Can one simply identify ethics with the law?
Positivism holds that what a law is, and whether it is just or not, are two different matters. If ethics determine the law, it must not be immoral in all situations to disobey the law, but if law determines ethics, then whatever is illegal is also immoral.Click to see full answer. Similarly one may ask,…
Positivism holds that what a law is, and whether it is just or not, are two different matters. If ethics determine the law, it must not be immoral in all situations to disobey the law, but if law determines ethics, then whatever is illegal is also immoral.Click to see full answer. Similarly one may ask, how is law different from ethics?Ethics means the science of a standard human conduct. The law consists of a set of rules and regulations, whereas Ethics comprises of guidelines and principles that inform people about how to live or how to behave in a particular situation. The law creates a legal binding, but ethics has no such binding on the people.Also, what is the connection of law to ethics? Laws are based on many ideas and functions. Ethics could be one idea but also the law has relations to rights, morals, control, contracts, risk management, safety, protection, promotion of interests, subjugation, politics, etc., etc. The idea is that the law has different purposes and that’s why we need judges. Correspondingly, what is an example of a law that is legal but not ethical? Breaking promises is generally legal, but is widely thought of as unethical; Cheating on your husband or wife or boyfriend or girlfriend is legal, but unethical, though the rule against it is perhaps more honoured in the breach; …and so on.What’s ethical but illegal?The only time something is ethical, but illegal, is when you hold yourself to be a member of a subset of society whose ideas of ethical behavior differ from those of the larger society. And when you do that: you are in the wrong, ethically, according to the larger society.
