Just like ancient Athenians distinguished between isegoria, the right to speak freely before the assembly, and parrhesia, the actual exercise of that very right, and recognized that the latter required a distinct set of intellectual, discursive, and social capacities, the Parrhesia Program for Public Discourse aims to put the Chicago Principles into practice and to help students develop the intellectual virtues and skills necessary to thrive in the College’s intellectual community and in turn make it blossom.
The Parrhesia Program complements the College’s renowned liberal arts curriculum. Learning, intellectual inquiry, and independent thinking depend on the free exchange of ideas and a diversity of perspectives. Our mission is to foster the necessary intellectual habits and communicative skills. Deliberative dialogue across divides is a practice that involves curiosity, the ability to listen, respect and humility, tolerance and resilience, intellectual courage, and public speaking. Only if students are willing to expose themselves, as Hannah Arendt has put it, to the “truth inherent in the other’s opinion,” can they test their ideas, expand their perspective, and grow intellectually.
Resting on the foundation that students receive through the College’s orientation programming in academic freedom and deliberative dialogue, the Parrhesia’s mission consists of three pillars:
- An innovative undergraduate curriculum that allows students to examine the history, theory, and practice of free speech and public discourse from a variety of perspectives. Students who wish to deepen their engagement can pursue research projects mentored by Parrhesia faculty or do different kinds of internships on campus or with local communities.
- Parrhesia’s programming, aimed at the College community, comes in two formats: programs that allow students to practice deliberative dialogue and public discourse in a setting that promotes tolerance and minimizes risk; and events that present instances of constructive conversation across difference and showcase examples of thoughtful and fearless public discourse.
- Focusing on the pedagogical practice of free expression and public discourse, the Parrhesia Program makes available a wide variety of outreach programming beyond the College and the University. During the summer the Parrhesia Summer Academy offers innovative and engaging curricula in the theory and practice of free expression, public discourse, and democratic engagement to undergraduates, high school students, and educators – with the aim to transform their communities through deliberative dialogue.