Morality and Law

Introduction

This paper discusses the relationship between morality and law along with the arguments that describe the proper relationship between the two. To make the relationship between law, business, and ethics still more complex, while there are times when societal mores and ethics lead to the enactment of law, there are also times when morality and business law diverge. Ethics is a moral philosophy that involves systematizing, defending, and recommending concepts of right and unethical behavior. Theories with regards to morals have been defined by the philosophers into three areas, which are metaethics, normative ethics, and applied ethics. These can be used as a basis of making ethical choices. Metaethics reveals the traces where the ethical principles come from and what they mean to an individual. They refer to the actions that are considered as a universal truth such as “stealing is wrong”. However, a more practical task is involved in normative ethics because they refer to the moral standards that determine right and wrong such as our habits and duties. Specific, controversial issues come under applied ethics while includes abortion and nuclear war (Curren, pp.10).

Choices based on Morality and Law

According to Socrates, “no human agent knowingly does evil.” Socrates was an ancient Greek philosopher who helped in shaping Greek beliefs, and the ideas he created are present in our culture today. Socrates was a philosopher who was born in 470 B.C., and he grew up during the Golden Age of Athens. This was a period when Greece was very powerful. The philosophy before Socrates was primarily concerned with matters relating to the existence of the world and what it is, however, Socrates believed that the sins are only a result of ignorance. Therefore, if people could differentiate between right and wrong, the question of evil would not arise.

With regards to morality and law, the question arises whether the humans opt for immoral acts intentionally, or they do it unconsciously. Theorists have formulated various ethical theories that help us in making ethical choices. One such theory is the natural law ethical theory. This is extremely helpful in aiding us to understand the human actions that are morally right or wrong. Every human has some sense that enables him to understand what is right or wrong. Similarly, with reference to abortion and nuclear war, the natural law ethical theory enables people to distinguish right from evil. According to this theory, there is no such thing that is known as “neutral ethics” or “perfect ethics”, and this is because ethics for individuals are different (Morris, pp. 50). This is because some humans think one thing is ethical while the other might think it to be unethical. Morals differ from person to person, and from country to country, and this is the reason why some countries have made abortion legal while some have not. Even in the United States, it was not legal initially but later onwards, it was made legal. There are three main determinants that are used to determine ...