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Praxis, Ethics, Ethical Pluralism, Morality, and Emancipation Defined
Praxis is from the ancient Greek meaning practice informed by theory. Praxis is the configuration of social practices in which human action unfolds and simultaneously is understood. Praxis and practice are similar, yet the connotation of theory informing practice, the collaborative dialectic, is missing from the mere term practice. Praxis highlights the communal and intercultural character of human existence, where the skills, habits, customs, public functions, and narratives provide the context of intelligibility for unique individual action. In words and in our thought, of our sense-of-self and of others, we are action oriented toward the good life (e.g. social justice) and to a unique way of being-in-the-world with others. When we view diversity as identities-in-relations, we are highlighting the primacy of relationships, we are saying the self is embodied and is the center of action. The body, the unique self, is the site of tasks to be performed and projects to be carried through. Those projects of the self are in constant negotiation and dialogue with our surroundings, with others and with institutions, including institutional narratives. Those projects are the projects of emancipation.
Ethics are a system of values and principles governing the appropriate conduct for an individual or group. Ethics seek to answer the question "what should I do with the time I have to live the good, just and meaningful life?" We consult ethics when we ask what is respectively good for me and for us in the context of my specific form of life or life history. Ethics deal with the preferred way of life and existential self-understanding or identity making for each unique person or group of persons. Business ethics are the articulated values that govern all decision making and actions taken on behalf of the organization in its pursuit of its mission and vision.
Ethical Pluralism is the articulated standards for ethical behavior (conduct reflecting organizational or business values) within a business culture that values human diversity (pluralism).
Pluralism is an acculturation process of mutual adaptation between different groups (ethnic, religious, identity) into an organization or society. It describes the ability of persons from a variety of subcultures to come together and encounter one another respectfully - it asks how should I live in the pluralism of life.
Morality consists of universalist standards of what constitutes the good and for the just way of living together, equalized for all, accepted as right or wrong, usually according to a single version of a sacred text such as the Bible, Talmud, Koran or other recognized text. It can also come from non-sacred recognized sources such as customs, history, professional associations. Morality, unlike ethics, asks what is good for everyone - both the particular individual or group and the 'all' are considered. Morality and law serve as normative controls and regulators for practical life in complex pluralist societies. For the Kantian moral imperative, people are treated as ends and never as means, regardless of conflicts.
Emancipation is to free the individual from all forms of discrimination, oppression and domination, including language. Discourses are the language games we use to speak about ourselves and about forms of knowledge such as professional disciplines. It is the "me" of a narrative communicating meaning about my self-identity to others within the context of societal narratives. Narratives provide the ongoing context that embeds my discourse about myself, the reference point and horizon of possible meanings that are used in discourses. The work of emancipation, then, is simultaneously the work of building a counter narrative about my identities (such as race, religion, gender, sexuality, etc) as it reinvents discourse, develops new syntheses, and creates networks of solidarity with others who recognize themselves in the narrative. Emancipation not only eliminates barriers to employment, self-esteem, civic participation, and citizenship privileges, but it also reinvents language. It empowers by demanding the right to be different and fundamentally changing the ways in which the definition of identity (hence the me) is understood. Discourses and narratives are reworked to include diversity, multiplicity, hybridity and identities in relations instead of the language of bipolar superiority - inferiority or totality - particularity.
For The Global Diversity Institute, the work of diversity, interculturalism, and multiculturalism is praxis oriented toward emancipation. We are not just theory driven or tools and techniques driven. Moving from a theoretical to a praxial orientation is like moving from antecedent rule-governed criteria to context-informed criteria, or moving from making choices by waiting for a theory to swoop down on you to making choices that are fully ensconced in the everyday communicative practices where life's decisions take place. Hence, our praxis is centered on emancipating the individual within the social and workplace-environment by facilitating ethical leadership and the emergence of ethical pluralism in workplace vitality. Ours is a humanist endeavor to free the individual towards empowered creative engagement and away from domination.
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