Dialogic civility as pragmatic ethical praxis: an interpersonal metaphor for the public domain

Abstract

This essay offers dialogic civility as a guiding interpersonal metaphor in a time of narrative disagreement, an era in which ethical standpoints that traditionally have undergirded discourse are in contrast, dispute, and disruption. Dialogic civility is an interpersonal metaphor grounded in the public domain and in a pragmatic commitment to keeping the conversation going in a time of narrative confusion and virtue fragmentation. This essay frames a pragmatic case for dialogic civility as a key interpersonal metaphor for negotiating difference in the public domain of postmodern communicative interaction.