The Ethical Turn: Communication as a Manifestation of the Ethical

Bilyana Martinovski

Department of Computer and Systems Sciences, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden.

DOI: 10.4236/jss.2014.21012                

Abstract

This paper calls for an ethical turn in communication. It offers a re-evaluation of Weaver’s metaphor on communication as exchanges of information and develops Buber’s and Peters’ ideas on communication as manifestation of the ethical, where the ethical is described as openness to otherness and communication is viewed as a tension between reproduction of Self and reconciliation with alterity. It argues that mutuality is not a necessary condition for the ethical because it involves intimacy that can only be discrete, and that end of theodicy is not the end of the ethical because the ethical is a space of profound intimacy, beyond preachment. Extreme cases of annihilation of otherness such as genocides in all their stages and variations, can’t be described as rational in some cases than others and have deeper roots than modernity. The ethical turn within socio-political conflicts and genocidal process meets challenges such as the patriarchal order, implantations and involvement of the third, dehumanization, isolation for larger contexts, traumatic disorders, and states of denial. However, the potential of communication as reconciliation is enhanced by insights in intercultural communication, nurturing of hybrid cultures, and distance taking techniques such as time distance, attention/topic shift, emotions such as feelings of awe and art.

Keywords

Ethics; Communication Theory; Genocide; Theodic

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

References

[1]	Levinas, E. (1947/1989) The other in Proust. In: Hand, S., Ed., The Levinas Reader, Blackwell, Oxford.
[2]	Milgram, S. (1971) The individual in a social world. Addison and Wesley, Reading.
[3]	Milgram, S. (1974) Obedience to authority: An experimental view. Tavistock, London.
[4]	Haney, C., Banks, C. and Zimbardo, P. (1973) Interpersonal dynamics in a simulated prison. International Journal of Criminology and Penology, 1, 69-97.
[5]	Agamben, G. (1998) Homo Sacer. Sovereign power and bare life. Stanford University Press, Stanford.
[6]	Arendt, H. (1963/1992) Eichmann and the Holocaust. Penguin Books, New York.
[7]	Todorov, T. (1984) The conquest of America. The question of the other. Harper and Row, New York.
[8]	Pinchevski, A. (2003) Interruption and alterity: Dislocating communication. PhD Thesis in Communication, McGill University.
[9]	Buber, M. (2000) I and thou. Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York.
[10]	Buber, M. (1995) Det mellanmänskliga. (Element of the Interhuman). Dualis Förlag AB, Falum.
[11]	Levinas, E. (2006) Entre nous. Thinking-of-the-other. Continuum, New York.
[12]	Todorov, T. and Denner, A. (2001) The fragility of goodness: Why Bulgaria’s Jews survived the holocaust. Princeton University Press, Princeton.
[13]	Bauman, Z. (2000) Modernity and the holocaust. Cornell University Press, New York.
[14]	Peters, J.D. (1999) Speaking into the air. Chicago University Press, Chicago. http://dx.doi.org/10.7208/chicago/9780226922638.001.0001
[15]	Shannon, C. and Weaver, W. (1964) The mathematical theory of communication. The University of Illinois Press, Urbana.
[16]	Johnson-Laird, P.N. (1990) Introduction: What is communication? In: Mellor, D.H., Ed., Ways of Communicating, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1-13.
[17]	Krebs, J.R. and Davies, H.B. (1978) Behavioural ecology: An evolutionary approach. Blackwell, Oxford.
[18]	Ogden, C.K. and Richards, I.A. (1923) The meaning of meaning. Routledge & Kegan Paul, London.
[19]	Kimura, D. (1993) Neuromotor mechanisms in human communication. Oxford University Press, New York. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195054927.001.0001
[20]	Derrida, J. (1982) Margins of philosophy. Transl. Bass A. University of Chicago Press, Chicago.
[21]	Mead, G.H. (1993) Mind, self, and society. University of Chicago Press, Chicago.
[22]	Hogan, R.T. (1969) Development of an empathy scale. Journal of Consulting Psychology, 33, 307-316.
[23]	Huther, G. (2006) The compassionate brain. How empathy creates intelligence. Trumpeter, Boston & London.
[24]	Eysenck, S.B.G. (1981) Impulsive and antisocial behavior in children. Current Psychological Research, 1, 31-37.
[25]	Salem, R. (1982) Community dispute resolution through outside intervention. Peace and Change Journal, 8, 91-104.
