Rick wrote:
No, it isn't. Morality is hardly
"permissable" or not
"permissable", but what the person in question values.
That's not true under any definition of morality I've heard.
Morality (or Ethics, if you prefer) is the study of what is required,
what is permissible, and what is optional. For example, most moral
theories hold that it is *impermissible* to rape people. This is not
even remotely close to saying that I personally do not value rape.
It's important not to confound morality and ethics. Morality refers
to the principles that distinguish right and wrong, often dealing with
issues that are far less sensational than rape. Ethics goes beyond a
simple determination of right and wrong. Morality has a greater
affinity to the letter of the law, while ethics attaches to the spirit
of the law. The political domain in particular is full of examples of
activites that may be moral but of questionable ethics.