Do we still adhere to the norms of ancient Egypt? A comparison of Ptahhotep’s communication ethics with current regulatory principles

Abstract

Values and norms for communication expressed in the ancient Egyptian treatise, The Teachings of Ptahhotep, are compared to current regulatory communication standards, especially the IFJ Declaration of Principles on the Conduct of Journalists, and to liberal and socialist ideologies. Ptahhotep argued in favour of basic equalities, respect, and the free flow of information and opinions, particularly for political speech, much like social democracy and political liberalism do. He also set limits regarding freedom of communication similarly: for hate speech, incitement to violence, defamation, invasion of privacy and concentration of ownership. The close parallels between the principles of communication ethics in ancient Egypt and today are partly explained with a look at similarly restructuring powers of innovative phonographic media (writing) then and prographic (electronic programming) media now, and partly with (indirect) influence. The article also asks whether the concept of ‘Western civilization’ should continue to exclude ancient Egypt.

Keywords

Ancient Egypt calumny communication ethics discourse ethics ethical principles freedom of expression greed hate speech incitement International Federation of Journalists media ethics privacy Ptahhotep

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Abu-Fadil

(2015) Media ethics: Whose standards? Huffington Post. May 23. Available at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/magda-abufadil/media-ethics-whose-standards_b_7427224.html (accessed 10 September 2018).

Accountable Journalism (2018) Codes of ethics. Available at: https://accountablejournalism.org/ethics-codes (accessed 10 September 2018).

Allen

(1988) Genesis in Egypt: The philosophy of ancient Egyptian creation accounts. In: Yale Egyptological Studies 2, New Haven, CT: Yale Egyptological Seminar.

Allen JP (2015) Middle Egyptian Literature: Eight literary works of the Middle Kingdom. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Assmann

(1975) Zeit und Ewigkeit im Alten Ägypten, Heidelberg: Winter.

Assmann

(1995) Ma’at: Gerechtigkeit und Unsterblichkeit im Alten Ägypten, 2nd ed. München: Beck.

Assmann

(1996) Ägypten: Eine Sinngeschichte, München: Hanser.

Athique A (2016) Transnational audiences: Media reception on a global scale. Cambridge: Polity Press.

Atzmon

(2017) Being in time: A post-political manifesto, Bloxham: Skyscraper Publications.

10.

Banshikova

(2006) Woman in ancient Egypt: Evolution of personal and social positions. Social Evolution & History 5(1): 108–123.

11.

Bernal

(1987–2006) Black Athena: The Afro-Asiatic roots of classical civilization. Vol. 1: The fabrication of Ancient Greece 1785-1985; Vol. 2: The archaeological and documentary evidence (1991); Vol. 3: The linguistic evidence, New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press.

12.

Bernal

Moore

(2001) Black Athena writes back: Martin Bernal responds to his critics, Durham: Duke University Press.

13.

Bertalanffy

(1968) General system theory: Foundations, development, applications, London: Braziller.

14.

Bilolo

(1988) Le createur et la creation dans la pensée Memphite et Amarnienne. Académie de la Pensée Africaine, Section I, Vol. 3, Kinshasa: Publications Universitaire Africaines.

15.

Brunner

(1961) Ptahhotep bei den koptischen Mönchen. Zeitschrift für ägyptische Sprache und Altertumskunde 86: 145–147.

16.

Brunner

(1986) Grundzüge einer Geschichte der altägyptischen Literatur, 4th ed. Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft.

17.

Burns

Somaiya

(2012) Panel in hacking case finds Murdoch unfit as news titan. The New York Times May 2.

18.

Callahan

(2003) New challenges of globalization for journalists. Journal of Mass Media Ethics 18(1): 3–15.

19.

Chari

(2017) Ethical pitfalls in the Digital Age: When the desire to “serve hot” gets in the way of verification. In: Mhiripiri

Chari

(eds) Media law, ethics, and policy in the Digital Age, Hershey PA: IGI Global Publishing.

20.

David

(1992) A biographical dictionary of Ancient Egypt, London: Seaby.

21.

Duffy

(2016) Konaté v. Burkina Faso: An analysis of a landmark ruling on criminal defamation in Africa. Journal of International Media and Entertainment Law 6(1): 1–20.

22.

Eichler

(2001) Zur Datierung und Interpretation der Lehre des Ptahhotep. Zeitschrift für Ägyptische Sprache und Altertumskunde 128(2): 97–107.

23.

Ethical Journalism Initiative (2018) The Ethical Journalism Initiative. Home. Available at: http://ethicaljournalisminitiative.org/en (accessed 10 September 2018).

24.

European Court of Human Rights (2018, June) Factsheet: Hate speech, Council of Europe Press Unit: Conseil de l’Europe Unité de la Presse. Available at: http://www.echr.coe.int/Documents/FS_Hate_speech_ENG.pdf (accessed 10 September 2018).

