Charity and Clarity

Whether in politics, online discussions, television news show panels or everyday encounters, the civic virtue of civil discussion seems to have disappeared. This seminar will present a method of explaining the inner meaning of civil discussion termed “Charity and Clarity.” This method has proven successful in undergraduate philosophy classes helping students to genuinely listen to explanations of views from their classmates with whom they disagree and to then present reasoned counter arguments (as opposed to name calling and yelling). Once the method of Charity and Clarity is understood, students find freedom and even pleasure in engaging in discussions on disputed questions, while remaining civil and even friendly, without having to water down their views. This seminar will explain the Charity and Clarity method and give examples of how it has worked in the classroom. Ample discussion time will be allowed to discuss how this method might be brought into the wider culture.  

Peter J. Colosi, Ph.D., is an associate professor of philosophy at Salve Regina University. He previously served as associate professor of moral theology at St. Charles Borromeo Seminary in Pennsylvania and taught for Franciscan University of Steubenville in Ohio. Peter holds a doctorate in philosophy from the International Academy of Philosophy in the Principality of Liechtenstein and a master’s degree in Franciscan studies from St. Bonaventure University. He is a speaker and author on the moral teachings of the Catholic Church, focusing on the underlying philosophical reasons behind those teachings.