AET584 ETHICS OF ARGUMENT AND PERSUASION
| Course Code: | 8360584 |
| METU Credit (Theoretical-Laboratory hours/week): | 3(3-0) |
| ECTS Credit: | 8.0 |
| Department: | Applied Ethics |
| Language of Instruction: | English |
| Level of Study: | Graduate |
| Course Coordinator: | |
| Offered Semester: | Fall or Spring Semesters. |
Course Content
The connection between argument and ethics is an old one: Aristotle in his Rhetorics wrote that rhetoric was an offshoot of ethical studies. Modern persuasive techniques such as advertising methods, mass media, Internet, etc., make this connection between ethics and argument more problematic than the ancient time of Aristotle. Some people take the position that all persuasion is unethical. This school of thought finds intellectual support in the writings of Plato. Other people, coming from the tradition of Aristotle make a distinction between ethical and unethical persuasion. The first part of this course will review these theoretical views on persuasive arguments. The thinkers, whom this course examines, include ancients (Plato, Aristotle, Cicero) as well as moderns (Weaver, Toulmin, Habermas....) ones.The second part of this course takes a closer look at the questions “When is it ethical to persuade?” and “How are such arguments constructed?” The students will be encouraged to write and think clearly on some ordinary life examples of ethical and unethical arguments and to apply certain models of constructing arguments to these examples.