Compare and Contrast between Ethics and Law - Essay Example

1. Compare and contrast between Ethics and Law In simple terms ethics has often been called “law as it ought to be” (Hart, 1958). The distinction between “law as it is” and “law as it ought to be” is complex and subtle. An exhaustive answer to this question most probably does not exist and the empirical discussions relating to the dissimilarities of law and ethics date back to the period of Plato. This relation defies final answers partly because no relation can be any more stable than its shifting components. Plato recognized this, as others have since. Ones interpretation of law will necessarily influence the interpretation of ethics, and vice-versa. Given a lack of consensus on what "ethics" refers to, we should not be surprised that attempts to chain this concept down long enough to see how it relates to "law" (itself no unitary, unequivocal notion) lead only to more questions (Herrera, C D). The fundamental purpose of both ethics as well as the Law is to moderate the behavior of the individual in the society. Both seek to regulate misguided human emotions from causing harm to the society and himself. Ethics has generally been considered as the “law of nature” or the “law of god”. From the beginning of civilization, man has always come to realize the dichotomy of right and wrong which is demonstrated by the universal thread of morality that runs through the worlds’ diverse cultures. Law in the present age has come to be extremely diversified. There is now a corporate law to govern the interactions of business organizations, civil law to tackle general affairs, international law to deal with the affairs of sovereign states and intellectual property law to deal with knowledge and knowledge dissemination. Correspondingly, there has come to be a Business ethics, biomedical ethics, corporate ethics and so on. All legal systems are derived from ethical systems of one kind or the other. Just as there are dissensions in the interpretations of the law, there are also different kinds of ethics. Hedonism, Cyrenaic Hedonism, Epicureanism, stoicism, utilitarian ethics, realism etc have extended their influence on significant subsections of the intellectual globe. This apparent absence of unity does not nullify the content of either law or ethics. It has been commented upon by various authors, that the ultimate interpretation of any law or statute rests on the presiding judge. In making his individual ruling, the judge relies to a large extent on his ethical convictions. In the famous Roe Vs Wade trial pertaining to the legality of abortion, five judges ruled in favor while three dissented. These judges no doubt knew that there were no legal grounds to deny an abortion in the specific trial but they considered it a breach of morality to deny the right to life of a potential human being. Legal doctrines are created by intellectual thinkers and drafted by representative and authoritative (often simply authoritative) organizations of the people such as legislatures and civic councils. They go through a process of intense debate where they are analyzed clause by clause to remove ambiguities and finally ratified by the entire body. There are special enforcement organizations to implement the law and judicial systems to address grievances. Ethical doctrines are ambiguous in nature and their origins are purely intellectual and often are so old that they cannot be traced. The violation of laws fetch harsh punishments while the defiance of ethical codes of conduct cannot be punished, though they can lead to social ostracism. It is only ones’ own sense of morality that sustains ethical conduct. 2. Counseling in school as opposed to counseling in a non-academic clinical setting The fundamental difference between clinical and school counseling is in the range of issues that they deal with. School counseling is usually academic related, such as helping students keep up with their studies, decide what to study, how to arrange their schedules, whether to go to college, if not, what to do after graduation, etc. School counselors may evaluate students who need further services, such as mental health services, family intervention, special needs, etc. Clinical psychology includes the study and application of psychology for the purpose of understanding, preventing, and relieving psychologically-based distress or dysfunction and to promote subjective well-being and personal development. Counseling psychology seeks to facilitate personal and interpersonal functioning with a focus on emotional, social, vocational, educational, health-related, developmental, and organizational concerns. Counseling psychology has focused more on normal developmental issues and everyday stress rather than psychopathology, but this distinction has softened over time. Counseling psychologists are employed in a variety of settings, including universities, hospitals, schools, governmental organizations, businesses, private practice, and community mental health centers. A clinical counselor is usually a licensed professional. A school counselor might be someone who is more familiar to the student which helps in lubricating all further discussions. A school counselor also has more time available with him to listen attentively to the student and repeat the sessions as many times as is necessary while a professional counselor is constrained by the time that is available to him. The school counselor has a greater reach into the student’s life making it possible for him to effect environmental changes and create a more positive environment for the student. The counselor can also call upon the cooperation of the students’ parents, teachers and fellow students which is something that a clinical counselor would find extremely difficult to do so. It should be mentioned however that both the school counselor and clinical counselor do not have the right to prescribe medication. Based upon their judgment they can refer the subject to a clinical psychiatrist who can then act in collaboration with them to administer medical aid to the patient. 