Moral/Ethical. From Crabb's "English Synonyms":
Latin mos, meaning custom, was Cicero's translation of the Greek ethikos, indicating habitual conduct. Both words, therefore, were meant to refer to a habit of right action habitual with the individual and sanctioned by the custom of the society in which he lived. But ethical has come to refer to the principles of right in the abstract, with reference to the individual character and its complete development in accordance with general human laws; moral refers to action as affecting the community and sanctioned by social and religious law. Ethical has philosophical connotations; moral practical and religious ones. When we speak of something as being ethically right, we suggest that we are going back to first principles and judging it as a matter of abstract right and wrong. When we speak of something as being morally wrong, we are thinking especially of the act in relation to society and social judgments.
A slightly different, and shorter, slant, from The American Heritage Dictionary:
Moral pertains to personal behavior (especially sexual) measured by prevailing standards of rectitude. Ethical approaches behavior from a philosophical standpoint; it stresses more objectively defined, but essentially idealistic, standards of right and wrong, such as those applicable to doctors, lawyers, and businesses.
Think about it. Ethics has long been a major discipline within philosophy; can you imagine Morality as a branch of philosophy??
Good question, though. It can get quite confusing, since in practice people seem to use the two words interchangeably.
Joan
P.S. Penni, why would you think your post would be boring to anyone but Lather? Perhaps he should have posted his query to the Grammar Lab -- that stuff never bores us! <g> |
