Morality

== Ethics<!--'Morality and ethics' redirects here--> ==
{{see also|Sittlichkeit|Confucius|Laozi|Tao Te Ching}}

[[Ethics]] (also known as moral philosophy) is the branch of [[philosophy]] which addresses questions of morality. The word "ethics" is "commonly used interchangeably with 'morality'{{Nbsp}}... and sometimes it is used more narrowly to mean the moral principles of a particular tradition, group, or individual."<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia |year=2015 |title=ethics |encyclopedia=[[The Cambridge Dictionary of Philosophy]] |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |last=Deigh |first=John |editor-last=Audi |editor-first=Robert |editor-link=Robert Audi |edition=3rd |page=328 |doi=10.1017/CBO9781139057509 |isbn=9781139057509}}</ref> Likewise, certain types of ethical theories, especially [[deontological ethics]], sometimes distinguish between ethics and morality.

[[File:Immanuel Kant portrait c1790.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Immanuel Kant]] introduced the [[categorical imperative]]: "Act only according to that maxim whereby you can, at the same time, will that it should become a universal law."]]
Philosopher [[Simon Blackburn]] writes that "Although the morality of people and their ethics amounts to the same thing, there is a usage that restricts morality to systems such as that of [[Immanuel Kant]], based on notions such as duty, obligation, and [[Value (personal and cultural)|principles]] of conduct, reserving ethics for the more [[Aristotelianism|Aristotelian]] approach to practical reasoning, based on the notion of a [[virtue]], and generally avoiding the separation of 'moral' considerations from other practical considerations."<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia |year=2008 |title=morality |encyclopedia=[[The Oxford Dictionary of Philosophy]] |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |url=https://www.oxfordreference.com/display/10.1093/acref/9780199541430.001.0001/acref-9780199541430-e-2075 |last=Blackburn |first=Simon |author-link=Simon Blackburn |edition=2nd |page=241 |doi=10.1093/acref/9780199541430.001.0001 |isbn=9780199541430}}</ref>