morals

ethics, morals

1. Both terms are concerned with the practice of right and wrong. The Concise Oxford Dictionary (1995) defines ethics as ‘the science of morals in human conduct’; what this means is that morals forms the basis of abstract principles whereas ethics are the application of these principles in human activity, especially in specific areas of activity such as law and medicine (professional ethics).

2. Of the corresponding adjectives, ethical describes what is right or wrong in terms of an accepted code of behaviour, whereas moral describes what is right or wrong in principle, as affecting human behaviour generally:

• The various moral systems of the world may include many of the same moral ideas —G. A. & A. G. Theodorson, 1970

• They believe in the moral superiority of primitive over civilised man —Daily Telegraph, 1972

• It is neither easy nor ethical to perch with notebook or video camera over spontaneous scenes of human mating or aggression —New Scientist, 1983

• If you want your bank to have an ethical lending policy, then write to them and say so, or switch to a bank that does have one —Express, 2007.

Moral also occurs in a few fixed expressions such as moral certainty (= strong probability), moral courage, moral majority, and moral support, and here means ‘having a psychological effect associated with confidence in a right action’.