Comparing Ethics and Morals  

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A friend of mine wrote a few years ago,
...we ended up discussing the differences between Ethics and Morals. She said she figured it out, like a lightbulb–Ethics are what we ought to do, and Morals are what we actually do. I beg to differ. Ethics is what is right in the eye of society, and Morals are what we actually believe in. We can go against our morals and regret it later.
I don't think they're actually that distinct. I've certainly used the two words interchangeably over the years. I looked up some dictionary definitions and the more I read, the less difference I see between the two. Ethics tends to deal more with systems of morals, morals more with specific guidelines of behavior within those systems.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 25, 2008 at Tuesday, March 25, 2008 and is filed under , , . You can follow any responses to this entry through the comments feed .

2 comments

Personally I've always felt that ethics come from your ethos, your inner spiritual sense of right and wrong, whereas morals are socially constructed and imposed from the outside. But everyone seems to have a different definition for these two words!

April 10, 2008 at 9:02 AM

Yes :) And because of that, my first stop was a dictionary!

April 11, 2008 at 12:41 AM

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