Page 112 - Between One and Many The Art and Science of Public Speaking

Chapter 4 Ethical Speaking and Listening 79

Basic Ethical Questions

Ethics is a system of principles of right and wrong that govern human conduct.
ethics
To get a better grip on this latter fact, let’s look at a number of important questions
A system of principles
philosophers have been pondering for over 2,000 years, beginning with the rele- of right and wrong that
vance of such an “old” subject to modern life. govern human conduct.
Why Care About Ethics?

We live in a world where many people take to heart mottos such as “win at all
costs” or “I’m spending my children’s inheritance.” So why should we look out
for anyone’s interests but our own? For example, why should we think or care
about the fact that the shoes we wear were constructed by illiterate kids in an-
other country for less than 50 cents a day or the car we drive may be contribut-
ing to global warming?
For starters, we should care about ethics because, in the long run, ethical
practices are in our own self-interest. We benefi t from physicians being trained
to “fi rst do no harm,” police informing us of our constitutional rights before in-
terrogating us, and laws protecting against discrimination because of our gender
or the color of our skin.
On the fl ip side, we owe those who behave ethically toward us the same in
return. This kind of reciprocity, in fact, is a major ingredient in the social glue
necessary to build relationships and communities of people bound by a com-
mon purpose: for example, your public speaking class. Can you imagine the con-
sequences if everyone in your class lived by a different set of rules for developing
and presenting speeches? Do you think you would be comfortable speaking in
your class if there were no ethical guidelines for the audience about cell phones,
talking during speeches, or blurting out opinions about what you say even as
you say it?
Ethical practices, then, are to everyone’s benefi t. When we are treated ethi-
cally it increases the chances that we will treat others in kind. The payoff is a
more cohesive, caring, and civil society in which to live and learn.
But there is yet another reason for us to look at the nature of ethical conduct
as it relates to public speaking. Ethical behavior gives rise to trust. Perceptions
of trustworthiness, moreover, infl uence the degree to which people actually be-
lieve what we have to say to them and vice versa. In a very real sense, then, the
chances of our public speeches actually informing or infl uencing our audience
depend on whether we are perceived as ethical and trustworthy.

Is Everything Relative?

Ethical relativism is a philosophy based on the belief that there are no uni-
ethical relativism
versal ethical principles. This theory goes back at least as far as the Sophists,
A philosophy based
who believed that truth was relative and depended on circumstances. 3
on the belief that there
The most radical version of relativism asserts that any one person’s ethical are no universal ethical
standards are as good as the next person’s. Although this philosophy has the ad- principles.
vantage of simplicity, it makes a civilized society impossible. Life would be, es-
sentially, a free-for-all. When a group of people holds such a radical view, the