My Raw Argument for Conversation
The Practice of Dialogue Rests on Solid Ground
I’ve become intrigued by trying to boil Listentalk down to the most elemental forms. Intrigued because there is a firm foundation for which I can build things on. Here’s what I know so far:
- There is a performative aspect of language. This performative aspect allows language to actually do something out in the world, to make things happen. It is not just that speaking something makes it true. But there is something closely related that is less about true/false and more about perception/reality: when we speak something, it becomes public, it becomes known, it becomes the story we’re going with—unless immediately debunked by those involved in the hearing and telling. So…stuff happens when we speak it. It becomes true…or at least truish. JL Austin, John Searle and others go on and on about such speech acts. I intend to hear more from them.
- We do right by others when we treat them as people. Obvious? Yes and no. Martin Buber suggested we often treat each other as objects rather than as people. He talks about “I-Thou” relationships where we treat the person before us as fully-human, whole people. Beings with many facets, interests, parts of their character. We talk and (especially) listen to them as we respect the dignity of their being human. But too often we treat others with an “I-It” sort of connection. That is, the kind of connection we have with an object too often becomes the model for the way we connect with people. We use a hammer to pound a nail, a George Foreman Grill to press a Panini for lunch. It makes sense to use tools in that way. But we mustn’t treat people as if they were objects. We devalue them. People are people. People are not objects placed on earth for the sole purpose of carrying out my personal (sometimes diabolical) will. There’s much more to say about this (in particular from Emmanuel Levinas), but that is the basic argument.
- God created and interacts with people. Lest you think I’m writing some humanistic diatribe, both the performative nature of language and the treatment of people as beings of dignity flow directly from the Old and New Testaments. Look at the role of “Word” from Genesis 1 to John 1 to Revelation 22. Words are performative so often it will make your head spin (If your head is subject to spinning) (You might want a doctor to look at that). Watch how the Eternal One allowed for the possibility that words spoken could be rejected. Even the words of the Creator. Even the Word that was a person as well as God.
- We’re at a new time when gatekeepers no longer control the discourse. Social media is part of the deal, but not the whole deal. New attitudes about who is in authority, who we can trust and who we cannot trust are in operation. Technology is opening doors.
Those are “Listentalk’s” four building blocks.
What did I miss?
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Written by kirkistan
October 27, 2010 at 9:57 am
Posted in Ancient Text, Communication is about relationship, curiosities, Dialogue Marketing, Writing to build community
Tagged with Buber, dialogue, discourse, gatekeepers, God, JL Austin, John Searle, Levinas, listentalk, panini, performative
3 Responses
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[…] how simple conversations change your life every day.” You can read the raw argument here and the beginning of the Dummy’s Guide here and see the larger picture here. The book currently […]
Hey buddy, can you spare a story? « Engage Your Target Audience
November 3, 2010 at 9:15 am
You should supply oxygen masks with that post – seems the ivory tower is suiting you just fine brother. You might check out Ardel Caneday’s chapter on speech act theory in “Reclaiming the Center: Confronting Evangelical accommodation in postmodern times” edited by Millard Erickson, Justin Taylor and Paul Helseth.
Lorenzo Smith
November 3, 2010 at 2:52 pm
Lorenzo, thanks for the note. Ivory tower? Sometimes I wish it were so, but that’s not really how my mind works. No, the end result will look more like the Dummy’s Guide to Conversation (https://livingstoncontent.com/2010/10/25/open-your-pie-hole-1-in-the-dummy%E2%80%99s-guide-to-conversation/ ) than a textbook, sadly. I just want to start with solid ground if possible.
kirkistan
November 3, 2010 at 3:47 pm