Amorality (also known as amoralism) is an absence of,
indifference towards, disregard for, or incapacity for
morality
Morality () is the categorization of intentions, Decision-making, decisions and Social actions, actions into those that are ''proper'', or ''right'', and those that are ''improper'', or ''wrong''. Morality can be a body of standards or principle ...
.
Some simply refer to it as a case of being neither moral nor immoral. Amoral should not be confused with ''
immoral'', which refers to an
agent doing or thinking something they know or believe to be
wrong
A wrong or wrength (from Old English – 'crooked') is an act that is illegal or immoral. Legal wrongs are usually quite clearly defined in the law of a state or jurisdiction. They can be divided into civil wrongs and crimes (or ''criminal of ...
.
Morality and amorality in humans and other animals is a subject of dispute among scientists and philosophers.
Human capabilities may be thought of as amoral in that they can be used for either constructive or destructive purposes, i.e., for
good
In most contexts, the concept of good denotes the conduct that should be preferred when posed with a choice between possible actions. Good is generally considered to be the opposite of evil. The specific meaning and etymology of the term and its ...
or for ill.
There is a position which claims that amorality is just another form of morality or a concept that is close to it, citing
moral naturalism,
moral constructivism,
moral relativism
Moral relativism or ethical relativism (often reformulated as relativist ethics or relativist morality) is used to describe several Philosophy, philosophical positions concerned with the differences in Morality, moral judgments across different p ...
, and moral
fictionalism as constructs that resemble key aspects of amorality.
Inanimate objects
One may consider any entity that is not
sapient amoral. For example, a rock may be used (by
rational agents) for good or bad purposes, but the rock itself is neither good nor bad. In
ontological philosophy, the
ancient gnostic concept that
the material world was inherently evil applied morality to existence itself and was a point of concern in early Christianity in the form of
Docetism, as it opposed the notion that creation is good, as stated in
The Book of Genesis.
Legal entities
Corporation
A corporation or body corporate is an individual or a group of people, such as an association or company, that has been authorized by the State (polity), state to act as a single entity (a legal entity recognized by private and public law as ...
s are thought by some to be amoral entities.
This can refer to the "ethical numbness" of these organizations' executives and managers, especially when approached from the view that corporations can be considered moral agents as well as a kind of
legal person
In law, a legal person is any person or legal entity that can do the things a human person is usually able to do in law – such as enter into contracts, lawsuit, sue and be sued, ownership, own property, and so on. The reason for the term "''le ...
.
See also
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Capacity (law)
Legal capacity is a quality denoting either the legal aptitude of a person to have rights and liabilities (in this sense also called transaction capacity), or the personhood itself in regard to an entity other than a natural person (in this sen ...
*
Moral nihilism
*
Moral psychology
Moral psychology is the study of human thought and behavior in ethical contexts. Historically, the term "moral psychology" was used relatively narrowly to refer to the study of moral development. This field of study is interdisciplinary between th ...
*
Anomie
*
Value judgment
References
{{Authority control
Concepts in ethics
Morality