Ethical Behavior

The Importance of Ethical Behavior and its Significance in Persuasion Ethical behavior is often seen as amoral when used for persuasive purposes. This is possible because persuasion may be used in unethical situations as well as ethical situations. Either way, it depends upon the person who is trying to persuade others. Adolf Hitler is an excellent example of someone who persuaded millions of people to behave unethically. On the other hand, Mother Teresa used persuasion for ethical reasons by caring for the sick and the orphaned, and because of this has impacted an entire world. In this paper, I am going to discuss the importance of ethical behavior and its significance in persuasion. I will also define two ethical theories and finally, I will explore the impact that ethical practices have on persuasion. Persuasion is extremely important in ethical behavior. It is what mothers use to teach their children to make the right decisions. It can also be used by drug users to convince the insecure teen to try a drug for the first time, in order to fit in with the crowd. Persuasion can be life saving or deadly. Such is the case of Phoebe Prince, a young fifteen year old teen who committed suicide in January of this year. According to an article in the New York Times, she had transferred to an American school from Ireland and was eager to make friends. She attracted the attention of a football star at the high school, who apparently had recently broken off a relationship with another girl. It was this girl who persuaded her friends to join in belittling Phoebe any chance they could. The taunts grew more and more violent and abusive, until they turned in to physical threats. After three months of being bullied every day, Phoebe decided to give her accusers exactly what they wanted. She escaped the only way she knew how; by hanging herself in the apartment stairwell when she came home from school. This power of persuasion is not unlike Adolf Hitler’s hatred against

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