Pages 1-38 Ethics

Chapter 1: Nature of Ethics
*We as technical writers in today's age have a lot of responsibility riding on our shoulders. The influence technology has on today's world only puts more pressure on technical writers. As our possible influence grows so grows our responsibilities

Expectations- we should not expect to be able to quantify ethics like a physics equation
Assumptions-
1) Ethics is problematic in several sense, do not expect easy answers
2) ethics is both individual and social
3) ethics is neither an entirely absolute nor an entirely relative matter
4) it is irresponsible either to blindly accept or reject authority of others in ethical matters
5) no single ethical theory or approach will always be best for all situations
Perspectives- the focus of this book is ultimately to deal with the ethical dilemmas faced by contemporary technical communicators and thus we must be in tune with our audience and their historical backgrounds
Scope-important but less common views of ethics in technical communication
Terminology-
absolute- definite, unchanging and inflexible, applying to any and all situations in same way
relative- changing in relation to circumstances

Chapter 2: Survey of Ethics in Communication and Rhetoric
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
persuasion- the willing, informed collective agreement of a critically thinking audience
*Rhetoric is always the urging point of view presented with good reason
*ethics is the systematic study of the problematic

Classical Greece- roots of rhetoric lie in classical Greece
1) Socrates- ethics was a never ending thing, constantly looking within ourselves to determine the best course of actions, "the unexamined life is not worth living"
a) insisted on doing the right thing regardless of the price he must pay
b) please god
c) ethical behavior requires active social involvement(teacher, civil leader, critic, etc.)
2)Plato- pleasing god, use our conscious and do what we think will best please, insisted on ethical goodness of communicators, elitist,
3) Aristotle- more practical and less metaphysical, the right action is situational and not defined, ethical course of action must be determined in a debate
-"cream rising to the surface of milk"
4) Sophists- Plato despised them, they felt that their rhetorical discourse stemmed not from absolute truth and perfect enlightenment but from some other basis, thought that there are no absolutes and that communication is immensely powerful precisely because it shapes minds, hearts, values and decisions

Recent times-
1) Hegel- values arrived at socially, not from the absolute but from social forces
2) Perelman- our language is our values
3) Burke- insisted on language use guided by carefully weighted judgment
4) Weaver- all language use involves expressing some values