Book contents
- Beyond Civility in Social Conflict
- Reviews
- Series page
- Beyond Civility in Social Conflict
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- 1 The Three Voices in the Ethics of Communication
- 2 The Rules Are Broken: Dilemmas of Restraint in War and Social Conflict
- 3 Integral Communication
- 4 Illusions and Indirect Communication
- 5 “Dynamically Aggressive”
- 6 Sharing the Good News
- Bibliography
- Index
1 - The Three Voices in the Ethics of Communication
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 08 November 2024
- Beyond Civility in Social Conflict
- Reviews
- Series page
- Beyond Civility in Social Conflict
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- 1 The Three Voices in the Ethics of Communication
- 2 The Rules Are Broken: Dilemmas of Restraint in War and Social Conflict
- 3 Integral Communication
- 4 Illusions and Indirect Communication
- 5 “Dynamically Aggressive”
- 6 Sharing the Good News
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
This chapter surveys and critiques the three major viewpoints on the ethics of communication, which I label Civility, Victory, and Open-mindedness. For Civility, activism must be governed by a set of rules for respectful engagement. For Victory, the ends justify the means, and for the sake of one’s political goals, one may need to mislead audiences, dismiss opponents, and use ad hominem attacks. For Open-mindedness, it is violent and immoral to impose one’s views on others. I argue that all three perspectives have serious shortcomings, but that each voice expresses a valuable concern. People want their advocacy to be moral, effective, and nonviolent, but often feel like it is impossible to have all three.
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- Information
- Beyond Civility in Social ConflictDialogue, Critique, and Religious Ethics, pp. 19 - 64Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2024