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Communication Ethics Summary
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This summary contains all required chapter readings, lectures, and additional articles.
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SUMMARYCOURSE: COMMUNICATION ETHICS (CM3010)
BOOK: THE ELEMENTS OF MORAL PHILOSOPHY (7TH ED.)
ALSO INCLUDES:
PECK, L.A. (2013). TOOLS FOR THOUGHT: THE POTTER BOX
MILL, J.S. (1863). WHAT UTILITARIANISM IS.
BINNS, R. (2018). FAIRNESS IN MACHINE LEARNING
RAWLS, J. (1999). THE VEIL OF IGNORANCE.
KANT. (1785). FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES OF THE METAPHYSICS OF MORALS.
RACHELS, J. & RACHELS, S. (2012). VIRGINIA HELD.
BY: ESMÉE LIEUW ON
ESMEE LIEUW ON 1
, WEEK 1: FOUNDATIONS
Chapter 1: What is Morality?
● Moral philosophy is the study of what morality is and what it requires to us → “How we
ought to live and why”
● The nature of morality:
1. Moral judgements must be backed by good reasons
2. Morality requires the impartial consideration of each individual interests
● When we feel strong about an issue, it is tempting to assume that we just know what the truth
is, without even having to consider arguments on the other side
● Essence of morality: If we want to discover the truth, we must let our feelings be guided as
much as possible by reason → to argue about something is best when supported by arguments
❖ Not every reason that may be advanced is a good reason, there are bad and good
arguments, which means that developing a moral thinking skill to discern the
difference is essential
● How do we go about assessing arguments?
1. Get one’s facts straight
❖ Human prejudice may pose as a problem
2. Bring moral principles into play
❖ Are they justified and applied correctly?
3. Be alert to the possibility of new complications and new kinds of error
● Every important moral theory includes the idea of impartiality → each individual’s interests
are equally important and therefore no special treatment, including not treating the members
of particular groups as inferior, condemning forms of discrimination
❖ Closely connected with the idea that moral judgements must be backed by good
reasons
● The minimum conception of morality = Morality is, at the very least, the effort to guide
one’s conduct by reason - to do what there are the best reasons for doing - while giving equal
weight to the interests of each individual affected by one’s decision
The Potter Box
● Four dimensions of ethical reasoning:
1. Facts
❖ Assess all relevant facts
❖ What do we know about the situation?
2. Values
❖ Identify most important values to decision maker
❖ Being explicit about the importance of particular values gives the decision
maker a concrete way to evaluate potential actions
3. Principles
❖ Looking at your values through the lens of different systems of ethics can
help you develop a range of possible actions (ex. Aristotle’s Doctrine of the
Mean)
4. Loyalties
❖ Determine who or what you are loyal to will clarify thinking
ESMEE LIEUW ON 2
, Lecture 1:
● Foundations of moral thinking: Socrates, Plato, Aristotle
❖ Socrates
★ 469-399 BC - Athens
★ “Know thyself”
★ “What I do not know I do not think I know”
★ Socratic method: helping people with their questions by asking questions
back
❖ Plato
★ Most important pupil from Socrates
★ Set up the first ‘Academy’
★ Wrote about a variety of topics: politics, ethics, mathematics
★ “The safest general characterization of European philosophical tradition is
that it consists of footnotes from Plato
❖ Aristotle
★ Wrote about physics, mathematic, zoology, poetics, literature, metaphysics,
logic, ethics, aesthetics, theater, music, politics, and government
★ Pupil of Plato, tutor of Alexander the Great
★ Virtue Ethics
➢ Virtue = proper function of something
➢ One needs virtue to take good ethical decisions
➢ Taking good ethical decisions makes one happy (hedonism)
● Moral sophistication is based on the idea on how to make these good ethical decisions
❖ Hedonism
❖ Happiness:
★ As much pleasure and as little pain as possible
★ Be acknowledged by others
★ Understanding
❖ All three are important, though understanding is valued highest by Aristotle
❖ One needs more than simple reasoning to achieve hedonistic happiness
● Questions to ask in developing moral sophistication:
❖ What do you do in your life to increase happiness and reduce pain?
❖ What do you think about self-optimization?
● Main concepts:
❖ Morality - from moralis - meaning ‘manners/conduct’
❖ Ethics - from ethos - meaning ‘character/living the good life’
❖ Sometimes strictly separated, sometimes used as synonyms
❖ Ethics and morality are interrelated concepts (doing good also contributes to living ‘a
good life’)
● What is a good case (media dilemma) and what is not?
❖ It is NOT about the narrative of a movie/series/book
❖ It is about the production
❖ Clear dilemma - answers do not come easy
ESMEE LIEUW ON 3
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