What Is Morality? (See link below for more video lectures on Ethics)

[Music] [Music] [Music] in our whiteboard edition titled what is ethics I have explained the meaning and types of ethics I have also explained there very briefly the difference between ethics and morality in this whiteboard edition i will clearly distinguish morality from ethics by explaining the meaning nature and dynamics of morality hence this white word will briefly address the question what is morality it must be noted however that the difference between ethics and morality is not that significant in fact the former is essentially synonymous with a ladder etymologically speaking ethics comes from the Greek word ethos while morality is from the latin word moss or mortis if used in its plural form and both words are referring to customary behavior for this reason we may use the word immoral in lieu of the word unethical or we may use the word moral instead of the word ethical this is the reason why we say that a moral person or ethical person is one who is good and does the right thing and an immoral person or an ethical person is one who is bad and does what is wrong as we can see the terms ethics and morality can be used interchangeably however there is a fine line that divides the two in other words we can distinguish one from the other in some respects the first idea that came to our mind when we asked the difference between ethics and morality is that ethics generally refers to the systematic study of the rightness or wrongness of a human action while morality is generally understood as the rightness or wrongness of a human action in this way we can say that ethics is the specific branch of philosophy that studies the morality that is the rightness or wrongness of a human action with this we may initially conclude that ethics is the science of morals while morality is the practice of ethics based on this initial discussion on the difference between the two terms we can now draw the idea that ethics attempts to provide systems of moral principles and the reasons why these principles are valid hence ethics is more concerned with the theories that can be used to explain why a particular moral principle is valid or not right or wrong it is for this reason that ethicists have come up with some of the basic ethical principles that may help determine the rightness or wrongness of a human action some of these basic ethical principles are respect for persons truthfulness and confidentiality autonomy and informed consent beneficence non-maleficence and justice now as already mentioned morality refers to the principles of right and wrong behavior or rightness and wrongness that is goodness and badness of human actions and more importantly in determining the rightness or wrongness of human actions the moral agent is guided by the broader rules of principles of ethics for instance the person's moral belief that killing is wrong may stem from the basic ethical principle of respect for persons or non-maleficence indeed this example further explains the basic difference between ethics and morality if ethics says that killing is wrong because it violates the basic ethical principles of respect for persons or non-maleficence morality on the other hand says do not kill because it is wrong again this is the reason why X is understood as the science of morals while morality is the practice of the basic principles of ethics that's it for now thanks for visiting us today for another whiteboard discussion here at filo notes full transcript of this video is available at Fila notes calm and to keep you updated of our newest videos simply click here and subscribe and tap the bell for notifications thanks take care [Music]

Channel: PHILO-notes

Views: 161,380

Keywords: Ethics, Ethos, Mos, Morality, Ethical Person, Moral Person, Unethical Person, Immoral Person, Basic Ethical Principles, Science of Morals, Practice of Ethics

Id: p9A4UHYeBcE

Length: 5min 55sec (355 seconds)

Published: Sun Dec 30 2018