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Ethics vs. Morals


Diffen › English Language › Grammar › Words

Ethics and morals relate to “right” and “wrong” conduct. While they are
sometimes used interchangeably, they are different: ethics refer to rules
provided by an external source, e.g., codes of conduct in workplaces or
principles in religions. Morals refer to an individual’s own principles regarding
right and wrong.

Comparison chart

Ethics Morals
What are they? The rules of conduct recognized Principles or habits with respect
in respect to a particular class of to right or wrong conduct. While
human actions or a particular morals also prescribe dos and
group or culture. don'ts, morality is ultimately a
personal compass of right and
wrong.

Where do they Social system - External Individual - Internal


come from?

Why we do it? Because society says it is the Because we believe in something


right thing to do. being right or wrong.

Flexibility Ethics are dependent on others Usually consistent, although can


for definition. They tend to be change if an individual’s beliefs
consistent within a certain change.
context, but can vary between
contexts.

The "Gray" A person strictly following Ethical A Moral Person although perhaps
Principles may not have any bound by a higher covenant, may
Morals at all. Likewise, one could choose to follow a code of ethics
violate Ethical Principles within a as it would apply to a system.
given system of rules in order to "Make it fit"
maintain Moral integrity.

Origin Greek word "ethos" Latin word "mos" meaning


meaning"character" "custom"

Acceptability Ethics are governed by Morality transcends cultural


professional and legal guidelines norms
within a particular time and place

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Contents: Ethics vs Morals


1 Source of Principles 2 Consistency and Flexibility
1 Source of Principles y y

3 Conflicts Between Ethics and Morals 5 Videos Explaining the Differences


4 Origins 6 References

Source of Principles
Ethics are external standards that are provided by institutions, groups, or culture to
which an individual belongs. For example, lawyers, policemen, and doctors all have to
follow an ethical code laid down by their profession, regardless of their own feelings or
preferences. Ethics can also be considered a social system or a framework for
acceptable behavior.

Morals are also influenced by culture or society, but they are personal principles
created and upheld by individuals themselves.

Consistency and Flexibility


Ethics are very consistent within a certain context, but can vary greatly between
contexts. For example, the ethics of the medical profession in the 21st century are
generally consistent and do not change from hospital to hospital, but they are different
from the ethics of the 21st century legal profession.

An individual’s moral code is usually unchanging and consistent across all contexts, but
it is also possible for certain events to radically change an individual's personal beliefs
and values.

Conflicts Between Ethics and Morals


One professional example of ethics conflicting with morals is
the work of a defense attorney. A lawyer’s morals may tell her
that murder is reprehensible and that murderers should be
punished, but her ethics as a professional lawyer, require her to defend her client to the
best of her abilities, even if she knows that the client is guilty.

Another example can be found in the medical field. In most parts of the world, a doctor
may not euthanize a patient, even at the patient's request, as per ethical standards for
health professionals. However, the same doctor may personally believe in a patient's
right to die, as per the doctor's own morality.

Origins
Much of the confusion between these two words can be traced back to their origins. For
example, the word "ethic" comes from Old French (etique), Late Latin (ethica), and
Greek (ethos) and referred to customs or moral philosophies. "Morals" comes from
Late Latin's moralis, which referred to appropriate behavior and manners in society. So,
the two have very similar, if not synonymous, meanings originally.

Morality and ethics of the individual have been philosophically studied for well over a
thousand years. The idea of ethics being principles that are set and applied to a group
(not necessarily focused on the individual) is relatively new, though, primarily dating
back to the 1600s. The distinction between ethics and morals is particularly important
for philosophical ethicists.

Videos Explaining the Differences


The following video explains how ethics are objective, while morals are subjective.
PHI - 384 Ethics v Morals

References
The Definition of Morality - Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
Ethics Definition - Dictionary.com
Ethic Origins - Online Etymology Dictionary
Moral Origins - Wiktionary
Morals Definition - Dictionary.com

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Comments: Ethics vs Morals


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Aaron Carter
Morals are objective. Ethics are subjective.
Like · Reply · Nov 7, 2017 7:06am

Alan Cooper · Vancouver, British Columbia


This is exactly backwards! As indicated by the quoted etymology:
s s e act y bac a ds s d cated by t e quoted ety o ogy
Ethics- from Greek word "ethos" meaning "character" (ie INternal)
Morals- from Latin word "mos" meaning "custom" (ie EXternal)
Like · Reply · Oct 31, 2017 2:16pm

Michael Eneyo · University of Calabar, {Philosophy}


I don't really agree with this analysis. Ethics is a set of rules or code of conducts,
either from an individual or group of people, society, etc, to checkmate the excesses
of human actions and these ethical beliefs can be changed at anytime the said group
or person wishes to change the said belief. Moral codes on the other hands, are
rules that deal with the issues about what relate to God and His Commandments.
Morality is strictly on issues that bother on relationship between man and man ,as
well as man's relationship with God. Ethics covers all aspects of existence.

