Different types of ethics, and persuasion

Ethics is one of those things that is up for one’s own judgment or meaning, it does not matter whether it is used for your personal life or professional life. If you believe in something then ethically you can sale something, even if it is faulty so to speak. As long as you believe in it you can do it. But being able to convert a person’s point of view is common in all aspects of life. People tend to promote ethical behaviors so they can persuade someone else’s ethics, beliefs and morals.

Utilitarian Ethics, also known as teleological ethical system, states the greatest good for the greatest number of people. “ Utilitarianism, as espoused by philosophers John Stuart Mill and Jeremy Bentham, holds that one should seek the greatest good for the greatest number of people. In other words, the ethical choice is the one that lets the greatest number of people experience the beneficial consequences of that choice.” (Magee, 2014, pp. Chapter 3, Sec. 3. 3). Politicians use the utilitarian ethics a lot to satisfy their own needs and wants for themselves and their party. If you have ever noticed politicians are famous for changing laws for the greater good that affect the most voters or representatives. Let us look one of the biggest controversies out there, gun control. Politicians use the utilitarian ethics in order to influence the public that guns kills people, however it is the person that is holding the gun that kills people with the guns. If one does not pull the trigger the gun will not go off. If we go by this logic then there should be laws against silverware or fast food restaurants. It is not the silverware or the restaurants that make people overweight, it is the person that uses the silverware or goes to eat at the fast food restaurant. When politicians try to push more and more gun control laws they are hurting the gun owners that obey the laws, they make it more difficult for honest gun owners to purchase firearms. A criminal who does not care about laws will just go around them in order to purchase a firearm. The argument for the stricter gun laws can be justified and it can be said it does make the public feel safer, by having more security for the greatest number of people.

Teleological ethical system is useful as it is easy to follow along and pretty straight forward. Going back to the gun control, my parents live in California and they do not allow high capacity magazine “ Restricting large capacity magazines and preventing them from ending up in the wrong hands is critical for the well-being of our communities. I will defend the will of California voters because we cannot continue to lose innocent lives due to gun violence.” (Becerra, 2017). High capacity magazines are described as anything that has more than 10 rounds of bullets or ammunition. When traveling to California I need to be careful not to bring my concealed weapon since it holds more than seven arounds, even though I do not reside in California I can still get in trouble for having it in that state. So with this being said is the greatest good for the greatest number of people affected here, where does the line get drawn? Using the teleological ethical system, politicians are able to coax the voters to sympathize to their views on so many other items out there, not just gun control. With a politician providing certain facts on any subject they are able to show research and documentation only that will help their cause or argument that will persuade people to agree with their views or ideas, even if they leave out other facts that can be crucial to the subject.

Kantian ethics, better known as Deontological ethics “ consists of categorical imperatives, or moral commands, that apply in an absolute sense in every situation. Instead of letting the potential consequences of your action guide your ethical decisions, you should act in a way that is universally consistent, regardless of the outcome.” (Magee, 2014, pp. Chapter 3, Sec. 3. 4). With the Deontological Ethics it is doing the right thing even if nobody is looking, another words having morals and sticking to it.

Working in accounting you will always deal with billing disputes. When I was in accounts receivables, I needed to make sure that I was billing the right customer and the charges were correct. I could add extra charges stating there was a increase in our prices, this would help the company’s profits. However using the Deontological Ethics, doing the right thing even when no one is looking or paying attention.

With the Kantian ethics all customers are treated the same. The company I used to work for in accounts receivable was not the cheapest when it came to rates, however, we did promise to treat all customers the same both morally and ethical. With that being said we have kept 95% of our customers and continue to receive calls for quotes and credit applications for new customers. Using the Kantian ethics the company reminds our customers of the company’s moto, all customers are treated the same.

However, using the Deontological ethics it means all customers are treated equally and have to be held to the same standards. But there is always that instance where some customers will get different pricing, but still need to held to the same rules and standards. “ There are situations—unfortunately not all of them thought experiments — where compliance with deontological norms will bring about disastrous consequences.” (Alexander & Moore, 2016, pp. Sec. 4, Par. 1). Some customers do fill they are above our policies and ask us to change our procedures for them, but we stick to our moral all customers treated equally, even though frustrated they understand.

With Kantian ethics people can persuade others to a fair and right away. The Deontological Ethics lets companies produce guidelines that have morals and ethics. This allows customers to know they are treated equally no matter how much business they do.

With all that being said ethical behaviors no matter what they are have a big role in persuasion. Ethical behavior is for the greater good, fair and equal. Persuasion is part of our everyday life, it includes morals and ethics especially when persuading someone’s thoughts and ideas. You can do this by showing you are doing the greatest good for the greatest amount of people and or being equal.