ABSTRACT

By grounding public relations praxis in Aristotelian ethos, practitioners can function as liaison officers with balanced perspectives, capable of co-creating meaning with both client organizations and their publics between whom experts are hired to facilitate mutually beneficial relationships. This approach locates persuasion at the nexus of speaker ethos in the public relations process. It allows practitioners to balance their commitment to the ethics of their profession with loyalty to clients, while empowering audiences (organizations and their publics) to function as the final arbiters of any courses of action proposed to them. Moreover, because the approach enables practitioners, based on their credible ethos, to participate in organizational decision-making, it has the potential to transfer their ethical worldview to client organizations. Ultimately, the central theoretical contribution of this essay is an alternative approach to public relations praxis founded on an analysis of Aristotle’s notion of phronesis, arête, and eunoia.

摘要

通过以亚里士多德精神为基础的公共关系实践，从业人员可以担任具有平衡观点的联络官，能够与客户组织及其公众共同创造意义，聘用专家之间可以促进互利的关系。这种方法将说服力定位于公共关系过程中说话者精神的联系。它使从业人员可以平衡对职业道德的承诺与对客户的忠诚度，同时使听众（组织和公众）能够充当向他们提出的任何行动方针的最终仲裁者。而且，因为该方法使从业者能够基于其可信的精神，参与组织决策，则有可能将其道德世界观转移给客户组织。最终，本文的中心理论贡献是基于对亚里士多德的语调，arête和eunoia概念的分析而建立的公共关系实践的替代方法。