Is it ethical to profit from the ignorance of others?

Yes, no, and maybe.

Yes. I sell my services to clients who cannot, because of ignorance, do them themselves, and we both supposedly profit or we would be out of business. I buy services and products for the same reasons. That line of reasoning extends from buying or selling a turnip as much as it does to brain surgery.

No, if I buy or sell based on lies, aka false claims. I recently purchased a Ford Focus that the salesman assured me was both reliable and safe. It was neither and I lost more than 25 thousand dollars and my emotional stability.

Maybe, because, while Ford’s salesman assured me that the car was reliable and safe, he did not tell me that the owner’s manual noted quite plainly that it was not. I did not read the manual before I purchased the car; ergo, I am responsible for my ignorance. Caveat Emptor.

I wrote a book with Bill O’Rourke, The Power of Ethics, in which I define ethics as never harming anyone physically, fiscally, or emotionally. Ford and its dealer are batting on the anti-ethics scale by harming me fiscally and emotionally. Do they care? What do you think?

Pete Geissler