Not taking bath is not moral act, but ethical act. Note: not all ethical acts are moral
acts, but all moral acts are ethical acts.

Every moral act is punishment laden if one failed to keep it, but some ethical acts are
not punishable acts.
Like · Reply · 2 · Oct 10, 2017 1:23pm

Anura Chandana · University of Colombo


good and helpful article.
Like · Reply · Jul 1, 2017 10:38pm

Clayton Kim Boyd · South Grand Prairie High School Counselors


Answers above are not accurate, they are ambiguous. Simply put...Ethics are how
you treat people and specific situations, Morals are how you treat those you know
and overall situations. For example, Morally I do not steal. Ethically, I do not steal
from my clients. Morally, I will not commit murder. Ethically, I believe in Capital
Punishment.
Like · Reply · 2 · Jun 6, 2017 5:34pm

Alexandra Lei Suarez


mY GHAD! I love this!
Like · Reply · 2 · Apr 19, 2017 6:50pm

Christine Kumaku · University of Ghana, Legon


Morality might seem to be subjective but how do we acquire moral laws? We imbibe
them from society - family, church, school etc and make them our guiding priciples.
Like · Reply · Feb 22, 2017 10:16am

Howard Wiley · Brunel University London


Yes, but when you place your 'aquired ' moral code into a different ethical
system - say, as a refugee or immigrant into a different country (east to west
etc) - then here we have the difference made obvious.
Like · Reply · 3 · May 24, 2017 4:12am

Dave Mayton · Gettysburg, Pennsylvania


Ever notice that humans labeled government have a department of ethics but not a
department of morality? Ethics on their own are simply rules created by some
individuals which others bind themselves to, often verbally and through contract. A
fitting phrase for ethics might be "The road to hell is paved with good intentions", as
the opinions of fallible and corruptible humans often negatively impact many other
humans. The thing about opinions is... they only matter with the things that don't
universally matter.
Morality is far more internal, instinctual and based upon acceptance within the
min... See More
Like · Reply · 2 · Jan 28, 2017 5:48pm · Edited

Rudolf Rassendyll · New York, New York


You know, I have always found moral philosophy more interesting that the rest of it,
and I have spent some 50 years in The Academy trying to understand its
implications. After some thought, I think the distinction between ethics and morals, as
set forth here and elsewhere, rests on a whole lot of confusion, in turn dependent on
not parsing the problems properly. That should be sufficiently elliptical to count as
pretty good philosophy-speak....
Like · Reply · 1 · Dec 30, 2016 12:27pm

Emma Arbogast
I think this is somewhat backwards. I define ethics as a rational set of rules aimed to
reduce harm, which may be a personal set of rules or a set of rules defined by a
group, but either way they are based on a careful consideration of potential
outcomes. They are flexible because they can be adjusted based on new data. By
contrast, morals are about "right" and "wrong"--they have no basis in rationality but
are instead based on feeling and instinct, or social or religious convention. As such,
they are inflexible, and often cause more harm than good.
Like · Reply · 6 · Dec 20, 2016 12:17pm

Warah Claudette Neh · University of Buea


very clear and ' down to earth'
Like · Reply · Nov 27, 2016 10:45pm

State SC Council · Zambian Open University - ZAOU


good article
Like · Reply · Aug 29, 2016 6:48am

Will Mercado · Works at Notre Dame of Marbel University


Very clear and understandable.
Like · Reply · 1 · Jun 11, 2016 11:27pm

Erwin Alber · Owner at Retired


But as far as I am concerned, wrong.

In reality, morals are imposed by an external source such as society or a


group of people, or an authority, while ethics are based on one's innate
sense of what is right and what is wrong.
Like · Reply · 3 · Aug 7, 2016 6:15am

Gary Lloyd · New Port Richey, Florida


The objective seed from which moral/ethical value systems grow (and subsequently
branch out into subjective variations) can only be based in human instinct, which may
or may not be God-given.

Imagine a world where all were color blind, The very concept of "color" would not
exist. Someone would mention "color" and everyone would say "Huh?". Without color
sense, the concept would not exist.

Similarly, if there were no inborn, instinctive moral/ethical sense, when we say


"morality" or "ethics" everyone would say, "Huh?". Without moral sense, the concept
would not exist.

