The Courage to Listen

Abstract

Theory and practice in contemporary governance place discourse, dialogue, and storytelling at the center of the field of public administration. These speaking practices involve the capacity both to speak and to listen to what is being said. Public administration emphasizes the former and neglects the latter. But if the breakdown in our "communicative infrastructure" is to be repaired, it is as important to consider how one attends to another's speech as to create settings and opportunities for speaking. Drawing from Michel Foucault's final three lectures, this paper theorizes the role of listening in creating a robust public sphere. Central to the argument are Foucault's analyses of the ancient Greek practices of "care of the self" and a specific kind of truth-telling, parrhesia. Listening is shown to be the central practice of self-care: To be able to listen, we must learn to attend to and take care of ourselves. This practice enables the subject not only to govern others, but also to listen to parrhesiac speech when spoken by others in public. The field has not yet fully understood how the "personal" practice of taking-care-of-oneself and, in particular, cultivating the capacity to listen is the sine qua non for the emergence of a functioning public realm and responsive government.