The difference between ethical and legal is that legal concerns are based on formal, enforceable rules, while ethical concerns involve moral principles that may not have legal consequences3.
Legal issues are those that are defined by law, while ethical issues are those that are based on personal values2. Something can be legal but not ethical5, and likewise something might be considered ethical, but not legal. Usually people will find that things are legal but not ethical more often than ethical, but illegal, however, it does happen from time to time.
Ethics can be challenging as each individual my have different personal values and beliefs than the person next to them. Ethics are often defined based upon personal up bringing and religion, however this isn’t always the case. Assuming that everyone believes like you do, can cause for strife and conflict.
Examples of Legal vs Ethical Debates
For example, abortion is legal in many countries, but whether or not it is ethical is a matter of personal opinion¹. In the United States, with the recent 2022 Supreme Court decision, it turned the legality over to the states. Due to the 50 states each being different, you can find people who believe that the laws are either correct, or incorrect. You will also find that different states have different legal definitions and therefore what is legal in one state may not be in another, and vice versa.
Some people will argue that an unborn child is every bit a child, and should be protected as much as any born child (or adult), and thus argue that abortion at any point during pregnancy should be prevented. Other people will say that no, it is not a person, and therefore has no protections, and all legal responsibility should belong to the mother allowing abortion until birth. While in reality, most people believe that the correct ethical response and legal decision should be somewhere between these two extremes.
Another example is that it is legal to sell tobacco products in most countries, although some restrictions may apply. But some people may consider it unethical because of the health risks associated with smoking¹. How is your behavior modified based upon your ethical belief?
- Would you be opposed to working someplace that made tobacco products?
- Would it prevent you from working someplace that sold tobacco products, such as most grocery stores, gas stations, etc?
- Would you shop at a store which sold tobacco products?
- Would you work to actively stop the creation and sale of tobacco products to minors? To adults?
What about alcohol? In the United States we attempted to prohibit it due to perceived dangers, but many argue it caused more problems and it helped, and a few years later we re-legalized it. However, during that time, there has been more people killed due to drunk driving, than before, partially because of how many years cars had been around at that time. (While drunk driving deaths have been on the decline for the past 40 years, they still contribute to over 10,000 deaths each year, and many argue that drunk driving hasn’t decreased, its the safety features of cars that is saving people’s lives.)7
Drawing an Ethical Line
One challenge of Ethical issues, is that some people will find them to be on a sliding scale. So in our example before, alcohol might be OK, but drunk driving probably isn’t. Where one draws the line is the challenge.
Even in extreme situations, this sliding scale still occurs, and sometimes is even more noticeable. For example, almost everyone will say that killing someone is wrong. However, many people will want to qualify the statement “don’t kill people.” They may say it is justified if it is to stop an innocent person being killed.
Other’s will move that statement further, saying that punishment for certain crimes should be punishable by death. But which crimes? In other cases, some may make a case for Euthanasia etc.
Personal Beliefs
This course is not designed to convince you of my ethics, but to get you to think about how we each need to proactively think ethically before situations arise, instead of responding to a situation after it has occurred.
When we look at ethical dilemmas technology, you may also feel that you need to change your own actions. This is a perfectly normal when you look and examine new information. However, not everyone will feel the same way. Realize that this does not necessarily make the bad, just different.
The Challenge of Ethics
One of the real challenges to ethics, is that it is often something we do, but don’t always know why. Maybe it is a belief that is passed on through a religious, or anti-religious, system. Maybe it’s something that your parents, a teacher, or someone similar, taught you early in life.
Sometimes people will accuse you of being wrong because you can’t define why you believe something. This of course doesn’t mean that you are wrong, it just means you may not have thought about why you believe that. In order to argue your beliefs, it is helpful to understand why they exist.
Ethics are something that also changes between cultures and through time. Sometimes we get more restrictions in what we as a society allow, and sometimes we loosen up what was previously restricted. We’re not going to focus on historical events for the most part. Since our goal is to focus on more modern technological feats.
We’re also not going to focus on those areas which there is clear delineation in being good or bad. No one is going to argue that stealing the life savings from the elderly is morally right, or that rigging an election should be OK. Likewise, we’re going to open state that bring clean fresh water to communities is a good thing. Because, while those things can be argued… and yes they can… it is at a higher and more convoluted level of ethics than what we want to get into.
In this course, we want to focus on the undecided, and the grey areas. Thinking about why we believe that, and start to see the separation between techno-hype, and the realistic uses and miss-uses of technology. That way when confronted about if a technology should be used and what our take is on it, we can give a meaningful answer.
Results
As we review these technologies, it might be easy to get overwhelmed. I hope that does not happen. Rather, I hope you establish a stand as to how you believe they should be used. Much like our previous smoking example you might choose some, or none, of the following from the list:
- I fully support this, and believe it is a good thing. With which I hope to use it myself, and/or benefit from it’s use.
- I support a limited use of this technology.
- I will not personally use this, but I think others should be allowed to use it.
- I think this should regulated, either loosely or possibly heavily.
- This should be outlawed, and I will work to support political parities and candidates who can prevent it’s use and/or misuse.
I hope this helps. Let me know if you have any other questions.
References
(1) Difference Between Legal and Ethical. https://askanydifference.com/difference-between-legal-and-ethical/.
(2) Legal Vs Ethical In Business Examples – isalegal. https://isalegal.info/legal-vs-ethical-in-business-examples/.
(3) What is the Difference Between Legal & Ethical Standards?. https://study.com/academy/lesson/what-is-the-difference-between-legal-ethical-standards.html.
(4) Difference between Legal and Ethical – Difference Betweenz. https://differencebetweenz.com/difference-between-legal-and-ethical/.
(5) Difference Between Legal and Ethical. http://www.differencebetween.net/language/words-language/difference-between-legal-and-ethical/.
(6) Difference between Legal and Ethical – Difference.Guru. https://difference.guru/difference-between-legal-and-ethical/.
(7) DUI Statistics and Trends: 2022 Annual Report – SafeHome.org https://www.safehome.org/resources/dui-statistics/
Concepts on the Difference in Legal vs Ethical Issues was originally found on Access 2 Learn
