In moral conflicts, not only is there no agreement on an answer to debates, there is not even agreement on what counts as good evidence, or a good argument. Pearce and Littlejohn examine why the quality of discourse is currently so poor, and focus on improving the quality of discourse at the second level. Chapter five introduces five ways of approaching differences between people. When differences are not perceived as threatening, people may communicate in ways that celebrate similarity and ways that celebrate difference. When differences are more troubling people may react by using persuasion to resolve the difference.
Persuasion requires shared standards of discourse.
As noted above, moral conflicts lack such shared standards, and so persuasion usually fails to resolve moral differences. Troubling differences may then prompt a move to repress the difference. Repression can become violent, and is generally not a beneficial way of handling conflict. The final way of approaching difference is by transcendent discourse. Transcendent discourse aim to create a new shared language through which the parties can coordinate their differing world views.