Law needs philosophy: ethical principles of cooperation
Note:4@@@@@@@@@@@ IMO: LA GRAVITà DI UN ATTO DIPENDE DA 1) LA GRAVITA' DEL DANNO CHE PROCURA E 2) LA SUA INDISPENSABILITA' NEL PRODURRE QUEL DANNO. TUTTI GLI ALTRI PARAMETRI (IMMEDIATEZZA, PROSSIMITA' ECC) SONO RIDUCIBILI A QUESTI DUEREGOLA: QUANTO PIU' UN ATTO E' GRAVE TANTO PIU' OCCORRE TUTELARE L'OBIEZIONE DI COSCIENZA
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How might you act wrongly? Let me count the ways
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what I call a ‘primary act’
Note:L ATTO MALVAGIO DIRETTO
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hurting an innocent person,
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ESEMPIO
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other ways of acting wrongly in relation to the primary act,
Note:ATTI ACCESSORI
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advising someone to falsify their CV;
Note:ESEMPIO
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omitted the most serious way in which one can be implicated in a wrongful primary act
Note:TRASCURATEZZA DELLA LEGGE
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cooperator in that act.
Note:DEFINIZIONE
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A conscientious objector to some act may want to avoid performing it, or they may want to avoid cooperating with it.
Note:ESIGENZA DELL OBBIETORE
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In the UK, we see that conscientious objectors have very little real protection
Note:SPECIE NELLA COOPERAZIONE... Zero
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law without philosophy is certain to be tyranny, or else chaos.
Note:NECESSITÀ DI RAGIONARE IN MODO ORDINATO
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Types of cooperation
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within the tradition of Catholic moral theology there is a well worked-out and robust teaching on cooperation.
Note:X FORTUNA
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we would find freedom of conscience and religion receiving much greater protection, but it would also place reasonable limits on that protection
Note:CON UNA BUONA FILOSOFIA I CONFINI SARANNO PIÙ DEFINITI
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Formal cooperation involves a clear (explicit or maybe implicit) intent to share in the responsibility (or guilt)
Note:COOP FORMALE: VOGLIO FARE IL MALE INSIEME A TE
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A material cooperator is in some way co-opted into assisting the primary agent, usually through physical duress or some lesser inducement.
Note:COOP MATERIALE: IL MALE E' UN EFFETTO COLLATERALE DEL MIO REALE OBBIETTIVO (ES: VOGLIO I SOLDI X EVITARE LA POVERTA', NON RAPINARTI). VOGLIO CONSERVARE IL MIO IMPIEGO, NON PROCURARE ABORTI NELLA CLINICA DOVE LAVORO
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threat of violence
Note:ESEMPIO
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provide contraceptive health insurance or face a financial penalty,
Note:ES DI MINACCIA
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material cooperator does not intend that the act he is cooperating with be performed,
Note:DIFFERENZA CON IL FORMALE
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A second question is whether the assistance is mediate or immediate.
Note:ALTRA DISTINZIONE: RIGUARDA IL COINVOLGIMENTO. COMPIO L'ATTO MALVAGIO IN MODO DIRETTO (ESEMPIO SONO IN SALA OPERATORIA DURANTE L'ABORTO) OPPURE SONO COINVOLTO IN MODO INDIRETTO: STERILIZZO IL BISTURI CHE SERVIRA' AD ABORTIRE
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Helping someone carry away stolen goods is therefore immediate cooperation, whereas locating the target or driving the getaway car is mediate cooperation.
Note:ESEMPI... IL COOPERATORE IMMEDIATO E' COINVOLTO NELL'ATTO MALVAGIO, INDIPENDENTEMENTE DALLA SUA VOLONTA'...QUELLO MEDIATO NO. TRASPORTARE BENI RUBATI SIGNIFICA PARTECIPARE AL FURTO...INDIVIDUARE L'OBBIETTIVO NO. GUIDARE LA MACCHINA DELLA FUGA NN SIGNIFICA RAPINARE UNA BANCA
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the basic idea is that morality is about doing good and avoiding evil.
Note:EVITARE IL MALE È IMPOSSIBILE POICHÈ È IMPOSSIBILE CALCOLATE LE CONSEG DEI NS ATTI...X QS DOBBIAMO ISOLARE LA COOP COLPEVOLE DALLE ALTRE...LA QUESTIONE SI FA SOTTILE
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Dispensability
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we need to ask is whether the cooperation is dispensable or indispensable.
