5 Topic Commentaries

The Anatomy of Disagreement

The Anatomy of Disagreement

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  Howard Gadlin, PhD

  Conflict Resolution and Team Science

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  National Institutes of Health

  The only people more romantic than people falling in love are people beginning collaborations. As soon as you talk about bringing together people of different specializations . . . you create an increased need for complex and sophisticated communication techniques.

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  L. Michelle Bennett, PhD

  Oncology and Team Science

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  National Cancer Institute (NIH)

  Science thrives on disagreement; it is the motivator for scientific progress.

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  Julia Minson, PhD

  Social Psychology and Decision Science

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  Harvard Kennedy School, Harvard University

  So my slightly hokey definition of constructive disagreement is any disagreement that constructs the bridge to the next disagreement.

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  Wendy Levinson, MD

  General Internal Medicine and Physician–Patient Communication

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  University of Chicago

  Discussion of differences of opinion in a context of mutual respect can go a long way toward resolving conflict.

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  Debra Satz, PhD

  Philosophy, Ethics and Public Discourse

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  Stanford University

  Disagreement is a feature of a democracy. But it’s not always productive if people close their minds to facts. The closing of the mind is especially a problem for a university. It is because of this problem that we decided to teach this course.

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