What would Confucius say? Applying Confucian virtue system, moral self-cultivation, and communalism to media ethics

Feng, Yayu

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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/108608 Copy

Description

Title

What would Confucius say? Applying Confucian virtue system, moral self-cultivation, and communalism to media ethics

Author(s)

Feng, Yayu

Issue Date

2020-07-17

Director of Research (if dissertation) or Advisor (if thesis)

Christians, Clifford

Doctoral Committee Chair(s)

Christians, Clifford

Committee Member(s)

• Craft, Stephanie
• Chow, Kai-Wing
• Ben-Moshe, Nir

Department of Study

Inst of Communications Rsch

Discipline

Communications and Media

Degree Granting Institution

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Degree Name

Ph.D.

Degree Level

Dissertation

Keyword(s)

• Confucianism
• media ethics
• journalism
• virtue
• self-cultivation
• moral philosophy

Abstract

This dissertation is an in-depth theoretical endeavor that aims to build a new normative framework for media ethics by applying concepts from Confucian ethics. It contributes an alternative theoretical perspective outside of the Western paradigm with Confucianism, the most important philosophical underpinning in China and many other countries in the Eastern Asian cultural sphere. This dissertation presents three major components. First, it articulates the contemporary significance of Confucian ethics and its contribution to the field of media ethics as it searches for a global framework. Second, it theorizes a Confucian approach to media ethics. It brings the ideas of virtue system, moral self-cultivation, and communal perspectives from Confucian ethics into media ethics, explaining the ethical underpinnings that they can provide for media practices. Third, it offers illustrations that apply each segment of the theory to journalism to demonstrate the practical implications of the theory. This project diversifies the field of media ethics, contributing a new perspective for global media ethics; it also enriches the field of media ethics in China by putting its own philosophical legacy to application.

Graduation Semester

2020-08

Type of Resource

Thesis

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http://hdl.handle.net/2142/108608

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Copyright 2020 Yayu Feng

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