Note:PRIMA QUESTIONE
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If the primary agent depends on another’s cooperation it is indispensable,
Note:INDISPENSABILE
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Proximity
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how far away the cooperative act is from the primary act, primarily but not solely in space and time.
Note:ALTRO ELEMENTO
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how close the cooperator is, causally speaking,
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selling petrol to a driver on the way to a burglary, even if the seller knows what the driver is up to, is quite remote.
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ESEMPIO
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Showing the burglar where the key is hidden is very proximate.
Note:ALTRO ESEMPIO
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handing over surgical instruments is more proximate than administering anaesthetic, which is more proximate than booking in a patient for surgery.
Note:ESEMPIO MEDICO
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Balancing goods and bads
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proximity, dispensability, immediacy,
Note:I TRE PARAMETRI
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the question of what reasons the cooperator might have for assisting the primary agent,
Note:ALTRO ELEMENTO RILEVANTE
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The only sure way to do no bad is to do nothing at all – and even that might plausibly be thought to be doing bad by omitting to do good! We need, therefore, reasonable principles to allow us to go about our lives
Note:RIPETIAMO L ESIGENZA PRIMARIA
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On the other hand, there are limits: sometimes our acts are just too close to other bad acts
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here are some very general principles that help us to evaluate cooperation cases,
Note:LA META
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the first consideration is whether the objector sincerely believes the primary act,
Note:PRIMO REQUISITO DELL OBBIETTORE SINCERITÀ
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They are only concerned with whether the objector is a genuine believer in a genuine ethical or religious code.
Note:LE CORTI...DI SOLITO...UN UNICO INTERESSE
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Here, I argue, the rules of cooperation are subject to the test of reasonableness,
Note:CAVEAT
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Formal cooperation, as I have already suggested, is morally off limits. The same goes for immediate material cooperation
Note:PRIMI DUE CASI...LA DISOBB. DEVE ESSERE TUTELATA
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Hence requiring a nurse23 to hand over surgical instruments for an abortion is impermissible,
Note:DEF COOP IMMEDIATA: IL MALE E' UN EFFETTO COLLATERALE DI UN ATTO CHE COMPIO PERSONALMENTE. ES. MI SEVONO SOLDI PER FARE X (OBBIETTIVO REALE) E TI RAPINO PER OTTENERLI. ALTRO ESEMPIO DI CCOPER MATERIALE IMMEDIATA
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handing over drugs for the purpose of euthanasia.
Note:ALTRO CASO
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handing over sedatives to keep a patient quiet while they were denied ‘artificial nutrition and hydration’,
Note:COOP IMMEDIATA X OMISSIONE...SPESSO IMPOSTA
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the supply of means or conditions for the primary act
Note:VENIAMO ALLA COOP MEDIATA. EFFETTO COLLATERALE INDIRETTO
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how to balance the loss to be avoided by the cooperator,
Note:IL PUNTO IN QS CASI....OCCORRE ANALISI COSTI BENEFICI: IL BENE BILANCIA IL MALE?
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balancing act or proportionality
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taking your car on a one-minute drive to the corner shop to buy milk generally does not justify the pollution
Note:ANALOGIA 1
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Again, the dentist justifies the moderate pain she causes by the necessity of repairing a damaged tooth.
Note:ANALOGIA 2
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the wrong with which you are potentially cooperating, the greater must be the avoidance of loss that cooperation procures.
Note:REGOLA GENERALE
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cosmetic surgery
Note:SI PUÓ OBBIETTARE MA IL DANNO NN È GRAVISSIMO
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Were she to be subject to loss of employment for refusing to cooperate,
Note:DANNO SUBITO DALL OBIETTORE....COOP CONSENTITA
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Suppose, by contrast, she would merely have a day’s pay docked for not cooperating:
Note:IN ALTERNATIVA
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Now consider a pharmacist who refuses to sell the ‘morning-after pill’ because she knows that sometimes it kills an embryo,
Note:ALTRO CASO DI COOP MEDIATA...O EFFETTO COLLATERALE
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the cost of refusal to cooperate
Note:PUÒ ESSERE IL LICENZIAMENTO COME PUÒ ESSERE IL MANCATO GUADAGNO
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Now, one might immediately – and quite understandably – tend to become obsessed about these delicate balancing acts.
Note:MA IL CALCOLO COSTI BENEFICI È SEMPRE DIFFICILE
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How can anyone know?