3. Compare and Contrast between Empathy and Sympathy Empathy and sympathy are often used as synonyms of each other though they are different concepts in reality. Sympathy emphasizes sharing distressing feelings whereas empathy does not emphasize any particular type of feeling. The listener using empathy experiences whatever feelings the talker is expressing at the moment, regardless of whether the feelings are distressing or pleasant. Sympathy may also involve agreeing with some aspects of the other persons feelings, beliefs, etc. whereas empathy emphasizes understanding all of them with no interest in either agreeing or disagreeing. Both sympathy and empathy involve “tuning in” with the other persons inner world. After tuning in, the person using empathy temporarily becomes that person in a limited way; this does not usually happen for the person using sympathy. The person using empathy tunes into the entire inner world of the other person whereas the person using sympathy typically tunes into only those aspects with which he agrees. Being Non judgmental is central to a person using empathy. He feels the same emotions as the person whom he is empathizing with; be it a negative emotion or a positive emotion. Sympathy may also involve agreeing with some aspects of the other persons feelings, beliefs, etc. whereas empathy emphasizes understanding all of them with no interest in either agreeing or disagreeing. Often, the emotion that he empathizes with might be immoral but empathy leads to a clouding of judgment of the person. The listener using empathy usually responds more comprehensively to the talker as compared with the listener using sympathy. If a person says "Im sorry for your loss," this statement would also be characteristic of sympathy, but not of empathy. The person using empathy would share the grieving mans emotional pain, but not necessarily feel sorry for or pity him. It is for these reasons that professional counselors must aspire for a state of mind that is part sympathetic and part empathetic. Sympathy helps them to understand the emotional distress of the patient while empathy helps them to feel the pain. “Feeling the pain” can be a very subjective statement for the counselor must not be so involved that he himself is affected the conflicting emotion. This can lead to a clouding of their judgment and subsequent lack of professionalism while delivering counsel. A counselor would have to deal with many people each with their own set of woes per day. It he is affected by the pain of each and every one of them, the counselor would be pushing his own life into emotional turmoil. At the same time, a counselor must be sympathetic with the students. It is only sympathy which would make him interested in finding a solution to their problems. An unsympathetic counselor is essentially insincere and hence his advice would find no relevance with the students. Especially in the case of school counselors, sympathy is more effective than empathy. 4. How has the American family changed in the last 50 years? Discuss some of the significant effects that these changes have had on counseling. The American family structure has changed dramatically over the last fifty years. Fifty years ago, divorces were a rare occurrence and families were by and large stable. Women were educated but a majority of them did not choose to be actively employed. These so called “stay-at-home” mothers could devote greater attention to the social upbringing of their children and took an active participation in their daily affairs. They were to a large extent responsible for their cognitive and cultural development. This situation has now been largely altered as more and more women enter the professions. In the absence of a venue to gain knowledge of critical societal issues, schools have had to bear the responsibility for rearing values in children. Divorces, as has been mentioned were extremely rare and it is this erosion of family stability that is largely blamed for the current social chaos in the American society. Fifty years ago, most families had a married mother and father, and the mother could stay home to raise the kids. Now we have one-parent families, step-parents, parents who are not married, same sex parents, parents with grand children the same age as their children, working mothers, stay-at-home fathers, bi-costal custody arrangements and so on. Children most often do not have a suitable role model to look up to which makes them turn more towards their peer group. The influence of entertainment mediums like the television has significantly increased with the TV becoming the prime source of information for children. Needless to say, the effect of this has been detrimental as there is no efficient screening mechanism to weed out unnecessary telecasts. All this has definitely had a profound change on counseling. For one, it has radically altered the subject, creating numerous subjective therapeutic models. Counseling as a science is now completely modernized with therapies like family counseling gaining in following. Fifty years ago a family would have been embarrassed to have a child who needed counseling. Now, however, parents often resort to counseling their children simply to evade the responsibility of imparting advice themselves. On a positive side, this has led to a faster determination of behavioral disorders, though to what extent they have been effective is debatable. Counselors would have advised students to “listen to their parents” and often drew bleak pictures of what life would be like if they didn’t. Counselors cannot always rely on parental support for behavioral remediation. Also, the issues that they have had to face has become more complex and wide ranging. The instances of violent behavior found in children are primarily attributed to uncensored media influence and that of inappropriate video games. In general, counseling has now become a necessary part of the school curriculum as opposed to being supplementary to it. Works Cited Curtis, C. p. (1952). Ethics in the Law. The Stanford Law Review, Vol 4, No 4 , 477-490. Hart, H. L. (1958). Positivism and the separation of Law and Morals. Harvard Law Review, Vol 74, No 4 , 593 - 629. Herrera, C D. How are Law and Ethics Related? Philosophy and Religion Department. University of montclair: MontClair. Read More