Chapter 6

This chapter seemed a little vague and hard to understand at first. I actually had to go back and re-read the chapter to make sure I correctly understood the topic. Upon reading the information again I discovered that this was similar to my topic I presented last week, Dialogic Ethics. It is related to dialogic ethics in the sense that it pays attention to “listening, attentiveness, and negotiation in the demand for a communicative return of the public and viable and differentiated communicative space.” (pg. 114). Public discourse ethics pays attention to the good of the whole and to make sure ethics are respected in the public arena.

Public discourse ethics seems to be very relevant in our day to day lives, especially in the media and political coverage in the media. Political information in the media is (mostly) presented to us in a way that will be ethically pleasing to everyone viewing. Sometimes the news is “sugar coated” but this is done to be respectful of all views, backgrounds, and cultures. Politicians show us how public decision making works. They are attentive to the good of the public arena and they stand for  group of people’s ideas and values. Politicians also show us how differentiation of public and private life work. A politician speaking to a large crowd during a campaign is going to use different communication ethics then when they are telling their children to finish their homework. Politicians do a good job of “identifying the two sphere of life that shape and inform by maintaining their separate identities.” (pg. 100).