“Do
not do an immoral thing for moral reasons-Thomas Hardy”
(www.quotegarden.com).
Persuasion and Ethics go hand in hand. You can’t really have one without the
other. In the following paragraphs I will be explaining the importance of
ethics and its significance in persuasion. I will also be explaining two
different ethical theories and what impact they have on persuasion.
The first thing that we are going to look at is why ethics
is so important when it comes to persuasion. What exactly is ethics? “1. A
system of moral principles. 2. The rules of conduct recognized in respect to a
particular class of human actions or a particular group, culture.” (www.dictionary.com).
When you are trying to persuade an individual or a group of individuals you
need to take their morals and ethics into consideration. The problem to this
occurs when you believe in something and want to persuade someone else to
believe in the same thing. For example, a vegetarian try’s to persuade her meat
eating friend that to be a healthier person; you need to give up meat and take
on a vegetarian lifestyle. How should the vegetarian persuade the meat eater?
Is there an ethical line that she will have to cross? According to Bj. Frogg in
his book Persuasive Technology, there
is a way to prepare and analyze ethics that can be used even with persuasion.
“He recommends that you list all of the stakeholders-anyone involved with the
persuasive technology. Next, list what each stakeholder has to gain and lose.
Then evaluate which stakeholder has the most to gain and who has the most to
lose. And finally, determine ethics by evaluating the inequities between
different stakeholders.” (http://umag.com).
This way the vegetarian can decide if ethically it would be okay to try and
persuade the meat eater to give up meat.
The second thing I would like to discuss with you is two
different ethical theories and how they are important to persuasion. The first
ethical theory I would like to present is utilitarianism. “Utilitarianism
considers an action as morally right if its outcomes or consequences are good
for the greatest number of the population.” (http://labspace.open.ac.uk).
This theory basically states that it is ethically moral if it benefits a large
group; even if it doesn’t benefit an individual person. For example, there is a
famine occurring in a town. There are hundreds of starving people and only one
farmer with a lot of food. The utilitarian says for the farmer to give all of
his food to the town because it benefits the most amounts of people. Even
though this would wipe out all of the farmers food supply and he would not
benefit from this action whatsoever. What impact does the theory of
utilitarianism have on persuasion? This theory will impact a group audience the
most. If someone is unsure whether or not they should ethically persuade a
group, the need to look at this theory. If the bulk amount of the group will
benefit from this persuasion then ethically and morally this is the right thing
to do.
The second ethical theory I would like to present is
Deontology. “Deontology considers the rightness or wrongness of an action.
Considers the way things are done rather than focusing just on the
consequences.” (http://labspace.open.ac.uk).
For this theory regardless of how many people can be benefited if its ethically
immoral or wrong then it should not be done. A lot of examples of this theory
can be found in movies and television. For example a deadly sickness has struck
an entire town. The government does not have the time or resources to find a
cure. So to benefit the world the government decides to blow up the town.
According to Deontology even though this would benefit the world it is
ethically wrong to kill a town of innocent people. How exactly does this
ethical theory apply or impact persuasion? People in theory know when something
is right and when it is wrong. This is instilled in us as young children. So
when you are trying to persuade someone of something and you know it’s wrong
then ethically you are doing something immoral. This could have a major impact
not only on yourself but also for the people you are trying to persuade. If
they realize that it is wrong ethically it will jeopardize how they see you as
an individual.
Can you have persuasion without ethics? This is the
question you have to ask in order to understand how important ethics can be
when it comes to persuasion. “Because persuasion requires the conscious choice
of ends and means, it involves ethics. The idea of choice requires that the
persuasive process can be conducted ethically.” (http://highered.mcgraw-hill.com).
So in conclusion, you truly can’t have persuasion without having any ethics
involved. Humans morally know what’s right and wrong. We need to keep this in
mind when we try to persuade others.
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