¶ … ethics and morality. Provide specific examples for each. In your comparison, include a description of the connection between ethics and morality.
Ethical systems, such as utilitarianism or libertarianism, are formal ethical systems that are explicitly delineated. In the ethics of utilitarianism, there is often a specific, written calculus used to determine who constitutes the majority for whom the ethical actions should serve; in libertarianism, there is an overarching, simple philosophy of government nonintervention. Ethical systems may not 'make sense' to people looking at them from the outside, but to their founders there is an attempt to formally organize their codes into a system. In contrast, morality usually is seen as a "code of conduct that a person or group takes as most important" (Gert 2011). Morality is a combination of personal or community ethics, gut instincts, or rules that...
For example, when I am slicing a cake, I might allocate the same-sized piece to every person, based upon a general, communal sense that equality constitutes fairness. This is a form of 'morality.' In contrast, there is an underlying ethical system in the idea that all persons are treated equally in the eyes of the law, in the administration of the American system of justice (which is why everyone, regardless of income, is entitled to legal representation when accused of a crime).
Of course, morality has a clear influence upon the development of ethical systems. The value placed upon the individual in Western morality has guided and shaped ethical systems like that of Locke's, which stressed the need for sovereign control to be kept in check, so that every citizen's right to life, liberty, and property was not infringed upon.…
