Tuesday, January 03, 2006

Into the pot, already boiling...

Hello, out there!

Welcome to the grand adventure -- Utah State University students in JCOM 4010, Mass Media Ethics, will push far beyond boring research papers this semester and blog our explorations here.

Our goals?

-- Banish the darkness by shedding light on the subject so it becomes more than a tired old joke ("Media ethics? Isn't that an oxymoron?").

-- Discover models and tools that make ethical decisions clearer, and read a few philosophers (Aristotle, Mill, Kant, Rawls and others) who thought well and deeply about ethics.

-- Practice thinking our way to clarity by writing. It's really true: we often don't know what we think about an event or case until we try to write it clearly.

There's more, but that's enough to let you know what you're into here. Join us, please!

1 comment:

Cryptic Muse said...

"…we often don't know what we think about an event or case until we try to write it clearly."

Nancy,

I couldn't agree more. As Natalie Goldberg suggests, writing is simultaneously about catharsis and discovery. I often don't know what to make of the muddle in my head until I've gone through the processes of investigation, sorting and rationalizing that must precede meaningful composition. Writing helps me wrestle the monster and give shape to my opinions. It is, in my view, indispensable to the progression of intellectual inquiry.