Ethics and morality are two of the most important components of human life. The fact of living in society causes us to create norms about what is right and wrong, good and bad, to govern our own lives and try to make the people around us follow the same rules of the game.
However, in this aspect it is easy to get confused with the concepts related to our way of understanding good and evil, since these are very abstract concepts. Therefore, below we will see what they consist of the differences between moral, amoral and immoral elements linked to each other that tell us about the degree to which certain behaviors are desirable or not.
The concepts of moral, immoral, and amoral behavior form the cornerstone of ethical discourse, delineating the spectrum of human conduct in relation to ethical principles and standards. While they may seem similar at first glance, each term carries distinct connotations and implications. In this exploration, we elucidate four key differences between moral, immoral, and amoral behavior, shedding light on their nuanced meanings and implications.
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Although sometimes a strongly implanted scale of ethical values or a series of religious dogmas means that almost all people in a community have a similar conception of what is good and what is bad, there are always exceptions. For example, when someone guides her life based on values that are very different from those followed by the rest, it is easy to be labeled as immoral or amoral indistinctly and, consequently, often incorrectly.
To clarify this, it is good that we first define what we mean by moral, immoral and amoral and then delve into their differences.
Morality is the set of rules that establish what is right and what is wrong, not in an aesthetic or functional sense, but in an ethical one. For example, in Western society it is assumed that killing children is always wrong, and that helping disadvantaged people by providing them with basic necessities is right.
On the other hand, what is immoral is, in short, that which goes against what is moral, while The amoral is that which is outside of this
You may be interested: 17 Games for Two People (fun and Very Interesting)Let’s now look at the differences between these concepts.
In philosophy and in all the fields of knowledge that depend on this area, there is a lot of discussion about whether the rules of morality are relative or if they are universal (and there was even more discussion about this in the past). That is, it is possible that moral rules and what constitutes a violation of the idea of good do not exist as an entity separate from our expectations and social constructions in general, in the same way that money only exists because we have made it so. agreed.
The amoral, on the other hand, cannot be relative because by definition it is what remains when there is no morality.
To create behavioral norms it is necessary to have the ability to think abstractly, that is, think about concepts that They group characteristics and properties that cannot be isolated in nature (the way a vegetable can be isolated from the rest of the garden).
For example, aggressiveness is not something tangible, but it can be found in the behavior of many animals or, if we use a higher degree of abstraction, even in some climatic phenomena, landscapes, works of art, etc.
The amoral, on the other hand, exists regardless of whether there is a way of thinking based on the abstract and semantics, because it is the option that occurs “by default” in nature. On a planet inhabited only by beings incapable of using language and creating norms of behavior, amorality.
As we have seen, the amoral exists without the need for minds with the capacity for abstract thought to appear on the scene. Therefore, it does not pursue any purpose, in the same way that the waves of the sea are not there because they are useful to someone.
Morality and immorality do exist because they fulfill a function Specifically, they act as a glue that unites society, allowing networks of relationships to exist between individuals.
Morality is almost always constructed by more than one individual, and the same goes for immorality. This means that morality is always referred to as what we must aspire to; At the end of the day, thanks to the fact that there are people who respect it, society exists as such. In the same way, the immoral and the amoral, being elements that are not moral despite belonging to the same field of knowledge (the definition of what is good and bad) are conceived as what is undesirable, what must be avoided
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The amoral, on the other hand, does not belong to the domain of morality, and that is why there is nothing in the latter that tells us what is amoral. A living being can avoid eating turkey meat along with dairy products due to the demands of its biology, without following moral rules.
The distinctions between moral, immoral, and amoral behavior lie in their underlying principles, ethical evaluation, intent vs. outcome, and ethical responsibility. While moral behavior reflects adherence to ethical principles and a commitment to the common good, immoral behavior involves conscious disregard or violation of moral norms. Amoral behavior, by contrast, operates outside the realm of moral judgment, lacking a moral framework or ethical considerations.
