Educating the whole person

The SNF Paideia Program creates and supports opportunities for the Penn community to learn about dialogue, from dialogue, and how to dialogue, towards a goal of individual and community wellness. It is our belief that a truly holistic approach to wellness necessarily includes a sense of deep connection to other people and to the world; meaningful exchange across identities, ideologies, experiences, and histories; and compassionate engagement with difference between individuals as well as groups of people. Dialogue is a uniquely powerful means to build that connection, realize that exchange, and practice that engagement. 

We enter into dialogue consciously and with deep care, understanding that all of our choices in the dialogue process matter and have consequences for ourselves and others. We strive to make those choices in alignment with our sense of purpose, which may evolve or emerge over time and will shift according to context. 

We commit to the idea that every other participant and partner in a dialogue process has something to teach us. We ask questions and work to learn how to listen. We maintain a sense of the other’s humanity without assuming to understand what we can’t understand or needing to accept what we find unacceptable.

We recognize the ongoing complexity and difficulty of dialogue work and our own fallibility and limitations in practicing dialogue. We remain compassionately curious about our own identities, beliefs, experiences, and (re)actions as well as others’. We reflect, seek feedback, listen, take accountability, and adapt.

As both participants and facilitators, we approach dialogue and dialogue work as a collaborative endeavor in which trust, mutuality, and interdependence are paramount. We work to protect our own and others’ right to speak as well as our own and others’ physical, emotional, and intellectual well-being in the dialogue process.