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Media Ethics: Lecture #1 – Introduction and Piaget. Introduction. The rush of events forces the media to make ethical decisions by reflex more than by reflection. There are several mindsets involved in media ethics: Ethics requires deliberation, careful distinctions, and extended discussion. - PowerPoint PPT Presentation
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THE NEW SCHOOL
Media Ethics: Introduction and Piaget
THE NEW SCHOOL
Introduction The rush of events forces the media to
make ethical decisions by reflex more than by reflection.
There are several mindsets involved in media ethics: Ethics requires deliberation, careful
distinctions and extended discussion. The news media emphasize toughness and
the ability to make quick decisions in the face of daily crisis.
THE NEW SCHOOL
Advertising and public relations professionals are expected to be competitive and enterprising and to advocate.
Entertainment writers and producers are expected to value skepticism, confident independence and hot blood – tell an engaging story no matter what.
Nevertheless, a solid reasoning process is a necessity even in a high-pressure environment in which there is a huge volume of work and action and immediacy is highly valued.
THE NEW SCHOOL
Potter Box
Facts1
Values2
Principles3
Loyalties
4
THE NEW SCHOOL
“The Fellowship of the Rings” What’s it about? What is Frodo’s ring’s most seductive
power? The ring of Gyges
THE NEW SCHOOL
What’s Right and What’s Wrong?
Sophocles’s Antigone Antigone speaks of a higher law that
requires her to bury her brother, despite an order from her uncle, King Creon of Thebes, forbidding burial of civil war rebels.
Antigone says, “Nor did I think your orders were so strong that you, a mortal man, could over-run the gods’ unwritten and unfailing laws.”
THE NEW SCHOOL
Higher Moral Law At the Nuremberg trials, problems of
jurisdiction prevented crimes from being prosecuted under the laws of any one nation, thus indictments of Nazi war criminals referred to “crimes against humanity.”
Martin Luther King, writing in a jail in Birmingham, AL, invoked the writing of Thomas Aquinas to make a case against social prejudice: “…a just law is a man-made code that squares with moral law or the law of God…an unjust law is a code that is out of harmony with moral law.”
THE NEW SCHOOL
How Do We Learn About Moral Laws?
As little children, from our parents. Jean Piaget’s The Moral Judgment of
the Child. Observation research on Swiss children
in the 1920s Brilliant insights still relevant today
THE NEW SCHOOL
Piaget Identified two social worlds in which
children learn moral rules: Adult/child relations Peer relations
Vastly different From adults, children learn rules of constraint:
top-down, unilateral respect for their superiors – “No.”
From peer relations, children learn rules of cooperation, based on mutual respect for one’s equals.
THE NEW SCHOOL
The Rules of the Game “All morality consists of a system of
rules, and the essence of all morality is to be sought for in the respect which the individual acquires for these rules.” Most of the moral rules a child learns to
respect come from adults, especially in the younger years. From the cradle, children are subjected to a
multiplicity of rules, even before a child learns language.
These rules are very hard for the child to learn.
THE NEW SCHOOL
Piaget Studied Games Found two levels: (1) Practice of the
rules and (2) consciousness of the rules. Relationship between the practice of the
rules and consciousness of them defined the psychological nature of moral realities.
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The Four Stages of Moral Development
Stage One: 0-2 years - Plays alone, makes own rules (motor and individual) Child play for him/herself Motor pleasure, not social pleasure
THE NEW SCHOOL
Stage Two: 2-5 years – Learns codified rules, but everyone plays their own rules; everyone can win. (egocentrism) Plays for social reasons and to get a
sense of winning.
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Stage Three: 6-8 years – Cooperation; mutual control of the game. Rules still fuzzy; argue over rules. Desire for mutual understanding of rules The desire to win, beat others within the
limits of the rules Fairness, equity
THE NEW SCHOOL
Stage Four: 11-12 years – Codification of rules. They understand the reasons for the rules. Take pleasure in juridical discussions and
deliberations of the rules. In Stage Four, a child must be able to
reason formally, have a conscious realization of the rules of reasoning and be able to apply reasoning to a variety of situations.
THE NEW SCHOOL
Learning Rules The acquisition and practice of the
rules of a game follow simple laws: Simple individual regularity Imitation of seniors with egocentrism Cooperation Interest in rules for their own sake
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What Games Did You Play? Was your experience similar to what
Piaget observed?
THE NEW SCHOOL
A young child has a sense of moral obligation that is expressed when the child accepts a command from someone who is respected – someone with power and authority.
In older children, the rules undergo a complete transformation. Rules no longer are seen as external laws, sacred in so far as they have been laid down by adults, but as the outcome of a free decision and worthy of respect because they come from mutual consent.
THE NEW SCHOOL
It is from this moment that it replaces the rule of constraint that the rule of cooperation becomes an effective moral law — the law of universal cooperation.
Cooperation is a universal moral law because cooperation leads to the practice of reciprocity.
THE NEW SCHOOL
Kant’s Categorical Imperative A person should act on the premise that the
choices one makes for oneself could become universal law (for everyone) for all times.
Treat humanity well always as an end in itself and never as a means to an end.
“Categorical” means that the decision was not subject to situational factors (i.e. “always”).
Thus, the categorical imperative reinforces the existence of a higher “unwritten and unfailing” moral law.
THE NEW SCHOOL
Potter Box
Facts1
Values2
Principles3
Loyalties
4