Overview
Ethics in Speaking
Persuasion
Arguing Effectively
Organization
The Ends and The Means
Have ethical goals
Employ ethical means
The Ends and The Means
Ethical dilemmas
Professional obligations can create
Circumstances can create
Professional Obligation
A conflict of responsibilities
A choice between “the lesser of two
evils”
Circumstances
Situations dictate a change
Does the end justify the means?
Your Ethical Guidelines
Are your purposes consistent w/ prevailing
norms?
Would you violate your own ethics by speaking
out?
Are you willing to stick to your ethical principles?
What are the ethical standards?
Honesty & Accountability
Your basic ethical obligation
Tell the truth
Take responsibility
Honesty & Accountability
To avoid plagiarism
Give credit where it is due
Cite sources in the speech
Credit when you paraphrase
The Costs of Plagiarism
Tough penalties for “academic
dishonesty”
In your career, you could lose your
job and professional respect
The Ethical Speaker
Is not expected to be perfectly objective
Provides good arguments, sound reasoning and
solid evidence
Remains open to new information
Is well informed and fully prepared
Contributes useful presentations
Deliberating in Good Faith
Tell the truth, as you see it
Back up your opinions
Accept your burden of proof
Questions of Fact,
Value, and Policy
Is That The Truth?
Issues of Fact
Involve existence, scope or causality
Questions about past / present
Predictions of the future
Require empirical proof: real examples, statistics,
and expert testimony
Is This Good or Bad?
Issues of Value
Involve what we consider good or bad, right or wrong
Focus on what we believe to be appropriate, legal,
ethical or moral
Determine how we should evaluate facts, ideas or
actions
What Are We Going To Do?
Issues of Policy
Determine our future actions
Deal with how to solve problems
Evaluate options by costs, feasibility, advantages and
disadvantages
Ethical Proof in
Persuasive Speaking
Ethos
The audience’s perception of the speaker’s
credibility
Qualities of Positive Ethos
Trustworthiness
Competence
Open-Mindedness
Dynamism
Contextual Factors
Characteristics we admire may vary
by situation
Some factors may be beyond our
control
Context affects ethos positively or
negatively
Ethos
Each time you speak, people form
impressions of you
Strengthen Your Ethos
Share audience concerns
Cite reputable experts
Use personal experience
Be clear and interesting
Consider different points of view
Deliver with dynamism
Appealing to
Audience Emotions
Appealing to Emotions
Fundamental to motivating an
audience
Never a substitute for logical
arguments and available evidence
Affective Language
Strong language that plays on
emotions
Words must be chosen carefully
Identifying Shared Values
Show your audience that you share
values
Show how your ideas relate to those
values
Use Vivid Detail
Listeners respond to concrete
examples better than abstractions
Speakers can reinforce ideas with
vivid details
Use Visualization
Helps the audience to “see”
Stirs emotions
Gets audience to think more deeply
Help your audience visualize with a picture
Paint ‘word pictures’
Compare Unfamiliar
to Familiar
Complicated and even controversial
ideas can seem more familiar, and
more acceptable
Ethical Considerations
Avoid deception and manipulation
Recognize and respect power of emotions
Avoid distraction and disorientation
Don’t overwhelm audience
Use emotional appeals to supplement and
complement well-reasoned arguments
Constructing a
Reasonable Argument
Claims
Debatable assertions by the speaker
Takes a side on a controversial matter
and invites debate
Claims
Fact
Value
Policy
Qualifiers
Words that indicate our level of
confidence
Examples: “possibly”, “probably”, or
“beyond any doubt”
A Reasonable Argument
Qualified at a level appropriate to the
strength of the reasoning and evidence
behind it
Reservations
Exceptions to our claim, or conditions
under which we no longer hold the
claim
“Unless”
Evidence
Use statistics, specific examples or
expert testimony or other support
Consider the criteria or standards that
support your evaluation
Reflect on the rules, principles or
standard we employ in making
judgments
Tests of Evidence
Quality
Relevancy
Amount
Warrants
General assumptions that connect
evidence to the claim
Some warrants may be accepted by
audience, and may be unstated
If a warrant is controversial, it may
require backing
Burden of Proof
Advocates of new policies are expected
to establish
Need for change
A specific plan
Proof the plan is workable
Construction of the
Argument
The Forms of Reasoning
Inductive Reasoning
Moves from a set of specific examples to a
general conclusion
A number of representative examples makes the
case
Claims must carefully qualified
Reservations may be needed
Can be strengthened with evidence
Deductive Reasoning
Draws a conclusion about a specific
case based on generally accepted
premise
Syllogism is a classic example
Usually we reason from qualified
premises to probable conclusions
Deductive Reasoning
Premises often already accepted by
audience
Speaker may assume the audience
will fill in the missing premise
This is “rhetorical syllogism” or
enthymeme
Causal Reasoning
From effect to cause, or cause to effect
At the heart of scientific investigation
Rarely simple
Reputable sources are important
Qualified due to complexity
Analogical Reasoning
What is true in one case will be true in another
Literal analogy compares similar examples
Figurative analogy is similar to metaphor; rarely
proves anything
Should be qualified
How Patterns of Organization
Connect Ideas
Chronological or Sequential
Good for step-by-step process or
historical events
Begin with a specific point in time,
move ahead or back from there
Spatial
Organizes according to space or
physical relationship
Categorical
Arrange by distinct topics
Addresses
types
forms
qualities
aspects
Climactic
Simple to difficult, least to most, neutral to
intense
Effective for gaining audience agreement or
action
Can also reverse the pattern, from most to least
Cause & Effect
Moves from cause to effect, or effect to cause
Good to explain how an event unfolded
Chronology does not equal cause
Guard against over-simplification
Problem - Solution
Typically used in persuasive speaking
Speaker usually proposes a best solution
Problem - Solution
Reflective Thinking Sequence
Causes & extent of problem?
Effects of problem?
Criteria by which solutions should be judged?
Possible solutions (strengths & weaknesses)
Best solution?
Put into effect how?
Definition & limits of problems
Motivated Sequence
Five step pattern
Arouse
Dissatisfy
Gratify
Visualize
Move
Combines emotional and logical
Convince the audience they can effect change
Narrative Patterns
Use stories to illustrate or reinforce
Use spiraling narrative for drama /
climax