March 2003

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RW DGM's Message for March 2003

At many Lodge meetings I have cited the distinctions between Law and Ethics - between Legality and Morality in order that we as Masons understand that most important distinction, as we are basically custodians and practitioners, hopefully, of a system of Morality, illustrated by symbols.

The other day while rummaging through a scrap book I came across this item under the heading "Business & Society" credited to three writers (James E. Post, Anne T. Lawrence & James Weber) and I quote from this source, as it draws the distinction between Law and Ethics rather better than I am able to do :-

"Law and Ethics are not quite the same. Laws are similar to ethics because both define proper and improper behaviour. In general, laws are a society's attempt to formalise - that is, to reduce to written rules - the general public's ideas about what constitutes right and wrong conduct in various spheres of life. However, it is rarely possible for written laws to capture all of the subtle shadings that people give to Ethics. Ethical concepts - like the people who believe in them - are more complex than written rules of law. Ethics deals with human dilemmas that frequently go beyond the formal language of law and the meanings given to legal rules. The following situation demonstrates that there is not always a perfect match between the law and important ethical principles.

In 1994, educators and parents voiced their concern over the significant increase in sexually explicit language and violence depicted in video games and computer software. (The U.S.) Congress joined in the criticism and called for a system of warnings for consumers. The inter-active Digital Software Association, which represents video-game makers established a five-category system that was voluntarily adopted by the industry …

This example suggests that that legality cannot always define when something is believed to be ethical or unethical. Although laws attempt to codify a society's notions of right and wrong, they are not always able to do so completely. Obeying the law is usually one way of acting ethically, and the public generally expects business to be law-abiding. But at times, the public expects business to recognise that ethical principles are broader than law. "(End).

So do Masons !