Comparing and Contrasting: Ethical Codes and Law

This was another one of those Hey that's really interesting things that popped out at me from Yahoo Answers, which I find a wonderful source of inspiration. It's a question comparing and contrasting the roles that ethics and laws play within organizations, by organizations I think the question meant societies. Anyways Here it goes I'm going to do what I can to answer it as...it really was an intriguing question to me, we'll start by looking at ethics.

Ethics. Defined in the dictionary as "the rules or standards governing the conduct of a person or the members of a profession" and also "the moral fitness in a decision or action" Ethics are supposed to dictate behavior in small and large ways. Ethical decisions and moral decisions influenced by each and every persons ethical code, the ethical code of their profession and further on of their society as a whole. What I take from this that in essence, the role ethics plays is telling citizens what ought to be done.

Law. Defined in the dictionary as "a binding custom or practice of a community, a rule of conduct or action prescribed or formally recognized as binding or enforced by a controlling authority, the whole body of such customs practice or rules." Legal decisions are made by the society, the culture as a whole placed upon individuals through force of authority. Legal decisions are designed to protect the society against the individual, protect the masses from aberrant and dangers behavior on part of an individual. What I take from all of this is that in essence the role law plays is telling citizens what must be done and what must be conformed to.

Laws and Ethical Codes of behavior have several things in common, several large things in fact. Both Law and Codes of Ethics attempt to direct human behavior in ways that are productive both for the individual and the society. Law through defense of the society, and enforcement/threat of punishment emplaced upon every individual, Ethical codes through informing individuals the mandates of society and of what should be done relying on emotional and moral impulses to enforce behavior. They both form themselves into organized codes and rules and both also usually have relatively intricate systems of specialties and exceptions.

Laws and Ethical Codes of behavior also have several incredibly significant differences mainly that ethics encourages behavior and laws require behavior. Ethics is inherently internal enforcing and encouraging correct behavior from within an individual while Laws are inherently external enforcing and demanding compliance to societal standards of correct behavior by the society upon an individual. This is a huge disparity that Ethics are by their nature internal and Laws are by their nature external.

Now the last part in answering this question, I've talked quite a bit in defining Laws and Ethical Codes, as well as their similarities and differences. I haven't quite reached the point to which I describe how they influence and reflect themselves upon society. Ethics is reflected usually in how people relate to those whom they are close, whom they interact with on a friendly/amiable level frequently while Laws generally affect either how individuals behave in regards to people they don't interact with often or do so on angry/negative levels. The role of both in a society is to enforce the rules of that society both for the benefit of the individual, and for the greater benefit of the society as a whole.