BLaw 210 1st Edition Lecture 4 Outline of Last Lecture II. Quiz on SyllabusOutline of Current Lecture III. Philosophical GroundingsIV. Avoiding Ethical DilemmasCurrent LectureAssigned Readings: Cases in the back of the book after the blue tab, Declaration of IndependenceII. Philosophical Groundings of Ethics – useful for Ethics Quiza. 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 non-earthly of the same.b. Ethical Egoism Theory: Do what is in your own self-interesti. Ayn Rand1. 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 Hobbes1. Natural equality for all personsiii. Adam Smith1. Self-Interest2. The Theory of Moral Sentimentsc. Utilitarianism: What is right is determined by what most benefits the majority.i. Jeremy Benthamii. John Stuart Milld. Categorical Imperativei. Immanuel Kant1. Do what’s right because you want to, not out of obligation2. Do not take from others3. “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 JusticeThese 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, propertyii. John Rawls: distributive justice theoryf. Rights Theory: Distributive Justice & Private Propertyi. 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: Rationalizinga. “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.