A moral question for you all

[WhaleSharkBootySweat]

Imagine you go into a really nice small business selling either homewares or food. You pick something up that you really like, but it's the end of the month and you can't really afford it. What is the main reason that stops you from stealing it?

A.) Fear of getting caught, punished, criminal record, shame, losing your job
B.) Sympathy for the small business owner, not wanting them to lose money

Or something else.
For me it's massively more B but then I don't steal from chain stores, so I guess A must come into it then?
I just wonder where these moral decisions we make daily come from. Is it fear of repercussions or genuine moral compass? Why do a third of shoppers steal from self checkouts but wouldn't steal from a cashier at the till?
I think about the idea that if there wasn't law and order, then we would all steal and murder, but I genuinely believe that most of us wouldn't? I mean I've never felt compelled to, but why is that? Empathy?

so all rich people deserve to be stolen from?

it literally would never occur to me. HTH

I dont steal because you just don't steal... its a shitty thing to do. Anyone thats ever had something stolen (and we probably all have) know how bad it feels.

I'm from a very poverty stricken lower class high unemployed area... theres a strict way things are here. I personally love it because EVERYONE is welcomed with open arms. Doesn't matter you skin colour, religion, class, education, criminal record, addictions, family situation etc... everyone gets an automatic chance.

You are instantly taken in like family, people will give you the shirt off their back if you need it and you are treat with pure respect BUT while respect is automatically given (not earned) it can be easily lost based on your actions.

Quickest way to lose respect and be shunned and blacked from the community is to steal. We just don't do that to each other (or too others either, a thief can't be trusted so even if you steal from someone else you lost our trust too).

Or mine. Theft just isn’t on my radar.

No…not even as a child.

And the subject didn't come up among your peers, or was it just seen as unthinkable when it did? Where I lived, or in my friend group, it was "common knowledge" that "everyone" tried shoplifting at some point. A self-fulfilling prophecy probably!

So my neighbour has a nice car I can just take it, the next neighbour leaves their door unlocked I can go in and take what I want from their house, there is a nice bottle of whisky at the off license I can just have that, my child wants the latest ipad they can just take it of the shelf.

Is this less boring?

Oh fgs. The poster was saying it was boring not to engage with the moral question, not that it's boring not to steal stuff. Questions about ethics and the motivation behind them have been discussed for thousands of years. They are at the centre of what's fascinating about human behaviour. I can just imagine Plato and Socrates going 'Nope, it's just wrong, innit? End of'.

Philosophy isn't weird!

But big businesses do not bear the costs of theft - they pass it on to their customers, @MsCactus. Everything you or I buy from, say, Tesco, has a percentage built into the price to cover loss by theft - so whenever anyone steals from Tesco, I am paying some of that cost.

So it doesn't punish the evil corporation or its shareholders - it punishes the rest of us.

I am not a criminal. That's why. Jeez!

Because it is dishonest. A complex society like ours needs us all to be honest for it to be fair for everyone.
I don't like liars and I don't like thieves. They are parasites quite apart from anything else and the other harms they do. And my definition of both is wider than most people's these days- I'll give you an example, if people skive off work but take the pay, they are stealing from their employer/customer. In the case of, well, let's take one example, MPs, if they skive off, their employer is us, so in my book they are stealing from us.

Are we talking rich people or billionaires?

Rich is subjective but there is a point where rich is rich to the detriment to everyone else.

I wouldn't be able to enjoy having the item as I knew id stolen it, same as why I wouldn't cheat in an exam. Even if there was a guarantee no one would find out, I just couldn't do it.

Exactly @AllProperTeaIsTheft. Imagine every hypothetical question throughout history being answered with a simple “well I just wouldn’t do that”…

See this is at the heart of this question. If you answer that you wouldn’t steal even if there was no law against it because you would be shunned by society, you then need to ask yourself whether you’d steal even with a cast-iron guarantee you’d never be found. That’s where it gets really interesting IMO.

Depressing to think there are some who just don't have 'thou shalt not steal' somewhere in their minds.

Or is that what we've become to as a society?

I'm not really arguing in favour of organised religion but I do think the decline in religious observance has had this sort of effect as all religions have this kind of basic morality at the heart.

I am a law abider by nature so just don't take what isn't mine.
What I don't understand though is how people don't realise that price increases are partly based on unexplained loss I.e. theft.

Someone has to pay for the shortfall when things are stolen or damaged and that is you the customer. Included in that shortfall are plastic carrier bags not paid for, produce not weighed correctly and items skip scanned at self scan tills. Also unwanted frozen and chilled food not put back in fridges or freezers and vandalism to toilets and in car parks.

I don’t think it would enter my head to steal it. The thought wouldn’t be in my head to make a choice about.
I’m more likely to think - if it’s still here when I’m next here I’ll get one.

It depends if they needed it. I'm quite wealthy so I wouldn't - but I definitely would if my children needed food, medicine, the basics etc. I think it'd be morally wrong not to do so

It's a mix - society is a social contract. We don't want a society where everybody can steal from everybody else because then it just comes down to who has the biggest gang and the most powerful weapons. So we agree - I won't steal from you if you don't steal from me.
But this "contract" has to be based on some sort of perceived fairness - which is why some people start to think it's reasonable to steal from big business or from rich people who "wouldn't miss it" or from old people who "don't need it".
Our position in society affords us a lot of things - safety, protection, respect, ease - and that is threatened if we are shamed - hence "getting caught" is also a factor.
The balance is not absolute... things change in times of trouble or war or famine for example.
I have never and (think) I would never steal because it's wrong... but that's in this society, now.

Because it doesn’t belong to me.

What a weird post.
And nothing more from the OP after she's thrown in the grenade.

Taking something you have not paid for, which doesn't belong to you, is theft.

It's called stealing.

Feeling sorry for the business owner or the risk of being caught aren't relevant.

If they were, the same logic would apply to anything that is morally wrong.

Murder
Arson
Being unfaithful
Fraud

This thread is full of people who are so horrified by the mere existence of stealing that they can’t even entertain the concept of a thought experiment about it. I don’t think you need to worry too much about anyone’s morality here…

I find all of the "because it's wrong to steal... duh!" answers so boring. Where's your sense of philosophical curiosity? Do you really just accept social norms without ever questioning them? I think questioning these things shows greater morals than not questioning them.

I subscribe to a more utilitarian code of ethics, so I believe the end justifies the means, and consequences are of more moral relevance than the action itself.

I wouldn't steal from an independent business because of B, and I wouldn't steal from larger businesses because of A. I'm fortunate enough though that I can afford the things I need, so I don't need to steal.

However, I wouldn't consider it morally wrong for a homeless person to steal food from a supermarket, or for a struggling single mum to steal nappies for her baby. I consider it a greater moral injustice that we live in a society where some people don't have access to life's necessities.

Of course this is a very simplistic take and people have written entire dissertations on the subject. That's what makes philosophy so very fascinating, there are no simple answers!

I would have no luck for it.

Its just wrong anyway you look at it.