To define ethics as a mode of inquiry, it is first important to consider how ethics relates to critical thinking. Put simply, ethical inquiry is one type of inquiry required to think critically. A connection between critical thinking and ethics is only possible, however, when ethics is defined not as a static list of rules but as a "mode of questioning." Using ethics as mode of inquiry focuses teachers' attention not only on rules but also on contexts and relationships, which are vitally important aspects of work in English education. To explain more fully how ethics may function as critical, rhetorical inquiry, the author will describe two strategies that she uses: an ethical inventory and an ethical question star. She uses these strategies as prewriting after students have established their topic and audience and have begun exploring their rhetorical situation during a persuasive composition unit where students are required to find a specific, local problem about which they have some knowledge and write a composition in a genre of their choice (typically a letter or an essay) in which they persuade an audience to take some action to solve the problem. (Contains 5 figures.)