A question of ethics

up for anything wrote: »

The one and only time I ever shoplifted was back when I was 17. A friend who had light and experienced hands took me into every shop on Henry Street and showed me how easy it was. Reached Pennys at the end, each of us with two full plastic carrier bag, went in and decided to nick one of those Peruvian type knitted hats for a friend. As she was slipping it into her bag she told me to run. I ran to the front doors on Henry St and she went out the side entrance that was there at the time. Nothing like that movie moment of a security guard's hand on your shoulder on a crowded street to bring you back to your senses. She could have got away but came back when she saw me caught.

We were brought into the office and the manager looked in our bags and asked us had we receipts. She pulled out a bus ticket and waved it at him. He decided because of our out-of-town/culchie accents that we were pretty harmless, read us the riot act in triplicate and let us go - keeping our purloined goods. We justified his confidence in us because I never robbed again and she became a pillar of society and has donated millions to the Irish people. I have always been grateful to that man for not going through with the process as he was fully entitled to.

???

Is it ethical to steal?

Well, it's not legal, but being ethical is also not the same as following the law. The law often incorporates ethical standards to which most citizens subscribe. But laws, like feelings, can deviate from what is ethical. Pre-Civil War slavery laws in the U.S., and the apartheid laws of South Africa are grotesquely obvious examples of laws that deviate from what is ethical.

The question remains then - what is ethics?

Ethics is two things. First, ethics refers to well-founded standards of right and wrong that prescribe what humans ought to do, usually in terms of rights, obligations, benefits to society, fairness, or specific virtues. Ethics, for example, refers to those standards that impose the reasonable obligations to refrain from rape, stealing, murder, assault, slander, and fraud. Ethical standards also include those that enjoin virtues of honesty, compassion, and loyalty. And, ethical standards include standards relating to rights, such as the right to life, the right to freedom from injury, and the right to privacy. Such standards are adequate standards of ethics because they are supported by consistent and well-founded reasons.

Secondly, ethics refers to the study and development of one's ethical standards. As mentioned above, feelings, laws, and social norms can deviate from what is ethical. So it is necessary to constantly examine one's standards to ensure that they are reasonable and well-founded. Ethics also means, then, the continuous effort of studying our own moral beliefs and our moral conduct, and striving to ensure that we, and the institutions we help to shape, live up to standards that are reasonable and solidly-based.

So, is stealing from a shop ethical, when one can afford to pay for the goods? I would have to say, no.

Do I give a f*ck that the OP swiped a can of Coke? Again, I would have to say, no.

Tar.Aldarion wrote: »

Ethics do not simply correlate to laws as you say, they are merely a good basis for the mass population to follow and should constantly change to reflect better understanding. If I don't agree with a law, after thinking it through, I just don't follow it. So is taking from another unethical yes, in this circumstance definitely. What about to keep your child alive or <really dramatic scenario here> ? :pac:

I never said that ethics correlate to laws. I even stated that laws can also be unethical. And I also stated that "it is necessary to constantly examine one's standards to ensure that they are reasonable and well-founded. Ethics also means, then, the continuous effort of studying our own moral beliefs and our moral conduct".

As you basically shadowed the same point with "they (ethics) are merely a good basis for the mass population to follow and should constantly change to reflect better understanding", I would take it that you didn't even bother reading what I wrote.

Yes it is ok to redress the balance of a €5 ganky roll. Feckin rip off piece of ****, I hate Spar. Yeah I would go elsewhere but there are no other shops within a 2k radius from my job. Shower of bastards, the lot of them. And cowboys.

Grimes wrote: »

The AH bandwagon

I hope you die you are directly funding the drugs trade ect ect judgemental over reactionist post fingerwag fingerwag! Hitler started off stealing cans of coke and he was the biggest "scummer" of them all. Your worse than Hitler.

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Post of the month.

never go to superquinn for a roll, you'll have to rob a bottle of champers to make up for thier roll prices sometimes