BLaw 210 1st Edition Lecture 4 Outline of Last Lecture II Quiz on Syllabus Outline of Current Lecture III Philosophical Groundings IV Avoiding Ethical Dilemmas Current Lecture Assigned Readings Cases in the back of the book after the blue tab Declaration of Independence II Philosophical Groundings of Ethics useful for Ethics Quiz a Divine Command Theory Natural Law What is right is determined by a god i What is religion An organized worship and belief in a higher power that somehow controls earthly behaviors experiences etc and nonearthly of the same b Ethical Egoism Theory Do what is in your own self interest i Ayn Rand 1 Be selfish in personal gain survival etc but not to the extent of infringing on another s rights draw the lines in the sand ii Thomas Hobbes 1 Natural equality for all persons iii Adam Smith 1 Self Interest 2 The Theory of Moral Sentiments c Utilitarianism What is right is determined by what most benefits the majority i Jeremy Bentham ii John Stuart Mill d Categorical Imperative i Immanuel Kant 1 Do what s right because you want to not out of obligation 2 Do not take from others 3 In law a man is guilty when he violates the rights of others In ethics he is guilty if he only thinks of doing so e The Contractarianists and Justice These notes represent a detailed interpretation of the professor s lecture GradeBuddy is best used as a supplement to your own notes not as a substitute i John Locke Clean slate what can be commonly agreed upon social contracts life liberty property ii John Rawls distributive justice theory f Rights Theory Distributive Justice Private Property i Robert Nozick Essentially responsible for the Entitlement Rights theory 1 Wrote Anarchy State and Uptopia g Moral Relativism Circumstantial Ethics Ethics are morally subjective What is right to one may be wrong to another and vice versa We should tolerate others behaviors even if we do not agree because no one is objectively right or wrong h Virtue Ethics Plato Aristotle Relies on one s character to determine what is ethically right or wrong How you view right wrong demonstrates your personal character virtue III How we avoid Ethical Dilemmas Rationalizing a Everybody else does it b If we don t do it someone else will c That s the way it has always been done d We ll wait until the lawyers tell us it s wrong e It doesn t really hurt anyone f The system is unfair g It s a gray area h I was just following orders i We all don t share the same ethics j If you think this is bad you should have seen k Etc