Chapter 2Ethics and Public Speaking

Introduction• Public speaking should ideally be governed by a strong sense

of integrity• Quintilian: “The ideal of speechmaking is the good person

speaking well.”

Importance of Ethics• Asks us to consider if a given action is moral or immoral, fair

or unfair, just or unjust, honest or dishonest

Capital Punishment

Importance of Ethics• Plato: In an ideal world, all speakers in a public forum would

be “truthful and devoted to the good of society.”

Guidelines for Ethical Speaking• Personal ethical frameworks

Implications for Speaking• Don’t overestimate how closely your “frameworks” match

• Rhetorical strategies for communicating ethics

• Be mindful of how you evaluate appeals to ethics

Guidelines for Ethical Speaking• Preparation!• Ethical obligation against providing erroneous information or

misleading advice• Seek out opposing viewpoints

Guidelines for Ethical Speaking• Honesty• White lie vs. “blatant contempt for the truth”• Outright lying vs. “less damaging yet still unethical behavior”• Avoid name-calling and other abusive language

Guidelines for Ethical Speaking• Name-calling and personal dignity• Dehumanization• Not just about being “PC”• Links to stereotypes• Destructive social force

On Stereotypes…

On Stereotypes…

Guidelines for Ethical Speaking• Name-calling and free speech• Prevents free-flow of ideas• Promotes ad hominem arguments

• Strategic vs. ethical decisions

Plagiarism• From the latin “kidnapper”• “to plagiarize means to present another person’s language or

ideas as your own - to give the impression you have written or thought something yourself when you have actually taken it from someone else.”

Types of Plagiarism• Global plagiarism• Patchwork plagiarism• Incremental plagiarism• Plagiarism in the internet age