Posted by
Chris Travers on Friday, December 22, 2006 2:56:08 AM
This post is intended to clarify a framework for looking at morality and ethics in a religion-neutral way. This framework is neither hostile toward nor reliant on religion and thus can facilitate a better understanding of right and wrong. To the extent that it is based on philosophy, it is hostile to the concept that these areas can simply be taken for granted in the source materials of any religious tradition although these naturally could provide much material for reflection.
First some definitions. In general, when people think of "ethics" they think of a code of rules which are to be followed in a legalistic way. This is not what I mean at all. Here I refer to Ethics as the branch of systematic philosophy which attempts to define what is good and how we avoid the bad or evil influences. Law for example, is in our society (in both the legislatures and the courts), a subset of ethics in that both the legislative bodies and the courts, in different ways, seek to define the good. The courts have a more advanced methodology, while they also are much more constrained by their methodology and role. However, of course ethics goes well beyond merely matters of law. It is a deeply intellectual excersize which attempts to put forth a framework for answering these sorts of questions. Ethics is derived from the Greek "Ethos" of "custom" via Aristotle's work entited "Ethic" (relating to this central question). There is no reason why something might not be ethical for a person to do but at the same time might not be ethical for a society to ban (I would argue that hate speech is one of those cases). The word further derives from Indo-European roots meaning "to make one's own."
Morality is subtly different. The word dervives from moralis which appears to have been coined by Cicero in order to translate the Greek word "Ethic" into Latin. "Moralis" originally meant "manners" but has been extended to mean everything from confidence (morale, moral support), to fitness of character. In part due to the religious usage, these matters are connected with the idea that moral action elevates the spirit. Therefore the goal of morality isn't to do what is right in an abstract or interpersonal sense but rather to elevate one's own spirit. There is a component of this which is built on ethics and the question of what is good. But there is another aspect of it which is deeply personal and is built on a spiritual and aesthetic response to a situation. The sense of horror we feel when we hear about a child falling down a well is a response that is related to this aspect of morality, as is the satisfaction we get out of helping others out. Many things can be personally immoral while at the same time not violate any ethical principles (for example, keeping a job you hate every day instead of taking a modest pay cut to get a job you love).