--- Forwarded Message from "Dente, Edmund N." <[log in to unmask]> ---
>Subject: RE: #8350.1-3 (!) Law, Copyright aand Ethic
>Date: Fri, 13 Oct 2006 14:18:20 -0400
>In-Reply-To: A<[log in to unmask]>
>Thread-Topic: #8350.1-3 (!) Law, Copyright aand Ethic
>thread-index: AcbtXhGSm6yOLmvOS7a62uT4VjhS4QBBZe0A
>From: "Dente, Edmund N." <[log in to unmask]>
>To: "Language Learning and Technology International Information Forum"
<[log in to unmask]>
> Ed,
>
> The law is not to be confused with ethics, morality or justice, as
such.
> At your
> not-quite-tender age
Hmmmm. Well, not if you count in Language Lab director years.
> you should already know that. The law is a pragamatic
> social agreement, which relects the balance of power and interests
between
> the
> ruling groups at a certain time and place. To the extent that the
> legislators
> are ethical (or whatever), their laws will reflect that, but there is
no
> direct
> connection between the law and any specific value, ethical or other.
Thanks, David. This is a compelling view, but a number of philosophers
(John Rawls, for example), and political thinkers would disagree with
that, and I would side with them. I think they would argue that law --
legal systems -- evolved as social contracts among all groups (not just
the rulers) in attempts to codify fairness and justice (Rawls). So,
theoretically, the law should generally reflect ethical concerns.
Copyright law is meant to be a prime example of attempts to mediate
fairness and justice in the legal code.
I think.
Ed
"Canaries in the morning, orchestras
In the afternoon, balloons at night."
-Wallace Stevens, <<Academic Discourse at Havana>>
>
> David Ben-Nahum
> The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
>
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