Nordic Network for the Study of the Dialogic Communication of Research 1 Pointing the Hossu

This paper takes as point of departure three texts assigned as readings for an April 2009 research seminar on dialogic communication, held at Roskilde University, Denmark (Black, 2008; Reason, 2002; Stewart, Zediker & Black, 2004). Two of the texts make references to Oriental philosophy, one explicitly, and the other implicitly. Neither of them, however, pursue the idea in earnest, that the Oriental perspective may supplement or indeed challenge conventional Western understandings of dialogue and participation. This paper briefly outlines the philosophical background drawn upon in the two articles and then elaborates a bit on alternative notions of dialogue by means of participation. In his inaugural professorial lecture, Peter Reason describes how struggling with a Zen paradox, or koan (a “case”; Chinese: gongan) furthers his understanding of the importance of “bringing our moment to moment inquiring attention into more and more of our lives as we live them”, or, in the action research tradition, “living life as inquiry” (Reason 2002). Thus, Reason ends up interpreting the Zen story from a rational Western perspective. Stewart, Zediker & Black (2004) discuss the ideas of a wide range of philosophers an