The Ethics of Stealing

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Essay: The Ethics of Stealing

By Thomas Healy L6G

The dictionary definition of stealing is to take ones property without right or permission of the owner.  When referring to the definition it is important to distinguish what the word “right” can be defined as. Some on first view would assume a right would be based on the situation, such as if an innocent man was starving. Regrettably for this man “right” in this sense mean the legal right. Therefore when looking at the definition of stealing it is always legally wrong to steal in any situation regardless of how unfortunate your position is.

In my opinion stealing, from a moral standpoint, stealing is not always wrong. Laws are there to be followed but that does not always mean they are right. For instance people who kill an armed intruder do not always go to prison as sometimes it can be deemed as a necessary action. Laws have changed regarding things like this and therefore this suggests that there might be some flexibility in relation to the current laws concerning theft. It cannot be morally right to let a person starve, just because the law says it is wrong for him to feed himself. Being ethical is also not the same as following the law. The law often encompasses ethical standards to which most people support. But laws, like feelings, are different to what is ethical. Slavery laws and the old Apartheid laws of present-day South Africa are horrifically clear examples of laws that stray from what is ethical. Being ethical is not the same as doing "whatever society accepts". In any society, most people accept standards that are, in fact, ethical. But standards of behaviour in society can deviate from what is ethical. An entire society can become ethically corrupt. Nazi Germany is a good example of a morally corrupt society. This therefore means that we as a society do not know if stealing, as an act is right or wrong. We cannot understand what is morally right or wrong if we not have a moral system within ourselves that is perfect.

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Despite this dilemma my views are very much associated with teleological beliefs, or effectively looking at the consequences of an action rather than the action itself. Stealing is right if it leads to a better situation afterwards. Qualities such as love, honesty and kindness are only good because they have good results; why can stealing not be any different, if it has a good outcome? The fact that a shop owner may lose 50p from an apple can surely not be more important that potentially saving a life. Using the principle of utilitarianism, or doing what is right for ...

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