Moral and Ethical

Moral and ethical are synonyms meaning "concerned with the judgment of right and wrong" or "goodness and badness."

They differ in usage. Moral often means "conforming to standards of rightness of character and behavior." Morals are "rules of conduct" (especially of sexual behavior).

Ethical is used to mean "conforming to ideal standards" (especially concerning professional conduct). Ethics are "a set of principles of right conduct." Ethics is also a branch of philosophy which sed to be called "moral philosophy" and is concerned with the study of the nature of morals and moral choices. As Aristotle says, choice shows character (h)=qoj ethos), Poetics 1450b.

moral < Latin mos, mor- "custom" "manner" > mores, morale, morose. Also from the same root are English "mood" (humor or temper; as a grammatical term "mood" comes from Latin modus) and German "gemütlichkeit"

ethic < Greek h)=qoj "custom," "character" from the root *swe- meaning "self" and so related to Latin suus, solus, and the prefix se- ("apart", "aside"). Also from the Greek h)=qoj are: ethos, ethics, ethicist, cacoethes.

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