The teaching of ethics in professional communication courses for non-English majors is problematic because teachers of those courses are usually trained in literary studies, a profession that has traditionally viewed with suspicion the ethical orientation of science, technology, and business professions. This article examines the history of this problematic, focusing on the “Engineering Publicity” program at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the 1920s. The article suggests that students may be empowered to enter and transform their professions more through examining ethical critiques of science, technology, and business carried on within and among the professions they will enter than by examining ethical critiques from the profession of literary studies.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Abbott, Andrew
. The System of Professions: An Essay on the Division of Expert Labor. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1988.
2.
Arlow, Peter
. “Personal Characteristics in College Students' Evaluations of Business Ethics and Corporate Social Responsibility.”Journal of Business Ethics10 (1991): 63-69.
3.
Aydelotte, Frank
, ed. English and Engineering. 2nd ed.New York: McGraw-Hill, 1923.
4.
Aydelotte, Frank
. “Training in Thought as the Aim of Elementary English Course as Taught at MIT.”Engineering Record24 Feb.1917: 300-302.
5.
Brenner, Steven N.“Ethics Programs and Their Dimensions.”Journal of Business Ethics11 (1992): 391-399.
6.
Brockman, John R.“Ethical Case for Discussion.”Intercom4 (1988): 4-5.
7.
Caldwell, Robert G.“The Humanities of Technology.”Technology Review42 (1941): 210-228.
8.
Connors, Robert J.“The Rise of Technical Writing Instruction in America.”Journal of Technical Writing and Communication12 (1982): 329-354.
9.
“Course XXI—A History.” Unpublished manuscript. MIT Archives, Cambridge, n.d.
10.
Cremin, Lawrence A.The Transformation of the School: Progressivism in American Education. New York: Vantage, 1961.
11.
Dombrowski, Paul M.“The Ethos of Science in the Technical Communication Classroom.”Conference of College Composition and Communication. Cincinnati, 19 Mar. 1992.
12.
Eagleton, Terry
. Literary Theory. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1983.
13.
Fahnestock, Jeanne
, and Marie Secor. “The Rhetoric of Literary Criticism.”Textual Dynamics of the Professions: Historical and Contemporary Studies of Writing in Professional Communities. Ed. Charles Bazerman and James Paradis. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1991. 76-96.
14.
Fish, Stanley
. “Profession Despise Thyself.”Critical Inquiry10 (1983): 349-364.
15.
Graff, Gerald
. Professing Literature. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1987.
16.
Hamacher, Werner
, Neil Hertz, and Thomas Kenan, eds. Responses: On Paul de Man's Wartime Journalism. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1989.
17.
Harris, Elizabeth
. “In Defense of the Liberal Arts Approach to Technical Writing.”College English44 (1982): 628-636.
18.
Jackson, Dugald C., Jr.
, and W. Paul Jones, eds. The Profession of Engineering. New York: Wiley, 1929.
19.
Kennedy, George
. Classical Rhetoric and Its Christian and Secular Tradition from Ancient to Modern Times. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1980.
20.
King, W. J.The Unwritten Rules of Engineering. New York: American Society of Mechanical Engineers, 1944.
21.
Layton, Edwin T.The Revolt of the Engineers. Cleveland, OH: Case Western Reserve University Press, 1971.
22.
Lewis, Phillip V.
, and Henry E. Speck III.“Ethical Orientations for Understanding Business Ethics.”Journal of Business Communication27 (1990): 213-232.
23.
Mallon, Thomas
. Stolen Words: Forays into the Origins and Ravages of Plagiarism. New York: Ticknor, 1989.
24.
Maris, Faith
. “Shall the Teaching of English be Commercialized?”Educational Review58 (1919): 70-72.
25.
McCloskey, Donald N.“Why Academics Criticize Each Other.”Project on the Rhetoric of Inquiry Seminar. Iowa City, IA, 12 Dec. 1991.
Miller, Carolyn R.
. “Technology as a Form of Consciousness: A Study of Contemporary Ethos.”Central States Speech Journal29 (1978): 228-236.
28.
Miller, Carolyn R.
. “What's Practical about Technical Writing?”Technical Writing: Theory and Practice. Ed. Bertie E. Fearing and W. Keats Sparrow. New York: Modern Language Association, 1989. 14-24.
29.
MIT Bulletin. Cambridge, MA: MIT Archives, 1920.
30.
Parker, William Riley
. “Where Do English Departments Come From?”College English28 (1967): 339-351.
31.
Porter, James E.“Ideology and Collaboration in the Classroom and the Corporation.”Bulletin of the Association for Business Communication53 (1990): 18-22.
32.
Porter, James E.
. “The Role of Law, Policy, and Ethics in Corporate Composing: Toward a Practical Ethics for Professional Writing.”Conference of College Composition and Communication. Boston, 21 Mar. 1991.
33.
Porter, James E.
. “Truth in Technical Advertising: A Case Study.”IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication30 (1987): 182-189.
34.
Reinsch, N. L., Jr.“Ethics Research in Business Communication: The State of the Art.”Journal of Business Communication27 (1990): 251-272.
35.
Rentz, Kathryn C.
, and Mary Beth Debs. “Language and Corporate Values: Teaching Ethics in Business Writing Courses.”Journal of Business Communication24.3 (1987): 37-48.
36.
Robinson, Archer T.“Memorandum for the Executive Committee.” 16 Mar. 1921. Archer T. Robinson Papers. MIT Archives, Cambridge, MA.
37.
Robinson, Archer T.
. “Memorandum in Regard to Proposed Contact Courses.” 5 May 1919. Archer T. Robinson Papers. MIT Archives, Cambridge, MA.
38.
Rogers, Priscilla S.
, and John M. Swales. “We the People? An Analysis of the Dana Corporation Policies Document.”Journal of Business Communication27 (1990): 293-313.
39.
Russell, David R.“Composition for the Culture of Professionalism: Writing and Industrial Relations in the Progressive Era, 1895-1920.” Rhetoric and Ideology: Compositions and Criticism of Power. Selected Proceedings of the Rhetoric Society of America. Ed. Charles Kneupper. Arlington: University of Texas at Arlington Press, 1989.
40.
Russell, David R.
. Writing in the Academic Disciplines, 1870-1990: A Curricular History. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1991.
41.
Schaub, James H.
, and Karl Pavlovic. Engineering Professionalism and Ethics. New York: Wiley, 1983.
42.
Snow, C. P.“The Two Cultures.”New Statesman6 Oct.1956: 413-414.
43.
Stewart, Donald C.“The Status of Composition and Rhetoric in American Colleges, 1880-1902: An MLA Perspective.”College English47 (1975): 734-746.
44.
Sullivan, Patricia
. “Competing Meanings for Professional Writing: Implications for Discipline Formation.”Conference of College Composition and Communication. Boston, 21 Mar. 1991.
45.
Tebeaux, Elizabeth
. “Let's Not Ruin Technical Writing, Too: A Comment on the Essays of Carolyn Miller and Elizabeth Harris.”College English41 (1980): 822-825.
46.
Veysey, Laurence R.The Emergence of the American University. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1965.
47.
Wells, Susan
. “Jürgen Habermas, Communicative Competence, and the Teaching of Technical Discourse.”Theory in the Classroom. Ed. Cary Nelson. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1986. 245-269.
48.
Wilcox, Thomas W.Anatomy of Freshman English. San Francisco: Jossey, 1973.
49.
Zappen, James P.“The Discourse Community in Scientific and Technical Communication: Institutional and Social Views.”Journal of Technical Writing and Communication19 (1989): 1-11.
