PHIL 2050 Lecture 8: Lecture 8- The Seperation Thesis
11 Jan 2017
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Lecture 8- the separation thesis: the separation of law and morals. The separation thesis: there is no necessary connection between law and morality. Two confusions arise from ignoring this distinction: anarchist position: this is a bad law (ought not to be law), so it is not law (not binding) and i can freely disregard it (have no obligation to obey). Problem: replaces the rule of law with individual moral judgement: the reactionary position: this is the law, so it must be good and i must obey it. Problem: doesn"t allow moral criticism of existing laws. Legal systems have some rules derived from morals (no killing, stealing) When a system moves beyond moral rules, then you have a law. Moral rule can be a moral rule and also a law, however, it isn"t necessarily a law just because it is an accepted moral rule. Even though many laws are morally meaningless or morally objectionable.
