Civility

<p>In this lively conversation on an increasingly significant theme major philosophers and religious scholars argue the issue on three levels. The first is manners: Henry Rosemont argues the Confucian case that manners are the substance of social relations while Edwin Delattre and Adam Seligman believe that the issue is deeper than that; and the sociologist Alan Wolfe is persuaded that we are not less civil or ill-mannered than our predecessors. Secondly as a social issue James Schmidt Lawrence Cahoone and Adam Seligman turn to questions of structure and meaning in a civil society; Ninian Smart David Wong and Virginia Straus put the issue in a cross-cultural context; Stephen Toulmin describes the corruption of civility by dogmatism; and Carrie Doehring warns that civility may be a barrier to honest communication in family life. Finally the metaphysical and religious dimensions of civility are explored by Robert Pippin Adam McClellan and Daniel Dahlstrom.</p><p>There seems to be a consensus that the lack of civility is indeed an increasing problem that it is more than a class issue of manners; and that its current loss is troubling for contemporary society.</p>