Listening, conflict and citizenship: towards a pedagogy of civil society

Abstract

This paper argues that listening is a seriously neglected theme in adult education theory and contemporary philosophy. It postulates that critical reflection on listening is particularly salient in our world of manifest socio-economic inequality, cultural conflict and adversarialness. This paper contends that we learn to listen, and that political listening can be usefully understood as a pedagogical practice of democratic citizenship. Listening must be cultivated by persons and collectives if we are to hold civil society together with minimal, but crucial, solidarity and commitment to the commonwealth.