Some things are outside of the scope of morality and/or ethics.
When we ask questions about what is moral or ethical, we limit those questions to certain areas or topics or considerations. We do not ask whether it is murder to put rocks in a rock crusher. We do not ponder the ethics or morality of our actions when we dip a piece of celery or a baby carrot from a veggie platter into some delicious dip and eat it.
Rocks, carrots, celery, and many other things do not enter into our sense of what is moral or ethical.
When we mow the grass, we do not think about the feelings or life of our lawns. The same goes for trimming the hedges and trees around our homes.
Similarly, we do not think of the decision to drink coffee or tea as moral or ethical decisions, because they aren’t.
Whether we wear beige or grey or navy blue pants is another decision that is outside of the scope of morals and ethics.
But this is no surprise. Morality has a defined scope.
In the next post on this topic, we’ll look at some simple examples where morality begins to come into the equation, and how it can be blurry.