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an exercise in clothing our intuitions
Note:DI FATTO
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We have to look at the situation in front of us, the competing goods and bads,
Note:MA È INEVOTABILE
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We need a good deal of ‘practical wisdom’,
Note:TORNIAMO AD ARISTOTELE E AL BUON SENSO
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the grand tradition of the common law
Note:ALTRA FONTE DA CUI ESTRARRE BUON SENSO
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Suppose the government, as in the Obamacare mandate, imposes a severe financial penalty on individuals (or groups) for non-cooperation
Note:PARADOSSO...IL GOVERNO È FORSE INCENTIVATO A PENALIZZARE X RENDERE MORALE UN ATTO MALVAGIO?
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It would be like the fraudster who thinks that if he wants to get a morally upright person to help him embezzle money, it’s better to hold a gun to their head
Note:L ANALOGIA.... LA MORALIZZAZIONE DI X AVVIENE GRAZIE ALL IMMORALIZZAZIONE DI Y
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The burden the government imposes – say, a financial penalty for failing to assist with furthering a government objective – must reasonably reflect the importance the government attaches to the objective, not merely the eagerness with which it seeks to secure compliance.
Note:LA MORALITÀ DEL GOV
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we now need to see briefly how factors such as proximity and dispensability apply
Note:CAMBIO ARGOMENTO...PS LA PROSSIMITÀ È UNA GRADUALITÀ DELLA MEDIATEZZA
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The general principle is that the more the cooperator is implicated in the primary act,
Note:PRINCIPIO GENERALE
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There is no absolute judgment to be made here as far as implication goes, only a comparative one.
Note:CAVEAT
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consider a nurse who has scruples about cooperating with some extreme cosmetic surgery that she considers wrong for the patient to undergo. She is worried about whether she should book the patient
Note:ESEMPIO
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she admits the patient, the patient will certainly be operated on, and if she refuses, then the patient will not, even though he might be operated on at another time when the nurse is away
Note:PROSSIMITÀ E DISPENSABILITÀ...CAUSALMENTE PROSSIMA MA SOSTITUIBILE
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admission of the patient would be relatively remote,
Note:SE DOPO L AMMISSIONE CI SONO ULTERIORI ESAMI E VISITE INTERMEDIE
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compared to the person who cleans the ward or serves the food, the nurse is a very proximate cooperator;
Note:GIUDIZIO COMPARATIVO...NN ASSOLUTO
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the more serious the wrong with which a person cooperates and the more implicated they are, the greater the reason they need for their cooperation to be justified.
Note:REGOLA GENERALE....PROSSIMITÀ E Ecco NDISPENSABILITÀ AUMENTANO L ESIGENZA ETICA DI NN COLLABORARE
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The more indispensable the cooperation, the greater the reason must be for assisting.
Note:SE SEI INDISPENSABILE LE TUE RAGIONI X OBBIETTARE CRESCONO
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the more proximate the cooperation, the greater the reason needed:
Note:IDEM X LA PROSSIMITÀ
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someone who provides information to another on how to commit suicide
Note:ESEMPIO
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someone who sells them the suicide drugs.
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How serious is the wrong of the primary act?
Note:ALTRO FATTORE CHE PESA...MACUMBA
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highly proximate, indispensable cooperation in a very serious wrong
Note:IN GENERALE
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I am not suggesting such cooperation would necessarily be admirable or praiseworthy – only that it would be permissible.
Note:A COSA SIAMO INTERESSATI QUI
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If the cooperation is dispensable, or not highly proximate, the justification bar is lowered
Note:RIPETO REGOLA
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We have to make fine distinctions in some cases. We have to exercise what the ancient Greek philosophers called ‘practical wisdom’.
Note:SAGGEZZA
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Should you sign? It depends
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In 1863, the US federal government’s Civil War Enrolment Act permitted a draftee to avoid service by either providing a substitute or paying $300.
Note:I CASI IN CUI OBBIETTARE SIGNIFICA COLLABORARE IN ALTRO.MODO
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The objector’s cooperation would have been highly proximate, since soldiers and weapons are the most proximate means of fighting a war
Note:CON LE PREMESSE FATTE POSSIAMO DIRE CHE L OBIEZIONE HA VALORE
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If the courts were to give this sort of reasoning about cooperation the attention it deserved, a rich jurisprudence on the subject would surely develop over time.
CONXLUSIONE
