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I was wondering whether there is any difference between the terms morals and morality.

I have encountered these terms on this site, and wonder whether there is any difference.

Thanks.

Joselin Jocklingson
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  • Are you simply looking for the meanings of the word? If so, what did the dictionary you consulted say? – BillOnne Aug 22 '22 at 20:56
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    The terms means the same idea in Philosophy. They are just grammar differences. MORALITY refers to an UNIVERAL act that is analyzed typically as moral or immoral. Moral usually refers to a rule about some kind of act we consider universally applied to all people: we ought to do act x or we ought not to do x. Location doesn't matter & culture or customs do not matter. Morals are not run be authoritative positions either. Moral claims must be truth preserving & apply to all humans on Earth. Anything less that all people on Earth means subjective rules. Subjective rules depend on who is in power. – Logikal Aug 22 '22 at 21:23

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Depending upon the context these words may take on slightly different meaning (see the Dictionary), but…

Morals are the particulars that compose a moral system (example: thou shall not murder).

Morality can refer to a particular moral system (“The Law of Moses serves to teach us morality”) or more generally to many such systems (“All nations have a distinct set of laws and thus exhibit their own take on morality”)

A Moral System is a system of thought that serves to teach us how to distinguish right from wrong and act accordingly - whether as individuals and/or collectively

Ryan Pierce Williams
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  • I think morals might also refer to people's everyday attitudes/behavior (which are not necessarily moral) – Roger V. Aug 24 '22 at 10:24
  • Are you sure? If the system is not applicable every where then how is this different from just subjective customs found at different places? Why even use the word moral if it is not universal everywhere on Earth? That is to say for instance pro life people think abortion is immoral everywhere. They do not mean just the United States. They want abortion GONE! This is a principle with universal scope not just one location or group of people. Ethics would be the subjective approach not morals. – Logikal Aug 24 '22 at 13:17
  • @Logikal whether you believe in an objective universal morality or not, it does not change the fact that there are subjective moral systems of thought out there. I believe in objective morality myself. – Ryan Pierce Williams Aug 24 '22 at 15:53
  • There are people who do not understand the definition of morality that is all thT means. There is no fact that there are subjective moral systems out there. We have people who think ethical systems are identical to moral systems. There is the fact! If a system is moral then that system must apply universally by definition. Ethics would be the subjective rules applied differently at different places. For the most part people use Descriptive Ethics specifically when they say morality is different from place to place. Normative Ethics is what morality is. There are differences between the two. – Logikal Aug 24 '22 at 18:27
  • @Logikal it maybe your opinion that we should reserve “morality” for only objective, universal moral systems - but that isn’t how the term is used in practice. The dictionary treats the two as synonymous. – Ryan Pierce Williams Aug 24 '22 at 19:04
  • To be more specific those OTHER DEFINITIONS are those used outside of Philosophy: namely Psychology, Anthropology and related fields. Those fields have no idea what Normative ethics means. They only see Descriptive Ethics alone. This is why we hear people say "morality is subjective". This is done outside of Philosophy not in. – Logikal Aug 24 '22 at 19:19
  • @Logikal each philosopher has their own conception of morality - and there are definitely philosophers who hold that morality is relative. While you are free to put forth your own private definition of things within your own philosophy, you don’t get to dictate how other people use and define things - let alone how they are commonly used. – Ryan Pierce Williams Aug 24 '22 at 20:16
  • Which philosophers are those? There are all sorts of humans that think any idea is a philosophy and therefore everyone is a philosopher. This again is OUTSIDE of those with grad degrees. All peoples are not philosophers it turns out. There Are criteria to meet. Do the philosophers you think differ meet the same criteria or we counting people who are experts in another field? For instance John Stuart Mill is NOT a philosopher. He was a lawyer but his moral theory utilitarianism is extremely popular to people OUTSIDE of philosophy. Are you counting people like that? Seems very likely. – Logikal Aug 24 '22 at 21:20
  • @Logikal just as you are not the measure of morality, neither are you an authority on who is and is not a philosopher. You think much too highly of yourself. – Ryan Pierce Williams Aug 24 '22 at 22:16