Friday, August 31, 2012

Ethical versus Moral

What means more to you, morals or ethics? The word morality leaves a a bad taste in my mouth, like a sweet wine with religiously rooted oppressive undertones. However a co-worker advised that morality is not a distasteful word to her. She thinks of it as simply "right and wrong". To me the word moral has a sense of judgement attached to it while "ethical" feels broader, more inclusive.  Perhaps because morals are so personal, hence people use the term "immoral" to describe behavior that does not match their own personal belief. Social ethics include an appreciation of individual rights and allowing for differences. A main focus of ethics is acceptance of deviation, so long as the deviation does not infringe on the rights of others. Ethics can be appplied to a popluation or society, I see ethics as a way to temper religiosity, racism, sexism, and bigotry by holding societal standards of treatment for all people. The term ethical and ethics usually is applied to considerations about rights and privileges as opposed to morality, which is typically used to value behaviors. Ethical feels logical, Moral feels emotional.