[26]	Toris, C. (1994) A negotiation model of empathy. 9th International Balint Federation Congress, Charleston, 9-13 November 1994.
[27]	Stich, S. and Nichols, S. (1992) Folk psychology: Simulation or tacit theory? Mind and Language, 7, 35-71.
[28]	Martinovski, B., Mao, W., Gratch, J. and Marsella, S. (2005) Mitigation theory: An integrated approach. Proceedings of Cognitive Science, Stresa, 21-23 July 2005.
[29]	Martinovski, B., Traum, D. and Marsella, S. (2005) Rejection of empathy and its linguistic manifestations. Proceedings of Conference on Formal and Informal Negotiation, Ottawa, 26-27 May 2005.
[30]	Martinovski, B. (2009) Emotion as an argumentation engine: Modeling the role of emotion in negotiation. Journal of Group Decision and Negotiation, 18, 235-261. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10726-008-9153-7
[31]	Erturk, Y. (2009) Towards a post-patriarchal gender order: Confronting the universality and the particularity of violence against women. Sociologisk Forskning (National Sociological Journal of Sweden), 46, 61-70.
[32]	Hanafi, S. (2010) Modes of incorporation of the Palestinian protracted refugees: Some theoretical considerations. Presented at XVII ISA World Congress, Gothenburg.
[33]	Dona, G. (2010) Challenging the exclusivity of ethnicity in ethnic conflicts. Presented in the Violence and Ethnical Conflict Session of XVII ISA World Congress of Sociology, Gothenburg.
[34]	Cohen, S. (2001) States of denial. Knowing about atrocities and suffering. Polity, Cambridge.
[35]	Rose, F.D., Brooks, B.M. and Rizzo, A.A. (2005) Virtual reality in brain damage rehabilitation: Review. Cyber Psychology & Behavior, 8, 241-262. http://dx.doi.org/10.1089/cpb.2005.8.241
[36]	Levi, P. (1989) The drowned and the saved. Vintage International, New York.
[37]	Spiegelman, A. (1991) The MAUS: A survivor’s tale. Pantheon Books, Apex Novelties.
[38]	Iles, P. (1995) Learning to work with difference. Personnel Review, 24, 44-60.
[39]	Hofstede, G. (1996) Cultures and organizations: Software of the mind: Intercultural cooperation and its importance for survival. McGraw-Hill, New York.
[40]	Enayati, J. (2002) The research: Effective communication and decision-making in diverse groups. In: Hemmati, M., Ed., Multi-Stakeholder Processes for Governance and Sustainability: Beyond Deadlock and Conflict, Earthscan Publications Ltd., London.
[41]	Halverson, C.B. and Tirmizi, S.A. (2008) Effective multi-cultural themes: Theory and practice. Springer, Amsterdam. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-6957-4
[42]	Reeh, A., Aydin, S., Moréno, J., García, M.J., Mota, G.R. and Martinovski, B. (2009) Body language in intercultural and cross-cultural communication. Proceedings of 16th NIC Conference on Intercultural Communication. College of Borås, Borås, 26-28 November 2009.
[43]	Gumperz, J. (1982) Discourse strategies. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511611834
[44]	Qui, C. and Wang, X. (2010) Comparison of business negotiation styles between China and Sweden: An experimental role-play according to accommodation theory. Master Thesis Supervised by B. Martinovski, Gothenburg University, Gothenburg.
[45]	Kopp, R. (2005) Communication challenges between Americans and Japanese in the workplace. Transcultural Management Review, 2, 70-77.
[46]	Mandela, N. (1995) A long walk to freedom. Little Brown & Co., New York.
[47]	Agerström, J. and Björklund, F. (2009) Moral concerns are greater for temporally distant events and are moderated by value strength. Social Cognition, 27, 261-282.
[48]	Liberman, N. and Trope, Y. (2003) Temporal construal theory of intertemporal judgment and decision. In: Loewenstein, G., Read, D. and Baumeister, R., Eds., Time and Choice: Economic and Psychological Perspectives on Intertemporal Choice, Sage, New York, 217-240.
[49]	Thagard, P. (2010) The brain and the meaning of life. Princeton University Press, Princeton.
[50]	Martinovski, B. (2007) Shifting attention as re-contextualization in negotiation. Proceedings of GDN 2007, Montreal, 14-17 May 2007.
[51]	Martinovski, B. (2010) Emotion in Negotiation. In: Kilgour, M. and Eden, C., Eds., Handbook on Group Decision and Negotiation. Springer, Amsterdam.
[52]	Maemura, Y. and Horita, M. (2012) Humour in negotiations: A pragmatic analysis of humour in simulated negotiations. Journal of Group Decision and Negotiation, 21, 821-838. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10726-011-9251-9