Q&A 181
Q. OK. Ethical and moral...
A. Ethical and moral. Both words effectively mean the same thing. They both refer to the quality of one's actions. They evaluate the goodness - or lack thereof - of a person's actions or omissions, a subject with an intellect and will. Please note, the goodness; not the niceness...
But in today's world, the one thing the modern secular mind claims to be certain of about morality, it is that no one can really be certain about morality, that it is not possible to know what is really, truly good and evil - in other words, to know moral principles. Typically, modern people say that morality is always a "complex issue". G. K. Chesterton explained why: "Morality is always terribly complicated - to a man who has lost all his principles."
But the moral principles are certain and universal like the scientific laws of formulas, like "F=MA" or "E=MC2": statements are true for all times and places and situations. Just as all matter obeys the laws of physics, all men are obliged to obey the laws of morality. In any field, universal principles bring order into chaos.
Moral principles are also objective. Moral principles such as the Golden Rule ("Do unto others what you would have them do unto you") are based on objective facts (in this case the fact that all persons are equal in moral value and rights).
Moral principles are not arbitrary or subjective but realistic and objective, just as scientific principles are. (The method for discovering and proving them, of course, is not the "scientific method", for good and evil have no qualities that appear to the senses, such as color or shape, and cannot be measured mathematically.)
[To be continued...]
Cheers!
25thMarch 2018