Ethics and Communicative Action. A Transdisciplinary Approach

Dear Colleagues,

Under the aim of the World LUMEN Congress 2016—focusing on the interaction between new theoretical approaches and social and educational practice, taking into account the need for an ethical resizing of social action and particularly on communicative action—we invite you to contribute to the development of a Special Issue dedicated to ethics and communicative action, hosted by the journal Publications.

The Special Issue will incorporate papers which relate to the topic: Ethics and Communicative Action. A Transdisciplinary Approach. We are starting this Special Issue from the point of view that ethics are essential in current knowledge-based society. We accede to Hans Jonas’ opinions, according to which contemporary science offers humanity a unique force of nature in terms of improving human welfare. However, this force has the capacity to generate both the Good, as well as destruction, in the form of the implicit total annihilation of the biosphere and of humanity. The need for a new ethics in facing the future is acknowledged. We consider this responsibility as the responsibility for the non-presence. The new ethics is part of both philosophy and science, both from epistemological and methodological points of view. Therefore, the papers will aim to incorporate both theoretical and applied ethics.

• Philosophical ethics; 
• Applied ethics (organizational ethics; code of ethics; research ethics; ethics audit; ethics policy);
• Bioethics;
• Medical ethics;
• Business ethics;
• Professional ethics

and any other topics related to ethics.

We expect to receive papers in the social sciences and humanities fields, although without setting a precise disciplinary border. We expect and encourage transdisciplinary approaches that overcome the existing gap between theory and empiricism.

Articles should relate to the following main topics:

• Logos—aims to expose certain theoretical paradigms in terms of communicative action, specific to the postmodern and transmodern paradigm, and the re-contextualization of the influences of modernity. An Ethical Approach.
• Universality—seeks the universalization of social and communicational paradigms, and their contextual applicability to current ethics.
• Mentality—causes reflection upon the ethical acceptability of new dimensions of knowledge and the relationship between mind and consciousness, and of the different cultural and communicational perspectives.
• Education—aims at a multidimensional approach with regard to education in the context of the paradigmatic mutations generated by the switch towards the knowledge society. An Ethical Perspective is required.

Novelty—seeks to highlight the ethical issues generated by the need for personal, institutional and social adaptation to what is new, and to a continuous paradigmatic change, both in terms of a plan of knowledge and of communicative action.

Prof. Antonio Sandu
Dr. Ana Frunza
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Publications is an international peer-reviewed open access quarterly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• Logos
• Universality
• Mentality
• Education
• Novelty