Idealistic – Public Morality

Pragmatic – Private Morality

The Foundation of the Law is that which legal philosophers narrow upon as they attempt to determine what it is that would provide a proper basis for the law. The basis of the law for the Pragmatists is Private Morality, while the Idealists are concerned about Public Morality. The nature of morality is that which distinguishes one legal perspective from another.

Each legal philosopher attempts to find an intellectual platform upon which they can construct an concept of law that would operate meeting the needs of society and the individual as seen by the philosopher. Since the Foundation of the Law is dependent upon morality it may be helpful to first to review Six Concepts of Morality.

Learning objective: The purpose of teaching this information in the Foundation of Law is to give the student an idea that morality, as it pertains to law, can be viewed as an individual determination of what ought to be done or it may be viewed as a dominant set of beliefs within society. The student is to see that regardless of how one focuses upon this issue the concept of the law is altered by the nature of morality. Also the student is required to demonstrate how the Foundation of law drastically alters the method used to form the basis of legal thought.

Public Morality v Private Morality

The method that one uses to determine morality is often unexamined. After all most people are moral most of the time, and even those who engage in immoral behavior understand that their behavior is immoral. Examination seems to be unnecessary if the only consequence is knowing right from wrong. Most parents teach their children right from wrong. As indicated in a popular book, one learns all they need to know in kindergarten. There is certainly a great amount of truth in that statement. One learned to keep your hands to oneself, to share, and respect others. All good lessons, but in kindergarten one was simply taught how to do these things and if reinforcement was needed the was asked, “How would you feel if someone did that to you?” The assumption quite appropriately is that children learn to be moral if it feels good. The much harder adult question is “Why be moral?” If the response is that it may hurt the feelings of another person, then it seems unresponsive to those who do not care about the feelings of others. The reasons for being moral must become part of the adult reasoning process for everyone and especially for those individuals who are going to enforcing the law.

Policing and the Foundation of the Law

Listed below as examples of Idealistic and Pragmatic ideas on policing.

Idealist	Pragmatist
Criminals are wicked and villainous and deserving of being punished.	The purpose of law enforcement is to protect the rights of innocent people.
Drug Dealers are the scourge of society.	People deciding to use drugs cannot use drugs as an excuse for violating the rights of others.
Police are the moral defenders of our society.	Police need to have a guiding set of principles that are morally responsible to all segments of society.
Without police society would not be able to protect itself from evils from within.	Without police each individual in society must have great respect for the other or there would be chaos.
Waging a war on drugs is the only morally defensible position.	Waging a war on drugs has accomplished very little in deterring drug use.
A society that does not protect itself from crime does not deserve to survive.	A society will protect itself sufficiently well if it protests the rights of every individual.

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