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The Concept of Morality

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Have you ever thought that why is stealing money a crime? You might say “It is crime because taking a valuable object which belongs someone without asking is a very bad behaviour.” As everyone knows, it is a very common principle and it is unacceptable behaviour in every society; nobody can deny this fact. However one more question emerges after this answer: How were these kind of values which are common among people decided? Imagine that you walk along a street and you see a poor man who is sitting on the sidewalk and begging for money. Almost every person feels pity for the poor man but why does every person feel the same feeling? Was this feeling taught to us afterwards? These are some good examples which are very helpful to understand what the word “morality” actually means. In "Ethics: Time to Revisit the Basics," Gregory D. Foster states “Moral philosophy is nothing else but the science of what is good and evil in the conversation and society of mankind.” The conception of feelings which organizes people’s life, behaviours and decisions and induces people to behave according to the principles of goodness and virtue is called morality. However it is not really easy to explain what the morality is. Morality consists of the combination of the word “moral” and the suffix that creates noun word which is “ity”. Morality was firstly arose in late 14th century. The root of morality which is “moral” comes from Old French word “moralité” and also comes from Latin words “moralitatem" and “moralis." These Latin words mean “manner, character” (Oxford Dictionaries). “Moralis” which means goodness is attested from 1590's. (Etymology Dictionary). In "Ethics: Time to Revisit the Basics," Gregory D. Foster quotes a quote from a book which is "The Rights of Man," written by Thomas Paine. Thomas Paine asserts “No man is prejudiced in favor of a thing knowing it to be wrong. He is attached to it on the be

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