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UBC Theses and Dissertations
Lord devlin on the politics of enforcing morality Simpson, Douglas B
Abstract
The purpose of this thesis is to explore Lord Devlin's approach to the enforcement of morals. The morals in question are those which are widely recognized as being held in common by particular groups of people and constitutes the morality of the society to which they belong. The enforcement is that coercion which society is able to bring to bear upon the individual, above and beyond that which inheres naturally in a social morality. Lord Devlin argues that the enforcement of this morality is not in any way dependent upon a moral appraisal of the morality itself: a consideration of its moral fitness for enforcement. Such considerations are rejected by Devlin as being an unacceptable manner of governing the enforcement of a society's morality. His critics, arguing the opposite, have attempted to show that, for various reasons, it is not acceptable for government to defer in such an uncritical fashion to the morality it is attempting to enforce. However, Devlin's critics tend to exaggerate and misinterpret the principle which underlies his approach to the enforcement of morals. They falsely assume that Devlin sees value in nothing other than the enforcement of a society's morality. In reality, Devlin believes that many values may need to be balanced against this one. This is the essence of a practical or political approach to the enforcement of morals, and it can only succeed if society is entitled to exclude from its politics certain considerations: those which deny that the enforcement of a society's morality has no value independent of the other values with which it competes. Devlin's focus on the politics of the enforcement of morality has certain similarities with the more contemporary concern of some with moral neutrality in politics.
Item Metadata
| Title |
Lord devlin on the politics of enforcing morality
|
| Creator | |
| Publisher |
University of British Columbia
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| Date Issued |
1996
|
| Description |
The purpose of this thesis is to explore Lord Devlin's approach to the
enforcement of morals. The morals in question are those which are widely
recognized as being held in common by particular groups of people and
constitutes the morality of the society to which they belong. The enforcement is
that coercion which society is able to bring to bear upon the individual, above
and beyond that which inheres naturally in a social morality. Lord Devlin argues
that the enforcement of this morality is not in any way dependent upon a moral
appraisal of the morality itself: a consideration of its moral fitness for
enforcement. Such considerations are rejected by Devlin as being an unacceptable manner of governing the enforcement of a society's morality. His critics, arguing the opposite, have attempted to show that, for various reasons, it is not
acceptable for government to defer in such an uncritical fashion to the morality
it is attempting to enforce. However, Devlin's critics tend to exaggerate and
misinterpret the principle which underlies his approach to the enforcement of
morals. They falsely assume that Devlin sees value in nothing other than the
enforcement of a society's morality. In reality, Devlin believes that many values
may need to be balanced against this one. This is the essence of a practical or
political approach to the enforcement of morals, and it can only succeed if society
is entitled to exclude from its politics certain considerations: those which deny
that the enforcement of a society's morality has no value independent of the
other values with which it competes. Devlin's focus on the politics of the
enforcement of morality has certain similarities with the more contemporary
concern of some with moral neutrality in politics.
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| Extent |
3898552 bytes
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| Genre | |
| Type | |
| File Format |
application/pdf
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| Language |
eng
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| Date Available |
2009-03-06
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| Provider |
Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library
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| Rights |
For non-commercial purposes only, such as research, private study and education. Additional conditions apply, see Terms of Use https://open.library.ubc.ca/terms_of_use.
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| DOI |
10.14288/1.0087589
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| URI | |
| Degree | |
| Program | |
| Affiliation | |
| Degree Grantor |
University of British Columbia
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| Graduation Date |
1997-05
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| Campus | |
| Scholarly Level |
Graduate
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| Aggregated Source Repository |
DSpace
|
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Rights
For non-commercial purposes only, such as research, private study and education. Additional conditions apply, see Terms of Use https://open.library.ubc.ca/terms_of_use.