Inter-actions that matter

an Arendtian approach to elicitive conflict transformation

Andreas Oberprantacher

pp. 135-150

in: Daniela Ingruber, Norbert Koppensteiner, Josefina Echavarría Alvarez (eds), Transrational resonances, Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan, 2018

Abstract

While the term "transrational" has been discussed in detail by Wolfgang Dietrich in a number of his publications that received considerable attention over the past decade, the term "elicitive" retains a strange vagueness to this day. This chapter presents an investigation to what extent an Arendtian approach could be practical to further refine the paradigm of elicitive conflict transformation in theoretical terms. More than any other book authored by Arendt, it is foremost The Human Condition that offers a variety of relevant arguments of how to make sense of our conflicted situations without recurring to a "prescriptive model" of human interactions. Accordingly, it is argued that Arendt favors, at least between the lines, an elicitive approach that is compatible with that discussion set in motion by Dietrich.

Cited authors

Arendt Hannah