Ethics vs. Morals

I received a note from my buddy, Sam Graber, regarding my comment to this post where I described the difference between ethics and morals from my point of view.

I’ve received some feedback from other people on the topic as well via email, researched it a bit myself, and I thought I’d share with you what I’ve found.

There’s a great discussion over at wikipedia.org about this very thing. And, from what I’ve read elsewhere, it seems as if people are all over the map regarding ethics and morals, particularly on their semantics.

There are many “loaded” words in the English Language; here are just a few I run across weekly, at least:

• cult: most often used when discussing a religion one doesn’t like, this word also has specific meaning to many individuals for only certain patterns of behavior.
• geek: this term had a terribly negative connotation when I was a child. These days, even marketing wonks often refer to themselves as geeks.
• evolution: this is a particularly touchy one. If you’re talking to someone who supports evolution, they are generally referring to natural and/or artificial selection, the proven fact that reinforcement of certain genetic traits happens in response to natural or artificial selective pressures. However, if you are talking to a Creationist, often they are referring to abiogenesis, or the creation of life from non-life.

So, back to ethics versus morals. The two words are not necessarily synonymous, and because of the historical impreciseness of common usage, it’s helpful to distinguish what makes one different from the other (thanks to the Wikipedia entry for some of this information):

• The root word for Ethical is the Greek “ethos,” meaning “character.”
• The root word for Moral is Latin “mos,” meaning “custom.”

So, from where I sit, it appears that ethics are derived from your individual character, while morals are derived from custom, or tradition. I’ll broadly define “custom” here to include commandments, religious tenets, and society’s laws. As a study for myself in what ethical but amoral behavior entails, let’s take a look at the Ten Commandments. There are several variations on The Ten Commandments in the Old Testament of the Bible, but for brevity I’ll choose the shortened forms as are commonly found on wall-plaques and such.

1. You will have no other gods before God.  This seems pretty straightforward custom (morals) to me, rather than anything to do with one’s character. Also rather self-serving, and difficult to enforce, since even Christians cannot seem to agree on who their God is.
2. EDIT by matthew: This is the one I missed!  You will not worship any “graven images”, or idols. This seems to have little ethical basis (by my perspective on ethics for the purpose of this essay), besides perhaps avoiding undue emphasis on materialism. Some today redefine this as a caution to avoid over-emphasis on the “worship”, or veneration, of any material thing. They speak of the metaphorical “bowing down” to money, sports, power, or any other pursuit that keeps one’s focus off Deity. Does this derive from custom (morality) or ethics? I have difficulty seeing how an edict against making idols could have a purely ethical basis, but the more general principal of avoiding obsession with material goods can very well be an ethical principal.
3. You will not take the name of God in vain. Now, this is an interesting one that I think can be approached from two angles. If you were to take the name of someone’s god in vain, aren’t there social repercussions of so doing? Could one form an ethical rule in one’s character here? “I would rather not have someone insult my concept of God, therefore I will not insult their concept of God.” Or, for those of us without a concept of God, “I would not wish my beliefs insulted, possibly causing violent behavior, therefore I will not insult someone else’s beliefs.” This seems to be a pretty good Golden-Rule based moral AND ethical commandment.
4. You will keep the Sabbath Day holy. I’m undecided on this one. Ethically, taking a day off once per week is probably a sound choice for one’s mental and physical health. If God is specifically saying Saturday is the Sabbath, at that point it seems to become custom rather than character-based. This is quite a semantic difficulty, as well, because Christians tend to celebrate the Sabbath on Sunday, while Jews and Eastern Orthodox (if I recall correctly) celebrate it on the traditional Friday evening through Saturday evening.
   I remember fondly Sam’s mother preparing for Jewish festivals on Friday nights by singing some hymns I couldn’t understand, and lighting a candle before we broke bread together. It was always in the evening, and her custom brings a smile to my face to this day.

5. Honor your father and mother, that your days may be long on the earth.  This seems to be a very straightforward threat, to me, with some question as to what is meant by the term “honor”. If it means “obey”, I see little ethical or logical reason to follow this commandment. Obeying someone else’s commands, rather than your own conscience, is what leads regularly to personal ruin. If, instead, “honor” means to speak respectfully of them, and give their opinions weight, it may be wise council with an ethical basis: treating them as you would wish to be treated.
6. You will not murder other human beings.  I intentionally manipulated the wording here. Taken at face value, “thou shalt not kill” would be an impossible commandment to live fully, because we kill microorganisms constantly in our bodies, and rely on plants and animals for food. However, the proscription against murdering fellow human beings seems an ethically sound principle: I do not murder, because I do not wish to be murdered.

   There’s so much more, though, that each character has to work out for himself. War. Self-Defense. Pre-Emptive strike. Abortion. Defense of others. Accident. Famine. Plague. Many of these are preventable. Our custom in this country is largely to take care of our own through social programs, and we consider this moral behavior. Yet we leave millions to die from HIV and related infections in Africa. Do we not help because we have insufficient means to do so? Because we don’t care? Because some priorities are higher than others? Is there an ethical difference between potential life, and life?

   The exciting thing for me is that we’re left to define these areas for ourselves. And on some of these tougher ethical questions, as evidenced by the pro-life/pro-choice debate of the last half-century, it’s a hairy business, indeed.

   Life and death seems, from my point of view, a natural phenomenon. We kill millions of our own body cells in a year. Only one sperm gets through to an egg, leaving the rest to die. Any line in the sand regarding this question is, of necessity, an arbitrary measure — a custom, a moral. Ethics doesn’t seem to have much to say on the questions of life and death.

7. You will not commit adultery.  This seems to be a commandment with both moral and ethical ramifications. If one has pledged fidelity to a partner, one is obligated to honor that contract — on one’s character. If one has not done so, then if you don’t take the moral hard line, you must examine the ramifications of the action. Will it hurt someone else? Is it consensual? Will it result in unwanted pregnancy? Sexually transmitted diseases? Trauma to those around you due to moral considerations?

   From my own sense of personal ethics, it seems as if this custom evolved largely due to the questions above. Now that it is within the power of individuals to minimize the risk, is it worth the risk for them? As for me, I take my marriage contract very seriously, and have no wish to breach it.

8. You will not steal.  Ethical. Straightforward, flowing from a Golden-Rule basis.
9. You will not lie (bear false witness).  Once again, ethical.
10. You will not covet.  This one is kind of weird on context. The Old Testament writers showed their predispositions by including a wife in with ox, ass, and other possessions — a position I think is not ethical at all, but was customary at the time. Another way to put it might be “You will not ‘keep up with the Joneses'” — which has a sound ethical basis in living within one’s means to avoid difficulty in life.

Ultimately, it sure looks to me like the Ten Commandments was a bit hit-and-miss on ethical questions. If it were narrowed down to six or so, it might be a better “ethical primer”. What do you think?

Quick disclaimer: I wrote this on my lunch break today. It’s not been proofread, really, so I reserve the right to change what I said if something came out wrong!