culture
BREDEVOORT – This year, Koppelkerk is focusing on what tolerance means and what it requires of us as citizens of four colleges of tolerance for eminent scholars. In this lecture: How do we encourage dialogue between opponents? Language and Communication Professor Hedwig te Molder will give a lecture on Thursday 22nd September at the Koppelkerk on how to keep in touch with each other in these polarized times.
We live in a time with many social problems that are difficult to solve: the so-called “evil problems”. Heated discussions in which people shout and oppose each other. But there are also more and more successful attempts at dialogue.
The relationship between government, science and citizens was already turbulent before the outbreak of the coronavirus crisis. Look at the uncertainties about climate change, the onset of the nitrogen crisis and the rise of the anti-fax media movements. But the coronavirus crisis has strained relations. The reliance on science has never been so great, and it has never been so close to fire. How does this resistance arise and what does it consist of? And how can we keep in touch with each other?
In the first part of the lecture, T Mulder addresses the question of why we oppose each other. It is also exploring solutions so far.
In the second part of her story, T Mulder shows how we can still have a good conversation, even in seemingly precarious situations. The lecture is an invitation to dialogue against the tide: a conversation between government and citizens, between professionals and clients, and between citizens themselves, in which hidden values are concerned.
The lecture begins at 8:00 pm. Tickets cost €12.50 and can be ordered via www. Koppelkerk.nl.
Hedwig T. Mulder is Professor of Language and Communication at VU University Amsterdam. It examines our daily communications about science and technology. Important topics in this are nutrition, vaccination / COVID and climate change.
Tolerance colleges
The Tolerance Colleges are part of the “1572 – The Birth of the Netherlands” programme. In 1572, the values that were under pressure again were fought back today: freedom, tolerance, interdependence and diversity. On October 13, Professor Bastian Rypkema will conclude the lecture series with a lecture on the limits of tolerance in democracy.
