Brittany Delgado
Phil 005
Professor R. Majeed
12/7/14
Is prostitution ever morally justified? Discuss with reference to Lars O. Ericsson’s (1980) paper, ‘Charges Against Prostitution’ in Ethics.
A myriad of definitions for prostitution exist, but simply put it’s the act of selling and buying sex. A second description is that it involves an exchange of money for sex between two people who have no legal, moral, or emotional attachment to one another (). There are many different modern day types of prostitution such as escorts, streetwalkers, and people who are pimped/trafficked. Whether prostitution is ever morally justified is a hot topic for debate among many, including philosophers. Although several ethical theories have added to this debate, …show more content…
In addition to arguing the denunciation of prostitution by DCT I will examine problems with DCT, such as arbitrariness, emptiness, and the abhorrent commands problem. Moreover, I will also look at counterarguments, for example that liberation, rather than degradation, comes from prostitution. Many types of prostitution exist, making the debate on the morality of it not as black and white as it may seem. Escorts are paid to accompany an individual to an event and the night may or may not end in sex, street walkers are people who publicly sell their bodies, and people who are pimped or trafficked are forced or coerced into submission and are not given a choice. Additionally, not all prostitutes are female, and not all of the people seeking out prostitutes are male. I wanted to mention that variations like those aforementioned do exist, however, in this paper I am going to focus specifically on males who seek out female streetwalkers. After reviewing DCT it’s clear that, from this view, prostitution is not ever morally justified. DCT is rooted in the belief that an act is morally good and justified if it is commanded by God. So, any act that conforms to the law of God is right/moral,
Phil 005
Professor R. Majeed
12/7/14
Is prostitution ever morally justified? Discuss with reference to Lars O. Ericsson’s (1980) paper, ‘Charges Against Prostitution’ in Ethics.
A myriad of definitions for prostitution exist, but simply put it’s the act of selling and buying sex. A second description is that it involves an exchange of money for sex between two people who have no legal, moral, or emotional attachment to one another (). There are many different modern day types of prostitution such as escorts, streetwalkers, and people who are pimped/trafficked. Whether prostitution is ever morally justified is a hot topic for debate among many, including philosophers. Although several ethical theories have added to this debate, …show more content…
In addition to arguing the denunciation of prostitution by DCT I will examine problems with DCT, such as arbitrariness, emptiness, and the abhorrent commands problem. Moreover, I will also look at counterarguments, for example that liberation, rather than degradation, comes from prostitution. Many types of prostitution exist, making the debate on the morality of it not as black and white as it may seem. Escorts are paid to accompany an individual to an event and the night may or may not end in sex, street walkers are people who publicly sell their bodies, and people who are pimped or trafficked are forced or coerced into submission and are not given a choice. Additionally, not all prostitutes are female, and not all of the people seeking out prostitutes are male. I wanted to mention that variations like those aforementioned do exist, however, in this paper I am going to focus specifically on males who seek out female streetwalkers. After reviewing DCT it’s clear that, from this view, prostitution is not ever morally justified. DCT is rooted in the belief that an act is morally good and justified if it is commanded by God. So, any act that conforms to the law of God is right/moral,