Which of the areas of speech criticism is the most difficult to evaluate?

Evaluating the ethics of a speaker is particularly challenging due to the subjective nature of ethical standards and moral judgments. Ethics often encompass a wide range of beliefs and cultural values that can vary significantly among different audiences and contexts. This variability makes it difficult to apply a universal standard when assessing a speaker's ethical considerations.

Ethical evaluation involves examining the speaker's intentions, honesty, credibility, and the potential impact of their message on the audience and society as a whole. Because these elements can be influenced by personal values, societal norms, and situational factors, determining whether a speaker acted ethically can be complex. This complexity adds a layer of difficulty compared to other areas of speech criticism, such as evaluating the results of the speech or the validity of the speaker's ideas, which can often rely more on measurable outcomes or concrete evidence. Similarly, assessing the artistic nature of a speech, while subjective, is usually tied to established principles of effective communication and aesthetics in a more straightforward way than ethics.