Morality

Overview

Morality refers to either (1) any particular system of ethics, or (2) the question of whether given acts are considered innately right or wrong within a given moral system (the morality of a particular act). In order to minimize confusion, we will use the phrase "moral system" when meaning #1 is intended.

Related Ideas

moral system: about the idea of moral systems
moral systems: a list of moral systems and codes
moral absolutism vs. the alternatives
moral externalism (important truths are discovered by observing reality) vs. moral internalism (important truths are discovered by meditation, reflection, prayer) vs. moral dogmatism (important truths come only from the wisdom of the past)

Conclusions

All morality -- i.e. any given moral system -- is an attempt to minimize harm by devising a set of simple rules that are relatively easy to follow and unambiguous in their boundaries. This makes them easier to follow and enforce than would a requirement for members of a society should try to "minimize harm"

Related Concepts

Moral syncretism [W] attempts to reconcile disparate or contradictory moral beliefs, often while melding the ethical practices and of various schools of thought. The cornerstone of moral syncretism is that religion cannot be morality's only arbiter.

Value Dichotomies

Most moral systems weigh in somewhere between the two extremes for each of these, but the differences in opinion between one system and another are significant. The following principles may or may not be truly basic, but they at least are closer to being principles than they are opinions about specific issues.

Human nature is essentially: good or evil (not quite the same as Hobbes vs. Rousseau; see below)
Human nature comes from: genetics and other factors fixed at birth ("nature") vs. training and learning after birth ("nurture")
Property rights: personal property is sacrosanct (propertarianism) vs. all property should be held in common
Power: absolutism (Hobbes: "abuses of power by [legitimate] authority are to be accepted as the price of peace") vs. separation of powers and social contracts (Rousseau). This may be a restatement of Brin's question "To what degree should the state or party have to power to coerce cooperation?", or it may be subtly different.

Other Possibilities

I'm throwing these in for further discussion because it's not clear to me whether they are basic or merely corrolaries/combinations of other dichotomies:

Moral externalism (important truths are discovered by observing reality) vs. moral internalism (important truths are discovered by meditation, reflection, prayer) vs. moral dogmatism (important truths come only from the wisdom of the past)
moral absolutism vs. the alternatives

Links

Reference

Wiktionary
Wikipedia
RationalWiki
Conservapedia : "Morality is a concern with what is right and what is wrong in one's personal conduct; it is usually contrasted with ethics."
~~dKosopedia~~ no equivalent article (as of 2008-04-02)
~~SourceWatch~~ no equivalent article (as of 2008-04-02)

Projects

YourMorals.Org: a project by Jonathan Haidt and others to study morality through online surveys

Filed Links

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