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hey i was just wondering: what is the difference between ethics and morality? i've asked around, but people couldn't give me a good explaination, just said it was different. i looked it up and it basically said the same thing. if it is different, how is it?

Hi,
I did this kind of question in Philosophy last year... There are several different answers;

Here are some quoted articles with and without sources... then my own definitions



http://www.unesco.org/culture/worldreport/html_eng/wcrb41.shtml
Morals and Ethics
The second confusion is that raised between morals and ethics. Morals are linked to the very definition of ethics. Moral principles are extremely diverse. As it happens, morals, historically speaking, have come to be increasingly connected with religion as human society has developed. Therefore, the moral debate has also become a religious one and, as many religious phenomena do not lie beyond the scope of laws, between majorities and minorities, nor the ideological choices involved, it may be difficult to find the same moral values for all societies. Moral values are very diverse. A number of values are universal: "Thou shalt not steal", for example; but there are societies where ?honourable theft? is part of the structuring of the human personality, and therefore morals. We can therefore think that moral values are admittedly absolute in nature and, as such, are fundamental for each culture.
Ethics are related to institutions and rights. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights and human rights accordingly stem from ethics even if no moral grounds can be adduced. Yet moral grounds are to be found everywhere, including science. From the point where, in the name of ethics, science itself does not fall outside this domain, morals, similarly, do not lie outside the realm of ethics as ethics are a profoundly human, secular construction in so far as they represent a conscious choice or plan and a legal endeavour in terms of the law. The confusion that exists between rights and values on the one hand and between morals and ethics on the other lie at the heart of the debate on universal ethics, that is to say, universal ethics based on recognition of human rights.



http://www.iidb.org/vbb/archive/index.php/t-114773.html
Originally, 'ethics' was the Greek word and 'morality' the Latin for the same thing--ie. what people do. Aristotle's 'Ethics' is a seminal work in psychology.

Nowadays a slight differentiation seems to be emerging. My understanding of the distinction as it is used is as follows:

'Ethics' are rules and reasons for behaviour put forward by someone who holds that they are based on and may be defended by reason.

'Morals' are rules and reasons for behaviour put forward by someone who simply insists that they be obeyed.

For this reason, people complaining of irregular sexual behaviour between consenting adults in private denounce it as 'immoral', never as 'unethical'.



http://atheism.about.com/od/philosophybranches/p/Ethics.htm
General definitions



This is mine:

Key terms:

Ethics
This is the study of what is right and wrong with respect to more than just morals. There are many different approaches to Ethics, and some of these would strongly dissociate from the concept that morals always determine what is ethical. Morals are, however, strongly linked to Ethics, as they provide the general basis for what is right and wrong in normal situations. The field of ethics goes further, considering not only the person’s morals, but weighing the situation, value of virtues, consequences, and ethics of subsequent actions.

Morality
The accepted concept of morals is the development of personal values that govern ones ability to tell what action is “right” in a general sense. Morals are somewhat extended in Virtue Ethics, to be ethical principles. As morals are personally formed values, they are sometimes challenged as not being ethical, because they are open to corruption, whereas ethics should not depend upon one person alone’s perception.


-K

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