Ethics has its roots in moral philosophy and is concerned about the right or the good way to carry out actions.
(McGuinness, 2015, p 7)
Ethics underpins the moral values of our society and links closely with both religion and the law. If you look at it from this perspective, you realise that it is such an intrinsic part of our lives; it is something that we cannot and should not avoid.
Various theoretical interpretations of ethics are given in Reader 5 and I happened to be interested by the ideas proposed by philosopher Thomas Hobbes; as described in his book Leviathan (1651). He was one of the first theorists to support the idea of a Social Contract; bringing together natural and legal rights to create social harmony. Natural rights are what Hobbes, amongst others, used to justify the establishment of a Social Contract around the mid 17th century.
I like the thought that moral decency links directly to social harmony. That the conventional man can be shaped by abiding to social rules whilst maintaining good, healthy morals which ensure an avoidance of conflict. We as humans can choose to uphold high morals and encourage modesty and decency within our society. In terms of ethics, we must be accepting of different cultures, religions, professionals etc., and find ways to coordinate personal and social morals; as highlighted by the Hart-Devlin debate raised during the mid 20th century.
Below is a link to an interesting article written some 30 years on from the Hart-Devlin debate. It is wordy but, after a brief scan through, it raises some interesting discussions from the time of the debate which, to a certain extent, are still relevant to our society today.
http://scholarship.law.wm.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1563&context=wmlr
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I have been thinking about the moral compass of a legal professional and how this will come into my professional inquiry. A consulting professional, such as a solicitor, will have very specific social morals relating to their line of work and their personal morals will run alongside this and create their individual characteristics. In terms of the desired characteristics of a solicitor, I would want someone who was:
Communicative
Trustworthy
Intelligent
Fair
Compassionate
These are just a few of the terms that could be applied to a well-rounded legal professional. I can imagine it to be difficult for them to adhere to their professional code whilst upholding their personal ethics; especially if they are dealing with a difficult client, a challenging case or are the defendant of a criminal. Ultimately their loyalty is to their client; this is the expectation placed upon them by employers and as society as a whole.
(http://www.picturequotes.com/morality-quotes)
The quote in the image above is, in my opinion, a truthful one. I can particularly relate this to my professional inquiry in that, as highlighted in discussions I have had with a few BAPP students; dancers may often feel afraid to pursue legal action as they feel it pervades the moral grounds of their profession. A dancer has to be committed, dedicated, loyal to their work and to their employer/colleagues. They have a duty to perform to the best of their ability and a responsibility to those around them to maintain a safe environment. Dancer's may feel that by pursuing an issue that they may have with their employer, especially if they brought in external help (such as legal aid), that they were somehow betraying that employer and causing them-self harm in terms of their reputation/future progress in that particular dance company or perhaps elsewhere.
Dancers like to make a good impression. They like to come across as hard-working and determined in all that they do. But I would not like to think that, if being taken advantage of, a dancer was unable to receive the help that they needed and stand up for their personal morals whilst still respecting their professional ethics. Courage is an incredible asset to any individual and being able to apply it to both the personal ethics and professional codes of an area of expertise is an invaluable asset to have. Moral courage is a scary thing, but without it social change for the greater good would not occur. If no-one chose to speak out and initiate change, we would be standing still in a non-developmental society; a society that would perhaps cause us to feel misrepresented, under-appreciated and down-trodden.
This is certainly food for thought!
Lil' Blogger
Bibliography
Anon (2016) Morality quotes, sourced from http://www.picturequotes.com/morality-quotes accessed 27.03.16
Dworkin, Gerald (1999) William and Mary Law Review, Devlin was right: Law and the enforcement of morality, sourced from http://scholarship.law.wm.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1563&context=wmlr accessed 27.03.16
McGuinness, Rosemary (2015) Reader 5 Professional Ethics BAPP Arts, WBS 3630 (Module 2), Middlesex University
Various theoretical interpretations of ethics are given in Reader 5 and I happened to be interested by the ideas proposed by philosopher Thomas Hobbes; as described in his book Leviathan (1651). He was one of the first theorists to support the idea of a Social Contract; bringing together natural and legal rights to create social harmony. Natural rights are what Hobbes, amongst others, used to justify the establishment of a Social Contract around the mid 17th century.
I like the thought that moral decency links directly to social harmony. That the conventional man can be shaped by abiding to social rules whilst maintaining good, healthy morals which ensure an avoidance of conflict. We as humans can choose to uphold high morals and encourage modesty and decency within our society. In terms of ethics, we must be accepting of different cultures, religions, professionals etc., and find ways to coordinate personal and social morals; as highlighted by the Hart-Devlin debate raised during the mid 20th century.
Below is a link to an interesting article written some 30 years on from the Hart-Devlin debate. It is wordy but, after a brief scan through, it raises some interesting discussions from the time of the debate which, to a certain extent, are still relevant to our society today.
http://scholarship.law.wm.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1563&context=wmlr
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I have been thinking about the moral compass of a legal professional and how this will come into my professional inquiry. A consulting professional, such as a solicitor, will have very specific social morals relating to their line of work and their personal morals will run alongside this and create their individual characteristics. In terms of the desired characteristics of a solicitor, I would want someone who was:
Communicative
Trustworthy
Intelligent
Fair
Compassionate
These are just a few of the terms that could be applied to a well-rounded legal professional. I can imagine it to be difficult for them to adhere to their professional code whilst upholding their personal ethics; especially if they are dealing with a difficult client, a challenging case or are the defendant of a criminal. Ultimately their loyalty is to their client; this is the expectation placed upon them by employers and as society as a whole.
(http://www.picturequotes.com/morality-quotes)
The quote in the image above is, in my opinion, a truthful one. I can particularly relate this to my professional inquiry in that, as highlighted in discussions I have had with a few BAPP students; dancers may often feel afraid to pursue legal action as they feel it pervades the moral grounds of their profession. A dancer has to be committed, dedicated, loyal to their work and to their employer/colleagues. They have a duty to perform to the best of their ability and a responsibility to those around them to maintain a safe environment. Dancer's may feel that by pursuing an issue that they may have with their employer, especially if they brought in external help (such as legal aid), that they were somehow betraying that employer and causing them-self harm in terms of their reputation/future progress in that particular dance company or perhaps elsewhere.
Dancers like to make a good impression. They like to come across as hard-working and determined in all that they do. But I would not like to think that, if being taken advantage of, a dancer was unable to receive the help that they needed and stand up for their personal morals whilst still respecting their professional ethics. Courage is an incredible asset to any individual and being able to apply it to both the personal ethics and professional codes of an area of expertise is an invaluable asset to have. Moral courage is a scary thing, but without it social change for the greater good would not occur. If no-one chose to speak out and initiate change, we would be standing still in a non-developmental society; a society that would perhaps cause us to feel misrepresented, under-appreciated and down-trodden.
This is certainly food for thought!
Lil' Blogger
Bibliography
Anon (2016) Morality quotes, sourced from http://www.picturequotes.com/morality-quotes accessed 27.03.16
Dworkin, Gerald (1999) William and Mary Law Review, Devlin was right: Law and the enforcement of morality, sourced from http://scholarship.law.wm.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1563&context=wmlr accessed 27.03.16
McGuinness, Rosemary (2015) Reader 5 Professional Ethics BAPP Arts, WBS 3630 (Module 2), Middlesex University
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