25.

Fluehr-Lobban

(1998) Nubian queens in the Nile Valley and Afro-Asiatic cultural history, Museum of Fine Arts: Boston, USA. Available at: http://africanhistory.yolasite.com/resources/Nubian%20Queens.pdf (accessed 10 September 2018).

26.

Fontaine

(1981) A modern look at ancient wisdom: The Instruction of Ptahhotep revisited. The Biblical Archaeologist 44(3): 155–160.

27.

Freedom House (2018) Freedom of the press: 2017 Table of scores. Available at: https://freedomhouse.org/report/table-country-scores-fotp-2017 (accessed 10 September 2018).

28.

Giddens

Hutton

(2000) Fighting back. In: Hutton

Giddens

(eds) On the edge: Living with global capitalism, London: Jonathan Cape, pp. 213–223.

29.

Goody J (2006) The theft of history. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

30.

Grajetzki

Quirke

(2000–2003) Digital Egypt for universities: Literacy, London: University College London. Available at: http://www.ucl.ac.uk/museums-static/digitalegypt/literature/literacy.html (accessed 10 September 2018).

31.

Graness

(2016) Writing the history of philosophy in Africa: Where to begin? Journal of African Cultural Studies 28(2): 132–146.

32.

Haag

(2003) The rough guide history of Egypt, London: Penguin.

33.

Habermas

(1992) Moral consciousness and communicative action. Translated by Christian Lenhardt and Shierry Weber Nicholsen, Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

34.

Hagen

(2009) Echoes of “Ptahhotep” in the Graeco-Roman period? Zeitschrift für Ägyptische Sprache und Altertumskunde 136: 130–135.

35.

Hagen

(2012) An ancient Egyptian literary text in context: The instruction of Ptahhotep. Orientalia Lovaniensia Analecta. Series 218. Leuven: Peeters.

36.

Hawking

(2016) ‘We have not become less greedy or less stupid’Interviewed on Larry King Now, Ora TV. June 25. Available at: http://www.ora.tv/larrykingnow/2016/6/25/stephen-hawking-we-have-not-become-less-greedy-or-less-stupid (accessed 10 September 2018).

37.

Herman

McChesney

(1997) The global media: The new missionaries of corporate capitalism, London: Cassell.

38.

International Federation of Journalists (1954/1986) International Federation of Journalists Declaration of Principles on the Conduct of Journalists. Available at: https://www.ifj.org/who/rules-and-policy/principles-on-conduct-of-journalism.html (accessed 8 February 2019).

39.

Innis

(1950) Empire and communications, Oxford: Clarendon.

40.

Jacq

(1999) The living wisdom of ancient Egypt, New York, NY: Simon & Schuster.

41.

Jacq

(2006) The wisdom of Ptah-Hotep: Spiritual treasures from the age of the pyramids, London: Constable & Robinson. Translated from the 2004 French original by Marcia de Brito.

42.

Junge

(2003) Die Lehre Ptahhoteps und die Tugenden der ägyptischen Welt. In: Orbis Biblicus et Orientalis. Series 193. Freiburg/Göttingen: Universitätsverlag/Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht.

43.

Kanawati

(2003) Conspiracies in the Egyptian palace: Unis to Pepy I, London: Routledge.

44.

Kaplony

(2008) Prolegomena zum Psychogramm Ptahhoteps. In: Engel

Müller

Hartung

(eds) Zeichen aus dem Sand: Streiflichter aus Ägyptens Geschichte zu Ehren von Günter Dreyer, Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz Verlag, pp. 367–379.

45.

Karenga

(2004) Maat. The moral ideal in ancient Egypt: A study in classical African ethics, New York, NY: Routledge.

46.

Korbiel

Sarikakis

(2017) Between two (in)competencies: A critical view on media ownership regulation in the EU. International Journal of Media and Cultural Politics 13(1): 183–189.

47.

Kreuzsaler

(2005) Der Rechtsalltag von Frauen im Spiegel der Wiener Papyri. In: Froschauer

Harrauer

(eds) Emanzipation am Nil: Frauenleben und Frauenrecht in den Papyri. Nilus, Vol. 11. Vienna: Phoibos, pp. 1–18.

48.

Kurth

(1999) Altägyptische Maximen für Manager: Die Lehre des Ptahhotep, Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft.

49.

Lichtheim

(1973) Ancient Egyptian literature. Volume 1: The Old and Middle Kingdoms, Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.

50.

Löwstedt

(1995) Kultur oder Evolution? Eine anthropologische Philosophie, Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang Verlag.

51.

Löwstedt A (2019) The development of information and communication technology and the inclusivity and exclusivity of media systems.

52.

Manne

(2011, September 5) Power without responsibility: Rupert Murdoch’s Australian. Australian Broadcasting Corporation: Religion and Ethics. Available at: http://www.abc.net.au/religion/articles/2011/09/05/3309666.htm (accessed 10 September 2018).

