
- Farlex Free Online Dictionary:
The script that lets you double click on any word you want defined is not working properly. But the dictionary works very effectively if you type in a word and enter it, either here or on its own site. I'll try to fix this some time this summer, but for now, we've placed it on the Home page and on the first page of each issue. That's so you can always get to the dictionary by going to Current or Previous Issue, or by going to Home. Susan and I need this tool always available. We hope you do too. jeanne and Susan.
