Second Reading Assignment p1-38 in Ethics

Chapter 1- Nature of Ethics
- lists many examples of where ethics can be found in technical writing and in institutions
- Ethics- making judgments about values
- Values shape communication technology
- The World Wide Web treats all users equally.
- privacy, ownership of information, copyright, access, freedom of speech, personal and national security
- Ethical responsibilities involved in technical communication: relay faithfully information between transmitter and receiver (in the past)
- Ethics have changed in tech. writing:
- We have responsibility to: be familiar with and use latest technology of communication and understand broad influence of technology and science throughout society
Why Study Ethics?
- What is the right thing to do?
- Do we really know why we make the choices we do?
- Socrates, "The unexamined life is not worth living."
- self-awareness will lead to judgments that are more satisfying
What is Ethics?
- ethics is only about ourselves
- No experts. We are our own expert and authority on ethics.
Our Expectations
- Explain what ethics is not.
- cannot even be captured through personal responsibility- because we are influenced by others
Assumptions
1) Ethics is problematic. It is about problems whose solutions are unclear.
2) Ethics is individual and social.
3) Ethics is neither absolutely or relative entirely.
4) You should not blindly accept or reject authority of others in ethical matters.
5) No ethical approach is best for all situations.
Perspectives
Aristotle
Kant
Utilitarianism
Feminist/Care-based
Scope
narrow scope- how ethics relate to technical communication in ways that are not apparent or not obvious
Organization
Chapter 2- how ethics has been tied to communication and rhetoric throughout history
Chapter 3- principal ethical theories of European-American tradition, Kant, Aristotle, utilitarianism, etc.
Chapter 4-7- apply ethical ehtories to real major ethical dilemmas of recent times
Chapter 8- presents hypothetical cases
Terminology
- ethical will be used in place of ethical and moral
absolute- definite, unchanging, inflexible, applying to many situations in the same way
relative- changing in relation to circumstances
Chapter 2- Survey of Ethics in Communication and Rhetoric
We will explore:
- nature of right and wrong
- sources of our standards for ethical judgement (human, natural, metaphysical, or divine)
- individual vs. social interests
- significance of intent
- reasoned deliberateness vs. emotional impulsiveness
- the role of rhetoric and persuasion in the social negotiation of value judgements
Rhetoric- the use of reasoned arguments based on socially accepted values and presented to inform and persuade in order to accomplish some socially desirable action such as a policy decision
persuasion- the willing, informed collective agreement of a critically thinking audience
Limitations of History
- historical discussions cannot resolve issues once and for all
- study of history of ethics cannot give us universal solutions for our ethical dilemmas
Ethics and Rhetoric Linked
- technical communication is rhetorical and always has to do with ethics and values
Classical Greece
- roots of rhetoric
for Plato- ethical values come before communication
for Aristotle- communication between competing sides on a controversial matter reveals the proper values and the right course of action
Plato and Socrates
Plato- founder of philosophy- matter of discovering and pursuing truth, goodness, and rightness
Plato- ethics are unchangable
Socrates- continued to conduct social criticism and was put on trial for it and condemned to deathed
Socrates is important for 3 reasons:
1) insisted on doing the right thing regardless of consequences
2) ethics is a matter of pleasing god
3) ethical behavior requires active social involvement
- Plato was Socrates pupil
- Plato's theory was religious and absolutist
most important contribution to the history of rhetoric- his insistence on the ethical goodness of the communicator
Aristotle
- Plato's student
- maintained that ethics stem from the divinely ordained nature of things
- "Rhetoric may be defined as the faculty of observing in any given case the available means of persuasion."
- viewed ethics as virtue, whether personal or corporate
Sophists
- most things written about them were critical and hostile
- claimed to have the power to make weaker case appear stronger and the worse case seem the better
- held cultural relativist position on ethical values- values are relative and depend on circumstances
Attributed to sophists- Gorgias- famous for his ability to persuade through communication
- For Plato- ethics and rhetoric are closely tied; ethics comes first; the purpose of rhetoric is to serve ethics
- For Sophists- also closely tied, but rhetoric comes first because it allows negotiation and persuasion that define social values
Recent Times
- Plato's views influenced the Christian Church
- ethics had to do with truths
- rhetoric had to do with false, insubstantial appearances
Hegel
- opposition to prevailing view that all knowledge, especially about values, was absolute and had to be arrived at by revelation to accepted authorities
Perleman
- explored social contigency of values and fundamental role of rhetoric in establishing values
Burke
- insisted on language use guided by carefully weighted judgement
- understood language to be a symbol system
Weaver
- known for his modern explanation of the role of ethics in communication
- value was foundation for rhetoric
Rhetoric, Knowledge, and Values
Gates- notion that values and rhetoric are related to power and social dominance within a culture
Foucault- centrality of discourse in society
discourse- broad collection of language use within a society
- he also said that power, language use, and knowledge are closely interconnected
ex: legal code
Keller- philosopher of science- pointed out how thoroughly the scientific frame of mind has pervaded our thoughts and values
Lyotard- considers science and technology as parallel pieces in a single grand story about hte way the world is and the way we should live in it
Topics for Papers and Discussion- see page 32