Ethical Communication 1: Philsophy and Wisdom

Ethical communication Dr Megan [email protected]

Overview• Lectures: Big picture• Tutes: Conversational

approach• Philosophy• Philosophical ethics• Human flourishing• Communication

LECTURESBIG PICTURE

Lectures: four big topics1.Philosophy and communication: why bother with philosophy? Wisdom, self-knowlege, the art of life

2.Oppression: Ideology, dogma, false generosity, domestication, transformation

Lectures: four big topics3.Democracy: Authoritarianism vs liberalism; despotism; democracy, free interaction, mutual interests, shared values, freedom, variety

4.Liberation: Dialogical communication, ontological vocation, humanism, freedom, critical consciousness, historicity

Lectures: Framework•Provide you with an intellectual framework for developing (and continuing to develop) your own core values for living a good life, however that might look for you.

Lectures: Reasoning•If you are aware of the principles, values and ideals that govern your life, you can then decide how you want to interact with others.

•The aim for this course is to reflect upon how our actions (and 'inactions') and conduct impact upon individuals and groups.

Lectures: Two key questionsSo, two key questions for the lectures:•What principles, values or ideals should govern my life and how I interact with others?

•How do my actions (and 'inactions') and conduct impact upon others?

Lectures: More questions•How should I act? What should I do?•Did I act wisely? Did I act well?•What are my motivations?•Are my feelings morally justified?•What could be done better? What do I need to do to make the situation better?

•Have I learnt anything from you?

Lectures: Stick with it•For some of you this course will make sense straight away.

•For others, it won’t come together until the final week.

•Today’s lecture, in particular, will cover what may seem to be a lot of unrelated ground.

•Stick with it.

Lectures: The language•Some of the language may be unfamiliar to you because it is the language of Ethics.

•Sometimes precise definitions do not exist and you will need to develop your own understanding.

Lectures: The languageWe may be talking about things such as •Human flourishing•Becoming ‘more fully human’•Being ‘historical’•‘Intervening in the world’•The ‘whole’ human personIt will all make sense eventually!

Lectures: The language•Some of the language may make you feel uncomfortable.

•We will be using words that don’t often get used in an academic environment: love, humility, faith, compassion, hope ...

•Again, stick with it. This is important stuff.

TUTORIALSCONVERSATIONAL APPROACH

Key tutorial questionsAbout you•How do I communicate?•Why do I communicate in this way? (ie, what is my own story or history in relation to this?)

•What thoughts, emotions, expectations, and feelings underpin this style of communication for me?

Key tutorial questionsAbout you•What is currently happening to keep this style of communication in place for me?

•Is context important as regards how I act?•How might I see things differently?

Tutes: Conversation•The tutorials aim to provide a safe environment for you to think about about how you communicate with others and why they communicate with you in particular ways.

•In particular, we want to surface some of your expectations and assumptions around your (and others’) communicative practices.

Tutes: Conversation•Through conversation, I want you to feel safe to voice any ‘difficult truths’ about yourself, your attitudes and opinions.

•We need to get at how you actually think and act, not how you would like to think and act.

Tutes: Conversation•The idea is for yourself and for others to understand how you have arrived at your communication style.

Tutes: Conversation•This course is not about telling you how to think or act or that the ways in which you think or act are 'wrong'.

•It's about exploring issues and uncovering assumptions that might or might not be limiting in your relations with others.

Tutes: Conversation•Some of it will be difficult, confronting, challenging.

•It will require honesty, good faith, trust, openness, compassion.

Tutes: ConversationThe aim is to create an atmosphere that is• Dialogical• Civil• Respectful• Non-defensive• Non-judgmental• Ideologically neutral• Safe• Open

Ethical communicationModule 1

Dr Megan [email protected]

PART IPHILOSOPHY

TRANS•Some preliminaries ...•I need to tell you a bit about philosophy so that the approach we’re taking to this course makes sense.

What is philosophy?•Philosophy is the study of central and fundamental problems, especially those connected with knowledge, concepts, values and reason.

•These problems recur in all disciplines.•Philosophy looks at the big stuff.

Disciplines and philosophy•It might be easiest to describe what philosophy is if we look at how it is different from the disciplines

Disciplines have objects of study

Discipline Object of studyBiology Living organisms

Geography The earth, landforms, environmentAnthropology Society, culture

Theology ReligionPhysics Matter, energy

Philosophy = underlying questions

Discipline Philosophy

Biology is about living organisms What is a living organism?

Psychologists study the mind What is a mind?

Sociology is about society Must we be social?

Theologans use reason What is reason?

