Overview: The Study of Ethics
Ethics in Definition
-the philosophical analysis of human mrality and conduct; system of conduct or behavior, moral principles
-"ethic" moral principle or set of prinnciples (work ethic, etc.)
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Ethical Dilemmas
-moral struggles and reflection in an effort to do the right thing
-responding to two competing actions in engagement with the conscience
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Examples of everyday Ethical Dilemmas
-free internet music downloads when music files (.mp3) are supposed to be bought in digital format
-reporting crimes witnessed and risk safety in anonimity doing it
-a physician-assisted suicide and all the moralities around it
-hidden cameras utilized by press people and all its implications
-commercialization of sex and violence by hollywood entertainment
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By these examples, ethics can be seen as public justification of our own choices based on the grounds of morality as reflected in the home, playground or workplace.
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"Cultivation of Morality"
-a historically quoted important responsibility of learning institutions by way of teaching ethics.
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Term Origins
Morals - Latin roots mos, moris mean "way of life" or "conduct"
Ethics - Greek root ethos means "custom" "usage" or "character"
- a ratinal process applying established principles when two moral obligations collide.
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"It is usually the absence of a 'correct answer' in the presence of two 'right' moral obligations that ethical dilemmas occur."
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Example of two moral obligations in a student's viewpoint:
-Loyalty to the classmate or honesty to the teacher over keeping silent about a the classmate's confidence that he cheated.
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The moral standards of the society, over the course of history, had also set the ethical standards of profession today, making way for the usual interchange between "morals" and "ethics." Ethics, also labeled to be "moral philosophy" is testimony to this fact.
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Ethics, as a set of principles or a code of moral conduct draws the boundaries even within the positive or negative ideas. For example, such negativities as incompetence and laziness are not necessarily immoral, but their cousins lying, cheating and stealing are downright immoral.
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HISTORY
-The study of Ethics began 2500 years back to Plato's statememts about his mentor Socrates roaming Greece in pursuit of Greek ideas on justice and goodness.
-The so-called "Socratic Method of Inquiry" of questions and answers pertaining to perceptions on conduct, has brought the people into heated discussions on morality even among themselves.
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Moral Diversity - brought conflicts manifested on ethical debate due to the difference between standards.
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Ethics in mass communications descend directly from the Socratic Method of Inquiry due to the QandA format of criticism in journalism, advertising and public relations.
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"The People's Right to Know" is the journalists' most powerful justification in delving into people's privacies.
Problem: They don't actually answer the questins of what people ought to know and why they have the right to know.
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Branches of Ethics
1. Metaethics - characteristics, nature of ethics
- examines meanings of ethical terms good, right, justice, fairness, etc.
- provides fundamentals for thical decisions but ont guideposts to actual decision making.
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2. Normative Ethics - development of general theories, rules and principles of modern conduct.
- looks into rise and decline of certain moral values in history as ethical markers of civilizations
- provides foundation of ethical decisions in the real world setting.
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3. Applied Ethics - the application of Metaethics and Noramtive Ethics, and is so therefore the actual problem solving and decision making branch of ethics.
- usage of insights from metaethics and principles of normative ethics in addressing issues.
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Example: A reporter's commitment to the privacy of his sources in the face of a lawyer's commitment to the acquittal of his client by way of information on the sources of the reporter's news report.
Colliding concepts on this example: Betayal of trust (reporter), Justice (a fair trial for the defendant)
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ETHICAL COMMUNICATION
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Concepts in ethics within a communication process
1. Moral Agents (the communicators)
-actions done (specifically communication) and their channels, messages, motives and consequences
example: an education reporter (moral agent - together with his audience and employer) who does news reports and participates in advocacies (channels) on abortion rights and homosexual civil rights (motives) had been reassigned from education news reporting to swing shift editor (consequence)
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2. Context
-either political, social or cultural which may or may not determine the outcome of the judgement, but to either set the message to which content it applies or creazte internal conflicts to invoke conscience.
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3. Motives
-proper examination of the motives to avoid the usage of good motives in justification of unethical actions.
example: a reporter (moral agent) uncovers administrative corruption (motive) by way of deception/entrapment (unethical acts) received tolerance/appaluse (consequence) from the masses.
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4. the Act itself
-the behavioral component, whether ethical or not, whether good motives or not.
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5. Consequences
-either positive or negative effects for moral agents (reassignment, promotion, or sacking) and the audience (transformation, renewed convictions, strengthened beliefs).
example: A tribute written to a hardworking hispanic in America appearing on the local paper's Sunday edition which resulted to the poor hispanic's arrest by the immigration people upon finding out his undocumented residence status.
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THE VALUE OF ETHICS EDUCATION: 2 Schools of Thought
1. Cynical View - Skeptics doubt the value of teaching ethics as individuals develop a sense of ethics before school. Education may not be necessary to develop morality.
example: A college student who is expelled from school after cheating on his ethics exam, in which he had been enrolled as punishment for an earlier case of plagiarism outside the ethics course.
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2. Optimistic Formal Ethics Training - Based on moral knowledge with fixed values of Concepts into concrete and solid ethical training.
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............(Unreadable) Media Ethics
Five Educational Objectives
1. Stimulate moral imagination - personal choices and perceived/imagined consequences as dictated by morality.
2. Recognize ethical issues - according to the needs of the audience, these issues which arise in times of collision of to ideazs can be addressed with proper training on moral reasoning.
3. Develop analytical skills - critical thinking, which is the heart of every decision making process.
4. Elicit moral obligation and personal responsibility - responsibility cannot be delegated. being resonsible for own actions and the consequences.
5. Tolerate disagreement - avoid automatic labeling of the opposing idea as immoral in disagreement.
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DEVELOPING ETHICAL FITNESS
"Ethical Fitness" as it was called by Rushworth Kidder, a journalist and the founder of the Institute of Global Ethics, doesn't establish itself from mastery of an ethics course. the course provides the learners hypothetical experiences of ethical dilemmas to start living the real world with.
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"Mental Engagement" and "Commitment through the feelings," also according to Kidder is what jumpstarts the ethical fitness one may achieve through confrontation of tough moral issues encountered everyday.
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The First Principles of Moral Virtue
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