2.9 Summary - Definition and differentiation of terms

Summary

• We need a conceptual toolbox with which we can analyse and evaluate situations or upcoming challenges from an ethical perspective so that we can make decisions that are as "good" and ethically sound as possible.

• Morals can be understood as a system of values that is actually practised in a community. It is a system of order that reflects the values and meaning of a community of practice.

• Communities have morals. And morals can differ from community to community. We can see that there is not just one moral principle, but many morals.

• The professional ethics, the respective morals of a professional group, regulate in a more or less concrete way how one should behave as a member of this professional group.
• Morality refers to the particular inner quality of a person's morally relevant decisions and actions. It is the striving for goodness that has become a firm basic attitude, which utilises inner and outer freedom in order to act for good reasons.

• Ethics is the reflection on morality. While morality is a binding system of values, ethics is the examination of a given morality. This also involves the search for better morals, better reasons and better ways of living together in the community.

• The problem of relativism raises the question: Is there a central moment in ethics that is non-relative and can be binding across times and epochs? Such an invariable moment could be seen in a person's unconditional "will to be good".

• Legally binding norms must be obeyed in order to avoid the consequences of legal penalties. Whether the person acting is ultimately convinced of the meaningfulness and fundamental, including moral, justification of these laws is irrelevant for the law.