%0 Thesis %1 fackler_hutchins_1982 %A Fackler, Paul M. %C Urbana %D 1982 %K 1930s 1940s dissertation externalist hutchins-commission institutional journalism journalism-ethics media-policy philosophy political-theory postwar united-states world-war-ii %T The Hutchins Commissioners and the Crisis in Democratic Theory, 1930-1947 %X The Commission on Freedom of the Press, chaired by Robert M. Hutchins, met from 1944 to 1946 and issued its summary report in 1947. Social Responsibility Theory of the press was thus given its most articulate statement to that time. The years prior to the meetings of these thirteen Commissioners were ripe with challenge for traditional democratic theory. A new Weltanschauung–scientific naturalism–was riding the crest of a new wave of empiricism, pragmatism, instrumentalism, sociological jurisprudence, and 'value-free' social science. World events, however, demanded a strong moral defense of traditional democracy. The moral neutrality of scientific naturalism offered little rationale for the struggle against fascism. The Thirties, therefore, saw a variety of movements attempting to recover a moral base: The Harvard humanists, the Southern Agrarians, the Neo-Thomists, various social theorists typified by Pitirim Sorokin, and the resurgence of metaphysical philosophy at the University of Chicago. The latter was primarily the work of Robert Hutchins and his associate Mortimer Adler. Besides Hutchins, were the other twelve Commissioners involved in the resurgence of moral theory? Were the deliberations and conclusions of Commission proceedings influenced by this struggle in worldview? The Commissioners appealed for foundational presuppositions to three ways of understanding the world. The classical humanists (Hutchins and others) looked to the 'Great Conversation' of Western tradition for the moral justification of democracy. The Christian humanists (Niebuhr, Hocking, Shuster) rested their case for moral values on transcendent authority. The empirical humanists (Merriam, Lasswell, others) fully accepted the new scientism but insisted on moral authority for reasons their worldview could not justify. The Commission's dominant voices were the classical and the Christian humanists. They participated more aggressively in Commission debates; many of their ideas were reflected in the reports of 1947. Social responsibility theory of the press, therefore, is rightly viewed as an effort to recover a moral base for freedom of speech, a moral base strong enough to speak to the modern era of the virtues of traditional democracy.

@phdthesis{fackler_hutchins_1982, abstract = {The Commission on Freedom of the Press, chaired by Robert M. Hutchins, met from 1944 to 1946 and issued its summary report in 1947. Social Responsibility Theory of the press was thus given its most articulate statement to that time. The years prior to the meetings of these thirteen Commissioners were ripe with challenge for traditional democratic theory. A new Weltanschauung\textendash{}scientific naturalism\textendash{}was riding the crest of a new wave of empiricism, pragmatism, instrumentalism, sociological jurisprudence, and 'value-free' social science. World events, however, demanded a strong moral defense of traditional democracy. The moral neutrality of scientific naturalism offered little rationale for the struggle against fascism. The Thirties, therefore, saw a variety of movements attempting to recover a moral base: The Harvard humanists, the Southern Agrarians, the Neo-Thomists, various social theorists typified by Pitirim Sorokin, and the resurgence of metaphysical philosophy at the University of Chicago. The latter was primarily the work of Robert Hutchins and his associate Mortimer Adler. Besides Hutchins, were the other twelve Commissioners involved in the resurgence of moral theory? Were the deliberations and conclusions of Commission proceedings influenced by this struggle in worldview? The Commissioners appealed for foundational presuppositions to three ways of understanding the world. The classical humanists (Hutchins and others) looked to the 'Great Conversation' of Western tradition for the moral justification of democracy. The Christian humanists (Niebuhr, Hocking, Shuster) rested their case for moral values on transcendent authority. The empirical humanists (Merriam, Lasswell, others) fully accepted the new scientism but insisted on moral authority for reasons their worldview could not justify. The Commission's dominant voices were the classical and the Christian humanists. They participated more aggressively in Commission debates; many of their ideas were reflected in the reports of 1947. Social responsibility theory of the press, therefore, is rightly viewed as an effort to recover a moral base for freedom of speech, a moral base strong enough to speak to the modern era of the virtues of traditional democracy.}, added-at = {2019-08-29T01:56:31.000+0200}, address = {{Urbana}}, author = {Fackler, Paul M.}, biburl = {https://www.bibsonomy.org/bibtex/2802d774d8754db89db5156a9f09198dd/jpooley}, interhash = {3e7807d24998c57c5eccf013dcaef231}, intrahash = {802d774d8754db89db5156a9f09198dd}, keywords = {1930s 1940s dissertation externalist hutchins-commission institutional journalism journalism-ethics media-policy philosophy political-theory postwar united-states world-war-ii}, school = {University of Illinois at Urbana-Champagne}, timestamp = {2019-08-29T01:56:31.000+0200}, title = {The {{Hutchins Commissioners}} and the {{Crisis}} in {{Democratic Theory}}, 1930-1947}, type = {{{PhD Thesis}}}, year = 1982 }