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What is the difference between Ethics, Morality and the Law? - YouTube
Channel: The Ethics Centre
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the world around us is a smorgasbord of
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beliefs claims rules and norms about how
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we should live and behave it's important
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to tease apart these factors so we can
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put them in their proper place otherwise
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it can be hard to know what to do
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especially when some of these
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requirements contradict others let's
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talk about three different categories of
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demands on how we should live ethics
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morality and law laws are formal rules
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that govern how we behave as members of
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a society they specify what we must do
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and more frequently what we must not do
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they upheld and applied by the state and
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the court system and their role is to
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create a basic enforceable standard of
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behavior but the law has a much narrower
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focus than either morality or ethics
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laws can be just or unjust and a subject
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to ethical assessment plus there are
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some matters about which the law will be
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silent but where morality and ethics
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have a lot to say for example the law is
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of no use if you're trying to decide
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whether to speak up when you hear a
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friend make a racist joke but ideas
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about what's good and right will still
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guide our judgement here morality refers
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to an informal framework of values
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principles beliefs customs and ways of
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living morality aren't usually enforced
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by the state but there are often social
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pressures to conform to moral norms some
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people consider themselves to be so
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strongly bound by certain moral codes
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that even to question the moral system
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would be wrong
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some examples of morality include
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Christianity stoicism and Buddhism each
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of these provides a set of answers to
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basic ethical questions like how should
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I live and what should I do
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many people inherit their morality from
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their family community or culture it's
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rare for someone to shop around for the
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morality that most closely fits their
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personal
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beliefs usually the process of moral
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formation is unconscious what's its
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morality apart from ethics is that you
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can apply a morality as a matter of
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habit without having to think you can
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simply obey or follow instructions from
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those who claim moral authority within a
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particular tradition and for some people
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this is enough maybe a world of
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habitually virtuous individuals is
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better than one where people are
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habitually vicious plus having a
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coherent consistent account of how to
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live can be a source of comfort
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especially in a complex and uncertain
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world but there is also a risk in living
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what the Greek philosopher Socrates
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called an unexamined life if we just
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accept a ready-made answer to the
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question of how we should live we might
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live our whole lives under a moral
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system which if we'd thought about it we
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would have rejected in part or in full
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this is where ethics comes in ethics is
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a branch of philosophy that aims to
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answer the basic question what should I
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do
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it's a process of reflection in which
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people's decisions are shaped by their
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values principles and purpose rather
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than unthinking habits or social
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conventions our values principles and
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purpose are what give us a sense of
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what's good right and meaningful in our
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lives
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they serve as a reference point for all
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the possible courses of action we could
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choose on this definition an ethical
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decision is one based on conscious
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reflection and which gives effect to our
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values principles and purpose in pursuit
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of a proper goal it can be tempting to
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see law morality and ethics as more or
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less the same we might think that so
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long as we're fulfilling our legal or
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moral obligations we can consider
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ourselves ethical in reality there is
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more to ethics than morality and law
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ethics requires us to think about issues
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the law can't or doesn't address it puts
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moral systems under the microscope to
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see if they hold up
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in an ideal world our ethical beliefs
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shape the kinds of laws and moral
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systems our society develops when our
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conscious reflective ethical views on
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what's good and right change we ought to
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change the laws to reflect them and
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likewise our morality should evolve in
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response to insights generated from
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ethical reflection but we can only do
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this if we have a toolkit that keeps
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open questions to do with what is good
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and right and that toolkit that's ethics
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