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Communication praxis for ethical accountability: the ethics of the Tree of Action: dialogue and breaking down the wall in Cyprus
Author(s) -
Laouris Y.,
Laouri R.,
Christakis Aleco
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
systems research and behavioral science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.371
H-Index - 45
eISSN - 1099-1743
pISSN - 1092-7026
DOI - 10.1002/sres.890
Subject(s) - praxis , action (physics) , communicative action , dialogic , axiom , sociology , action plan , accountability , epistemology , engineering ethics , environmental ethics , public relations , political science , law , management , social science , pedagogy , engineering , philosophy , mathematics , physics , geometry , economics , quantum mechanics
This paper proposes the thesis that it is unethical to plan an action for social change without excavating the knowledge and wisdom of the people who are responsible for implementing the plans of action and the people whose lives will be affected. But the people, being immersed in contemporary complexity, do not know what they know until they know it as a consensus emerging from structured dialogue among a group which represents all stakeholders. We argue that the science of dialogic design may be used to achieve such an emergence. As a consequence, it satisfies the Özbekhan Axiom of Engagement and the Laouris Law of Requisite Action. The paper elaborates for the first time on the ethics of the ‘Tree of Action’, which some stakeholders participating in co‐laboratories have called the ‘Tree of Life’. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.