Summary
Contents
Subject index
This volume is designed to revolutionize the field of communication by identifying a broad ethical theory which transcends the world of mass media practice to reveal a more humane and responsible code of values. The contributors, representing a diverse range of intercultural perspectives, defend the possibility of universal moral imperatives such as justice, reciprocity and human dignity. Through an examination of the values in which their cultures are grounded, they provide a short list of ethical principles which form the common ground from which to view contemporary issues in the media, interpersonal communication, mediation and conflict resolution.
Universal Values and Moral Development Theories
Universal Values and Moral Development Theories
Viewed from a wide angle, the world's communities and subcommunities appear to be an array of values, a colorful moral kaleidoscope. But these dissimilarities among values, as striking as they are, mask the similarity behind the “colors”—the species-specific “crystals” that create discernible and consistent patterns amid the array of value-colors. The argument for universal values, like moral development theories, builds on the notion of similarities among human behavior that stretch across space, culture, and time. Variations can be explained by adequate theory. As James Q. Wilson (1993) explains,
Two errors arise in attempting to understand the human condition. One is to assume that culture is everything, the other to assume that it is nothing. In ...
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