Pros:
Morals determine greater social good. The purpose of law is preserving greater social good. With this being said, putting morality in legal decisions brings out a greater social good as a whole.
Fundamental agreement about what is bad and what is good (morality) is essential for the survival of civilization. So morality can be viewed as quintessential judgment factor when it comes to law.
Morality is determined by the majority of civilization. Legal moralism encompasses the views of the majority and thus, is more democratic.
Society is held by common thoughts of individuals. The bondage of such common thoughts is necessary to preserve civilization. Legal moralism upholds the decision of the societal common thoughts.
Cons:
• Infringes individual freedom
• Morals are often religious than not. Thus, groups with different religious orientation than the dominant will not be treated fairly by legal moralism based on the dominant religion.
• Populist views and opinions overshadow less known views and opinions.
• Diversity of thoughts are suppressed
As much as I think legal moralism should be part of the legal process and decisions, in my opinion do not agree that it should be the predominant decision factor in legal system. Legal moralism interferes with the individual freedom and forces individuals to adhere to the predominant social norms. Take for an example, the marriage between two homosexuals are banned in many states. This example clearly infringes the freedom of homosexuals to get married and have a family like heterosexuals.
As time passes, society changes and values change. Legal moralism does not have the flexibility to keep up with the ever changing values and traditions of the society. Hence, I believe that legal moralism is too rigid to accommodate with the changing society, beliefs and values and cannot justify as groundwork for the greater good of society.
You May Also Find These Documents Helpful
-
Law is good. Man, in his needs, has different motivations for law in his society. His secular needs require striving for justice, social stability and punishment. However, in the area of religious influence, law should promote morality so that believers can get close to god or be separated and condemned by god. As man and society evolves, the purpose of law has remained the same – to punish and deter.…
- 878 Words
- 4 Pages
Good Essays -
Because of the theocratic nature of the society, moral laws and state laws are one and…
- 1777 Words
- 8 Pages
Better Essays -
Religion can justify moral principle based on the bible and the myths while in law it is the rules that govern by the people and the philosophy is how they understand it and…
- 857 Words
- 4 Pages
Good Essays -
Society has instilled certain morals, and standards perceived to be acceptable and those perceived to be unacceptable. These acceptable and unacceptable standards are written as laws. Laws are written rules and regulations implemented to the public, in which are to be abided by. When choosing to abide by the designated laws of society, an individual is demonstratesing acts of conformity. The Conformity Perspective view “views humans as creatures of conformity who want to do the right thing.” (Bartol & Bartol, 4) Theory– human creatures beings inherently want to conform to laws and regulations to do the “right” thing and it is inherently within him or her to conform to the requirements of the law. Human beingsAn individual are basicallyessentially will people individuals’ who choose a course of action that the majority favors. TheA few main reasons as toing waywhy an individual wills chose to conform is (1) to gain acceptance; (2) to achieve societal/group goals; (3) to achieve personal…
- 3650 Words
- 15 Pages
Better Essays -
Laws in our society are supposed to keep us safe and help us make good decisions, but what if those laws go against our moral judgements? Decisions are often based on what a person feels is right and what society deems to be correct. Laws help make the world feel safer, but they can also stop people from doing what they think is right. Making decisions based on morality can often have adverse effects, but making these decisions can help a person identify themselves and their own moral compass. In Mark Twain’s…
- 876 Words
- 4 Pages
Good Essays -
Legality based on obedience of a law that gives detail to an action or belief it also a certain detail of one’s actions as well. Morality is a way one shows principle, honor, virtue, decency, that promotes a safe and healthy way of life for everyone. I feel that there is a difference amongst the two and that being legality will place value and not let one learn from mistakes and set themselves up for failure and won’t be…
- 670 Words
- 3 Pages
Satisfactory Essays -
It is clear that there is no universal standard for moral reasoning not with culture, religion, and…
- 589 Words
- 3 Pages
Good Essays -
From the origin of Western philosophical thought, there has always been an interest in moral laws . As Hume points out in A Treatise of Human Nature, ¡§morality is a subject that interests us above all others.¡¨ Originally, thoughts of how to live were centered on the issue of having the most satisfying life with ¡§virtue governing one¡¦s relations to others¡¨, as written by J. B. Schneewind in Modern Moral Philosophy. Nevertheless, the view that there is one way to live that is best for everyone and the view that morality is determined by God came to be questioned, and it is this that led to the emergence of modern moral philosophy.…
