Morality

The word "moral" is from the Latin root mos, moris meaning the code or customs of a people, the social glue that defines how individuals should live together. Morality point to behaviors. Morality can be defined as right conduct both in social relations and personal existence. Morality is defined as a system of rules and regulations that guide the social interactions and social relationship of individuals within the society. Morality is based on concepts of welfare, trust, justice and rights. The idea of morality is beyond religion and different from it. Morality judgements are made in every sphere of human life including religion, culture and profession hence we can talk of "religious morality" , "cultural morality" , "professional morality" , and so on. Every sphere of human endeavour lays down a code of acceptable behavior on the one hand, and unacceptable behavior on the other hand, to guide human conduct. This code represent the "moral standard" or "moral values" within the given context.
The term "morality" can be used in three major ways:
(1) in a descriptive sense
(2) in a normative or universal sense
(3) in synonym with ethics.

In the first descriptive usage, morality means a code of conduct held to be authoritative in matters of right and wrong, whether by society, philosophy, religion, or individual conscience. In its second normative and universal sense, morality refers to an ideal code of conduct, one which would be spoused in preference to alternatives by all rational people, under specified conditions. In its third usage "morality" is synonymous with ethics, the systematic philosophical study of the moral domain. Ethics seeks to address questions such as how a moral outcome can be achieved in a specific situation (applied ethics), how moral values should be determined (normative ethics), which morals people actually hold to (descriptive ethics), what is the fundamental nature of ethics or morality itself, including whether it has any objective justification (meta-ethics), and how moral capacity or moral agency develops (moral psychology).

Concept of Ethics

Ethics is a normative science of human conduct. It is a science by which human thought, behavior, actions, activities, relationships and institutions are judged according to normative standard or principles. Human conduct is made up of all voluntary actions. A voluntary action is an action, which an individual does with consciousness, freewill, willingness, thought, and decisions. These abilities give him an opportunity to either postpone or reject or avoid or change or prevent an action. Voluntary activities include inward activities such as intentions, motives and desires. Outward activities such as speech and movement are also included in a human conduct because such activities are compulsory; an individual has no control over them. Conduct also includes social relations.

Ethics is a broad subject. It exists in every culture, religion, society and profession. As a field of study in academics we should avoid the error of confusing it with religion. Strictly speaking, it is a branch of philosophy and it is otherwise known as Moral Philosophy. The field of ethics, also called moral philosophy, involves systematising, defending, and recommending concepts of right and wrong behavior.

Philosophers have divided ethics into three major branches namely,

1. Met Ethics

2. Normative ethics, and

3. Applied Ethics.

Metaethics investigates where our ethical principles come from, and what they mean. Are they merely social inventions? Do they involve more than expressions of our individual emotions? Met ethical answers to these questions focus on the issues of universal truths, the will of God, the role of reason in ethical judgements, and the meaning of ethical terms themselves.

Normative ethics takes on a more practical task, which is to arrive at moral standards that regulate right and wrong conduct. This may involve articulating the good habits that we should acquire, the duties that we should follow, or the consequences of our behavior on others.

Applied ethics involves examining specific controversial issues, such as abortion, infanticide, animal rights, punishment, or nuclear war. By using the conceptual tools of meta-ethics and normative ethics, discussions in applied ethics try to resolve these controversial issues. The lines of distinction between meta-ethics, normative ethics and applied ethics are often blurry. For example, the issue of abortion is an applied ethical topic since it involves a specific type of controversial behavior. But it also depends on more general normative principles, such as the right of self rule and the right to life, which are litmus tests for determining the morality of that procedure. The issue also rests on metaethical issues such as, "where do rights come from?" and "what kind of beings have rights?"