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conversation, power and
distortion
Writers such as Gadamer can be criticized for not fully
addressing how great inequalities in power condition dialogue; or how the
meanings of the words we use can be systematically distorted.
Dialogue does not require egalitarian relationships but
is does entail some sort of reciprocity and symmetry.
 Habermas
argues, in dialogue there is a 'gentle but obstinate, a never silent
although seldom redeemed claim to reason' (Habermas 1979: 3) (what Goffman
calls the requirement to demonstrate sanity). However distorted our ways of
communicating are, there is within their structures a 'stubbornly
transcending power' (Habermas 1979: 3).
When we assert a belief that we hold, we also offer an
implied promise to provide at least some of the evidence and reasons behind
that belief, if asked. We may not be asked; we may not be able to provide
those reasons fully; and we may not convince others if we do - but by making
the assertion we commit ourselves to that broader obligation. (Burbules
1993: 75)
The claims each and every statement has to make as to its
own validity hold some possibility of dialogue and hence of furthering
understanding.
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