A CONCEPT OF ETHICAL COMMUNICATION FOR EUROPE
A CONCEPT OF ETHICAL COMMUNICATION FOR EUROPE

Summary/Abstract: In contemporary societies, communication plays a paramount role and is an indispensable form of social and political mediation. The function of communication is enhanced in the context of the European Union, since the large territorial dimension, the different countries involved, and the relatively new political institutions with respect to the nation states require an intensive communicative exchange in order to strengthen the process of cooperation, development, and integration. The reference to the principles of communication, as highlighted by the theories of Otto Apel and Jürgen Habermas, offers a concrete possibility to shape communication from an ethical standpoint, and allows for conceiving a pluralistic, democratic process. With the integration of some aspects of the communitarian thinking, the idea of an ethics of communication provides some concrete chances of reflecting on the relation between people and institutions, and of conceiving of a communication which be more attentive to the present challenges and which secure a more effective and respectful interweaving among the different subjects and instances concerned.

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