Physicists study the universe Why is there a universe?

What is philosophy?•It is about the nature of things and why things are as they are

TRANS•We might get a better understanding of philosophy if we compare it with theory

•This course takes a philosophical approach to communication, rather than a theoretical one.

•What’s the difference?

What is theory?•A proposition, abstraction or hypothesis that seeks to explain the concrete

•A way of explaining ‘reality’ in an abstract way, using general concept

Theory vs philosophy•Theory posits that

•Communication happens in XYZ ways•Philosophy asks,

•What is the nature of communication? •Why communicate?

Comparision

Philosophy Theory

Deals with the nature of things and central problems

An explanation for things, using abstract concepts

What is the nature of communication?

Why communicate?

Communication happens in XYZ ways

Why philosophy?•If we have a philosophical understanding of ‘what is communication?’ and ‘why communicate’...

•... then we are in a position to address and understand the different forces that come to bear on our everday communication practices ...

•and that affect our everyday relationships

PART IIPHILOSOPHICAL ETHICS

TRANS•We have seen how philosophy is the study of central and fundamental problems, especially those connected with knowledge, concepts, values and reason.

Philosophical ethics•Ethics is a branch of philosophy that explores how we ought to live, act

•Sometimes called ‘moral philosophy’

Philosophical ethics•Ethics is one of the major branches of Western philosophy

•Others include•Aesthetics (art and beauty)•Epistemology (knowledge)•Metaphysics (existence)•Logic (reason)

Philosophical ethics•Ethics is the study of •Right and wrong•Good and evil•Virtue and vice

•A central question is, How should I act? (or, What should I do?)

Philosophical ethics•Moral philosophers believe that by applying reason and logic, we can answer these questions

•These lectures are designed to give you an outline of moral philosophy as it applies to relating to, and communicating with, others to help you decide what to do ...

A caveat•None of this, of course, undercuts any religious beliefs that we may hold ...

•Moral Philosophy merely provides us with a framework for understanding moral issues, based on reason

•This can be quite compatible with religious perspectives

Philosophical ethics•Why is this important?•Because you are presented with ethical dilemmas in your relationships with others every day

•Every communicative act is a moral one because every communicative act involves another person.

Why ethics and communication?•Communication can be humane and humanising ... or inhumane and dehumanising

•In communication we can change others (and ourselves) for the better ... or not.

•Communication can make us ‘more’ human ... or less.

Why ethics and communication?•Fundamentally, communication can liberate or oppress people -- therefore to communicate is a moral act.

•Which is why problems of what is right, fair, just and virtuous are always present.

Why ethics and communication?•So, if communication is a moral act, then we need to develop ways of arriving at what is right and good in any situation that involves other people.

•And the first thing we can do it to look to ourselves and to ask ourselves, ‘What is the purpose of life?’ ‘What gives life meaning?’

•That’s where philosophy comes in.

PART IIIHUMAN FLOURISHING

INTRO•Now, we’ll look at the ideas of two philosophers, Vico and Whitehead

•Both believe that the attainment of wisdom -- in its different forms -- is central to becoming a ‘whole’ person, central to what it means to be human

•And both believe that we are losing sight of this purpose in modern life

Portrait of Vico by Francesco Solimena (1657–1747)

Vico (1668 - 1744)

Vico: Background•Italian philosopher and historian•1668 - 1744•Between 1699 and 1707 he gave the inaugural orations at the University of Naples to kick off the academic year

•His topic was humanistic education

Vico: Humans as a total course•Vico sees the human as a total course (‘holistic’ might be the modern term!)

•We are always learning about ourselves•That, as humans, we are an ongoing project (it is wrong to ‘finish’ ourselves and others)

•This project lacks clarity and is unfinished -- and that is a good thing!

Verene, D. P., 'Introduction: On Humanistic Education', in G. Vico, On Humanistic Education (Six Inaugural Orations 1699 - 1707), trans G. A. Pinton and A. W. Shippee, Cornell University Press, Ithaca, 1993, pp. 1 - 27.

Vico: Lost telos•For Vico (and Aristotle and many others) the telos of life -- its end point -- is human flourishing

•Vico says that modern life has lost its telos -- that we have lost the goals of self-knowledge and human flourishing

•But more on this later ...


