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Module 2 Morality and The Law

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18 views16 pages

Module 2 Morality and The Law

Uploaded by

zaphneathpeneah
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Morality and the Law

Learning Objectives
Define morals and morality
Discuss two theories of morality
Understanding the concept of moral
codes
Understanding the concept of moral
standards
Relating law and morality
The Concept of Morality

• In order to understand the term morality it


is very important to define the term
moral(s).
• Morals are actions of what is right or wrong
depending on God/ religion, society or
culture.
• Morality is a set of rules for right conduct,
a system used to modify and regulate our
behavior.
The Concept of Morality

Morality includes virtues like:


– Love for others
– Compassion.
– Desire for justice.
Morality …
• It builds character traits in individuals.
• It is group-based in the sense that it is a set of shared
rules, principles and duties applicable to a group/society
and independent of religion.
• It has no reference to social standing of individuals in the
group
• It is influenced by other factors like:
– Time
– place
Moral Codes
• Rules or norms within a group or society
for what is proper behavior for the members
• Shared and behavioral patterns (for survival
of the group/society)
• There are some cultural-free and timeless
moral codes
• Moral codes exert control over actions of
members of that society or group
• Compliance/adherence to the group’s moral
code is almost involuntary
Moral Standards
• A moral standard is a special moral norm that
guides and enforces policy
• Standards consists of:

– Enforcement of moral codes


– Self-judgment (Guilt)
• Moral standards lax when enforcement and self-
judgment decline
Guilt and Conscience
• Morality as the system that sets standards for virtuous
conduct also contains judgment and enforcement
mechanisms
• Guilt is an internal judging and enforcement
mechanism that consists of:
– Self-judging and punishing oneself for not living up
to the moral standards
– Self-forgiveness based on one’s set of “ moral
standards”
• Conscience is the capacity and ability to self-judge
based on self moral standards
Guilt and Conscience …
• Conscience is motivated by one’s:
– Pride
– Compassion
– Empathy
– Love
– Personal identification
• Conscience initiates one’s guilt feeling
Law
• Rules of conduct or actions recognized by
customs or decreed by a formal body and
enforceable by some instrument.
• We obey two types of laws: Natural and
Conventional
Natural Law
• Unwritten but universal
• consists of rights:
– Self-defense (preservation)
– Individual property
– Liberty
• It is a higher form of human law, therefore, independent
of human preferences and applies to all rational
creatures of nature
• Before organized human societies, humans existed
because of natural law.
• Civilization is based on it.
Conventional Law
• It is a system of rules created by and for human
beings or manmade law – through, though not
always, public deliberations e.g. Law of nature
• It varies from society to society
• Its purpose is to:
– Protect human life, property and liberty.
– prescribe a system or punishments for unlawful
acts – Penal Code
The Penal Code

• Laws are always useless unless there is a


right to punish and an enforcement
mechanism is in place.
• The penal code is a system of set rules
prescribing punishment for unlawful acts.
• The punishment system consists of three
functions (Retributive, Corrective and
Deterrent)
The Penal Code
• Retributive—by paying back the criminal for the
crime committed, re-establishing the equal balance
of justice and re-asserting the authority.
• Corrective—by trying to improve the offender; in
other words, rehabilitating the offender back into
society.
• Deterrent—by trying to prevent similar actions in
the future by the offender, and indeed the offender
community, that is, forewarning the offender
community by the state, which is the law maker.
Relating morality and the law to
Computing
• The computing society comprises of experts and
novices. Morals guide the way we behave in a
particular society.
• In the world of computing for example, using an
email requires one to have an ID and password.
• Giving your password to another person may not
be unlawful but it is not morally acceptable in
the computing society because of security
implications.
Relating morality and the law to computing
• IT professionals are expected to respect
patent rights of developers of the different
computing technologies.
• Failure to do so may imply violating patent
rights of the producer of such technologies
hence bringing in legal implications.
Morality and the Law
• Laws are derived from moral codes

Questions
1. In Roman Catholicism, morality derives from God because God
created man and nature and that the ultimate sanction for
immorality is the loss of a relationship with God. How does your
religion relate to the morality of your society?
2. What values are essential for a person that would allow him/her to
starve rather than to steal?
3. Name a few of what you consider to be unjust laws and sometimes
injustice legal systems that imprisons innocent people

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