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Angliholic Posted 15 years ago
Grammar

Moral/morality

Those who abuse animals have no morality at all.

Hi,

Is "morality" in the above interchangeable with "moral?" If not, what are the differences between them? Thanks.
  

Top answer

The sentence breaks the Gricean principle of Truth, in that you can certainly abuse animals and yet have lots of moral standards. However if you must, I would say morality refers to the abstract concept, where as moral can also be used as a singular specific. In this sentence, morality would be interchangeable with "morals", the plural form, thus avoiding the confusion.

— CopenhagenCalling

  • The sentence breaks the Gricean principle of Truth, in that you can certainly abuse animals and yet have lots of moral standards.
  • However if you must, I would say morality refers to the abstract concept, where as moral can also be used as a singular specific.
  • In this sentence, morality would be interchangeable with "morals", the plural form, thus avoiding the confusion.
  • Morality however is more formal, morals more informal.
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2 Answers
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The sentence breaks the Gricean principle of Truth, in that you can certainly abuse animals and yet have lots of moral standards.

However if you must, I would say morality refers to the abstract concept, where as moral can also be used as a singular specific. In this sentence, morality would be interchangeable with "morals", the plural form, thus avoiding the confusion. Morality however i
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