Questions tagged [philosophy-of-law]
144 questions
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Is there a term for the belief that "if it's legal, it's moral"?
Sometimes I hear arguments that seem to appeal to the fact that something is morally permissible because it is legally permitted. For example:
Abortion is moral because it's legally permitted. Killing two year olds is immoral because we have laws…
Thunderforge
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What fallacy dismisses criticism of a bad law with "just don't break it"?
Let's say someone is criticizing the government for instituting some draconian policy, and/or for persecuting people for doing something minor. And the response is:"Just don't do it and you'll be fine". This is a one-size-fits-all "argument" that…
Legend of Overfiend
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Is Nozick's Criticism of Rawls correct?
When Nozick says distributive justice 'marks a shift from the classical liberal notion of self ownership to a notion of property rights in others', is this a fair criticism of Rawls and distributive justice?
fuzz
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What are prominent attacks of Rawls' "veil of ignorance" argument? Which liberal philosophers have advanced it?
In John Rawls' A Theory of Justice, he argues that morally, society should be constructed politically as if we were all behind a veil of ignorance; that is, the rules and precepts of society should be constructed as if we had no a priori knowledge…
Uticensis
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Is there a demarcation problem for religions?
So far, all of the philosophy of religion I have read focuses on the questions of God's existence and on the problem of evil. It seems to me that just as important would be the question of what a rigorous definition of religion is. It seems to me…
Alexander S King
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Besides state punishment, are there any other reasons why one should not do crimes?
Committing crime can result in punishment by the judiciary.
Assuming extreme skepticism and that there is no flawless proof of an absolute goodness, are there any reasons that why one should not do criminal activities, if doing so can lead to a…
An_Elephant
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If the "right to life" is denied in abortion, isn't it also denied in the use of the death penalty?
Many people who support death penalty are also against abortion, and vice-versa.
What is the moral difference between the two? In both cases, isn't the "right to life" of another being violated?
What are the major ethical or philosophical positions…
max0005
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Is it ethical for governments to compel their citizens to lead healthy lives?
Dr Peter Agre(MD) recently said this at the Lindau Meeting (Original full text from Ars Technica)
Agre also noted that many of the
biggest public health problems are a
result of lifestyle choices. Cigarette
smoking is a major cause of
…
Chad
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Why are legal and moral responsibilities said to be different?
It seems in most cases which laws are adopted depends on what ethical views legislators hold. There might be counterexamples when a lawmaker does not adopt laws reflecting own moral views. But I do not think it is common at all, otherwise we can…
rus9384
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Should I ever be influenced by an argument that I can't understand?
[Edit: Please read the whole question, or at least the new "N.b" paragraph, that I added just now to the end of the question, before attempting to answer it.]
I'm asking this because recently Conifold addressed two posts to me in the Symposium,…
Matthew Christopher Bartsh
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Should attempted murder be a lesser crime than murder?
It is often the case that a person convicted of attempted murder receives a lesser punishment than if they had been successful in committing the crime. As far as I am aware, there are four main reasons for punishing criminals: 1) deterrence 2)…
JLA
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What are the fundamental philosophical questions reflected in the American legal system?
I am interested in the link between philosophy and legal systems, in particular the American legal system (and English heritage) and the underlying ideas in play.
At a high-level, it seems to me causation, intent, burden of proof, no cruel or…
DuckMaestro
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Which if any contemporary philosophers have written about the potential negative effects of "reverse" discrimination?
In many cases when I talk about how I think, I find it useful to abstract the messy real sources of inspiration into a pure dialogue with my friend Matt. In this case, Matt and I were talking about entrance requirements into college and the practice…
davidlowryduda
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German philosophers on (french) revolution
I'm reading an essay written by the Italian philosopher Remo Bodei, where he examines the thoughts of some German philosopher on the french revolution and revolutions in general.
According to him, Kant stated that citizens do not have the right to…
Nicol
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What is to be understood by the phrase "Israel's right to exist"?
As someone who is interested in the Israeli-Palestinian question one phrase that comes up in the pro-Israeli position is the insistence that the Palestinians recognise '"Israel's right to exist". (In fact this is one of the key conditions that the…
Mozibur Ullah
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