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Conscience vs Ethics - What's the difference?

conscience | ethics |

As nouns the difference between conscience and ethics

is that conscience is the moral sense of right and wrong, chiefly as it affects one's own behaviour while ethics is the study of principles relating to right and wrong conduct.

conscience

Noun

(en noun)
  • The moral sense of right and wrong, chiefly as it affects one's own behaviour.
  • * 1949 , , as quoted by Virgil Henshaw in Albert Einstein: Philosopher Scientist ,
  • Never do anything against conscience , even if the state demands it.
  • * 1951 , (Isaac Asimov), publication), part V: “The Merchant Princes”, chapter 14, page 175, ¶ 7
  • [“]Twer is not a friend of mine testifying against me reluctantly and for conscience ’ sake, as the prosecution would have you believe. He is a spy, performing his paid job.[”]
  • * {{quote-book, year=1963, author=(Margery Allingham), title=(The China Governess)
  • , chapter=18 citation , passage=‘Then the father has a great fight with his terrible conscience ,’ said Munday with granite seriousness. ‘Should he make a row with the police […]? Or should he say nothing about it and condone brutality for fear of appearing in the newspapers?}}
  • (chiefly fiction) A personification of the moral sense of right and wrong, usually in the form of a person, a being or merely a voice that gives moral lessons and advices.
  • (obsolete) Consciousness; thinking; awareness, especially self-awareness.
  • * 1603 , (William Shakespeare), (Hamlet) , act 3, scene 1,
  • Thus conscience does make cowards of us all;
    And thus the native hue of resolution
    Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought.

    Usage notes

    * Adjectives often used with "conscience": good, bad, guilty. * Phrases: To make conscience of, To make a matter of conscience, to act according to the dictates of conscience concerning (any matter), or to scruple to act contrary to its dictates.

    Derived terms

    * consciencelike * conscience money * conscience vote * conscientious * make conscience * pang of conscience

    See also

    * synteresis

    ethics

    English

    (wikipedia ethics)

    Noun

    (-)
  • (philosophy) The study of principles relating to right and wrong conduct.
  • Morality.
  • The standards that govern the conduct of a person, especially a member of a profession.
  • Usage notes

    * Although the terms ethics'' and ''morality'' may sometimes be used interchangeably, philosophical ethicists often distinguish them, using ''ethics'' to refer to theories and conceptual studies relating to good and evil and right and wrong, and using ''morality'' and its related terms to refer to actual, real-world beliefs and practices concerning proper conduct. In this vein, the American philosopher , ed., ''The Philosophy of Brand Blanshard , Library of Living Philosophers, ISBN 0875483496, "Autobiography", p. 85. * In particular, in general usage ethical'' is used to describe standards of behavior between individuals, while ''moral'' or ''immoral can describe any behavior. You can call lying unethical or immoral, for example, because it involves the behavior of one person and how it affects another, but violating dietary prohibitions in a holy text would be described as immoral.

    Synonyms

    * moral philosophy

    Derived terms

    * applied ethics * bioethics * business ethics * comparative ethics * descriptive ethics * environmental ethics * ethicist * medical ethics * metaethics * normative ethics * situational ethics

    See also

    * aretaics

    References

    Anagrams

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