- 1637 Words
- 7 Pages
Powerful Essays -
Law and ethics are topics that are closely related. Both subjects govern human behavior and reflect the society’s values and beliefs. Many laws derive from ethical principles, but not all ethical principles are laws. Law is a body of enforceable rules governing relationships among individuals and between individuals and their society. Law accumulates the ethics of the society, reflecting what is considered right and wrong in communities, towns, states, and countries. While similar to law, ethics are moral principles and values applied to social behavior. The most distinct difference between the two is enforceability. If the rules of the law are broken, there are specific consequences enforceable by the governing body, whereas failing to comply with ethical standards is a matter for one’s own conscious. Even much of law derives from ethical principles, a gray area still remains between the two. Something can be considered legal although it may not always be seen as ethical.…
- 2149 Words
- 9 Pages
Powerful Essays -
As we understand, law regulates behavior. But as Gustafson notes, law also expressed the majority collective vision of social goods, ills, and moral values. The law is defined by and maintained by the “norms.” The inherent purpose of the law is to marginalize and punish those…
- 606 Words
- 3 Pages
Good Essays -
Morality is important for the functioning of a healthy society. David Hume would not dispute this point. It helps people control behavior that is destructive to individual and the society as whole, bring stability and peace. Adversely, during times of conflict, moral authority is often claimed, inciting a greater wish to obliterate he “evil” enemies. Claims of moral right are bandied about indiscriminately by people of all cultures and walks in life, and, often, many of these views on morality contradict each other.…
- 845 Words
- 4 Pages
Good Essays -
Legalism is only concerned with the laws and uses them for a basis in deciding the most moral action to take. It is deontological approach to morality. In Christianity a fundamentalist could be classed as a legalistic as they would follow the 10 commandments to the word and never break them. Fletcher disagreed with the idea that a law should always be the moral thing to believe in terms of ethical decisions. For example it was once a rule to stone the oldest son of a family if they did not listen to the demands of the father- legalism would view this as correct but by anyone’s plain judgment there are errors in this way of thinking, this is what Fletcher believed. Legalism does accept and take account for exceptions and special factors and always try to update rules to cover these exceptions, however Fletcher viewed this as complicated and just a creation of rules, sub-rules and regulations creating a too constricted way of living. Fletcher rejected legalism because he believed rules and laws caused too many problems, he also believed that the idea that one rule had to outlaw another in certain circumstances would mean that there would be too many rules to remember and a book would have to be created full of contradicting rules to suit…
- 910 Words
- 4 Pages
Good Essays -
Society is not based on law, that is a legal fiction, rather law must be based on society;…
- 3533 Words
- 15 Pages
Powerful Essays -
Morality is woven into to every stitch of the fabric of our society. From our criminal justice system to our foreign policy, from throwing a surprise party to honking at a car that cuts you off, virtually every one of our voluntary actions must first undergo some sort of moral processing that tells us whether it is okay or not to do. As expected, this moral processing varies from culture to culture and is the basis of many of the culturally specific traditions and laws that we see today. However, this moral disagreement across cultures is so distinct that many intellectuals, especially in this current generation, have elected to believe that there are no absolute laws of right and wrong but rather that human morality is simply a projection…
- 1898 Words
- 8 Pages
Good Essays -
Morality serves two universal human needs. It regulates both conflicts of interest between people and those within the individual born of different desires and drives that cannot be satisfied at the same time (Wong, D. 1993). Natural Law and Relativism are two opposing approaches to morality. In comparing and contrasting the two approaches I will also briefly outline the background and principles of each. Natural law can be defined as a set of principles, based on what are assumed to be the permanent characteristics of human nature, that can serve as a standard for evaluating conduct. It is considered fundamentally unchanging and universally applicable. Natural law holds that the basis for moral law, for what people should and should not do, is to be found in our nature as human beings. This means that what we are as human beings contains indications of how we should live (Harrington, D. 2009). Although the concept of natural law has been expressed differently by various philosophers all descriptions have a common thread; that man must live according to his true self (Varga, 1978).…
- 2320 Words
- 10 Pages
Better Essays