Jacques Ellul's Concern With The Amorality Of Contemporary Communications

In the very complex issues now surrounding mass media ethics, communication scholars will have to cooperate internationally and support each other in providing analysis and guidelines. Jacques Ellul, the French social philosopher, adds something crucial to our discussion of media ethics by demonstrating why modern communications are fundamentally impervious to all moral considerations. He contributes the notion "la technique" to contemporary research as our most determinative phenomenon at present. By understanding this stimulating concept and applying it to communications, we gain a significant perspective on the moral condition of media systems today. This essay demonstrates especially how ElluI can illumine the American situation, though his principles extend in their broadest sense to Western nations as a whole.