The Center for Public Mental Health
Invites You to
Why We Disagree:
And How Can We Come Closer Together
by
Kenneth Barish, PhD
presented via Zoom
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 7, 2023
11:45AM-1:00PM/Eastern
About the talk:
Respectful and constructive dialogue is vanishing from American political life. There is perhaps no more urgent question for American society today than how we can listen and talk with each other constructively, with less hostility and contempt.
In this talk, Dr. Barish will offer answers to three questions: (1) What is the essence of conservative and liberal political opinions? (2) Why do we become conservative or liberal? (3) How can we talk together in a more productive way? He will present an understanding of liberal and conservative political ideologies, drawing not only from politics but also from liberalism and conservatism in other spheres of life – in science, religion, and language.
Dr. Barish will then describe principles of constructive dialogue and reasoned debate among people who disagree. He will show how opposing groups, motivated and inspired by different concerns, may still share common goals; how we can listen and talk with each other with greater charity and humility; how extremism can be avoided; how ideology can be changed into pragmatism; and, when we continue to disagree, when we firmly believe that our opponents are wrong, how we can discuss our differences with at least a modicum of understanding and respect.
Kenneth Barish, PhD, is on the faculty of the William Alanson White Institute Child and Adolescent Psychotherapy Training Program and the Westchester Center for the Study of Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy. He is also Clinical Professor of Psychology at Weill Medical College, Cornell University and Visiting Professor, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, in Wuhan, China.
Ken is the author of How To Be A Better Child Therapist: An Integrative Model for Therapeutic Change (W. W. Norton, 2018) and Pride and Joy: A Guide to Understanding Your Child’s Emotions and Solving Family Problems (Oxford University Press, 2012). Pride and Joy is winner of the 2013 International Book Award and the 2013 Eric Hoffer Book Award.
In addition to his teaching and clinical practice, Ken plays jazz trumpet.