Thinking About Law and Ethics

About the Book

This volume provides a clear and compelling introduction to the most controversial moral and legal problems in society. Focusing on ethical and legal decision making, it directs attention to the issues raised by the general public and by students of law, philosophy, justice, and social policy.

Some frequently asked questions and examples address basic life and death issues:

• abortion and infanticide;
• care of children, at risk because of predatory priests or alternatives to medicine;
• capital punishment, in general and excluding juveniles and the mentally retarded;
• right to die, including physician-assisted suicide and euthanasia.

Other frequently asked questions and examples address administrative practices:

• affirmative action, especially in higher education;
• professional conduct of lawyers, doctors, and educators;
• sexual conduct, including homosexual behavior and same-sex marriage;
• privacy, as a personal problem and a Constitutional right.

The materials examine many controversies in ethical and legal decision making:

• where competing moral and ethical values come from;
• how to balance reason and faith as significant factors;
• what the role of personal religious, political, and philosophical views is in deciding;
• which method is of use in interpreting the U.S. and State Constitutions;
• what factors to use in the confirmation of Justices and others;
• the importance of stability v. the necessity for change in addressing moral problems;
• whether legislatures or courts can better solve contemporary problems;
• the wide variety of views of ethical and legal decision making.

The extensive bibliography directs students and the public interested in further material to the important world where ethics and law, morality and public policy interact. This brief and readable book is the first place to look for what most people want to know about law and ethics.

About the Author

Ellsworth Lapham Fersch, J.D., Ph.D., has taught at Harvard University during the three decades since receiving his education there. A licensed clinical psychologist and member of the Massachusetts bar, he has directed The Court Clinic, maintained a private practice, and taught and written about topics at the intersection of ethics, law, psychology, and public policy.