53.

McChesney

(2013) Digital disconnect: How capitalism is turning the internet against democracy, New York, NY: New Press.

54.

McLeod

(2014) Why exaggerating your stories is good for everyone, mostly. Huffington Post. June 18. Available at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/lisa-earle-mcleod/why-exaggerating-your-sto_b_5504282.html (accessed 10 September 2018).

55.

Nordenstreng

(2013) Deconstructing libertarian myths about press freedom. In: Carlsson

(ed.) Freedom of expression revisited: Citizenship and journalism in the digital era, Göteborg: Nordicom, pp. 45–59.

56.

Plaisance

(2014) Media ethics: Key principles for responsible practice, 2nd ed. London: SAGE.

57.

Przeworski

(2003) Freedom to choose and democracy. Economics and Philosophy 19(2): 265–279.

58.

Prisse d’Avennes

(1847) Facsimile d’un papyrus égyptien, trouvé à Thèbes, Paris: Bibliothèque royale de Paris.

59.

Quack

(2005) Ein neuer Zugang zur Lehre des Ptahhotep? Die Welt des Orients 35: 7–21.

60.

Rawls

(1971) A theory of justice, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

61.

Reporters Without Borders (2018) Index details: Data of press freedom rankings. In: 2016 World Press Freedom Index. Available at: https://rsf.org/en/ranking_table (accessed 10 September 2018).

62.

Said

(1994) Representations of the intellectual, London: Vintage.

63.

Shane

(2016) Combative, populist Steve Bannon found his man in Donald Trump. The New York Times November 27.

64.

Shroff

(2014, February 1) What makes Rupert Murdoch tick? The science behind media greed. Salon. Available at: http://www.salon.com/2014/02/01/what_makes_rupert_murdoch_tick_the_science_behind_media_greed/ (accessed 10 September 2018).

65.

Skousen

(2007) The big three in economics: Adam Smith, Karl Marx, and John Maynard Keynes, London: Routledge.

66.

Society of Professional Journalists (2014) The Society of Professional Journalists Code of Ethics. Available at: https://www.spj.org/ethicscode.asp (accessed 10 September 2018).

67.

Sponholz

(2016) Islamophobic hate speech: What is the point of counter-speech? The case of Oriana Fallaci and ‘The Rage and the Pride’. Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs 36(4): 502–522.

68.

Stadler

(2005) Book Review: F. Junge. 2003. Die Lehre Ptahhoteps und die Tugenden der ägyptischen Welt, Fribourg. Journal of the American Oriental Society 125(1): 128–129.

69.

Thausing

(1971) Sein und Werden: Versuch einer Ganzheitsschau der Religion des Pharaonenreiches. Acta Ethnologica et Linguistica 23. Series Africana 6. Vienna: Stiglmayr.

70.

Trager

Russomanno

Dente Ross

, et al.(2014) The law of journalism and mass communication, 4th ed. Los Angeles, CA: SAGE.

71.

Tyldesley

(1995) Daughters of Isis: Women of ancient Egypt, London: Penguin.

72.

Van den Dungen

(2002–2015) The maxims of good discourse or the wisdom of Ptahhotep. Sofiatopia: Report on studies in philosophy. Available at: http://www.sofiatopia.org/maat/ptahhotep.htm (accessed 10 September 2018).

73.

Vasunia

(2001) The gift of the Nile: Hellenizing Egypt from Aeschylus to Alexander, Berkeley/London: University of California Press.

74.

Ward

SJA

(2015) The invention of journalism ethics: The path to objectivity and beyond, 2nd ed. Montréal: McGill-Queen’s Press.

75.

Ward

SJA

Wasserman

(2015) Open ethics: Toward a global media ethics of listening. Journalism Studies 16(6): 834–839.

76.

Watt

(2013) Boris Johnson invokes Thatcher spirit with greed is good speech. The Guardian. November 27. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2013/nov/27/boris-johnson-thatcher-greed-good (accessed 10 September 2018).

77.

White

(2017) Political and economic power and media ethics. International Journal of Media and Cultural Politics 13(1): 191–196.

78.

Whitten-Woodring

Van Belle

(2014) Historical guide to world media freedom: A country-by-country analysis, Los Angeles, CA: CQ Press.

79.

Wilkinson

(2016) Writings from ancient Egypt. Penguin Classics, London: Penguin Random House.

80.

Wimmer

(2004) Interkulturelle Philosophie: Eine Einführung, Wien: Wiener Universitätsverlag.

81.

Zentler

M-A

(2011) Ägyptischer Himmel in koptischer Erde: Pagan-altägyptische Reminiszenzen (Survivals) im spätantiken, koptischen Christentum. Doctoral Dissertation, University of Tübingen, Germany. Available at: https://publikationen.uni-tuebingen.de/xmlui/handle/10900/46909 (accessed 10 September 2018).