Basic definitions

Ok i havent posted in the Philosophy forum for a while. ANd this has been on mind for a quite a while. I need some starting points. What is a good basic definition of the following: morality, ethics, values, good and evil, right and wrong. I certainly recognize the concept of wrong, but worry about evil. Is evil merely a manifestation of my biases against yours? Are there such things as universal values? (Very important question.)

This will take some time.

Wow... that is deep, and going to be tough to answer. To me, there will be general guidelines, or certain constants that will be evident throughout most peoples answers... but this will cause a mass debate. I will give this a shot.

morality - What is right, just, etc. in human behaviour

ethics - Guidelines, rules, set of principles for actions

values - That which one feels is important

good - That which is gerenally positive or desired

evil - That which is looked as negative, unfavourable

right - Seen as an act in accordance with what is true, honourable, benificial

wrong - That which is incorrect, erroneous, dishonourable.

Are there such things as universal values?

No. It is impossible to find one value that everyone would agree is important.

Yeah i seem to be having the same problem i know there is answer but there are so many of them but what i dont get is the values which are subjective, as is the concept of "good" & "evil". Further, many organized religions will give you differing interpretations of what is specifically immoral, and some have certain acts that are labeled wrong in their book yet will tell you that it no longer matters.

Go figure.

😉

Well I feel that if we "listen" to our inner voice and are in touch with ourselves then we will instinctivly know what is evil, morally wrong, ethically right and so on. So, yes I do believe in universal values. It ddoesn't have to be taught by the church [not putting the church down] but a matter of us being in "touch" with our inner self, soul or whatever you may want to call it.

Yep I am in a hippy mood today
🤪

Originally posted by ash007
Well I feel that if we "listen" to our inner voice and are in touch with ourselves then we will instinctivly know what is evil, morally wrong, ethically right and so on. So, yes I do believe in universal values. It ddoesn't have to be taught by the church [not putting the church down] but a matter of us being in "touch" with our inner self, soul or whatever you may want to call it.

Yep I am in a hippy mood today
🤪

Deep down we all have a sense of what is right, wrong... it is a matter of whether or not we listen.

Ignorance silences purity.

Make sure you draw no correlations between Goodness and Rightness. As Granny Weatherwax teaches, kicking somebody’s arm to fix it is evil, but right.

Evil: Against the morals of the majority

No, doing something against Good. Like the absence of pain in someone’s arm (relative absence)

In a society where the majority are Evil, then someone doing Good would by thought of as Evil. So...my definition works perfectly fine

Originally posted by Ytaker
Kicking somebody’s arm to fix it is evil, but right.

Aiding somebody is not evil. You are doing what is recessary to help that person... I doubt helping to ease their pain is evil.

Morality is used to refer to what we would call moral standards and moral conduct (a system of principles and judgments based on cultural, religious, and philosophical concepts and beliefs, by which humans determine whether given actions are right or wrong) while ethics is used to refer to the formal study of those standards and conduct (the systematic study of morality).

Originally posted by Smallville
Aiding somebody is not evil. You are doing what is recessary to help that person... I doubt helping to ease their pain is evil.

Depends what if I kill you to stop the pain you get from suffering.

Or what if I kill you to stop the pain from your neighbour who hates the music you listen to late at night?

In both cases I stop suffering and help somebody but is it good? or Evil?

use google.

type

define: (word here)

and it will show the definitions for you.

Morality - Its a code of behavior based on the peoples beliefs on whats is right or wrong. I don´t think they are universal in any way, as they just represent people beliefs. There are things considered wrong in our society because people just don´t like the idea and can´t get used to it, and it don´t need to be "universally" wrong. For morality to be perfect, and universal, those who created it need to be perfect too.

Ethics - The same as morality. But I think in philosophy, ethics is the ideal code of conduct, even if you don´t know what it is.

Values - Things that people think is important for them, or things that you must follow or do to be right. Anyway, like anything else that depends on the people beliefs.

Right and Wrong - For me something can only be right, or wrong, when you analyze it by a certain perspective. Right and wrong are limited to the perspective from where you are looking at it.

Good and Evil - For me good and evil, are(or at least try to be) universal. They are about what is right and wrong in a universal way. In other words, if something like "universally right" really exists, then it equals good. The same happens with wrong and evil. I have my doubts if there are anything really universal, everything seems like just different perspectives to me.