By Kamila Soh
Editor of the Religion and Ethics website for the ABC, Scott Stephens, recently proposed for “recovering the art of moral disagreement” at the latest Dawson Society’s Speakers Forum.
Held on 11 October at Rosie O’Grady’s, Northbridge, the talk entitled The Duty to Disagree: Recovering the Art of Moral Disagreement argued that the media was “in itself good, but when detached from its proper background and ends has become something that only exists for itself”.
Flown in from Brisbane by the Dawson Society of Philosophy and Culture, Mr Stephens drew extensively from his experience as a public voice for critical thinking in ethics, as well as his background in pastoral ministry, to reflect on the nature of the media and its impact on our capacity for dialogue.
In his talk, he outlined a fascinating history back to the popular press of the 18th century, where in an age of revolution, there was a space for society to come together in a common mind, outside of political power, to communicate its wishes to their rulers. Quoting Jean-Jacques Rousseau, the media became an ideal medium to “allow people with their hearts and ears to hear one another,” thus putting aside differences to work towards the common good.
However, Mr Stephens asserted that the media went from being an organ that helped political concord and hearing each other’s humanity, to becoming a “mere matter of fashion and servant of narcissism”.
Focusing on fashions and relying on the opinions of journalists to ‘fit in’ with the times, the centre of moral duty became about conforming to the “public” image. The danger that this posed, Mr Stephens argued, was that it encouraged “irresponsible chatter,” which compromised the interior space to discern the appropriate response towards the needs of our neighbour.
Mr Stephens then argued for the integral role that language plays in our culture; that it is not simply a mode of self expression, but a means of communication to ‘see’ and hear one another. In using language only as a means of self assertion, we compromise our means for dialogue and recognizing our common humanity.
From viewing the ‘arena’ of debate, Mr Stephens identified the conditions for this disagreement – that it needed the prior assumption of commitment to one another, and have an end goal towards conciliation.
Mr Stephens then concluded with Pope John Paul II’s admonition that God entrusts ourselves to one another, reminding us that even our enemies are fellow human beings loved by God and called to communion in the one body.
The next Dawson Society Speaker’s Forum will be on 6 December 2016, featuring Melbourne Victorian Barrister Anthony Krohn presenting a paper entitled ‘Who Is my Neighbour? Refugees and Dignity of the Human Person.’ See http://dawsonsociety.com.au/for more information.