Why would a professional communication consultant ask a philosopher to write an article for this column? Because communication professionals understand the crucial connection between language, writing, and ethics. RGI Learning has collaborated to develop ethical training for engineering professionals which is approved for Professional Development Hours in NYS.

What and how we think are reflected in what and how we communicate. Humans devised language as a systematic approach to communication. Language uses words to share thoughts which represent objects and concepts. To ensure language doesn't get messy, we've built a set of rules and tools to help us communicate clearly. Sentence structures, punctuation, and the rules of grammar are very much like the football coach's play book and rulebook.

Nevertheless, even with a common set of words, and rules, a lot of miscommunication happens. We don't win every communication game. How we use words and how they are interpreted by others (effective communication is, after all, a two-way process), tells us a lot about how a person thinks. The philosopher Cicero captured this link between language and thought:

"Neither can embellishments of language be found without arrangement and expression of thoughts, nor can thoughts be made to shine without the light of language"

Wouldn't it be convenient if humans had evolved so we could simply think and others would know what we were thinking? Well, maybe not. (For those Trekkers in the crowd, we've all seen Star Trek episodes where this form of communication leads to trouble.) Maybe it's a good thing we haven't evolved to this state yet.

However, we humans have developed language as a sophisticated tool to communicate our thoughts. We also communicate by our actions. So in our language communication system, writing is a tool and the whole idea of communication is an action. So, how do ethics play into all of this?

What we think most often translates into how we act. And our actions, what we choose to do or what we choose not to do, may have an ethical implication, so our ethical actions have origins in our thoughts.

The study of ethics is the study of how we human beings arrive at our ethical decisions. Logic is a systematic thought processes unique to humans. It is the art and science of sound reasoning and removes emotions from our thinking process which helps us arrive at a decision based on true relationships, not on emotions. So, our actions, which are based on our thoughts, will be well reasoned acts--that's the best that we can hope for when a person makes an ethical decision and acts on it.

How clearly we think, which is so intricately tied to our language and our writing, reflects on how logically we are able to reason. A well-reasoned, clearly written report reflects a well-reasoned, clearly thought-out process.

So, what happens when we don't communicate clearly and effectively? Well, it might mean that our thinking is fine but our language and writing skills are poor. Or, it may indicate that we're not thinking clearly or effectively. Unfortunately, there's no way for our audience to know the difference. Unlike creative writing, report writing, technical writing, and business communications require sound, logical structures. Therefore, the same logical thought processes that we apply to ethical decision-making can help us hone our effective communication skills. It's certainly no coincidence that a good course in logic focuses on words and their meaning, sentences, and clear, concise writing.

We use language and writing skills to share our thoughts. Those thoughts often lead to actions and when we explore ethical actions, we explore how we apply logic to our decision-making process. That logic will also help us communicate more effectively and the better our grasp of language and writing, the better we will express our true thoughts and intents. The famous Roman Stoic Philosopher Seneca understood this thousands of years ago and used very clear, concise language to articulate this:

"As was his language, so was his life."

Join us on March 16 (and receive 4 PDHs) to discuss ethical decision making and dilemmas engineers deal with. Call (585) 461-3617 or email info@rgilearning.com for more details.

Lori Marra is a Sr. Consultant for RGI Learning and develops and presents workshops on Ethics and Engineering. She holds an MA in Philosophy from the University of Rochester.

© 2007 RGI Learning

Please email me your ideas or thoughts at LisaM@rgilearning.com and I can address them in a future article.

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