Deliberation

Video Presentation (with Jack and York)
Conference Discussion

Deliberation is often associated with the jury system. We must take deliberation from the jury room to the classroom and to the community so that, as citizens, we may make make informed decisions. Deliberation enables us to take in and examine information, to make choices that reflect our concern for the welfare of ourselves and others. Deliberation moves us in our thinking through considered opinion, expert information to a direction that we may pursue. It is a direction rather than a solution, for issues will never be solved; it is how they are managed that reflects our skill in citizenship.

 Historically, the tools that have engaged citizens in information were dialogue and debate.

Dialogue brings people together in sharing information; dialogue opens the flow of information. Its limitation, though, is the lack of a structure for moving forward from the shared base of information.

Debate is another method for bringing people together. Debate is often viewed as more rigorous - information is presented, challenged, and distilled to a position. An effect of debate

is that it often destroys the environment for consensus. People may be polarized. The techniques of assertion, attack, refutation, concession move a structure, but the goal of winning in that adversarial climate does not build public support that is integrative, sustaining.

Deliberation is an approach that brings people together to think together. Deliberation engages people; citizens are invited to share their experiences and the wisdom derived from them. Through the testimony of people, an issue is connected for why it matters. Beyond the circumstances of any situation, values surface. It is the recognition of values, where citizens eventually bond and link.

The ground rules of deliberation are to listen with respect. In hearing others= experiences fully, citizens become more imaginative - they open to other possibilities in approaches to issues. Beyond testimony, citizens sift through strategic facts and relevant expert information. A significant point emerges through this public talk: we can know more together than we can know alone. The increased capacity of information shared informs our decision making. Our decision making takes on a balance. Being in the public setting, where citizens begin with the expressive, I, the talk shifts to the public, we. Citizens who deliberate may become the civic infrastructure for a community. They move from being entrenched in positions, to being entrenched in perspectives. Together, they gain skills in weighing the pros and cons of possible approaches in their problem solving. Through exchange with each other, they probe deeper for the costs and consequences of possible actions. Deliberation is work but very satisfying work because it is inclusive, thorough, and moves.