Editing Morality (section)

{{Short description|Differentiation between right and wrong}}
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{{redirect-several|dab=off|Morality (disambiguation)|Morals (film){{!}}''Morals'' (film)|The Immoralist{{!}}''The Immoralist''}}
{{distinguish|Morale|Molarity|Molality}}
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[[File:Tintoretto Allegory.jpg|thumb|''Allegory with a portrait of a Venetian senator (Allegory of the morality of earthly things)'', attributed to [[Tintoretto]], 1585]]

'''Morality''' ({{etymology|la|{{wikt-lang|la|moralitas}}|manner, [[moral character|character]], proper behavior}}) is the categorization of [[intention]]s, [[Decision-making|decisions]] and [[Social actions|actions]] into those that are ''proper'', or ''right'', and those that are ''improper'', or ''wrong''.<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Hellenistic Philosophers: Translations of the Principal Sources with Philosophical Commentary|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AfemGeG8SysC|volume=1|first1=A. A.|last1=Long|first2=D. N.|last2=Sedley|publisher=Cambridge University Press|location=Cambridge|year=1987|pages=366–67|isbn=978-0521275569}}</ref> Morality can be a body of standards or principles derived from a [[code of conduct]] from a particular [[philosophy]], [[religion]] or [[culture]], or it can derive from a standard that is [[Universal morality|understood to be universal]].<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |url= http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/morality-definition/|title= The Definition of Morality|author= Stanford University|date= 2011|encyclopedia= Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy|publisher= Stanford University|access-date= 22 March 2014}}</ref> Morality may also be specifically synonymous with "[[good]]ness", "appropriateness" or "rightness".

[[Moral philosophy]] includes [[meta-ethics]], which studies abstract issues such as moral [[ontology]] and moral [[epistemology]], and [[normative ethics]], which studies more concrete systems of moral decision-making such as [[deontological ethics]] and [[consequentialism]]. An example of normative [[Ethics|ethical philosophy]] is the [[Golden Rule]], which states: "One should treat others as one would like others to treat oneself."<ref name = "Flew">{{Cite encyclopedia |title=golden rule|editor =[[Antony Flew]] | encyclopedia=A Dictionary of Philosophy | publisher = [[Pan Books]] in association with [[Macmillan Publishers|The MacMillan Press]] | year = 1979 | location = London | page = 134 | isbn = 978-0333262047|quote=The maxim 'Treat others how you wish to be treated'. Various expressions of this fundamental moral rule are to be found in tenets of most religions and creeds through the ages, testifying to its universal applicability. }}</ref><ref>[[Walter Terence Stace]] argued that the Golden Rule is much more than simply an [[ethical code]]. He posits that it "express[es] the essence of a universal morality." The rationale for this distinction occupies much of his book ''The Concept of Morals'' (1937). {{cite book | last = Stace | first = Walter T. | title = The Concept of Morals | url = https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.213305 | publisher = The MacMillan Company; reprinted by Peter Smith Publisher Inc, January 1990 | year= 1937 | location = New York | page = [https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.213305/page/n152 136] | isbn = 978-0-8446-2990-2}}</ref>

[[Immorality]] is the active opposition to morality (i.e., opposition to that which is good or right), while [[amorality]] is variously defined as an unawareness of, indifference toward, or disbelief in any particular set of moral standards or principles.<ref>
{{Cite book| last = Johnstone | first = Megan-Jane | title = Bioethics: A Nursing Perspective | journal = Confederation of Australian Critical Care Nurses Journal | publisher = Elsevier Health Sciences | year = 2008 | volume = 3 | issue = 4 | pages = 102–03 | pmid = 2129925 | isbn = 978-0-7295-3873-2}}</ref><ref>
{{Cite book| last = Superson | first = Anita | title = The Moral Skeptic | publisher = Oxford University Press | year = 2009 | pages = 127–59 | isbn = 978-0-19-537662-3}}</ref><ref>{{cite web| url = http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/amorality | title = Amorality | access-date = 2010-06-18 | work = Dictionary.com}} "having no moral standards, restraints, or principles; unaware of or indifferent to questions of right or wrong"</ref>