What it Means for an Action to be Immoral

People often make moral claims. They will call an action moral by calling it morally "good" or "right" or by otherwise claiming it has some special value that means one "should" do it. They can claim the inverse by calling the action immoral, bad, wrong, or so forth.

But what does it mean to call an action morally good or morally bad? Different people use those terms to mean very different things. Let's look at some of the most common meanings.

Personal Disgust or Appreciation – Often when people call an action immoral, they simply mean they feel disgusted by the action in some way. When these people call an action morally good, they simply mean that they appreciate or admire it in some way. For example, if a woman says that torturing animals is immoral, she may simply mean that the idea of it disgusts her very much. If she refers to helping the homeless as morally good, she may simply mean that she admires people who help the homeless.

Recommendation – People also sometimes use moral terms to express a recommendation. When they call an action morally good, they simply mean to say that they recommend others do it. When they call an action immoral, they simply mean that they recommend others do not do it. For example, when a mother tells her son that doing drugs is immoral, she may simply mean that she recommends he does not do drugs because she believes it will cause him more grief than pleasure. When she says he "should" brush his teeth, she may just mean that she recommends he brush his teeth because she believes he will regret it if he doesn't.

Social Values – Sometimes people use moral terms to express common social values. For example, if a person calls it immoral to wear yellow clothes, the person may simply mean that most people in a certain society frown upon those who wear yellow clothes. This can also include extreme social values enforced by violence—namely laws. For example, when people refer to murder as immoral, they may mean that the people in society want it stopped so much that they will throw murderers in jail.

Social Utility – Sometimes people use moral terms to describe how much a certain action will hurt or help the other people in the society. When people call an action immoral, they may simply mean that the action hurts more people than it helps. When they call an action morally good, they mean that it helps more people than it hurts. A more helpful action will be referred to as morally better, and a more harmful action will be referred to as worse.

Religious, Metaphysical, and/or Supernatural – Of course, sometimes when people use moral terms they mean to claim that the actions have some sort of metaphysical or supernatural value—a belief that these people generally base on their religious views or other superstitions. When these people say an action is immoral, they mean the action is considered sinful or bad by their god(s) or by some other metaphysical set of judgmental values.

As you can see, people use moral terms very differently. Even the same person may use different meanings for moral terms at different times.

For the sake of clarity, I personally choose to avoid using moral terms as much as possible. Instead, I explain specifically what I mean using descriptive, amoral terms rather than generic moral terms. In your own speech, I recommend you consider replacing moral terms with more specific and clear terminology. Rather than just calling an action immoral, you can explain specifically what you mean to say about the action.

Whatever you do, good luck and have fun!