Morality, ethics, what?

"Morality represents the way that people would like the world to work, whereas economics represents how it actually does work" - so it was quoted in 'Freakonomics' by Steven Levitt & Stephen Dubner.

We often confused morality and ethics. They're two different concepts. We studied morality in school. Yes, although i do not hate the subject but found it extremely boring. Most probably it could be the teacher.
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"Some writers use the term 'morality' for the first, descriptive, sense in which I am using 'ethics'. They would talk of the morality of the Trobriand islanders when they want to describe what the islanders take to be right or wrong. They would reserve 'ethics' (or sometimes 'moral philosophy') for the field of study or the subject taught in departments of philosophy. I have not adopted this usage. Both 'ethics' and 'morality' have their roots in a word for 'customs', the former being a derivative of the Greek term from which we get 'ethos', and the latter from the Latin root that gives us 'mores', a word still used sometimes to describe the customs of a people.

'Morality' brings with it a particular, and sometimes inappropriate, reasonance today. It suggests a stern set of duties that require us to subordinate our natural desires -- and our sexual desires get particular emphasis here -- in order to obey the moral law. A failure to fulfil our duty brings with it a heavy sense of guilt. Very often, morality is assumed to have a religious basis. These connotations of 'morality' are features of a particular conception of ethics, one linked to the Jewish and Christian traditions, rather than an inherent feature of any ethical system.

Ethics has no necessary connection with any particular religion, nor with religion in general." - Peter Singer "ethicist"
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Sometimes, i think morality is something those in power create because they think most people are bad. Whereas ethics is what most of us know instinctively and practiced daily (i hope) because people are inherently good. No? If not, how do we explain the fact that bad news and equally bad gossips are what we read so often and what sells news? Do we find "Boy saved woman from being knock by a car" in the headlines? No, good deeds like this still happen often (i hope). Most possibly "Boy lured by woman teacher into having sex" will sell truckloads and we considered them 'hot news'-ah.

That is not to say there are no bad and evil people but good people far outnumbers them. And good people are often ignorant not because they want to but mostly because they're minding their own business (i hope). But that's probably just a generalization.

A blog post i read some time ago came up in my mind again. There is just so much talk and articles about morality and religion but does one have to do with the other? i just don't understand why do people like to preach morality to others. Really.

Is there a universal moral law that is detached of religion? Could this simple "do not do to others what you would not have done unto you" be the one? It couldn't be much more simpler right?

The same commentator in the blog also listed nine other rules which makes perfect sense in the world we lived in today. So then, the 10 ethical commandments every person should know and hopefully follows (in no particular order of importance):

1. Do not do to others what you would not have done unto you.
2. In all things, strive to cause no harm.
3. Treat your fellow human beings, your fellow living things, and the world in general with love, honesty, faithfulness and respect.
4. Do not overlook evil or shrink from administering justice, but always be ready to forgive wrongdoing freely admitted and honestly regretted.
5. Live life with a sense of joy and wonder.
6. Always seek to be learning something new.
7. Test all things; always check your ideas against the facts, and be ready to discard even a cherished belief if it does not conform to them.
8. Never seek to censor or cut yourself off from dissent; always respect the right of others to disagree with you.
9. Form independent opinions on the basis of your own reason and experience; do not allow yourself to be led blindly by others.
10. Question everything.

If everyone practices items 1 to 4, then the world would certainly be a better place to live.

Items 8 to 10 are what Malaysians should practise more so that we do not become fool for a lifetime. 'Question Everything', like the blurb in the said Freakonomics book, "assume nothing, question everything' is especially pertinent.

They should teach these in schools, i tell you. And not "thou shall always follow the rules", or "thou shall not disobey the authority because well, they are the authority and we're not!" type of bullshit. Why do people always concern themselves with the trivial and failed to see what's important?

Maybe we could even add more to the list. Then we will really get a more interesting Moral Education subject in our schools, perhaps.

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A song i had always liked since school days. Chinese pop songs are very different from their English counterpart. The words are more poetic and expresses emotion much better. There are exceptions, of course.