Philosophy Stack Exchange
Philosophy Stack Exchange

Questions tagged [legal]

13 questions
83
votes
16 answers

Is it immoral to download music illegally?

I should first point out that the title is more to capture a common occurrence of the broader idea I want to address in this question. It is also somewhat incorrect in that—at least in the US—I'm not sure it's actually illegal to download music…
stoicfury
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If God is good, why does "Acts of God" refer to bad things?

I've often wondered about the phrase "Acts of God", which is used in legal and insurance writing to mean disasters like hurricanes, floods, tornadoes, wildfires... What are we thinking with a God that routinely does such things when the usual idea…
Scott Rowe
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Argument for why pornography legal/prostitution illegal

Can anyone make a reasonable case why prostitution should be illegal while pornography is legal? It seems strange to me that it should be OK to pay for sex as long as you PROMISE that it will be filmed and sold to others. I'm sure a lot of people on…
Eric Auld
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1 answer

Are public trials ethical?

A lot of us may remember Casey Anthony, OJ Simpson, George Zimmerman, and the the recent cases about police misconduct. In each of these cases, the individuals were found not guilty by a jury of their peers or a grand jury. In the American System,…
user4634
2
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2 answers

Social Response to Legal/Moral Duty Violation

When a person, especially a public figure, has committed a serious legal or moral violation, there is a tendency for friends/clients/companies/etc. to dissociate from that individual, even if the offence is not of a nature relevant to their prior…
DicePower
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Did Protagoras really think that holding the javelin responsible was a viable resolution to the Lancer's Trilemma?

From Wikipedia: Plutarch wrote that Pericles and Protagoras spent a whole day discussing an interesting point of legal responsibility, that probably involved a more philosophical question of causation: "In an athletic contest, a man had been…
ArtIntoNihonjin.
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What are the moral and ethical arguments surrounding the proposed legalization of the Ouroboros Steak?

Apparently the future is lab-grown meat which will see the end of slaughtering animals. However buisness tycoons are apparently not stopping at animal meat, and are proposing to grow human meat. One dish made of human meat is called an Ouroboros…
John Strachan
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Should a crime against an adult automatically be a crime against a child?

Person A does Act B to Person C. The law says this is a crime. If Person C is a minor, Act B is no longer a crime. What are the arguments for and against this kind of legal / social arrangement? I instinctively feel the law should be giving more…
Stewart
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Can my attitude kill you? Part 2

This question follows on (sort off): Can my attitude kill you? Taking attitude to mean: The unique medley of ideas that makes the person. Suppose I'm a doubly depressed neurotic pessimist. Who can only function by the grace of Time that allowed…
christo183
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How have successful governments legislated morality?

In what ways has law fostered a culture of clear morality? Are there objective measurements to state what would be beneficial to the people which laws are meant for? I'm very interested in ways that don't create a litany of unmaintainable spider…
saintmeh
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Does the fallacy of accident have contain an element that the creator of the overgeneralised premise did not anticipate the edge cases?

Title might be confusing so an example would be the statements that "Under Singapore law, anyone caught with more than 15g of heroin in their possession must be sentenced to death. Bob was caught trying to cross the Singapore border with 16g or…
Xenith
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Human cost of OJ Simpson court proceedings

This is along the lines of Trolley Problem, or the scenario of convicting an innocent person to save many lives. I use the OJ Simpson trial only as an example of a high profile trial. One could substitute the Nixon impeachment proceedings, or etc…
JedHareld
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Propositional Logic - Best Way to Translate Complex Legal Statutes

If one wanted to use standard propositional logic, what would be the most efficient way to translate a sentence from a natural language like: "Capital murder is the premeditated or non-premeditated murder of any individual in the commission of…
user155194
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