The Moral and ethic are two fundamental terms when it comes to philosophy, so much so that their studies represent the most important reflections on the philosophy of Aristotle, Plato and others of the most important thinkers.
- Ethics. Although its concepts can be confused on many occasions, formally the definition of ethics corresponds to the branch of philosophy that tries to study and explain the rational and well-founded origins of the social rules that govern people’s actions without the need for legal coercion. For instance: ethics of duty, ethics of discourse.
- Moral. Instead, morality is the set of those guidelines that seem basic for coexistence in society and that guide the individual, as said, beyond the regulations imposed by the State. For instance: do not cheat when playing sports, accompany a sick person.
What is the difference between ethics and morals?
The difference between these two concepts is somewhat complex, because in a way they represent the same thing but from opposing angles.
At the time ethics It is intended as the formal and logical deduction of the causes of certain guidelines, the moral it involves the acquisition and repetition of habits in the behavior of individuals without having previously made any judgment about them, beyond the obligation to comply with them.
Reflection on morality is ethical, and in some cases it invites us to make a change, when it is considered that the foundations or social conventions on which these apparently good behaviors are based, in reality lack more sense.
- You may be interested in: Moral judgments
Ethics and morals in time
Having accepted the fact that morality is a group of behavior patternsWhile ethics is a branch of philosophical study, it does not seem strange to consider that their histories and developments over time have had to be different.
Morality advanced in time in parallel to the most important consensuses on which the societies of before were founded. First, through religion, then through politics and science.
At present, when the advances of the first two seem to have stopped (in religion, accepting the diversity of creeds, and in politics, consolidating the democratic system), the scientific moral it is the one that arouses the greatest controversies, and there are many studies and research referred to it.
The history of ethics, on the other hand, had a more formal and it was discussed with different results in Ancient Greece, in the Middle Ages, in the Modern Age and in the Contemporary Age. The present time of ethics invites various studies, either in academic fields as well as in politics, education or the family.
Examples of ethics and morals
Here is a list of examples of ethics and morals:
Ethics
- Ethics of duty (based on experience)
- Discourse ethics (internal need to base statements on reality)
- Medical ethics
- Buddhist ethics (with precepts in the form of practice guides and not of imposition)
- Normative ethics (formulation of general principles of ethics)
- Bioethics (relationship of the human being with the environment)
- Military ethics
- Professional deontologies (ethics of different disciplines)
- Ethics of virtuebased on Plato and Aristotle)
- Economic ethics (ethical norms in economic relations between individuals)
Moral
- Return if by mistake one took something that is not yours.
- Notify the other if he is making a mistake and charges us less.
- Give back the things that one sees that someone else drops on the street.
- Exercise the public function with honesty, and reject all attempts at corruption.
- Wearing clothes on the street.
- Do not cheat when you are playing a sport.
- Do not take advantage of the innocence of a child, in any order.
- Do not take advantage of the physical difficulty of an elderly person.
- Do not cause suffering to an animal.
- Accompany the sick person.