AC640 Government, Public Policy, and the Law (Political Communication) :Law and Ethics [9]
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关键词:
llenges of
modern mass society. Rather than reject the modern world, as did various cultural
conservatives, or unthinkingly embrace it, as did the American business tycoons
prevalent in this era, the Pragmatists sought to build a bridge between the historical values and institutions of American life, and the future that was gathering like a storm
front before their eyes. More to the point, the Pragmatists sought to sustain the
American ideal of face-to-face democracy in the middle of a complex, populous, and
mass-mediated urban civilization.
The basic features of Pragmatist thought are:
* liberal (focused on the individual and her or his freedom, and not on class
or social structures)
* pluralist (i.e. favouring a kind of free market of ideas, lifestyles, identities,
etc.)
* progressive (favoured change, more democracy, better distribution of
wealth and power, all on a gradual basis and using existing institutions; hence
Pragmatism was not Marxist)
* idealist (in the sense that they believed that ideas and values were the
principal means by which social process and human behaviour shaped, rather than the
economic determinism and materialism of Marxists)
* optimistic about science and technology as means to rationally guide
society
b. Pragmatism and communication
Communication was the key to maintaining this ideal of meaningful dialogue or a “great
community”—to use Dewey’s phrase—in the midst of urban America. The Pragmatists
saw communication as more than the exchange of ideas and experiences. Rather, it was
understood as the ethical and rational foundation of society. Truth was held to be not
something revealed through religion, but rather something produced through secular
human insight and conversation. Specifically, truth was not a fixed Platonic or Christian
ideal that existed outside language waiting to be discovered; rather, it was something
that was produced as individuals communicated with each other in interpersonal or
mediated circumstances.
Dewey saw interpersonal communication as a rich process of integrating sensory data,
then sharing it with others. Words and other signs allow us to select an element of sensory experience—things we might think, feel, see, or do—and fix these otherwise
transitory moments into something of cultural value. Once we capture these accidental
sensory stimuli in the form of a sign, it begins to take on meaning. The more that these
signs are shared, the more complex and semiotically rich they become. Out of such raw
sensory data, in other words, emerged novels, constitutions, movies, and other
remarkable cultural achievements.
Meaning is thus a collective responsibility in the Pragmatist view of communication, and
something born not of abstract philosophical premises, but everyday experience. They
felt communication (and the culture that issued from communication) to be organic in
character, emerging from natural human processes, and described interpersonal and
mass media communication as “organized intelligence” that circulated in a healthy
society. Where this circulation was impaired, such as when people withdrew from public
life because of boredom or fear, or where media monopolies damaged free press ideals,
society became undemocratic.
c. Habermas: instrumental and communicative rationality
The chart below illustrates points that will be referred to in our podcast on the on
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