Journal of Technical Writing and Communication Apr 1989

The Ethics of False <i>Implicature</i> in Technical and Professional Writing Courses

Arthur E. Walzer University of Minnesota

Abstract

In taking “existing practice” in the workplace as their standard, technical and professional writing courses risk leaving students with the impression that whatever is done and is rhetorically effective is right. One way of countering the sophistry of this tendency is to raise questions about the ethics of common but suspect rhetorical practices. This article examines the ethics of one such practice: fostering false inference. Out of H. Paul Grice's analysis of how participants in a conversation correctly interpret what is only implied, it evolves a framework for judging the fostering of false inference. The article presents and discusses a hypothetical case in which a firm's proposal seems intended to mislead, while actually stating nothing that is not literally true.

Journal
Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
Published
1989-04-01
DOI
10.2190/jv07-r2tc-n4hq-mnca
Open Access
Closed
Topics
rhetorical theory professional writing

Citation Context

Cited by in this index (3)

  1. DeJeu (2022)
    The Ethics of Delivering Bad News: Evaluating Impression Management Strategies …
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  2. Dombrowski (2000)
    Ethics and Technical Communication: The Past Quarter Century
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  3. Dragga (1997)
    A Question of Ethics: Lessons from Technical Communicators on the Job
    Technical Communication Quarterly

Cites in this index (2)

  1. Hall et al. (1987)
    Integrating Professional Ethics into the Technical Writing Course
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  2. Rubens (1981)
    Reinventing the Wheel?: Ethics for Technical Communicators
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
Also cites 3 works outside this index ↓
  1. 10.1177/002194368502200104
     ↗
  2. 10.1177/002194368702400303
     ↗
  3. 10.1080/00335638709383791
     ↗
CrossRef global citation count: 9 View in citation network →

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