Online research in philosophy

Is the Internet an appropriate medium to use when attempting to resolve conflicts over ethical issues in business? The research reported on in this paper focuses on internet versus face-to-face negotiations as a component of applied discourse ethics. Although internet negotiation has serious restrictions, it also has specific qualities. It enhances reflection and plays down emotion. Important qualities when handling complex and delicate ethical issues.

The film The Insider offers an interesting story of leaking inside information by one character and clear whistleblowing by another. In both cases moral considerations are involved on a personal, professional, organizational and public level. As such the film can be used as an inviting cinematic introduction to applied or practical ethics. Three models of practical ethics are introduced. In the film workshop these models are the framework for the film analysis. A set up of the workshop is sketched, including (...) selected scenes, basic questions and a timetable. Also a sketch is given of the results that can be expected. (shrink)

The success of Discourse Ethics is premised on the discovery and use of shared values. If this is true what type of negotiation style, especially when used in an intercultural setting, is best suited to make use of shared values. Research focusing on moral arguments between Germans and Americans uncovered an array of shared values. But the existence of shared values, by itself, was not an adequate predictor of a negotiation's success. What did prove to be a predictor of success (...) was the use of a Constructivist style of negotiation by both parties. (shrink)

Consultancy firms inform, advise, implement and mediate in their own interests and in the interests of their clients. We can only guess if their work is also in the interest of the public. There is no critical and systematical assessment of the behavior of consultancy firms. What roles do consultancy firms chose? And what arguments do they use? In the nineties the international consultancy firm Hill & Knowlton took on two assignments that showed a remarkable difference in the required role (...) the firm had to play. In the first role the firm acted as an impartial advocate, in the second role the firm acted as a political agent. An analysis of the argumentation for both roles shows us the familair short-sighted choice for the annual turnover at the cost of internal and external trustworthiness. In this decade consultancy firms will need to develop ethical assessments that meet more professional standards. (shrink)

The ethics of Public Relations is changing: the pragmatical approach is giving way to the dialogical approach. Pragmatical PR Ethics concentrates on issues and cases and hardly has a conceptual core. Dialogical PR Ethics concentrates on procedures and structures and uses symmetric communication as its core concept. Both approaches of PR ethics have their strong and weak points. A meta-ethical framework is presented to combine both approaches.