Shannon A Bowen, Paul Prescott







Kant's contribution to the ethics of communication

The influence of the work of Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) on contemporary communication ethics is immense. The deontological approach to ethics Kant inaugurated profoundly transformed how human beings understand themselves, and provided an ethical framework that guides the practice of communication to this day. This paper offers an overview of Kantian ethics and traces the lineage of deontology in the various fields of public communication. Through a study of Kant and his application in organisational communication and behaviour, mass media, public relations, issues management, and marketing communication, we show the relevance of deontology today for the scholar, the student, and the professional communicator.

Keywords: Kant, communication ethics, deontological, duty, media


References

  1. Beck, L. W. (1963) Foreword, Immanuel Kant's lectures on ethics, edited by Beck, L. W., Indianapolis: Hackett pp ix-xiv
  2. Beauchamp, T. L., Bowie, N. L. and Arnold, D. G. (2008) Ethical theory and business, New York, Pearson, eighth edition
  3. Bowen, S. A. (2002) Elite executives in issues management: The role of ethical paradigms in decision making, Journal of Public Affairs, Vol. 2, No. 4 pp 270-283
  4. Bowen, S. A. (2004) Expansion of ethics as the tenth generic principle of public relations excellence: A Kantian theory and model for managing ethical issues, Journal of Public Relations Research, Vol. 16, No. 1 pp 65-92
  5. Bowen, S. A. (2005) A practical model for ethical decision making in issues management and public relations, Journal of Public Relations Research, Vol. 17, No. 3 pp 191-216
  6. Bowen, S. A. (2006) Autonomy in communication: Inclusion in strategic management and ethical decision-making, a comparative case analysis, Journal of Communication Management, Vol. 10, No. 4 pp 330-352
  7. Bowen, S. A. (2008) A state of neglect: public relations as organizational conscience or ethics counsel, Journal of Public Relations Research, Vol. 20, No. 3 pp 271-296
  8. Bowen, S. A. (2013) Using classic social media cases to distill ethical guidelines for digital engagement, Journal of Mass Media Ethics: Exploring Questions of Media Morality, Vol. 28, No. 2 pp 119-133
  9. Bowen, S. A. (2015) Exploring the role of the dominant coalition in creating an ethical culture for internal stakeholders, Public Relations Journal, Vol. 8, No. 5 pp 1-20
  10. Bowen, S. A. and Zheng, Y. (2015) Auto recall crisis, framing, and ethical response: Toyota's missteps. Public Relations Review, Vol. 41, No. 1 pp 40-49
  11. Carroll, A. B. and Buchholtz, A. K. (2006) Business and society: Ethics and stakeholder management, Mason, Ohio, Thomson, sixth edition
  12. Caywood, C. L. (ed.) (2012) The handbook of strategic public relations and integrated marketing communications, New York, McGraw-Hill, second edition
  13. Christians, C. G. (2007) Utilitarianism in media ethics and its discontents, Journal of Mass Media Ethics, Vol. 22, Nos 2 and 3 pp 113-131
  14. Christians, C. G., Glasser, T. L., McQuail, D., Nordenberg, K. and White, R. A. (2009) Normative theories of the media: Journalism in democratic societies, Urbana, IL, University of Illinois Press
  15. DeGeorge, R. T. (2009) Business Ethics, New York, Pearson, seventh edition
  16. Donaldson, T. and P. H. Werhane (2007) Ethical issues in business: A philosophical approach, New York, Pearson, eighth edition
  17. Ebsco Host Business Source Complete Online Database (2015) Thomas Cooper Library, University of South Carolina, Columbia. Available online at http://library.sc.edu/p/Research/Resources/business, accessed on 13, 15 and 16 January 2015
  18. Ebsco Host Communication and Mass Media Complete Online Database (2015) Thomas Cooper Library, University of South Carolina, Columbia. Available online at http://library.sc.edu/p/Research/Resources/journalism, accessed on 1, 2 and 3 February 2015
  19. Elliott, D. (2007) Getting Mill right, Journal of Mass Media Ethics, Vol. 22, Nos 2 and 3 pp 100-112
  20. Friedrich, C. J. (1993) Introduction, The philosophy of Kant: Immanuel Kant's moral and political writings, Friedrich, C. J. (ed.) New York, Modern Library pp xv-lxii
  21. Goodpaster, K. E. (2007) Conscience and corporate culture, Oxford, Blackwell
  22. Grunig, J. E., and Grunig, L. A. (1996) Implications of symmetry for a theory of ethics and social responsibility in public relations. Paper read at meeting of the International Communication Association, May, Chicago
  23. Grunig, L. A. (1992) Toward the philosophy of public relations, Rhetorical and critical approaches to public relations, Toth, E. L. and Heath, R. L. (eds) Hillsdale, NJ, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates pp 65-91
  24. Guyer, P. (1992) Introduction: The starry heavens and the moral law, The Cambridge Companion to Kant, Guyer, P. (ed.) Cambridge, Cambridge University Press pp 1-25
