How Civility Works (original) (raw)
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The research paper, "How Civility Works" by Keith J. Bybee, explores the concept of civility amidst growing concerns about rudeness and hostility in American public life. Bybee examines the historical and paradoxical relationship between civility and free speech, arguing that while civility may appear ineffective, its strengths lie in its weaknesses. The paper delineates the definition of civility, its competition with various forms of good manners, and the interplay between civility and free expression, ultimately suggesting that civility has a crucial role in fostering respectful communication.
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2016
Is civility dead? Americans ask this question every election season, but their concern is hardly limited to political campaigns. Doubts about civility regularly arise in just about every aspect of American public life. Rudeness runs rampant. Our news media is saturated with aggressive bluster and vitriol. Our digital platforms teem with expressions of disrespect and trolls. Reflecting these conditions, surveys show that a significant majority of Americans believe we are living in an age of unusual anger and discord. Everywhere we look, there seems to be conflict and hostility, with shared respect and consideration nowhere to be found. In a country that encourages thick skins and speaking one's mind, is civility even possible, let alone desirable? In How Civility Works, Keith J. Bybee explores the "crisis" in civility, looking closely at how civility intertwines with our long history of boorish behavior and the ongoing quest for pleasant company. Bybee argues that the very features that make civility ineffective and undesirable also point to civility's power and appeal. Can we all get along? If we live by the contradictions on which civility depends, then yes, we can, and yes, we should.
2011
Abstract: This is a revised version of a paper presented at the NEH conference on “Civility and American Democracy” at Washington State University in early March, 2011. The paper tries to identify the circumstances in which civility in discourse is both necessary and obligatory. I assume that, pre-theoretically, everyone can agree that “civility” is paramount for discourse in the classroom setting. Teachers should be civil to students, and students to their teachers.
A keynote for a forum on Academic Incivility at Indiana University (October 1998), this examines the implications of incivility and the ways in which institutions might build a common ground.
Decorous Disagreement: Is Civility A Cornerstone of Inclusive Society
What is civility? What does it require of us? What does it do for us? What’s the point of being civil? In musing on how to best answer these questions, this paper draws on the valuable philosophical spadework and astute analyses of Cheshire Calhoun (2000). It offers a new defence of the need to put civility first and to give it high status in our moral considerations. The real reason many are sceptical of regarding civility as a moral virtue is that it puts limits on how we might pursue no-holes-barred, radical moral critique. The tension is obvious: civility bids us to abide by existing social conventions, whereas radical moral critique bids us to be prepared to violate them in strongly calling out and condemning morally objectionable practices. Being civil not only constrains the style in which make such critiques but also, at least on some occasions, being civil might bring us into conflict with what a socially critical moral point of view demands of us. This paper responds to these concerns that acknowledging civility as an important virtue is not incompatible with the sort of authentic moral critique needed to produce morally sound activity, structures and practices.
Dialogue and Universalism, 2013
This paper explores civility as a virtue for individuals within the sphere of civil society. Civil society is conceived as consisting of voluntary associations regulated by persuasion, praise, and shame. The virtue of civility is a key value for members of the associations of civil society. The paper considers circumstances in which institutions of civil society breakdown and in which unscrupulous and un-civil operators take advantage of more civil members. While admitting that civility is a fragile virtue, the paper concludes that best solution to threats to civility is to avoid cynicism and to cultivate common-sense moral behavior that models civility.
The Passion for Civility (Forthcoming in Political Studies Review)
This article challenges and clarifies everyday thought about the idea of civility in society and politics by subjecting it to theoretical analysis. It contributes to research on citizenship, toleration and social cohesion by developing a new synthesis of the presently fragmented literature in contemporary political theory on the concept of civility and its place in liberal democratic politics. It first considers the meaning of civility, identifying some difficulties of definition and elaborating a distinction between civility in conduct and civility in attitude. It then assesses the most prominent debates around civility's value by contrasting arguments that civility serves a vital function in the moderation of democratic conflict with arguments that it threatens the basic values upon which democracy is founded. The article finds that the debate about civility is misconceived and that the literature is diminished by its failure to engage directly with the problem of incivility. In so doing, it establishes the parameters for a new agenda of civility research.
Teaching and Learning Civility
Incivility can obstruct constructive public discourse and problem solving. Restoring civility is a task for higher education, but it may require tradeoffs with other democratic values.
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