6 Differences between ETHICS and MORALS

Talking about ethics necessarily implies addressing the question of morality, terms that, moreover, in common parlance usually mean the same thing. In everyday language, there is no difference between the terms "moral" and "ethics", using both without distinction to refer to norms, conducts and behaviors of the human being. However, from a technical-philosophical point of view, the two terms do not have the same meaning, and with this Psychology-Online article we will see together what is the difference between ethics and morals, also pointing out the difference between ethics and morals according to Savater.

Index

1. What is ethics
2. What is moral
3. 6 Differences between ethics and morals

The ethics (from the Greek ethos, which means custom, way of being and thinking) has arisen in philosophical language with Aristotle to indicate that part of the philosophy that studies the behavior of man, the criteria on the basis of which behaviors and behaviors are evaluated options.

• When this part of philosophy is limited to describing moral conduct and the criteria that guide it, we speak of descriptive ethics.
• Whereas when indications are given about which criteria and values ​​must be respected by the person acting, they speak of normative ethics.

Ethics is, therefore, the science that studies the behavior of man and asks if what he does corresponds to what he should do, while the adjective "ethical" defines, qualifying it, a certain way of behaving. Ethics is the science that should tell us the good to be pursued. But what is good? According to Aristotle's classic definition, "all that is the object of desire is good", from which we can deduce the following metaphysical postulates of ethics:

• There is only good, evil is nothing but the absence of good.
• Except the Absolute Good, all existing goods in nature have something good and bad.
• Man always seeks the good.
• When evil is chosen, it is done because it is considered good.
• Choosing is only possible when we are dealing with relative goods.

The term moral etymologically derived from Latin you mos- moris, which means custom, and therefore indicates the conduct of life, the norms of behavior, the principles, the values, referring specifically to everyday human actions and the individual's choices regarding own life.

Morality is essentially constituted by principles, or norms, relating to good and evil, which allow defining or judging human actions, universal laws that apply to all human beings and determine their behavior. It is, for example, the respect due to the human being as such, the obligation to treat individuals fairly, the total condemnation of suffering inflicted without reason. Moral coercion occurs in the fact that the violation of the rules causes the disturbance of the conscience, disapproval, or negative moral judgment rather than a public sanction imposed by bodies organized.

The specific formulation of the moral rules that guide our behaviors is partly inherited from a series of historical experiences that we have made, a moral relationship with the world that comes from the overlapping of numerous moral traditions that still inform the way we value reality and Actions.

What is the difference between morals and ethics? The two terms are often used interchangeably, but their meaning is different: it is commonly referred to as ethics to indicate general aspects, while reference is made to morality to indicate more general aspects. personal. Next we will see the differences between ethics and morals with examples.

1. Ethics is reflection and morality is conduct. Morality can be defined as the set of behaviors and norms that are normally accepted as valid; but ethics would be the reflection on why those behaviors and norms are considered valid, in comparison with other morals or moralities that different people have.
2. Ethics asks and morals answers. Morality, unlike ethics, prescribes to each man the action that he must perform at a time determined, so that it allows to say what is well done or not, what is good and bad, what is right and what is just. That is why, where morality gives answers, ethics raises questions, questions: ethics tries to construct a discourse that accounts for the why of moral norms.
3. Ethics is the most objective part and the most subjective moral. It could be said with Hegel that morality is understood as the subjective aspect of behavior, what is the inner disposition, the intention of the subject, while ethicity indicates the most objective aspect of the behavior, the set of values ​​that have actually been realized in the story.
4. A more articulated distinction of the two concepts (Russ, 1997) is the one that defines ethics more theoretical than morals and more oriented to a reflection on the principles. Ethics is not like morality, a set of rules of a culture, but is placed beyond the moral: it is a "meta-moral", as a reasoned theory of good and evil, of values ​​and judgments morals.
5. Ethics is more universal. Although etymologically the term “ethics” refers to the same meaning of morality, it is often associated with a universal, trans-moral vision, Unlike the term "moral" which generally assumes a purely religious connotation or refers to particular belongings cultural For this reason, the term ethical is often used to indicate a progressive, new and open morality, capable of generalizing and dialoguing. (From Leo, Pierlorenzi, Scribano, 2000).
6. Morality is more individual. In his book Ethics for a child (2007), Savater defines morality as the set of behaviors and norms that I, you and some of those around us consider valid; ethics, on the other hand, is the reflection on why we consider them valid, and the comparison with other morals of different people.

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• Canto-Sperber, M., Ogien, R. (2006). Moral philosophy. Bologna: Il Mulino.
• Caputo, F. (2005). Ethics and pedagogy. Linee di teorizzazione etica e pedagogica nel pensiero classico e medievale. Cosenza: Pellegrini Editore.
• De Leo, G., Pierlorenzi, C., Scribano, M. G. (2000). Psychology, ethics and deontology. Nodi e problemi della formazione professionale. Rome: Carocci Editore.
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• Savater, F. (2007). Ethics per a figlio. Rome: Editori Laterza.
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