The Communicative Relationship Between Dialogue and Care By Mari ...

and claimed that it has become “embodied in our culture” (p. 22). Due mostly to this turn inward, MacIntyre argued, morality has almost disappeared from our culture.

The demise of the ethical is a “grave cultural loss” and problematic for our communicative well-being. If we have no common virtues and no way to agree on attainment of the good life, we will end up just as de Tocqueville feared, isolated each within his own heart, engaging only in the intrapersonal and without the possibility of genuine interpersonal communication or dialogue with others. These contemporary symptoms of the postmodern age, metanarrative decline, individualism, and the demise of the ethical, ironically lead us to what Buber (1965) described so many years ago as the demonic power of existential mistrust. Existential mistrust destroys our connections to each other, eclipses our interdependence, and finally prevents us from entering into genuine dialogue with each other.

This postmodern historical moment defined by its pervasive existential mistrust holds serious consequences for our communicative practices. Skepticism, cynicism, and individualism all affect the way in which we relate to and communicate with each other. When we are constantly looking for hidden agendas, never trusting what the other says or does, we can become isolated from each other, not knowing how to reach out. The loss of agreed-upon virtues and ethics has not only turned us inward toward ourselves, it has left us without a common conception of publicly agreed-upon virtues or a common conception of the good life.

Likewise, these manifestations of postmodernity have serious consequences for the caring relationship. Meaningful caring relationships require that we be able to reach out to the other, trust the other, connect with the other, and be concerned for the other as opposed to only ourselves. Skepticism, routine cynicism, and individualism all prevent us from engaging the other in meaningful caring relationships. Existential mistrust robs us of the ability to believe in the relationship with the other. Furthermore, the loss of ground to stand upon, guiding narratives and moral compasses, eclipses the why behind the act of caring. When the road to the good life is seen as paved by progress and accumulation, the act of caring becomes a burden not worth engaging. The communicative