Clifford Christians's Media

Ethics Theory of Global

Justice

Problems
Problems and
and Promises
Promises
CLIFFORD CHRISTIANS

“…has done more than anyone else to

encourage the teaching and study of ethics
from a media perspective” (Starck, 2001,
p. 134)

“standard bearer”
(Arnett, 2013, p. 58)
theoretical pluralism
+
Christian worldview
+
religious inclusivity
 I
The Theory: A Summary
Summarized
Christians
 Elements
=
Components
+
Attributes
Christians’s Media Ethics
Theory of
Global Justice
 Components
=
Philosophy of technology +
Ethics of Being
Christians’s Media Ethics Theory of Global Justice

I. proposes a view of technology as not a mere or

neutral instrument, but rather as something more
intricately woven in man’s “Being-in-the-world”
Christians’s Media Ethics Theory of Global Justice

II. proposes “sacredness of life” and its corollary

principles of truth, human dignity, non-violence
and cosmopolitan justice as universal standards
for an international media ethics.
 Ethics of Being

Humans-in-relation
 Ethics of Being as a Tri-level Theory
universal being Presupposition:
/ holistic
human
Principle:

sacredness of life
Precepts: Christians’s
truth proto-
human dignity
non-violence
norms
cosmopolitan justice
 Ethics of Being

sacredness of life
=
protonorm

Hans Jonas
 Ethics of Being

27 countries
5 continents
Clifford G. Christians Fr. Michael Traber
Philosophy of Technology
essence of
technology

la technique
Philosophy of Technology

“We ought to destroy our modern

idols… demythologize today’s
illusions about technological
prowess… and (shatter) all divinatory
claims by the technological and
bureaucratic domains” (Christians,
2006, p. 156)
 Philosophy of Technology

Human-centered
Attributes
• Against the Enlightenment

• Counter-Enlightenment inspired

• Communitarian

• Triadic
Against the Enlightenment
IF
“the issue of ethics and media theory has
its roots in the Enlightenment…”
(Christians, 2014, p. 225)

THE SOLUTIONS WOULD BE

Counter-
“ Enlightenment
Counter-Enlightenment’s holistic
understanding of our humanness.”
(Christians, 2015, p. 43)
 Counter-

Enlightenment

proposals

”We would like to

Enlightenment freeTweety…
but we can’t!”
ubuntu

communitas
Human agents

Context
 II
The Theory: Problems & Promises
Not yet.
Promising

Rectifying
rationalism and relativism
Problematic
“Being” without
reason?

Mutilating reason and

compromising with relativism
 cultural
relativism

moral
relativism relativism
In general
ethics
Problematic Yea
ratio h, we’
r
sam nalists e both
e su
i
with
Pari t. Mad the
s, d
ude e in
.

Reason Enlightenment
Objectivity
Nature / Essence

Flawed understanding of rationalism

The Anti-Enlightenment demonstration
In Descartes’
shadow
Promising

Promoting
a holistic
and
humancentric
approach
 intuitive appeal
+
internal & external support
+
explanatory power
 CHRISTIANS’S RESEARCH & THEORY

C OH E R E N C E

objective common practical

reality nature reason virtue ethics
Promising

Engages
the world
and is inclusive
Problematic

The community is prior to

the person both in value
and being?
 The community is
ontologically and
axiologically attuned to
the person.
Problem &
Promise

Facing
Technology
Squarely
Does his theory, in whole or in part, succeed as the
way out of the “huge challenge (of) amorality”
(Christians, 2007a, p. 96) that threatens students and
practitioners of communications in a technological
age?
Not yet.
 cultural
relativism

moral
relativism relativism
In general
Aristotle

A
PRIORI
柔術

open to context, dialogue, and construction

The community is prior to
the person both in value
and being?
“A theory of personhood centered on
intrinsic human worth opens a
pathway between the extremes of
positivism and relativism and serves
as a model for working with the
concept of justice in a global society”

(Christians, 2015)
References:
• Arnett, R. C. (2013). Arendt on media ethics: Revisiting traditions as the heart of the public sphere. In • http://bit.ly/2KNqWUe
N. Couldry, M. Madianou, & A. Pinchevski (Eds.), Ethics of media (pp. 57–71). London, England:
Palgrave Macmillan UK. • http://bit.ly/2ZhLWWF

• Christians, C. G. (2007a). A conversation about communication ethics with Clifford G. Christians. In P. • http://bit.ly/2Ut5rI2
Arneson (Ed.), Exploring communication ethics (pp. 89–104). Retrieved from http://bit.ly/2UIwXq4
• http://bit.ly/2XqwIMZ
• Christians, C. G. (2014). Review of international media ethics. Comunicação e Sociedade, 25, 34–48.
• http://bit.ly/2XsFhHs
• Christians, C. G. (2015a). Global justice and civil society. In S. Rao & H. Wasserman (Eds.), Media
ethics and justice in the age of globalization (pp. 43–58). Palgrave Macmillan UK. • https://pxhere.com/en/photo/1014561

• Christians, Clifford G. (2015b). Social justice and internet technology. New Media & Society, 18(11), • http://bit.ly/2Gvbisq
2760–2773. https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444815604130
• Wikipedia and Wikimedia photos
• Christians, C. G. (2006). Truth at the frontiers of science. Media Development, 53(2), 6–10.
• https://twitter.com/hashtag/hindipendenceday
• http://bit.ly/2UJvRdE
• http://bit.ly/2ZrXRkr
• http://bit.ly/2vaIpeX
• http://bit.ly/2ZCobss
• http://bit.ly/2V5g08B
• https://giphy.com/explore/trial
• http://bit.ly/2Pi956D
• https://pixabay.com/illustrations/technology-future-robot-futuristic-4750253/
• http://bit.ly/2GtT2Qs
• https://www.pinterest.ph/pin/353603008234857740/?nic_v2=1avkVSPFC
• http://bit.ly/2KLhi4r
• https://miro.medium.com/max/700/1*X4D4vNaJsBCB9VAx8Y72NQ.jpeg