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Chapter 2
Ethics 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
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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
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Global plagiarism
Patchwork plagiarism
Incremental plagiarism
Plagiarism in the internet age