[WikiEN-l] Following up -

Fri Oct 31 18:55:13 UTC 2003

Delirium wrote:

> Rick wrote:
>
>> No, it isn't.  Morality is hardly "permissable" or not "permissable", 
>> but what the person in question values.
>
> That's not true under any definition of morality I've heard.  Morality 
> (or Ethics, if you prefer) is the study of what is required, what is 
> permissible, and what is optional.  For example, most moral theories 
> hold that it is *impermissible* to rape people.  This is not even 
> remotely close to saying that I personally do not value rape.

It's important not to confound morality and ethics.  Morality refers to 
the principles that distinguish right and wrong, often dealing with 
issues that are far less sensational than rape.  Ethics goes beyond a 
simple determination of right and wrong.  Morality has a greater 
affinity to the letter of the law, while ethics attaches to the spirit 
of the law.  The political domain in particular is full of examples of 
activites that may be moral but of questionable ethics.

Ec