THE ETHICS OF TALK - CLASSROOM CONVERSATION AND DEMOCRATIC-POLITICS

Recognizing that there is an ethical dimension to conversation general ly, I raise the question: What is the ethical impact of conversation i n the classroom? This is an important issue for democracies, where the quality of politics depends heavily on the quality of public discours e. Recently, university education has been criticized for fostering a moral relativism and partisanship that are weakening American civic li fe. I argue that the experience of critical inquiry conducted through classroom dialogue can cultivate precisely those ethical characteristi cs required of participants in the public life of a deliberative democ racy.