Can something be legal but unethical?

Answer 1

One easy example is pollution of cars. Obviously, the fossil fuels used by cars are bad for the environment but driving a car is definitely legal. Another example is smoking cigarettes. Although bad for you and others around you, smoking is legal.

Answer 2

It is legal to drink alcohol if you are old enough, but unlawful to drive under the influence. It is legal to possess alcohol, but in many areas it is unlawful to have an open container in your vehicle. You may be able to legally own a firearm, but it is not lawful to fire it in populated areas.

Answer 3

Yes, in principle. You could adhere to an ethical framework that is based/built upon a flawed moral premise. Next, however, define moral.

In practice, morality being as relative as it turns out to be (cultural, religious differences, etc), it's difficult to pin down just about any moral code as being flawed (plenty argue for the morality of pure self-interest, for example - wrongly I would say).

Given that, what is truly immoral? Ethics in one sense is a way to Dodge that question. Follow a code, consistently, and you're ethical.

Answer 4

Yes. We try to limit the ways that can happen by making good and ethical laws, but there are going to be holes and exceptions sometimes. Lots of our great literature explores these possibilities. Robin Hood was theoretically ethical but not legal, fighting a corrupt regime that didn't allow poor people to survive. Similarly, we learn of resistance movements in Nazi Germany, or read Les Miserables, where the protagonist goes to jail for years just because he stole a loaf of bread to feed his starving family.

It is a very complex and somewhat slippery concept, however. For instance, many terrorists believe that what they are doing is ethical. So do many vigilantes, or even serial killers. Going outside the law is usually a very bad idea. Changing the law, and working within the system is usually a much better way to effect change. (For instance, rioting doesn't usually change things, but supreme court cases do.)

Living a life that is ethically AND legally above board is the best choice, but of course there are exceptions where you have to take an ethical stand that might not be legal... if you choose to do so, just remember that you are also choosing the consequences of disobeying the law, and make sure that it matters to you that much.

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True - an action can be ethical but not legal - especially if a law is unjust or immoral. It was ethical for people to hide Jews from the Nazis during the Second World War, but it was most certainly not legal for them to do it. After the Fugitive Slave Act was passed by the US Congress, it was ethical for people to assist runaway slaves via the Underground Railroad but it was effectively illegal.

Note however that it is far more common for something to be legal but not ethical than ethical but not legal because - so far - the majority of people try to be ethical most of the time.

Answer 5

Yes, for example, alcohol is legal, but immoral.

Answer 6

Yes, unfortunately, not all unethical acts are illegal.