Final answer:
The claim that 'legal' is the same as 'ethical' is false. Legal standards are based on human laws and can differ from ethical standards, which are concerned with moral rights and wrongs. Ethics can be grounded in natural law, sociopolitical institutions, or individual reasoning, and these standards are not necessarily the same as legal requirements.
Step-by-step explanation:
The claim that “legal” is the same as “ethical” is false. Legal standards are based on laws that are enacted by governing bodies and are specific to different societies, and they may or may not align with ethical principles. Ethics, on the other hand, is the field of philosophy that deals with questions about what is morally right or wrong, good or bad. These moral standards can be grounded in various philosophical frameworks such as natural law, sociopolitical institutions, or individual reasoning.
Legal norms can diverge significantly from ethical norms due to cultural differences, political agendas, or historical contexts. Descriptive ethical relativism recognizes the variability of moral norms across different cultures. Moreover, ethical frameworks like natural law theory suggest that ethical truths are derived from nature and are immutable, while legal norms are human constructs and subject to change.
Ethical naturalism posits that fulfilling our human nature is inherently good while distorting it is evil. This is separate from legal standards which may not reflect the fulfillment or distortion of human nature. In addition, moral relativism and moral skepticism question the objectivity of moral truths, indicating that legal standards could not be equated with ethical standards universally.