| A common method of conflict resolution employed by academics, media specialists, and policy makers is the argument, a form of positional discourse in which competing points of view vie with one another. However, this format has its limitations, particularly when it is applied to the conflicts of "postmodern" society. Recently, writers in the fields of argument and conflict resolution have described ways of dealing with conflict that go beyond argument. These approaches to conflict management involve practices and attitudes that are typically demonstrated by people at higher stages of psychological and cognitive development. Using the developmental model of Ken Wilber as a frame, an investigation was done of the work of theorists and practitioners of argument and conflict management. The conclusion was reached that a different approach to conflict management was emerging in our world, one that could be housed in Wilber's "vision-logic" stage and the "higher" stages of other developmental theorists. This new approach was called integral discourse, which was described as going beyond prior discourses (the discourses of physicality, emotionality, authority, and positionality) in terms of expanded content, higher levels of participant maturity, and greater emphasis on relationship. The suggestion was made that this new integral discourse holds possibilities for handling conflicts that have proved resistant to traditional methods of conflict resolution. |
