definition jurisprudence
Is there a term for using law as the basis of morality?
<p>Legal moralism is when a society creates laws based on the prevailing morality of that society. Stuff like &quot;we think green houses are immoral, so we made a law to ban green houses&quot;.</p>
<p>Is there a term for the opposite influence? As in &quot;if Y is legal, I have no problems with doing Y&quot; as an individual viewpoint for moralism?</p>

<p>You're thinking of <b><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legalism_(Western_philosophy)" rel="noreferrer">legalism</a></b>. It can have different meanings -- especially in Chinese legal/philosophical history -- but is the best match to the concept you're describing.</p>

<p>Probably the term Legalism is the best short term, as mentioned by others, but to put it into a larger framework, it is part of the second stage of moral reasoning in Kohlberg's stages of moral development. Level 2 (conventional), Stage 4 (Authority and social-order maintaining orientation). This makes it a higher level of reasoning than avoiding punishment or pure self-interest, but lower than reasoning that evaluates the good of the laws for society as a whole and questions them:
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lawrence_Kohlberg%27s_stages_of_moral_development" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lawrence_Kohlberg%27s_stages_of_moral_development</a></p>

<p>I think an appropriate term for what you might be asking is &quot;virtue jurisprudence,&quot; which overlaps with philosophical questions of ethics and morals. Aristotle popularized this concept to some extent. Ancient Greeks used the word &quot;Arete&quot; to refer to good morals and ethics, although it more generally can be used to refer to anything that is highly superior in its existence and translates to &quot;excellent.&quot; In legal theory, Arete can be applied to how one interacts with the law as it relates to a virtuous quality of one's actions.</p>
