Keeping cool when debate turns hot: Inaugural global Ethics Center conference features scholarship, presentations on fostering civil, productive dialogue

Keeping cool when debate turns hot: Inaugural global Ethics Center conference features scholarship, presentations on fostering civil, productive dialogue 
The Harvard Gazette; by Christy DeSmith; 2/24/25 
Americans today are wrestling with how to turn down the heat when discussing politically and morally charged topics. Students, professors, and education professionals from around the globe assembled at Harvard this month to chart their way to more productive discussions — and better relations. The inaugural Challenging Barriers to Civil Discourse conference, hosted by the Edmond and Lily Safra Center for Ethics, featured scholarship on fostering open, honest exchanges across deep divides. ... [Dr. Julia] Kolak told of mediating clashes that arose ... when the family of a critically ill patient ... resisted end-of-life care. She works to unearth the principles guiding all parties, without elevating those with medical expertise. “When we treat others as capable of dialogue,” she offered, “it really changes the affective grip of conflict. ... [Jeffrey Dunn] raised the critical question: “What is the long-term goal of this work?” ...