Morality and Ethics: Understanding the Differences
Morality
Morality is a set of customs, values, and norms transmitted by custom or tradition within a particular group. It requires all its members to be conscious of these standards.
Ethics
Ethics is a philosophical discipline that conducts a critical reflection on morality in general. Its objectives are:
- Analyze the characteristics of moral behavior to distinguish it from other types of behavior.
- Consider the moral values and norms that follow from them.
- Determine what moral responsibility is.
- Investigate whether human beings act freely.
- Analyze the scope of moral obligation.
Moral and ethical questions are raised differently. Morality has to do with the practical level of action and attempts to answer the question: “What should I do?” Ethics deals with the theoretical level of reflection and addresses questions like “What is morality?”, “How is it based?”, and “How does reflection apply to everyday life?”
Practical Reason: What Should I Do?
- Be aware.
- Judging the possible action.
- Choose between these possibilities, weighing the pros and cons.
To choose correctly, the individual must analyze the following elements of moral action:
- The reason: what drives me to act one way or another.
- The purpose: what moves my will to achieve.
- The means: what will be used to achieve the end.
- The result: achieving the desired end.
Conscience
Conscience is defined as the capacity of practical reason to capture the moral principles, which can distinguish between moral good and evil and judge the morality of an act. Conscience performs the following functions:
- Develops practical judgments (universal moral standards applied to specific cases, considering the particular circumstances in which they have to be made).
- Makes self-criticism, as it judges one’s own actions. This trial creates feelings of guilt or satisfaction.
- Makes the individual responsible for the consequences of acts performed freely and consciously. It does so in an internal dimension (the person is responsible for their way of being) and an external dimension (the person is accountable to others for the effects their actions cause).
Norms
A norm is a standard of conduct regulating coexistence.
A moral norm is a norm that stems from a moral value.
A rule of law and a moral standard differ in their competent authorities.
Values
A value is a quality attributed to things or people that makes them preferable or objectionable. Negative values are called countervalues or disvalues.
Moral Values
Moral values refer to the relationship between human action and a moral standard. A moral value is characterized by:
- It gives the ratio between a human act and a moral standard. If the act is consistent with the rule, it is fair; otherwise, it is unfair.
- It can only be attributed to people.
- It affects the whole person and not just a part.
- It is imposed as a necessary requirement for all people, who should strive to be fair, honest, sincere, and so on.
Origin of Values
- Objectivism: Values exist in themselves. It takes an objective moral order that can guide human behavior. People can and must discover the values and turn them into moral imperatives. (Plato and Max Scheler)
- Subjectivism: There are no objective or universal values that can serve as a basis for moral norms. Values are human creations. This can lead to radical subjectivism and individualism, where anything goes, and everything depends on the opinion of each individual. (Friedrich Nietzsche and Jean-Paul Sartre)
Validity of Values
- Moral absolutism (related to objectivism): The validity of values is in themselves; they are absolute. Values are not conditioned by space and time. This can lead to dogmatism.
- Moral relativism (related to subjectivism): Values are relative. There are no objective and universal values. This can lead to extreme relativism.