All Questions
Tagged with ethics philosophy-of-law
72 questions
0
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2
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136
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AI Safety - Elon Musk - You have to create a maximally truth-seeking AI that loves humanity. Did philosophers develop these ideas for human ethics?
https://youtu.be/mofEOSUkMpA?t=373
Elon Musk is an advocate for free speech. Free speech includes the liberty to lie to each other with punishment reserved for actionable fraud claims and perjury. ...
- 3,198
4
votes
5
answers
365
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How can moral responsibility be attributed for civilian casualties in war?
If we allocate the direct moral responsibility for the killing of non-military actors, either incidentally or intentionally, to people who most immediately committed the act of killing (squeezing a ...
- 4,048
0
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0
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67
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Does impersonation heighten the evil of an immoral behaviour, perhaps similarly to illegality?
Does impersonation heighten the evil of an immoral behaviour, perhaps similarly to illegality might? I tend to think of just laws doing exactly that, and suspect that impersonating, e.g. by identity ...
user71399
-1
votes
1
answer
76
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Should we sometimes let a criminal confess in exchange for no penalties [closed]
Let us assume there is a murder case. The court after investigation sentences a man, who in reality is not a murderer, to death. An innocent person is going to be executed while the real criminal is ...
7
votes
4
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340
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Would reincarnated prisoners be morally obligated to finish their sentence?
For context, this question came from discussions around some sentence lengths seen in the US prison system - where individuals can end up being sentenced for terms far exceeding their possible natural ...
- 81
3
votes
5
answers
642
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On a reductionist/functionalist account of consciousness, would we have ethical obligations toward robots?
If consciousness arises from specific functions instantiated by physical systems, consider a robot with functions mirroring those found in carbon-based life, particularly in humans. Would this imply ...
user66156
13
votes
11
answers
4k
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Besides state punishment, are there any other reasons why one should not do crimes?
Committing crime can result in punishment by the judiciary.
Assuming extreme skepticism and that there is no flawless proof of an absolute goodness, are there any reasons that why one should not do ...
- 233
4
votes
5
answers
1k
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Can non-agents be moral or immoral?
Human children and non-human animals are denied moral status or equal consideration with human adults due to their lack of consciousness, reason or autonomy
They are not moral agents or subjects of ...
- 2,009
1
vote
6
answers
1k
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Why is consent important?
We cannot see or feel consent. Why is it important when its existence cannot be proven?
The importance of consent seems to rely on the principle of respect for autonomy or self-determination; for one ...
- 2,009
2
votes
2
answers
215
views
Has there ever been a society with merged ethics and law?
The so-called ethics-law divide is pervasive in most cultures nowadays. Not all unethical acts are punishable by the state or defined in its positive law, and occasionally societies formally ban ...
- 259
1
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3
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359
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Should our morals be encoded in laws, and if not, what should?
Laws, to some degree, encode what society finds acceptable and moral(?).
Personal ethical values however often conflict with each other - take as example the topic of abortion in the US, and the topic ...
- 2,843
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8
answers
200
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Objectiv requirements for human rights/natural rights
Some ethical problems I've run into while writing a story set in a near future where general artificial intelligence, mind upload and radical genetic engineering are a thing.
If you could scan someone'...
- 167
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0
answers
76
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Formal definition of "natural" and "naturalness" for the ethics and moral philosophy of "natural law"?
Every object is the combinatorial combination of atoms (or quarks/gluons/leptons if we dive deeper to the elements). Is there formal definition which combinations of atoms are "natural" and ...
- 179
2
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4
answers
324
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Are 'fearless' people a threat to society?
In childhood we are all told legends and myths about different heroes. Most of the time they are portrayed as fearless characters who doesn’t fear anything and sacrifice themselves for their people ...
- 39
3
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2
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465
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When consent changes: can "consent" after the fact be valid?
There are many avenues of exploring consent in philosophy. For instance, in the philosophy of sexuality (IEP), consent is tremendously important. So too, in the intersection of morality and bioethics (...
- 2,009
5
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6
answers
301
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Is Group Suffering Worse than Individual Suffering?
There are two jails. Both employ torture of prisoners as a means to gain confessions.
Jail A has one prisoner. One guard tortures him.
Jail B has 1000 prisoners, all of whom are also tortured, each ...
