Ethics also known as moral philosophy, is a branch of philosophy concerned with the study of questions of right and wrong and how we ought to live. Ethics involves making moral judgments about what is right or wrong, good or bad. Right and wrong are qualities or moral judgments we assign to actions and conduct. (Ethics and criminal justice). When it comes to the criminal justice field, ethics signify ‘a value system’ or ‘a set of moral principles’ (Braswell, McCarthy, & McCarthy, 2008).
Perhaps more so than Emotivists, Prescriptivists see ethical language as fairly meaningful. They believe that the terms used are able to create absolute rules that everyone ought to follow. It would seem that ethical language is seen by many as very meaningful, although for varying reasons. However agent centred theories such as Virtue Ethics would argue that our main focus of morality should be on becoming as virtuous as possible, rather than deciding what is meant by ethical language. Therefore it would seem that perhaps morality should be more focussed on individuals’ actions rather then defining what is meant by ‘good’ and
Criminal justice as rational is a perspective of the criminal justice system that adopts the utilitarian belief that human beings are reasonable and rational creatures. A utilitarian study means that everything is valuable; it has a utility or useful purpose, (Gorkoff, Personal Communication October 2012.) Jeremy Bentham focuses on the principles of utility. In his writing, ‘An Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation,’ he shows that people have two measures of action; ones that determine pain and those that bring pleasure, both governments and individuals consider these actions when creating, maintaining, enforcing and following laws, (Gorkoff, Personal Communication October 2012.) Bentham states that; “pleasures then, and the avoidance of pains, are the ends which the legislator has in view,” (Bentham, pg 106), meaning that crime and action are determined by the end goal of whether it brings pleasure or pain to the individual.
My decision is virtuous as the individual was creating an unsafe environment, and I was following a moral code. If I were to issue a citation for every circumstance, it would be seen as deontological ethics. Conclusion In conclusion, through the comparison and dissimilarities of the three theories one can gain further understanding of the importance that ethics and social responsibility. The similarities between the three theories represent the good in people, their strive for excellence and justification. The differences in the three theories begin with the ethics and morality.
Ethical Naturalism is a cognitive theory of Meta ethics which holds the belief that ethical statements are the same as non ethical ones, so can be verified or falsified in the same way. For example those looking to find out if euthanasia is right or wrong could look at evidence in order to verify or falsify the statement. If this evidence led to the conclusion that euthanasia ends the suffering of an individual then they could argue that euthanasia is right. This can be used as an argument for the meaningfulness of ethical language as being able to prove what is right or wrong can teach us how to act in an ethical way. G.E Moore argued against Ethical Naturalism as he believed that defining concepts such as ‘good’ are impossible and any attempt to define ‘good’ is to commit The Naturalistic Fallacy.
Those who oppose cognitivists are called non cognitivists and they believe that when someone makes a moral statement they are not describing the world, but they are merely expressing their feelings and opinions, they believe that moral statements are not objective therefore they cannot be verified as true or false. In this essay I will be discussing the multiple branches of cognitive theories and non cognitive theories in order to answer the Janus-like question whether or not moral statements truly hold objective meaning. Ethical naturalism is just one branch of a cognitive theory in which naturalists believe that ethical statements are the same as non-ethical ones, meaning they are all factual and can
Meta ethics is the study of ethical language; however it differs from normative ethics. Normative ethics determines what is “good” and “bad”, whereas Meta ethics determines the meanings of the terms “good” and “bad”. There are two ethical approaches to Meta ethics, one being Cognitivism. Cognitivism is the view that ethical language can be known and understood objectively, through empirical experience or intuition. The second approach is Non-Cognitivism, this is the view that ethical language cannot be known and understood, due to subjectivity.
It would be absurd to think that there is a need to criminalize a conduct if an individual’s feelings are hurt or an individual is offended by another’s actions. The harm done must be towards protected interests and conduct that are not just offensive in nature. In response to the Report, Devlin argued that criminal law was not just for the protection of individuals but also for society as a whole. The society, Devlin felt, was a community of shared ideas about how people should live their lives. As such, the law is entitled to create laws that protect the society even if it means infringing on an individual freedom to make his or her own decisions.
In the adversarial system the defense attorney has the duty to act faithfully and enthusiastically on behalf of the defendant. This means that the defense attorney has the obligation to make sure he or she searches favorable evidence to invalidate any unfavorable evidence of the defendant. The defense attorney must also exercise a favorable outcome for the defendant. In this type of system the judge has the option to set a certain amount of time on any specific case. Both the defendant and the prosecutor need to choose which path is best for the defendant’s best interest.
Writing it all out would also be beneficial for two reasons. Frist this would allow the counselor to tactilely and concretely see the options of action he or she might take. Second, such documentation would be beneficial in its inclusion into the clients file, should such documentation prove needful in the event of a lawsuit should something go amiss. Using such a process shows that the counselor put real thought into the problem and considered all options and consequences and chose to the best of his or her ability the course of action that would do the least amount of damage to the client. The Process of Ethical Decision Making One of the purposes of this class was to equip new and soon-to-be counselors with the knowledge and skills needed to make to think through ethical problems and arrive at a solution that will be in the best interest of one’s client.