this post was submitted on 30 Sep 2023
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Asklemmy
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Morality is the evolutionary selection pressure that human societies place on themselves.
Ethics is an attempt to calculate the optimal response to an event, for some definition of "optimal".
It's kinda like the difference between natural language and formal language. One is not designed, not static, and often not self consistent, but consistency isn't the goal. The other is a rigorously defined system that is scrutinized for inconsistencies, because consistency is the goal.
If I were to concisely put it with a fews word each, would it be a close approxmation to say morality is an automatic response and ethics is a rational response?
Hah, I felt I was already trimming it down to be as concise as I could get it. Maybe ethical systems are always rational, but I wouldn't take that to mean automatic responses are not rational.
I think the important part is that morality doesn't have a central goal and isn't designed, and ethics does and is.