- 4,517
1
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2
answers
205
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Is there a philosophical justification for the dichotomy in discimination law?
In the UK, and in many other countries, it is illegal to discriminate on certain personal characteristics in many circumstances, including employment and accommodation. These characteristics include ...
- 127
3
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2
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294
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In a Just Society, are there any Moral, Illegal Actions
Imagine a perfect legal system, whatever that looks like to you. I don't care what it is, just put it in your head.
There are plenty of examples of moral, legal action that can happen under this ...
- 1,113
-1
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1
answer
238
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Comparing Albert Camus and Karl Marx
My brother is lawyer. He likes reading philosophy and writing about law. He wants to find a source about a conflict ideas of revolution as you know Albert Camus and Karl Marx have. He wants to write ...
- 109
1
vote
3
answers
185
views
If a crime physically cannot be committed again, would applying "Reform instead of Punishment" be necessary?
I think there are 3 main arguments for the imprisonment of criminals:
A) criminals can be locked away for a temporary or indefinite amount of time so they cannot commit another crime again
B) ...
- 111
1
vote
2
answers
287
views
How is Socrates's daimon related to one of Aquinas's laws/views of virtue and justice
In Plato's Apology of Socrates, Socrates talks about having a daimon, a divine being/voice that tells him of things not to do. For Aquinas, what would this be?
- 11
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2
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138
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What is wrong in the reasoning that someone's accidental death is justified by his troubled past? [closed]
It seems to challenge the idea of the justice system, but in a very subtle way. Are there other flaws with this reasoning?
Is the confusion between the idea of a greater power's justice (law of nature,...
3
votes
6
answers
772
views
Innocent until proven guilty [duplicate]
Why is it right?
And why is guilty until proven innocent wrong?
I think I have some kind of basic understanding but hopefully can learn more from your contributions.
- 165
-1
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3
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302
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Why think that retributive justice has an intrinsic value?
Obviously, punishment itself can have an extrinsic value: it may encourage fewer people to offend. But how has anyone argued for the intrinsic, rather than extrinsic, value of retributive justice?
I ...
user38026
0
votes
1
answer
128
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Can responsibility or the lack thereof justify self-defence?
Ryan Cheyney argues that when an innocent Victim defends himself against an Aggressor by killing the Aggressor, he can justify his killing the Aggressor by saying he was not responsible for killing ...
- 113
2
votes
1
answer
199
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Why does the ethical doctrine of double effect presume "the bad consequence is not a means to the good consequence"?
I trust it's obvious why this presumption looks as it is supposed to - "the bad consequence IS a means to the good consequence"?
Consider Herring's example on p. 169 with the surgeon. If the bad ...
user8572
7
votes
7
answers
3k
views
What is to be understood by the phrase "Israel's right to exist"? [closed]
As someone who is interested in the Israeli-Palestinian question one phrase that comes up in the pro-Israeli position is the insistence that the Palestinians recognise '"Israel's right to exist". (In ...
- 48.8k
2
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1
answer
126
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Philosophy of Law, Ethics and Visualization
Slides
Can anyone provide authors or references to material on Ethics, Philosophy of Law or Logic which might help me with the following topic?
My interest is in the study of hierarchies in Ethics and ...
- 83
46
votes
6
answers
16k
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Is there a term for the belief that "if it's legal, it's moral"?
Sometimes I hear arguments that seem to appeal to the fact that something is morally permissible because it is legally permitted. For example:
Abortion is moral because it's legally permitted. ...
- 609
1
vote
1
answer
166
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Do people tend to immorality like every Abrahamic religion told? [closed]
In many sentences of the Quran and other Abrahamic religious books, we are told about many different people who were immoral (thieves, corruption, adultery, etc.) until prophets come and help them ...
- 19
1
vote
3
answers
177
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Aside from Jesus who have put justice (legalism) and friendliness (benevolence) in opposition?
I'm more interested in ancient thinkers. Maybe there are notable people with such views who lived before Jesus.
I will use the term friendliness as a treatment of someone as a potential friend. And a ...
- 2,764
0
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2
answers
112
views
Privacy in the modern context [closed]
In Roman times, 'privacy' had more to do with one’s “private” domain where one is the master of one’s own house rather than the sense we have today where the emphasis is more on one’s private thoughts,...
user36421
4
votes
3
answers
2k
views
10 : 1 - Blackstone's Principle
So, Blackstone's law states that 1 innocent man going to jail is worse than 10 guilty men being set free. This principle seems to be a fundamental principle for all Western governments.
