This figure is two views of the same item; a “top” view and an “elevation” view. The top figure shows a large sphere labeled, “Moral Sphere” which encompasses the smaller sphere labeled, “Ethical Sphere”. If you look at the world through a Moralistic lens, you may see ethics as part of morality. This would be understandable since ethical matters overlap moral matters which is why the two have been viewed as synonymous historically.
The bottom figure provides an elevation view of the top view and is used to illustrate an important point; ethics and morality are different because they are knowable through different means. Morality is knowable through culture, where as ethics is inherently knowable. Morality is inherently relativist, ethics is inherently universal. While they seemly overlap they are knowable through different means. Proper understanding of ethics requires one understand the distinction between the two.
EthicsDefined.org is a website devoted to providing a greater understanding of ethics. This website is organized like the book it is based on. If you would prefer a physical copy, you can purchase Why and Because – The Art and Science of Moral and Ethical Understanding.
If you prefer to listen to the audio version, you can purchase the audio book here: Why and Because – The Art and Science of Moral and Ethical Understanding
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In reference to the above comment:
One could argue that it’s not moral to spam comments sections.
From an ethical perspective, you would consider contradictory positions, such as it is moral for a person to promote their own business, it is moral for someone to do something than is bringing them more benefit (the link, SEO ranking), than the detriment it causes (lack of quality comments, looks like it’s spam, annoyance on behalf of readers).
So you can see that ethics is objectively looking at objective morals. Taking a step back and evaluating different moral positions.
Jim, I have to assume you judged the above comment as spam, it maybe? Surprisingly to us spam is a huge problem on blogs and we have tried to filter out what seemed obvious or with reference links to commercial sites… it is possible a few get through the cracks but that’s not the intension. We can see how someone spamming this site may benefit them, but how does it benefit us to allow it? The goal here is to promote ethical understanding. What do you mean by “objective morals”? What different moral positions are you referencing?
how can morals influence ethics ?
Typically one’s “moral compass” is influenced by the culture that person group up in. Culture can be influenced by parents, religion, the state, their peers, etc. Cultural effects can be negative or positive. The only way to know is to use introspection to critically evaluate ‘your world view’; which can be a difficult thing to do. Ethical understanding enables someone to question themselves effectively to derive ethical truth.
Dive deeper into what you mean regarding “Rights Revolutions”…
based on the figure, can you sum up what is the meaning of sphere of morality.
Keep reading 🙂