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<journal-meta>
<journal-id journal-id-type="publisher">global-journal-of-human-social-science-h-interdisciplinary</journal-id>
<journal-title-group>
<journal-title>Global Journal of Human-Social Science - H: Interdisciplinary</journal-title>
</journal-title-group>
<issn publication-format="print">0975-587X</issn>
<issn publication-format="electronic">2249-460X</issn>
<publisher><publisher-name>Global Journals Publishing Group Incorporated</publisher-name></publisher>
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<article-id pub-id-type="doi">10.34257/GJHSSH257765</article-id>
<article-id pub-id-type="publisher-id">257765</article-id>
<title-group>
<article-title>Ethics and Morals: Foundations, Differences and Applications in Human Action as Needs Despite, for Hope</article-title>
<subtitle>Ethics vs Morality in Human Action &amp; Bioethics</subtitle>
</title-group>
<contrib-group>
<contrib contrib-type="author"><name><surname>FÉNÉLUS</surname><given-names>Saint-Luc</given-names></name><xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1" />
</contrib>
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<aff id="aff1">ITALY, Pontifical Lateran University</aff>
<pub-date publication-format="electronic" date-type="pub" iso-8601-date="2026-06-24">
<day>24</day>
<month>06</month>
<year>2026</year>
</pub-date>
<volume>26</volume>
<issue>1</issue>
<fpage>27</fpage>
<lpage>69</lpage>
<abstract><p>The distinction between ethics and morality constitutes one of the fundamental pillars for understanding human action in contexts of growing social, technological, and biopolitical complexity. Drawing on the classical tradition, Aristotle conceives of ethics as the rational pursuit of the good and excellence of character (areté), aimed at the full realization of the human being within the polis. Thomas Aquinas deepens this perspective by articulating morality as the realm of free human acts, ordered toward the good according to reason and the dignity of the person. In modernity, Kant introduces moral autonomy as the foundation of dignity, while Levinas shifts the focus toward responsibility in the face of the other. These traditions converge in the contemporary understanding that ethics and morality, though related, are not equivalent: ethics is critical reflection on the foundations of action, while morality is the set of norms, habits, and values that guide conduct. In the field of bioethics, the distinction between ethics and morality takes on special relevance in the face of the challenges posed by technoscience. Hans Jonas proposes the principle of responsibility as a criterion to guide human action in a technological civilization capable of affecting the very conditions of life. Ethics offers the critical framework for discerning the good in new and complex situations; morality, the concrete criteria for acting responsibly. Both converge in the construction of a praxis oriented toward justice, the protection of dignity, and the promotion of hope as a horizon of meaning.</p></abstract>
<kwd-group kwd-group-type="author-generated">
<kwd>Ethics</kwd>
<kwd>Morality</kwd>
<kwd>Human Dignity</kwd>
<kwd>Bioethics</kwd>
<kwd>Responsibility</kwd>
<kwd>Technoscience</kwd>
<kwd>Vulnerability</kwd>
<kwd>Human Acts.</kwd>
</kwd-group>
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