I'm ...
- 153
12
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14
answers
10k
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Why are legal and moral responsibilities said to be different?
It seems in most cases which laws are adopted depends on what ethical views legislators hold. There might be counterexamples when a lawmaker does not adopt laws reflecting own moral views. But I do ...
- 2,764
2
votes
3
answers
163
views
What's wrong with the following argument regarding temporal limits?
Let us suppose there is a limit: you cannot buy something after 10:00PM. From the position of law, of course "cannot" must be taken directly. But from the position of common thinking, people are less ...
- 2,764
5
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6
answers
3k
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Is it moral to obey the law?
To be clear, I am not asking if laws are moral, or even a good approximation for a moral system. We understand that there can be moral laws and immoral laws. For example, the law prohibiting murder is ...
- 702
4
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3
answers
266
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What philosophical books criticizing secular morality are available?
I'm interested in a reading list of critics of secular morality. What authors and books are there on the subject? Can be a criticism of consequentialism, hedonism, utilitarianism, or simply a general ...
- 208
1
vote
5
answers
567
views
When should a state have a right to prohibit abortion?
I am asking about the the relation of law to morality. Specifically my question centres of the intersection of law and morality on the question of abortion.
My personal position on the subject of ...
2
votes
4
answers
516
views
Does a person own his/her body?
To be more specific, i was wondering about the legal aspect of the issue. Does a person own his/her body? If not, who owns it? If yes, then can a person sell themselves into slavery? Prostitution? ...
2
votes
4
answers
2k
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Scenario in which society is better off by someone breaking a rule?
Suppose there is some rule in some social setting/scenario where society (or a relevant smaller set of people) is/are better off when some people violate it. Specifically, we have that (where '>' ...
- 143
3
votes
1
answer
1k
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Is it ever acceptable to go by the principle of "guilty until proven innocent"?
I have been following the news about the current US administration reversing the Obama administration's policies on campus sexual assault.
The two opposing positions can be summed as following:
(A)...
- 27.9k
1
vote
5
answers
1k
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Are speeding tickets ethical?
The logic seems to be that if you drive fast, there is a (considerably) higher probability that you will end up in an accident, which could hurt others. Hence you need to be punished.
What type of ...
- 219
7
votes
7
answers
2k
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What philosophers argued that human rights can be forfeited?
I'm writing an argumentative paper on a controversial topic, and the stance I want to take is that there are certain actions that an individual can take (such as terrorism, child molestation) that ...
- 71
2
votes
2
answers
420
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“Cannot legislate morality” – principled arguments?
Some time ago, I've read a principled argument about how to fully legislate ethics is pragmatically impossible and also itself unethical (this seems like a contradiction, but the relationship between ...
- 5,185
1
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1
answer
224
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Are Laws crafted around personal/individual beliefs ethical? [closed]
For instance.
Gender Identity is defined as what a person believes they are.
Gender Roles is defined as what society constitutes as being a specific gender.
With the latest boom in Gender Identity ...
- 119
0
votes
1
answer
202
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What is the relation of natural rights to human rights ? [closed]
Assuming that there are natural rights and human rights, are they co-extensive - so that to have (all) natural rights is to have (all) human rights and vice versa? Is there any difference in their ...
- 179
6
votes
4
answers
21k
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Who was first to say that justice is "to give each his due"?
May I know which Greek or Roman philosopher is the first to define justice as "giving each his due"? And what arguments have he put forward to justify this definition?
- 253
17
votes
6
answers
3k
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What fallacy dismisses criticism of a bad law with "just don't break it"?
Let's say someone is criticizing the government for instituting some draconian policy, and/or for persecuting people for doing something minor. And the response is:"Just don't do it and you'll be fine"...
4
votes
2
answers
152
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"Intellectual property" of publications
Intellectual property is a broad and ill-defined notion so I want to be clear what I am talking about. I am not talking about someone taking credit for another's published work, surely authors should ...
- 163
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2
answers
429
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Is my interpretation of Objectivism in relation to environmental preservation correct? [closed]
Objectivism states, among the ethical aspects of its philosophy, that no human has the right to physically harm another in even the tiniest portion, except as just punishment. Environmental ...
