3 ms·

just went back and re-read your paragraph. I am fine with "Ethics != Morals". However your explanations seem suspect: 1. I disagree entirely with the comment

by ezl 14y ago

just went back and re-read your paragraph. I am fine with "Ethics != Morals". However your explanations seem suspect: 1. I disagree entirely with the comments "ethical/unethical pretty much always refers to a relationship" and "ethics are about relationships" 2. "Some things that are clearly immoral in one value system or another are clearly NOT unethical in any system of ethics." -- This confuses me. Can you give me an example of an act that is CLEARLY IMMORAL in one value system and also CLEARLY NOT UNETHICAL in ANY SYSTEM OF ETHICS

SomeCallMeTim 14y ago
1. Sorry, but that's how I see it used probably 99% of the time. Are you a native English speaker? And does it sound right to you to say "It's unethical to THINK X?" It sounds completely wrong to me, and (typically) when I bring it up to a native English speaker, they almost always think about it and agree. Maybe you missed that memo, but it IS the typical usage, as I've observed it and confirmed with others. You don't have to believe me, but I've gotten a surprising number of upvotes (here and elsewhere) as a result of posting about this topic, so I think I'm not being crazy here. 2. This actually follows trivially from #1, in that ANY thought crime (looking at porn, coveting, thinking disrespectful thoughts of an elder, etc.) is de facto NOT about a relationship, and therefore can't be "unethical." You may not believe #1, and if not, well, your loss. Not interested in arguing about it further. But you shouldn't be confused as to how #1 can imply #2. There's additional confusion from the fact that "Ethics" as a topic of study is often just a synonym for "Morality," (capital letters) which doesn't take into account the colloquial meanings of "ethical" (lowercase 'e') and "moral". tl;dr: English actually sucks.

3 ms·

just went back and re-read your paragraph. I am fine with "Ethics != Morals". However your explanations seem suspect: 1. I disagree entirely with the comment

by ezl 14y ago

SomeCallMeTim 14y ago
1. Sorry, but that's how I see it used probably 99% of the time. Are you a native English speaker? And does it sound right to you to say "It's unethical to THINK X?" It sounds completely wrong to me, and (typically) when I bring it up to a native English speaker, they almost always think about it and agree. Maybe you missed that memo, but it IS the typical usage, as I've observed it and confirmed with others. You don't have to believe me, but I've gotten a surprising number of upvotes (here and elsewhere) as a result of posting about this topic, so I think I'm not being crazy here. 2. This actually follows trivially from #1, in that ANY thought crime (looking at porn, coveting, thinking disrespectful thoughts of an elder, etc.) is de facto NOT about a relationship, and therefore can't be "unethical." You may not believe #1, and if not, well, your loss. Not interested in arguing about it further. But you shouldn't be confused as to how #1 can imply #2. There's additional confusion from the fact that "Ethics" as a topic of study is often just a synonym for "Morality," (capital letters) which doesn't take into account the colloquial meanings of "ethical" (lowercase 'e') and "moral". tl;dr: English actually sucks.