Persuading
the many different types of people we encounter can be a very difficult
task. People are hard-headed, set in
their ways, or aren’t interested in what we might want them to believe. This difficulty might inspire some take an
unethical approach to their attempt at persuasion. Here we will examine the importance of
ethical behavior as well as the impact it has on persuasion.
There are different situations in which the
ethics of persuasion can come into question.
Public relations scholars Benton Danner and Spiro Kiousis provide us
with a “taxonomy of means and ends” that charts the possibilities in four categories:
1) You can engage in ethically justifiable
persuasive acts in an ethical manner (good ends, good means).
2) You can engage in persuasion that is ethically
unjustified, but do so in an ethically proper
manner (bad ends, good means).
Although you could argue that the means justify the ends, you would be on shaky moral ground.
3) You could engage in unethical tactics of
persuasion in a persuasive act that is itself morally
justified (bad
means, good ends). Because you are using morally suspect means to achieve a good end, you might be able to
argue for the ethicality of the entire act; however, the
questionable tactics would taint your achievement.
4) Neither the persuasive act itself nor the
means employed in persuasion are morally permissible
(bad means, bad ends). Acts
in this category will always be morally prohibited
(Danner & Kiousis, 2006).
Some
people might feel that the "ends justifies the means." Robin Hood stole from the rich and gave to
the poor. Now the poor can eat. Justified, right? But what of the rich people he stole
from? Are their wants and needs and
rights not considered because we feel that they have too much? This is an ethical dilemma in which the
answer might depend on one's social and financial standing in society. There are ethical theories that shed some
light the best ethical approach to persuasion.
One
ethical theory that relates to persuasion is Rights-Based Ethics. This is
because it dictates that people must be respectful of each other. In the article, ‘Public Relations, the Public Interest and Persuasion: An Ethical
Approach,’ Messina (2007) proposes a definition for ethical persuasion that
is based on Kant’s theory and respect. This definition states that ethical
persuasion is “an attempt through communication to influence knowledge,
attitude or behavior or an audience through presentation of a view that address
and allows the audience to make voluntary, informed, rational and reflective
judgments (Apol, 2012).
If
we follow the Rights-Based Ethics theory, the outcomes of our persuasion might
be different because we would always take the ethical approach. That negates any shady tactics discussed
earlier in number three and four of the taxonomy chart. If we respect each other and each other's
rights, we wouldn't attempt to use any method which detracts from that.
Another
ethical theory which relates to persuasion is Virtue Ethics. Virtue Ethics can be identified as the one
that emphasizes the virtues, or moral character, in contrast to the approach
which emphasizes duties or rules (deontology) or that which emphasizes the
consequences of actions (consequentialism) (Hursthouse, 2012). Instead of looking at the act of persuasion,
the means or ends, we look at the character of the person.
A
person who has virtuous traits should approach a persuasive situation in an
ethical manner. It is within our scope
to say that he or she will "do the right thing." Even though we are
making an assumption, it is still a very feasible one. The individuals who are administering
nefarious tactics in to persuade others to do or believe something would
inherently not be virtuous. The question we need to ask ourselves is, "Do
I have a strong moral character?"
If we believe the answer is yes, then we should really only pick from
number one on the taxonomy of ends and means - Good means, good ends.
The
importance of ethics in persuasion cannot be overstated. As an intelligent and civilized group of
human beings, we should strive to do what we know is right. Some people, however, take it upon themselves
to use any dirty trick in the book to get their way. These people, who we might refer to as
sociopaths, have a broken moral compass.
We have all met someone like this - a person who would sell their
firstborn for a promotion.
Is
it worth it to sell out your morals to get ahead? We can lie to ourselves all day long, but
inside we know when we have broken rules and betrayed the basic morals we all
should live by. At what point does a person start to believe that they didn't
do anything wrong? If we are always doing unethical acts, then we become
desensitized to right and wrong. This is
a slippery slope. If we do one unethical
act, and get away with it, the feeling of right and wrong fades away; where is
the line?
To
be able to persuade someone in an ethical manner, we must first have a strong
moral character. Knowing that people all
have rights and that we should respect them will help us keep our tactics on
the straight and narrow. The ends does
not justify the means when we are talking about an interpersonal scope. We cannot understate the importance of ethics
in persuasion. Otherwise, we will be
undermining what makes us good people.
References
Danner,
B., Kiousis, S. (2006). Persuasion and
ethics in public relations. Association in Journalism and Mass
Communication Conference. Retrieved from
journalism.uoregon.edu/~tbivins/.../means-ends.pdf
Messina,
A. (2007). Public relations, the public
interest and persuasion: an ethical approach. Journal of Communication
Management. 11(1), 29. Retrieved from Proquest database.
Apol, F (2012). A discussion of
ethics and persuasion. Retrieved from http://finalfinalefinally.blogspot.com/2012/02/discussion-of-ethics-and-persuasion.html
Hursthouse,
R. (2012). Virtue ethics. Stanford
Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Retrieved from http://stanford.library.usyd.edu.au/entries/ethics-virtue/.
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