Improprius

Improprius is a term used in ethics and rhetorical analysis to categorize and evaluate actions, statements, or argumentative moves that depart from commonly accepted norms of propriety. It is employed to assess not only moral wrongness but also social or discursive inappropriateness, particularly in fields concerned with fairness, trust, and persuasive power.

Etymology and scope: the word derives from Latin improprius, meaning more improper, and has been adopted in contemporary discourse to signal heightened deviation from normative standards of conduct or speech. While not universally adopted, improprius is used to describe both ethical violations (such as deception or discrimination) and rhetorical violations (such as manipulation or unwarranted insinuation) within regulated or public discourse.

Conceptual framework: scholars distinguish between moral impropriety, which concerns harm, rights violations, or deceit, and rhetorical or procedural impropriety, which concerns unfair influence, misrepresentation, or conflicts of interest. Some approaches quantify improprius on a scale or categorize incidents into typologies (direct harm, marginalization, manipulation, gratuitous offense, procedural breach). The framework is often applied to analyze political communication, journalism, and online debate, as well as editorial standards.

Applications and critique: improprius serves as a heuristic for assessing the acceptability of communicative acts and policies. Critics argue that the concept can be subjective and culturally relative, risking overreach or moral signaling. Proponents contend that it helps foreground accountability and norms of fair discourse.

See also: propriety, ethics, rhetoric, fallacies, media criticism.