This prime ethical sense is objective in that it exists whether we like it or not... and
whether we subscribe to a religion or not.
Like · Reply · 4 · May 24, 2016 5:54am · Edited

Erwin Alber · Owner at Retired


Well said Gary! This is why I don't agree with the definitions given in this
article. Our ethical sense is like our common sense innate, that is internal,
as it is based on an internal knowing. .

The word morals is derived from the Latin word mos, which means custom,
so it is morals which come from and are imposed by an external source,
such as society, the church or even forced on people by some authority
figure.Morals consequently change with the times, and from society to
society.

By contrast, ethics can by their very nature not be defined or imposed by an


external source because ethic... See More
Like · Reply · 1 · Aug 7, 2016 6:05am

Tianyu Bai · 北京市第五中学


Hi, I got what you mean. But I want to say, we are grown up in a community,
under education. I think it is more important than gene! So we cannot say
ethic is innate. For example, in different culture, they have different ethic on
the same thing.
Like · Reply · Oct 4, 2016 7:35am

Gary Lloyd · New Port Richey, Florida


Tianyu Bai Any ethical values that differ from society to society are not ethic
values at all, but are rather moral values. Ethics are instinctive and therefore
near universal. I say "near" universal because just as there are those who
are born color blind, there are doubtless people who are born ethics blind.

It may in fact come down to one instinctive ethical value, the seed from
which all value systems grow and mutate. If I had to identify a near universal
ethical value, it would be related to defense. Unprovoked actions of others
which elicit a defensive response from us are viewed as unethical. IOW,
non-defensive force is near universally viewed as unethical.
Like · Reply · Oct 4, 2016 2:09pm · Edited

Show 1 more reply in this thread

Daniel Davison · Universal Non Denominational Minister at Self-employed


This is completely backwards! Ethics are personal - the word derives from the Greek
for character, i.e. individual personality. Morals is from the Latin for customs - i.e.
habits of a culture or society.
Like · Reply · 3 · May 16, 2016 12:06pm
Richard J. Kirk · Retired at Engineer
Whether his definitions are right, wrong or round the wrong way does not
matter as much as how we live our lives both morally and ethically.
Like · Reply · May 20, 2016 1:57am

Erwin Alber · Owner at Retired


Exactly Richard - see my above response to Gary Lloyd.
Like · Reply · Aug 7, 2016 6:05am

Erwin Alber · Owner at Retired


Richard J. Kirk Point taken Richard but definitions ARE in my opinion
important, because once one corrupts a language it is all downhill from there
on as cognitive dissonance takes its toll.

Read 1984, where the totalitarian regime turned the meanings of words into
their opposites. So the ministry of propaganda was renamed the ministry of
truth and the ministry of torture into the ministry of love.

We already have the absurd situation where government departments


promoting vaccine child poisoning schedules refer to themselves as the
ministry of health or the department of health when in reality they peddle
sickness, disability and death via their toxic injections.

So it is considered immoral to not protect one's child or children with


vaccines, but parents who listen to their common sense and their sense of
ethics know that to keep their child or children vaccine-free is the only safe
and sane option.
Like · Reply · Aug 7, 2016 6:24am

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Anonymous comments (5)

October 23, 2013, 2:02pm

The Greek and Latin origins seem to indicate that the definitions are
reversed. However, I think that the definitions are correct for how the
terms are used. For example, Olympic athletes have a code of ethics
to which they must adhere; and people are often given the advice to
"follow their moral compass"

— 72.✗.✗.224

May 30, 2013, 11:41pm

I think the distinction drawn here is backwards. If you listen to how


these words are used idiomatically, moral tends to relate to codified
societal beliefs that are received on an unquestioned basis (the 1960's
use of the term "moral majority" for instance.) On the other hand ethics
implies a philosophical and hence reasoned set of values that the
individual thinks through (going back to Aristotle's Ethics).

— 173.✗.✗.75

June 25, 2012, 6:43pm

WOW!!! Neat website... I love it! :D

— 70.✗.✗.68
November 15, 2013, 8:17pm

Part of being an educated person is that you know how to find the field
that studies the thing you are interested in. Philosophy is the field that
studies ethics. Philosophers use the terms "ethical" and "moral" more
or less interchangeably, and tend not to use the term "morals".

The content here is of very very poor quality, and looks like it was
simply made up by someone.
If you want to learn about this, a good starting point is the Stanford
Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. That is a very high quality
source, with several entries on ethics.

— 75.✗.✗.251

March 23, 2014, 12:59am

Morality is an individual's opinion of right and wrong. An ethical code is


the opinion of a group that has the authority to force others to follow
their views, or be penalized. Having the authority to make rules does
not make your rules any more objective or rational. ALL moral views
are subjective. Posting videos from a cult that believes in magic
destroys your credibility.

— 76.✗.✗.223

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