LIVING THE BETWEENNESS: PARADOXES AND RHETORICS
Comparative attitude and educational style
ROBERTO ALBAREA
DAVIDE ZOLETTO
Abstract – In a context exemplified by the paradigm of complexity, characterized by the dialectics between antinomies and opposite polarities and the unpredictability of results, a key role is played by the interaction and influences of frames, borders, boundaries, filters, flows and hybrids.
As a result, an educational style and a comparative attitude make us capable to manage and live this “area in-between”, this area of uncertainty we have called Betweenness. By adopting a paradoxical attitude, we are able to deal with the inevitable rhetorics in order to gain a respectful and sustainable relationship with the always different and differently situated others whom we meet in the experience of Betweenness.
The concept of Betweenness requires us not to dissolve multiplicity and interaction of components into unity or unity into multiplicity. The difficulty lies in finding a way to cultivate the technique of accepting paradoxes without making it a strategy, that is, not controlling it completely: a sort of tension without intention.
