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What are the Differences Between Ethics vs. Morals?

What is different Between having Ethics and having Morals?


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You can be morally right but ethically wrong or morally wrong but ethically right. How is that possible?

There is a difference between morals and ethics though sometimes these two are being interchanged. People often see these as another sets of standards to categorize individuals if they are worthy of respect or not. These two are all about conformity to standards of having good manners and right conduct. To spell the difference, morals deal with an individual’s character while ethics are collective in nature. The way one sees a thing as morally upright may be conflicting with how a certain group defines it in their ethics code.

To illustrate the difference between ethics and morals, defense lawyers would make one of the best examples. In society, it is such a disgrace to be associated and to be of any help to murderers, robbers, kidnappers and all other criminals. If lawyers will put on their good moral characters, it is intolerable to defend or even protect the right of someone who was obviously committing a crime. However, lawyers are governed by their legal ethics and they stick to the presumption that everyone is innocent until proven guilty thus, criminals deserve a fair trial. It may be against their will especially if they know that the accused was really guilty, but they are obliged to represent their clients because that’s how the judicial system works.

In the corporate world, you can also feel the clash of moral and ethical standards. A company may require its employees to extend their working hours or even have them work on rest days just to reach business goals or even exceed targets. When these demands are satisfied, the employees may be considered having strong work ethics, but it actually compromises their personal plans. Outside work, these employees also have moral obligations to their family. The lesser time spent with their spouses and children would have a relative impact in family bonds. To be successful with a career or to be successful with a family is all up to someone else’s choice.

The world has more than enough issues that challenge our ethical and moral judgment - if abortion is legal, if euthanasia is tolerable, if divorce is favorable or if gay marriage is acceptable. For the question which standard should be followed, it may require a lot of thinking but it’s easy to decide for someone who knows what’s best for him and for everyone.

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