On October 10-11 the Project on Civic Reflection and the Civic Knowledge Project co-hosted a two-day symposium at Hyde Park Union Church in Chicago, titled "Naming the Goods: The Case for Reflective Discourse in a Democracy". This special symposium convened 16 scholars and practitioners for an exploratory conversation about the nature and purposes of reflective (as distinct from deliberative) discourse.

Among the participants were Marianne Constable, Professor of Rhetoric at the University of California, Berkeley; Chicago artist and teacher Theaster Gates; and Sarah Hirschman, founder of Gente y Cuentos. The agenda included plenary sessions, workshop discussions of papers written by participants, a civic reflection focused on the myth of Echo and Narcissus, an art reflection, and a World Café discussion attended by about fifty interested members of the public. The Project on Civic Reflection will be building on conversations started by the symposium in exciting ways, so stay tuned!