Normative Principle and Law

1. Normative Principle and Law
Dr. Varun Kumar
Dr. Varun Kumar (IIIT Surat) Lecture-8 1 / 8

2. Outlines
1 Normative Principle
The Principle of Nonmaleficence
The Principle of Autonomy
The Principle of Informed Consent
2 Law
Legality versus Ethicality
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3. Normative Principle
Normative ethics involves arriving at moral standards that regulate right
and wrong conduct.
(1) The Principle of Nonmaleficence:
Nonmaleficence is the obligation of a physician not to harm the
patient.
Ethical rules should not harm the individual, society and country.
The academic Gunneman states: ’We know of no societies, from the
literature of anthropology or comparative ethics, whose moral codes do
not contain some injunction against harming others.
The specific notion of harm or social injury may vary, as well as the
mode of correction and restitution but the injunctions are present.
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4. (2) The Principle of Autonomy
⇒ Autonomy implied self-rule, self determination and self-ownership.
⇒ It is a condition, when an agent may determine the conception, the
articulation and the execution of concepts, ideas and actions for him
or herself.
⇒ Several theories of autonomy have emerged over time, under the
influence of
Law
Politics
Philosophy
Religious precepts
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5. (3) The Principle of Informed Consent
Simple meaning of informed consent:
⇒ Someone has given an agreement freely to something.
⇒ It should be informed to another party.
⇒ Agreement should be easily understandable and contain accurate
information.
⇒ If this information is incomplete then the consent is invalid.
Note:
Ethical theory like deontology, teleology and the normative principles
decides the consequences of any actions are ethical or unethical.
Specific course of action may be contradictory (ethical or un-ethical).
For example, a moral duty to improve one self may conflict with a
utilitarian duty to operate in the public interest.
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6. Law
⇒ A law tells us to do or not to do something.
⇒ A recognized, established authority decides for an action, the law
permits or prohibits.
⇒ It is made for the betterment of society in some way.
⇒ An ethical principle was the basis for any decision regarding this issue
before the law was constructed.
⇒ As per Kallman and Grillo (1996), when there arise some conflict
with an ethical decision, we should first research the law.
⇒ As per Jennifer Wagner (1991), a law solely based on a moral
guideline is very dangerous.
⇒ Bad laws may bind rules on society that fail to provide moral
guidance.
⇒ Law and morality do have in common certain key principles and
obligations.
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7. Legality versus Ethicality
Legal Illegal
Ethical A B
Un-ethical C D
Difference between law and ethics
(i) The law is defined as the systematic body of rules that governs the
whole society and the actions of its individual members. Ethics means
the science of a standard human conduct.
(ii) The law consists of a set of rules and regulations, whereas Ethics
comprises of guidelines and principles that inform people about how
to live or how to behave in a particular situation.
(iii) The law is created by the Government, which may be local, regional,
national or international. On the other hand, ethics are governed by
an individual, legal or professional norms, i.e. workplace ethics,
environmental ethics and so on.
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8. Continued–
(iv) The law is expressed in the constitution in a written form. As
opposed to ethics, it cannot be found in writing form.
(v) The breach of law may result in punishment or penalty, or both which
is not in the case of breach of ethics.
(vi) The objective of the law is to maintain social order and peace within
the nation and protection to all the citizens. Unlike, ethics that are
the code of conduct that helps a person to decide what is right or
wrong and how to act.
(vii) The law creates a legal binding, but ethics has no such binding on the
people.
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