Question

Describe a hypothetical scenario where someone would act in ways that are not legal, but it is ethical.

Describe a hypothetical scenario where someone would act in ways that are legal, but not ethical.

(150 Words for each case)

Answer 1

Ethical is anything pertaining to right and wrong in thought and conduct of an individualor a small group of people. On the other hand, legal reminds people of the actions and behaviors they must obey and avoid to remain on the right side of the law. Something unethical for someone can be ethical for others (depending upon their perception), whereas everyone has to follow what is legal.

Now coming back to our question, let us consider the following situation:-

>> Let us say person A is a very good friend of person B since childhood. Consider person B is a famous businessman that everyone knows about him. Person A is a small thief and person B knows about the thefts done by person A. Once upon a time, person B was simply chilling in his house when he saw person A came running to his house while few cops were chasing him. Now person B has two options:

1. If person B helps person A to hide in his house as cops will not enter person B's house knowing he is a renowned businessman, this scenario shows, to protect his ethics as a childhood friend, person B did not care about the laws. Helping a thief is not legal but was ethical to person B here. This scenario describes a situation of being ethical but not legal.

2. If person B handsover person A to cops, this will hurt person B's ethics but is farely legal. This can one of the scenarios which describes a situation of being legal but not ethical.

>> Some other scenarios where an act is ethical but not legal:-

1. A person upon seeing a thief, chases and catches him. Later along with few public he starts beating that thief that he became badly injured and got hospitalized. This situation is ethical for most of the society but is not legal. A thief must be punished by the law and not by public.

>> Some other scenarios where an act is legal but not ethical:-

1. In most of the developing countries society doesn't support sex before marriage but at the same time supreme courts doesn't define any legal penalty for such a situation if both the contenders are above the puberty age. Sex before marriage can also be considered as one of the situations of being legal but not ethical for society.

2. Homosexual relations can also be considered as one of the situations in which society does not consider it to be ethical but is farely legal according to most of the country's laws. So it is also a scenario of being legal but not ethical.