  25. Hartman, L. P. and DesJardins, J. (2008) Business ethics: Decision-making for personal Integrity and social responsibility, Boston, MA, McGraw Hill
  26. Heath, R. L. (2006) A rhetorical theory approach to issues management, Botan, C. and Hazleton, V. (eds) Public relations theory II. Mahwah, NJ, Lawrence Erlbaum pp 63-99
  27. Huang, Y. H. (2004) Is symmetrical communication ethical and effective? Journal of Business Ethics, Vol. 53, No. 4 pp 333-352
  28. Huang, Y. H. (2008) Trust in relational commitment and corporate crises: The effects of crisis communicative strategy and form of crisis response, Journal of Public Relations Research, Vol. 20 pp 297-327
  29. Jeweler, A. J. and Drewniany, B. L. (2013) Creative strategy in advertising, New York, Cengage, eleventh edition
  30. Kant, Immanuel (1964 [1785]) Groundwork of the metaphysic of morals (trans. Paton, H. J.) New York: Harper & Row
  31. Kant, Immanuel (2002 [1785]) Groundwork for the metaphysics of morals (trans. Wood, A. W.) New Haven, CT: Yale University Press p. 58
  32. Kruckeberg, D. (1993) Universal ethics code: Both possible and feasible, Public Relations Review, Vol. 19, No. 1 pp 21-31
  33. MacIntyre, A. (1966) A short history of ethics, New York, Touchstone
  34. Murphy, P. E. (1998) Eighty exemplary ethics statements, Notre Dame, IN, University of Notre Dame Press
  35. Murphy, P. E., Laczniak, G. R. and Prothero, A. (2012) Ethics in marketing: International cases and perspectives, New York, Routledge
  36. Paquette, M., Sommerfeldt, E. J. and Kent, M. L. (2015) Do the ends justify the means? Dialogue, development communication, and deontological ethics, Public Relations Review, Vol. 41, No. 1 pp 30-39
  37. Pearson, R. (1989a) Albert J. Sullivan's theory of public relations ethics, Public Relations Review Vol. 15, No. 2 pp 52-62
  38. Plaisance, P. L. (2007) Transparency: An assessment of the Kantian roots of a key element in media ethics practice, Journal of Mass Media Ethics: Exploring Questions of Media Morality, Vol. 22, Nos 2 and 3 pp 187-207
  39. Pratt, C. A. and Rentner, T. L. (1989) What's really being taught about ethical behavior, Public Relations Review, Vol. 15, No. 1 pp 53-66
  40. Rawlins, B. (2007) Trust and PR practice, Institute for Public Relations. Available online at http://www.instituteforpr.org/essential_knowledge/detail/trust_and_pr_practice/, accessed on 28 November 2009
  41. Rawlins, B. (2009) Give the emperor a mirror: Toward developing a stakeholder measurement of organizational transparency, Journal of Public Relations Research, Vol. 21, No.1 pp 71-99
  42. Rivers, W. L., Schramm, W. and Christians, C. G. (1980) Responsibility in mass communications, New York, Harper & Row
  43. Roberts, C. (2012) Public relations and Rawls: An ill-fitting veil to wear, Journal of Mass Media Ethics: Exploring Questions of Media Morality, Vol. 27 pp 163-176
  44. Schafer-Landau, R. (2015) The fundamentals of ethics, New York, Oxford
  45. Schneewind, J. B. (1992) Autonomy, obligation, and virtue: An overview of Kant's moral philosophy, Guyer, P. (ed.) The Cambridge companion to Kant, New York, Cambridge University Press pp 309-341
  46. Seeger, M. W. (1997) Ethics and organizational communication, Cresskill, NJ, Hampton
  47. Shaw, W. H. (2011) Business ethics, Boston, MA, Wadsworth Cengage, seventh edition
  48. Sims, R. R. (1991) The institutionalization of organizational ethics, Journal of Business Ethics, Vol. 10, No. 7 pp 493-506
  49. Sims, R. R. (1994) Ethics and organizational decision making: A call for renewal, Westport, CT: Quorum
  50. Sims, R. R. and Brinkman, J. (2003) Enron ethics (or, culture matters more than codes), Journal of Business Ethics, Vol. 45, No. 3 pp 243-256
  51. Stoker, K. and Rawlins, B. (2010) Taking the BS out of PR: Creating genuine messages by emphasizing character and authenticity, Ethical Space: The International Journal of Communication Ethics, Vol. 7, Nos 2 and 3 pp 61-69
  52. Sullivan, R. J. (1989) Immanuel Kant's moral theory, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press
  53. Tilley, E. (2005) The ethics pyramid: Making ethics unavoidable in the public relations process, Journal of Mass Media Ethics, Vol. 20, No. 4 pp 305-320
  54. Vikas, R. M. and Varman, R. (2007) Erasing futures: Ethics of marketing an intoxicant to homeless children, Consumption, Markets & Culture, Vol. 10, No. 2 pp 189-202
  55. Wright, D. K. (1982) Ethics in public relations: philosophy of ethics. The Public Relations Journal, Vol. 38, No. 12 pp 12-14
  56. Wright, D. K. (1985) Can age predict the moral values of public relations practitioners? Public Relations Review, Vol. 11, No. 1 pp 51-60
  57. Wright, D. K. (1989) Ethics research in public relations: An overview, Public Relations Review, Vol. 15, No. 2 pp 3-5

Note on the contributor

Shannon A. Bowen, Ph.D., is Professor at the University of South Carolina where she studies organisational ethics. Paul Prescott, Ph.D., is on the faculty at Syracuse University. He specialises in philosophy and mass media ethics.