Ethics

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Morality and Moral Reasoning

The word ‘ethics’ is derived from the Greek word ethos, which means ‘custom’, or ‘character’. The word ‘moral’ is derived from the Latin word mores, which means ‘convention’, or ‘practice’. In everyday parlance, the words ‘ethics’ and ‘morality’ are used synonymously, but sometimes they can be used differently. The word ‘morality’ refers to the customs and practices of an individual or a social group, whereas the word ‘ethics’ is used to refer to a set of moral principles and rules explicitly held by that individual or social group. Morality is used in the relative sense of one’s own culture, religion or ethnicity, whereas ethics cuts across and transcends such considerations and refers to universality. However, ...