•What is Vico’s view of the whole person? it is someone who exhibits1.Self-knowledge, wisdom, know thyself2.Knowledge of the world, ability to speak on a whole topic

3.Prudence, practical wisdom


Vico: Person as a ‘total course’

Vico: Person as a ‘total course’


1. Knowledge of oneself, wisdom, ‘know thyself’

2. Knowledge of the world,

ability to speak on a whole topic

3. Prudence, practical wisdom

Human flourishingThe person as a total course

|Know thyself, therefore, O youth, so that you can attain wisdom, since you are born

for wisdom— Giambattista Vico, On Humanistic Education, Oration I

Whitehead•Whitehead also sees humans as being a ‘total course’

•So let’s see what he has to say ...

Whitehead (1861 - 1947)

he looks friendly!

Whitehead: Background•English philosopher and mathematician•1861 - 1947•Highly influential in logic and in analytical philosophy

Whitehead: Culture and knowledge•(Whitehead also sees humans as being a ‘total course’)

•He says that people should possess both “culture and expert knowledge” because ...

|Their expert knowledge will give them the ground to start from, and their culture will lead them as deep as philosophy and as

high as art.— Alfred North Whitehead, The Aims of Education, Ch 1

Whitehead: Wisdom•And, as with Vico, Whitehead points to the importance of wisdom in our being human.

•But he also discusses knowledge ...•He says, in fact, that wisdom is both “vaguer but greater, and more dominating in its importance”

Whitehead: Wisdom•Because for Whitehead, you need some base of knowledge in order to attain wisdom, but that you can have knowledge and be “bare of wisdom”

•It’s almost like there’s a hierarchy: data - information - knowledge - wisdom

Whitehead: Inert ideas•But, like Vico, Whitehead is also concerned that modern life has lost its telos

•He says we have to be careful of ‘inert ideas’, that is, “ideas that are merely received into the mind without being utilised, or tested, or thrown into fresh combinations”

Whitehead: Inert ideas•So, for us, then the problem is how to keep knowledge alive, how to “[prevent] it from becoming inert”

•Whitehead hates ‘dead things’, things that are ‘anti-life’

Whitehead: Fading of ideals•So, when does a situation of inertia come about?

•Whitehead’s concern is that “[t]he fading of ideals is sad evidence of the defeat of human endeavour” ...

•i.e., inertia comes when we lose sight of ideals

Whitehead: Ideals and practice•And that “gradually, our ideals have sunk to square with our practice” (ouch!)

•For example, I can say how much I hate gossip (that’s an ideal) but as soon as I gossip about someone, I have descended to a lower level.

TRANS•So, what links ideals with practice?•Communication.•Communication exposes our ideals through the ways in which we interact with, and behave towards, others.

PART IVCOMMUNICATION

INTRO•Now that we’ve got some definitions out of the way, let’s look at one scholar’s philosophy of communication.

John Dewey

Democracy and Education (1916)

Dewey (1859 - 1952)•Philosopher (logic, ethics, democracy)•Educational reformer (social constructivism, democracy)

Communication and society•Dewey believes that communication is central to how we live together

•It is central to society

Dewey, J. (2004/1916) Democracy and Education. Dover Publications, Mineola, New York.

Communication and society•Dewey says that people make a society not by living in close proximity but in communication

•His example is letter-writing and living in the same household, but it could these days just as easily apply to Twitter and Facebook.


Communication•All communication is educative •We cannot but be affected by it•And through communication we gain understanding


Communication•To receive a communication we need to ‘get outside’ of our own experience and see the world as another sees it

•To consider what ‘points of contact’ exist •Both the recipient and giver of communication are affected


| To be a recipient of a communication is to have an enlarged and changed experience.

— John Dewey, Democracy and Education, I, 2

A story for you ...•Ceduna•Let me also tell you about Skip (and an elbow in the guts)

Communication•And through communication we gain understanding

•Both the recipient and giver of communication are affected


| All communication is like art.— John Dewey, Democracy and Education, I, 2

Wrapping up

Philosophy and ethics•Philosophy is the study of central and fundamental problems

•It is about the nature of things and why things are as they area

•Ethics is a branch of philosophy that explores how we ought to live, act

•Ethics is important in communication because every communicative act is a moral one

Human flourishing•Human flourising is the ultimate goal of life •It's about becoming a 'whole' person, about attaining wisdom

•Some philosophers feel that we have lost this ultimate goal, that our ideals are sinking to match our practice

Commnication•Communication exposes our ideals through the ways in which we interact with, and behave towards, others.

•To communicate fully we need to enter into another's experience of the world

•Both the recipient and giver of communication are affected

Making sense of it all•Go home, think about it.•Talk the lecture through with your family, housemates, friends, whatever.

•Tell them what you’re not clear about

Thanks for coming!

|Education is the guidance of the individual towards a comprehension of the

art of life— Alfred North Whitehead, The Aims of Education, Ch 3