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Dialogic Ethics
Edited by Ronald C. Arnett and François Cooren
[Dialogue Studies 30] 2018
► pp. 1–23

Ethics in dialogue

Ideals and reality

Ethics is considered to be rooted in human nature. Human beings as dialogic individuals have to balance their self-interests and social concerns. In performance, there is no ethical codex that determines once for all what is ‘good’ and ‘right.’ We have, in any historical moment, to decide how we want to mediate between ethical ideals and reality. Variables of use, such as practicability, culture, and interest, shape the decision in complex action games. After a brief survey of the history of studies on ethics, the article outlines the basic points of a holistic theory of dialogue in performance, and analyses a few authentic examples, which demonstrate that ethical ideals have to be adapted to conditions of reality.

Keywords: human nature, adaptation, ethical codex, ethics in performance, practicability, culture, interests
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2. A brief survey of the history of ethical studies
  • 3.The universal basis: Ethics as an inborn property of human nature
  • 4.From the universal to the particular: Specialization of ethics by culture
  • 5.Ideals and practicability
  • 6. Interests of the masters of mankind
  • 7.Strategies of cooperation versus confrontation
  • 8.Outlook
  • References
Published online: 14 June 2018
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/ds.30.01wei
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