Is every action that is legal also ethical? If I will base my answers on the four Philosophical theories, I should be able to say that anything that is legal is supposed to be ethical. Like if I will base my answer on the theories of Utilitarianism, then a legal action is ethical since the consequences of the legal action to the people directly or indirectly affected by the legal action is more favorable than unfavorable. But if we will think about it based on actual experiences, any legal action is not always ethical. Let us take for example slavery. There are some countries dating back to history and up to modern times where slavery is legal. If we will use the Fairness approach to judge this action, then we can say that slavery is ethically wrong because it does not treat all people the same.
The same is true if we are to ask if all ethical action is legal. For me, the answer here is also no. An action can be ethically correct as long as it conforms to the norms set by society as what they believe is right but it doesn’t always follow that it conforms to the regulations set by the law. Let us take for example one practical application. You run a traffic light and disobey traffic rules because you are in a hurry to rush your son to the hospital. This is illegal but is ethical because base on theories of Duty Ethics, we have a duty towards other people, and saving a person’s life is one of those duties.
So if I were to ask, what would be the more relevant guide for our actions, then I would say Legal (but this is with a premise that our government system is not corrupt). I can say that ethics laid the foundation for law but Ethics is bias as the decision if an action is ethically right or wrong is base on a lot of things like culture, religion, the people directly affected by the action, by virtues, and the like. There are a lot of factors to consider before you can come up with a non-debatable answer if an action is ethical or not. Whereas something legal is concrete, it is solid. The laws has been passed and enacted because it is for the good of the majority. The lawmakers have set the law for the people to follow and if you break the law, then it is illegal. A person can be force to follow what is legal but you cannot force a person to be ethical because that is a choice for the person to make and even if a person does not act ethically, then that person will not be sanctioned by the law.
Sometimes, it is a choice between right and right. But if I will be face with that dilemma, I think I would choose Legal.
The same is true if we are to ask if all ethical action is legal. For me, the answer here is also no. An action can be ethically correct as long as it conforms to the norms set by society as what they believe is right but it doesn’t always follow that it conforms to the regulations set by the law. Let us take for example one practical application. You run a traffic light and disobey traffic rules because you are in a hurry to rush your son to the hospital. This is illegal but is ethical because base on theories of Duty Ethics, we have a duty towards other people, and saving a person’s life is one of those duties.
So if I were to ask, what would be the more relevant guide for our actions, then I would say Legal (but this is with a premise that our government system is not corrupt). I can say that ethics laid the foundation for law but Ethics is bias as the decision if an action is ethically right or wrong is base on a lot of things like culture, religion, the people directly affected by the action, by virtues, and the like. There are a lot of factors to consider before you can come up with a non-debatable answer if an action is ethical or not. Whereas something legal is concrete, it is solid. The laws has been passed and enacted because it is for the good of the majority. The lawmakers have set the law for the people to follow and if you break the law, then it is illegal. A person can be force to follow what is legal but you cannot force a person to be ethical because that is a choice for the person to make and even if a person does not act ethically, then that person will not be sanctioned by the law.
Sometimes, it is a choice between right and right. But if I will be face with that dilemma, I think I would choose Legal.
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