The Civil Discourse Project (CDP) sponsors courses, events, and scholarship that promote civil discourse through modeling or teaching the capacities and virtues necessary to engage in healthy exchange across difference. At CDP, we aim to create, both inside and outside the classroom, intellectually diverse communities of friends who will both support and challenge each other in a collective pursuit of truth and knowledge—enabling all to become better thinkers, people, community members, citizens, and leaders. We maintain that such community requires freedom of thought, inquiry, and expression for faculty and students alike.
Events
People
Abdullah Antepli
Director
a.antepli@duke.edu
Abdullah Antepli is the Director of Polis: Center for Politics and the Civil Discourse Project. He is an Associate Professor of the Practice in the Sanford School of Public Policy and of Interfaith Relations in the Divinity School.
Connor Grubaugh
Postdoctoral Fellow
Connor Grubaugh is a John and Daria Barry Postdoctoral Fellow at the Civil Discourse Project at Duke University. His work ranges widely across intellectual history, with a focus on the modern reception of ancient historiography and theology. His dissertation examined the concept of hope in the political thought of John Locke and the subsequent liberal tradition. He holds a DPhil in Politics from the University of Oxford, an M.A. in Political Science from the University of Notre Dame, and a B.A. in History from the University of California, Berkeley.
Meg Bittle
Assistant Director
Meg Bittle is the Assistant Director of Polis.
Quazha Nettles
Administrative and Communications Assistant
Quazha Nettles is the Administrative and Communications Assistant of Polis.
Courses
Two Faces of America, (Political Science, Public Policy), Powell
How to Think in an Age of Political Polarization, (Ethics, Political Science, Public Policy), Rose
The Good Life: Religion, Philosophy, and Life's Ultimate Concerns, (Classics, Public Policy, Religion, Philosophy, Ethics), Atkins
Democracy: Ancient and Modern, (Classics, History, Political Science, Ethics), Atkins
Liberty and Equality: Ancient and Modern Perspectives, (Classics, Political Science, History, Ethics), Atkins
Human Flourishing in a Digital Age, (Computer Science, Ethics), Ebert and Hartemink
Investigating Human Nature in American Literature, (English), Jones
Conservatism, (Political Science, Public Policy, Ethics), Rose
The Seven Deadly Sins, (English, Ethics), Wagner
Ecology and the Human Good, (Political Science, Environmental Sciences, Ethics), Ebert, Whitbread, Wirzba
Happiness and the Virtuous Life, (Ethics), Rose
Christian Ethics, (Religious Studies, Political Science, Public Policy, Ethics), Rose
Policy Choice as Value Conflict, (Public Policy), Antepli
America Through Foreign Eyes, (Ethics, Public Policy), Grubaugh
The Presidential Election, (Ethics, Public Policy), Hussain
Videos
The Future of Liberalism
with Chandran Kukatas, Emily Chamlee-Wright, Stephen Davies, and Steve Horwitz
The Future of Conservatism
with Patrick Deneen, Yuval Levin, Daniel McCarthy, and Ashleen Menchaca-Bagnulo
The Future of Progressivism
with Justin Giboney, Jillian Johnson, Michael Kazin, and Dan Vermeer
In The News
Teaching Civil Discourse: 'An Ethical, Moral Responsibility'
Steve Hartsoe | September 30, 2024 | Duke Today
Hard Conversations on Campus
Steve Hartsoe | June 5, 2024 | Duke Today
Down the Middle
Andrea Billups | September 5, 2023 | Duke Magazine
The Elusive Civil Classroom
Sylvia Goodman | August 29, 2022 | Chronicle of Higher Education
Duke Holds Seminar on Teaching Civil Discourse
Steve Hartsoe | July 6, 2022 | Duke Today
Cultivating Intellectual Freedom in the Classroom
Jed Atkins, | August 23, 2021 | Duke Magazine
Liberate the College Classroom
John Rose | June 24, 2021 | Wall Street Journal
Agree to Disagree: Teaching Students to Depolarize
Steve Hartsoe | November 22, 2019 | Duke Today
Support
The Civil Discourse Project relies on the support of Duke alums, parents, and friends. For more information about how you can help support CDP, contact Director Abdullah Antepli at a.antepli@duke.edu.