A Case for Legal Ethics: Legal Ethics As a Source for a Universal Ethic

In suggesting that general ethics be modeled on legal ethics, this book is a call for more creativity in our moral experience. Luizzi argues that lawyers regularly re-think their roles and the rules related to these roles. Their rejection of a prohibition on advertising, for example, was part of their re-thinking of the traditional view of the lawyer's noble calling, one for whom advertising was inappropriate. What this says for general ethics is that we are to become active participants in defining our roles. Our daily experiences can help us in constructing fresh and better conceptions to guide us.

A Case for Legal Ethics rejects fixed conceptions of human nature and extends our constructive efforts beyond specific roles to human nature itself and to our environments. Luizzi appeals to role modeling, both to keep our constructed conceptions within moral bounds, and to develop the literature on moral education. We must be willing for others to imitate us as we live according to the conceptions we construct.

Vincent Luizzi is Professor and Chair of Philosophy at Southwest Texas State University and Associate Municipal Judge, City of San Marcos.