Sobre la distinción entre ética y moral

Abstract

On the Distinction between Ethics and Morality

This paper argues that the distinction between the terms “ethics” and “morality” is stipulative and nothing imposes on us a certain meaning of the words, neither their etymology nor the philosophical tradition. Specifically, I argue against a stipulation according to which “ethics” refers to the affirmation of the autonomous or authentic individual conscience, while “morality” refers to the sphere of enforcement of socially imposed rules. If the purpose of the stipulation is to show the greater relative importance of the former over the latter, by itself, this distinction gives no justification of why ethical behavior is superior to morality. Nothing really significant, outside the scope of the theory that makes the distinction, depends on the terminological stipulation between “ethics” and “morality”.