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Neutrality is enshrined in the rules that govern the conduct of Florida mediators but it (neutrality) is often seen as an impediment to a mediator’s effectiveness in “getting the case settled.” It is a fact that mediators can be both neutral and effective. Law suits are a last resort for resolving arguments. In a highly stylized ritual, the parties organize their arguments according to a rigid set of rules and ask a tribal chief (the judge) or the village elders (a jury) to decide which of them should prevail. Mediation is a fundamentally different way to resolve an argument. It begins with a commitment by the parties to the possibility that they will hear something during the mediation that appeals to their reason and suggests an outcome that makes sense to them. That does not pre-suppose any particular outcome. What it does mean is that if they resolve their conflict, it will be on terms of their own making, based on their experience of the “truth.” The mediator who succumbs to the temptation, or accepts the invitation, to tell the parties what he or she thinks is a good, likely, fair or reasonable outcome, takes on a fundamentally different role.…. that of Aristotle’s orator. This “mediator” abandons any notion that there are any systems to guide the parties and, perhaps most importantly, assumes that the parties “are persons who cannot take in at a glance a complicated argument, or follow a long chain of reasoning.” The mediator who makes predictions or suggests outcomes then has to set about figuring out how to persuade the parties that he or she is right: The orator [mediator] must consider how to arouse and use the passions of his audience, as well as calculate how far to go in displaying his own emotions. He must consider the moral character of the audience to which he is appealing, and in this connection he must try to exhibit his own character in a favorable light. Finally, he must know the various types and sources of rhetorical argument – not only what sources of rhetorical argument are available for a particular purpose, but also how to employ each argument most persuasively. The Great Ideas, Mortimer J. Adler, MacMillan Publishing Co. New York, 1992, page748.