Ronald C. Arnett - Philosophy of communication ethics : alterity and the other

FAIRLEIGH DICKINSON UNIVERSITY PRESS

Madison Teaneck

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Philosophy of communication ethics : alterity and the other / edited by Ronald C. Arnett and Pat Arneson.

pages cm.(The Fairleigh Dickinson university press series in communication studies)

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-1-61147-707-8 (cloth : alk. paper)ISBN 978-1-61147-708-5 (electronic)

1. Other (Philosophy) 2. CommunicationMoral and ethical aspects. I. Arnett, Ronald C., 1952- editor.

BD460.O74P45 2914

175dc23

2014029267

TM The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information Sciences Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992.

Printed in the United States of America

I, Ronald C. Arnett, offer my thanks and gratitude to Duquesne University, the Spiritan community, and my colleagues in the Department of Communication & Rhetorical Studies. I am deeply thankful to Susan Carr, senior graduate research assistant, for her outstanding work and her thoughtful attentiveness on this project. Additionally, I am deeply appreciative of the important work of Gary Radford, Harry Keyishian, and Fairleigh Dickinson University Press as well as of Brooke Bures and Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group in the field of philosophy of communication. I offer thanks to my colleague Pat Arneson for her commitment to philosophy of communication and communication ethics centered in this undertaking. Finally, I am thankful for colleagues in the field of communication who continue to push the boundaries of study and practice of communication with their attentiveness to cultural and theoretical diversity.

I dedicate this work with thanks and appreciation to my family, Millie, Adam, Aimee, Rich, Alexa, and Ava.

I, Pat Arneson, echo Rons thanks. This project emerged in part from the twelfth National Communication Ethics Conference at which scholars considered Communication Ethics: Attending to the Other. I would like to thank the administrators of Duquesne Universitys McAnulty College and Graduate School of Liberal Arts NEH Endowment Fund as well as the Communication Ethics Center in the Department of Communication & Rhetorical Studies at Duquesne University for their financial support of the conference. I would also like to recognize Rita McCaffrey and Brian Gilchrist for their work helping to create a successful conference. Special thanks to Ron

Arnett for inviting me to work with him on this project and to Susan Carr for her diligent and careful assistance. Thanks also to the contributors of this volume for the care taken in expressing their ideas.

I dedicate this work to my Grandma, who taught me more than words can say.

Philosophy of Communication Ethics: Alterity and the Other offers a unique and timely contribution to the study of communication ethics. This series of chapters articulates unequivocally the intimate connection between philosophy of communication and communication ethics. This scholarly volume assumes that a multiplicity of communication ethics exists within social spheres. What distinguishes one communication ethic from another is the philosophy of communication in which a particular ethic is grounded. Philosophy of communication is the core ingredient for understanding the importance of and the difference between and among various approaches to communication ethics.

The position assumed by this collection is consistent with Alasdair Mac
Intyres insights on ethics. In A Short History of Ethics he begins with one principal assertionphilosophy is subversive. If one cannot think philosophically, one cannot question taken-for-granted assumptions. In the case of communication ethics, to fail to think philosophically is to miss the bias, prejudice, and assumptions that constitute a given communication ethic.

Philosophy of Communication Ethics: Alterity and the Other engages the reality of Otherness in a diverse, panoramic sense of communicative engagements. We witness in the following chapters a textured understanding of the variances that define this historical moment. Otherness in the twenty-first century is a commonplace rhetorical interruption, demanding that we learn from difference.

This volume is an exploration of value-laden metaphors that examine the social and pragmatic connections among three major areas of inquiry: philosophy of communication, communication ethics, and the Other. Each chapter considers a particular nuance of this conceptual interplay. The volume overtly assumes a bias that Otherness matters. Otherness, alterity, and concern for the neighbor are at the core of philosophies of communication that undergird this examination of communication ethics. Otherness, situated within a philosophy of communication, functions as a thoughtful sense of why for engaging particular communicative practices, which are manifested more conventionally within the term