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Morals are principles of what is wrong and right. These can be virtues, like honesty, integrity, and reliability. They can also be duties, like telling the trut

Morals are principles of what is wrong and right. These can be virtues, like honesty, integrity, and reliability. They can also be duties, like telling the truth, keeping promises, and following the law. They can be individual beliefs, or principles shared among groups of people. And they differ across individuals, groups, societies, and periods of history. Ethics is the formal study of moral principles. It includes descriptive ethics - exploring and understanding the morals of an individual, group, society, or period in history. It includes virtue ethics, which theorizes that morality is based on virtues, and deontological ethics, which theorizes that morals are derived from duties. It includes moral realism, which argues that some morals are true and universal - as well as moral anti realism, which argues that morals are determined by individuals and groups. It also includes professional ethics, which attempts to design morals suited to specific professions, like medicine, law, business, and technology. To summarize, morals are the actual principles of what is right and wrong, while ethics is the study and development of morals.

j7ake 3y ago
Thanks for the description. So are people wrong in using “ethics” when they meant “morals”? Eg “this company has bad ethics”: they mean this company has bad morals? Also what does a “good work ethic” mean if ethics is mainly concerned with study and development?
- barfbagginus 3y ago
  Yes, people are generally talking about morals in our sense when they talk about eg, business or work ethics. But I would not say that's wrong, because there are three common senses for the words: 1) Morals are principles, while ethics is the philosophy of how we develop them 2) Ethics and Morals are synonyms for principles 3) Morals are principles for individuals, and ethics are principles for groups Professional and work ethics are most in line with sense 3, because they are about groups. Sense 2 is also consistent and probably what most people actually mean. However, professional ethics ethics can also be seen as an example of our sense 1. It's a field of applied ethical philosophy, where we engineer codes of morals fit to a specific profession's needs. Business ethics fail when they end up choosing bad morals. So we can call the ethics themselves bad. And work ethic is not just a set of good morals, but also the ability to spontaneously reflect and improve on our own morals as workers. This gives it some of sense 1 as well. However it would be a stretch to say this is what people really mean, since most people subscribe to senses 2 or 3. Sense 1 is mainly useful for people interested in systematically developing morals.
readthenotes1 3y ago
Ethics has also a meaning different than the study and development of morals.
jasonm23 3y ago
That's certainly one definition of Ethics, as a field of study. However, it's not the exclusive definition of the word. Let us refer to Oxford: ethic noun /ˈeθɪk/ /ˈeθɪk/ ethics [plural] Moral principles that control or influence a person’s behaviour Professional/business/medical ethics To draw up a code of ethics. He began to question the ethics of his position. [singular] System of moral principles or rules of behaviour The ethic of personal achievement is very strong in western societies. ethics [uncountable] The branch of philosophy that deals with moral principles

j7ake 3y ago

Thanks for the description. So are people wrong in using “ethics” when they meant “morals”? Eg “this company has bad ethics”: they mean this company has bad morals? Also what does a “good work ethic” mean if ethics is mainly concerned with study and development?

barfbagginus 3y ago
Yes, people are generally talking about morals in our sense when they talk about eg, business or work ethics. But I would not say that's wrong, because there are three common senses for the words: 1) Morals are principles, while ethics is the philosophy of how we develop them 2) Ethics and Morals are synonyms for principles 3) Morals are principles for individuals, and ethics are principles for groups Professional and work ethics are most in line with sense 3, because they are about groups. Sense 2 is also consistent and probably what most people actually mean. However, professional ethics ethics can also be seen as an example of our sense 1. It's a field of applied ethical philosophy, where we engineer codes of morals fit to a specific profession's needs. Business ethics fail when they end up choosing bad morals. So we can call the ethics themselves bad. And work ethic is not just a set of good morals, but also the ability to spontaneously reflect and improve on our own morals as workers. This gives it some of sense 1 as well. However it would be a stretch to say this is what people really mean, since most people subscribe to senses 2 or 3. Sense 1 is mainly useful for people interested in systematically developing morals.

readthenotes1 3y ago

Ethics has also a meaning different than the study and development of morals.

jasonm23 3y ago

That's certainly one definition of Ethics, as a field of study. However, it's not the exclusive definition of the word. Let us refer to Oxford: ethic noun /ˈeθɪk/ /ˈeθɪk/ ethics [plural] Moral principles that control or influence a person’s behaviour Professional/business/medical ethics To draw up a code of ethics. He began to question the ethics of his position. [singular] System of moral principles or rules of behaviour The ethic of personal achievement is very strong in western societies. ethics [uncountable] The branch of philosophy that deals with moral principles