Practice-oriented realistic ethics of a critical media education

Abstract

This article examines the complex relationship between ethics, media, and education in a fragmentary manner by focusing on the tensions between subjective and objective significances. Education is conceptualized as a crucial mediation between both. Norms and values, as well as facts and realities, are understood as something significant and thereby realistic. In this context, the search for unifying elements between ethical and realistic questions leads to the identification of the idea of the Good as a central aspect. Ethics that rely solely on abstract norms or values are deemed unrealistic and problematic, as they neglect the subjective realization and the objective lived reality inherent in pedagogy. In contrast, the necessity for a realistic ethics that takes into account the dynamic and context-dependent nature of the Good is emphasized. This ethics should encompass both individual and communal dimensions of shared practice, thereby highlighting the mediation between general norms and individual actions. A critical reflection on the role of media in this process, addressing the mediatization of knowledge and the challenges of the digital future, is a fundamental component of such shared practice.