Email and Ethics: Style and Ethical Relations in Computer-Mediated Communications

by Rooksby; Emma

• ISBN13: 9780415282819
• ISBN10: 0415282810
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2002-10-18
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

InE-mail and Ethics, Emma Rooksby explores the ways in which interpersonal relations are affected by being conducted via computer-mediated communication. For over a decade, computer-mediated communication has been available as institutional and personal communication technology, and it has been becoming more widely available ever since its inception. It is often considered to be an efficient, productive and cost-effective form of communication, and it is claimed to bring many social and personal benefits in fields ranging from political action and formation of friendships, to therapeutic discussion and education access. The advent of this channel of communication has prompted a renewed investigation into the nature and value of forms of human association. Rooksby addresses these concerns in her rigorous investigation of the benefits, limitations and implications of computer-mediated communication. With its depth of research and clarity of style, this book will be of essentialinterest to philosophers, scholars of communication, cultural and media studies, and those interested in the importance and implications of computer-mediated communication.

Author Biography

Emma Rooksby is Research Fellow at the Centre for Applied Philosophy and Public Ethics, Australia.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements	vii
Introduction	1	(1)
Reach	2	(2)
Textuality	4	(2)
Structure of the book	6	(2)
Summary	8	(1)
Style and ethics	9	(30)
Introduction	9	(1)
An expressive theory of style	10	(5)
Intersubjectivity of style	15	(6)
A topography of style	21	(13)
Textuality and style: CMC	34	(2)
Conclusions: the ethics of understanding	36	(3)
Empathy in computer-mediated communication	39	(32)
Introduction	39	(2)
Attunement and attention	41	(3)
A phenomenological account of empathy	44	(10)
Limits to empathy	54	(4)
Language and empathy	58	(4)
Empathy and writing	62	(8)
Conclusions	70	(1)
Affect and action in CMC	71	(31)
Introduction: style revisited	71	(2)
The hermeneutic gap: does textuality allow dialogue?	73	(12)
Words and actions: text acts with CMCs	85	(15)
Conclusions	100	(2)
Technical constraints on CMC	102	(35)
Introduction	102	(2)
Machine-dependence	104	(5)
Temporality: synchronous text and asynchronous conversation	109	(6)
Textuality	115	(11)
Place and CMC	126	(9)
Conclusions	135	(2)
Computer-mediated friendship	137	(34)
Introduction	137	(1)
Friendship and personal relations	138	(1)
Companionable friendship: Aristotle	139	(8)
Friendship in letters: Erasmus	147	(10)
Contemporary feminist accounts of friendship	157	(6)
CMC friendship	163	(5)
Conclusions	168	(3)
Politics and CMC	171	(29)
Introduction	171	(1)
Political and personal relations	172	(8)
Habermas's ideal speech situation and on-line politics	180	(13)
CMC politics: strengths and uses	193	(6)
Conclusions	199	(1)
Conclusion	200	(4)
Notes	204	(35)
Bibliography	239	(16)
Index	255