Conflict and Consensus in Science Communication

The BMBF-funded project "Arguing about sex and gender. Conflict and consensus as a challenge for science communication" (KoKoKom) aims both to examine the discourse surrounding the topic of gender and to develop strategies for how science (communication) can contribute to depolarization. The theoretical basis for this is provided by the concepts of common ground and invitational rhetoric. In communication, the former refers to the information and assumptions that the communication participants mutually assume that they share during the joint speech act or use as a basis for understanding. Invitational rhetoric is a rhetorical theory that generates starting points for the further development of communicative practices and formats in which the focus is less on convincing the other party and more on mutual understanding based on interactive formats that are based on equality, dignity and self-determination of the participants in the conversation.

In addition to the Rhetoric Department and the English Department at the University of Tübingen, the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) and the Leibniz Institute for the German Language (IDS) Mannheim are involved in the project.