Andrew Young Dialogue Lab

Located in Pauling 406, The Ambassador Andrew J. Young Dialogue Lab for Peace, Meaning, and Reconciliation is a space designed for the practice and research of dialogue in all aspects, intending to advance individual and collective peace, reconciliation, and humanity.

Andrew Young speaks with a group of people in Africa
Watch video of the dialogue lab's grand opening.

The Lab’s Purpose

Dialogic and dialectic exchanges will be conducted to move society toward a more peaceful and harmonious world. In the dialogue laboratory, we will investigate the philosophy, method, and practice of dialogue between and within communities, cultures, religions, and civilizations.

A key focus will be the advice collaboration with Former Ambassador to the United Nations Ambassador Andrew Young. The Dialogue Laboratory will host webinars with him to seek his experience and expertise in dialogue for peace and reconciliation. His books will be included in the library.

The ability to engage in meaningful dialogues with a diverse range of people is a skill that is indispensable for fostering global relations and effective problem-solving. In today’s ever-changing yet historically rooted world, mastering the art of initiating conversations that tackle issues rather than individuals is not an innate ability but one that can be cultivated.

Andrew Young speaks at a podium

About Andrew Jackson Young

Andrew J. Young has earned worldwide recognition as a pioneer in and champion of civil and human rights.

Young’s lifelong dedication to service is illustrated by his extensive leadership experience of over sixty-five years, serving as a member of Congress, African American U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, Mayor of Atlanta, and ordained minister, among other positions.

Read Andrew Young’s full bio

One of the principles of nonviolence is that you leave your opponents whole and better off than you found them.

Andrew Young

Lab Components

The Dialogue Laboratory would have the following objectives:

  • Research and practices of dialogism discourse and conversation analysis
  • Learn various dialogue methods.
  • Learning with renowned Dialogists, including readings, lectures, videos, recordings, and live webinars (of those that are available):
    • Andrew Young
    • Mikhail Bakhtin
    • Pope Gregory I
    • Daisaku Ikeda
    • Immanuel Kant
    • Mahatma Gandhi: (See Mahatma Gandhi Letters to Americans (Pub.1998)
    • Karl Marx
    • Nelson Mandela
    • T.S. Eliot

The study and practice of various dialectical methods, including:

  1. Modern Philosophy
    1. Hegelian dialectic
    2. Marxist dialectic
    3. Dialectical naturalism
    4. Postmodernism
  2. European dialectical forms
    1. Classical philosophy
    2. Socratic method
    3. Plato
    4. Aristotle
    5. Medieval Philosophy
  3. Classic and modern Koranic philosophy and dialectics: Al-Ghazzali, Ibn Rushd Ibn Khaldun, Fethullah Gűlen.
  4. Classic and modern Talmudic philosophy and dialectics, Moses Maimonides, Baruch Spinoza, Martin Buber, Emmanuel Levinas.
  5. Indigenous philosophies and dialectics?
  6. Criticisms
  7. Formalism
  8. Defeasibility