Having finally gotten around to reading "Don't Think of An Elephant," author George Lakoff explains that morality can be viewed from two points of view. I'd like to know how you folks view it. Some seem to equate it mainly with sex, whereas others have a far wider view. What's the word mean to you?

Asa, I tend to think of morality in broader terms than sexuality. Morality is when we decide between right or wrong, be it with sexuality or running a business.

I agree with Kalleh. Morality is how we judge what's right and wrong. People may do this according to their own personal standards but I don't see morality as relating specifically to sex any more than anything else.

Now if we can just pin down the meaning of "ethics" and its relation to morality, we'll be done.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: BobHale,

Is morality intrinsic or learned? Is there a common shared morailty?

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Now if we can just pin down the meaning of "ethics" and its relation to morality, we'll be done.

And, while we're at it, let's throw "values" in there, too. I always used to teach my students that morality was more general than ethics. While morality is knowing right from wrong, ethics are those principles that guide an individual or group. However, the distinction isn't always clear.

To answer your questions, Goofball, I think that morality can be learned...to a point. Some people just aren't all that moral! I also think that there is a shared morality. We generally know what is right and wrong. If you see someone drop a $20 bill, you know that you should return it to him.

I regard morality and ethics as synonyms. They're simply the Latin (mos moris) and the Greek (êthos) for the thing. I don't know of any context where one is clearly applicable but the other is not, though there may be differences in frequency of use.

Aput, essentially I agree with you. However, in medicine or nursing, for example, we have codes of ethics, but they are never called codes of morals.