ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses about ethics in the technical and professional communication (TPC) scholarship. It explains the respect for interpersonal relationships in feminist approaches complements Martin Buber's emphasis on genuine, reciprocal dialogue. Markel identifies three major criticisms of virtue ethics: it does not accommodate change in a community, it focuses on individuals, and it offers no clear guidelines for decision making. One review essay by Dombrowski also addresses technical communication ethics in the last part of the twentieth century. As Dombrowski notes, the area of critical theory and ethics in technical communication has generated important discussions. Technical Communication Quarterly published a special issue on ethics in 2001; a 2004 special issue of IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication on case studies of technical communication highlights many points for discussion about ethics. The rhetorical view of ethics involves understanding thoroughly the audiences and contexts for plain-language documents.
