Introducing Discord

Abstract

In this article, I introduce and explain an underappreciated but pervasive phenomenon that I call discord. Discord helps to explain the source, dynamics, and resilience of many forms of interpersonal conflict. And it is a kind of misunderstanding into which philosophy offers a particularly privileged form of insight. By better understanding the nature of discord, we can better understand its inevitability, better navigate it, and better appreciate how it can amplify minor conflicts into more significant forms of strife. Discord, I show, is not just a theoretical possibility—it is inevitable. But discord is not just inevitable. It is also impactful. If you and I are in discord, then I do not respond to you in the ways that you think are appropriate. Worse, unrecognized discord has consequences of its own. And sometimes, discord itself persists precisely because it is not recognized. Fortunately, by giving you the concept of discord in this article, I equip you to be able to recognize (sometimes) when you are in discord. So this concept can be therapeutic because it can help you to avoid some of the bad effects of unrecognized discord and to escape discord that persists only because it is unrecognized.