The Ethics of Manipulation
Robert Noggle,
Robert Noggle,
Apr 09, 2018
This is a new article in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy and it is as timely as it is provocative. I have always thought of advertising as deeply unethical. In a 1996 article I criticized McDonalds because "advertise heavily and focus their advertisements at innocent children." I also qwuestion the use of manipulative tactics in education; this, it seems to me, changes it from teaching to propaganda. And of course we have all been reading about recent social media manipulation changing the oucomes of referenca and elections. But if it's unethical, why would this be? Is it because it bypasses reason? Is it because it's a type of trickery? Is it because it's a pressure tactic? Is it because it treats people as things? Is it because it bypasses autonomy? Is it, indeed, always wrong? Things to think about. Image: XKCD. I downloaded it, so I thought I'd get some use out of it.
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