Can the act of having certain thoughts be unethical? [duplicate]

Question

On the basis of Western morality, the Greco-Roman Judeo-Christian one, behaviors like killing, betraying, cursing are considered immoral. Christianity imposes that thoughts can be corrupt, therefore immoral; and there is logic, since thought represents - before desire and/or intention - the conception, the consideration that a given alternative is possible, and even plausible.

However, if the mind can have immoral productions, can it also arouse something unethical? In particular, can thoughts — internal mental processes in which no one is harmed other than possibly the thinker itself — possibly be unjustifiable in a typical society's set of principles?

Reflecting on killing someone can certainly be immoral, but can it be unethical, even when the act has not been perpetrated yet?

For short: jumping a queue is immoral, because it goes against society's informal rules, but ethical if you are in a hurry for an urgent meeting, since the act is justifiable in this circumstances. Can immoral thoughts be seen in such a light?

EDIT:

Terminology used:

1. Immoral: an act, reasoning, behaviour or reaction deemed improper by the modi operandi of a given society respective.
2. Ethical: as in Applied Ethics, but used in a more abstract manner; the act, ... that: even when judged immoral, may and should be carried out when it represents a greater good done than bad be it concerning individuals or groups, shall be permitted given the circumstances of an individual in an alarming situation, or is justifiable in the sense that the agent of such act should not be judged guilty when the context is avaluated. E.g.: homicide in legitimate defense; thus homicide is (unconditionally) immoral, but ethical in this situation.

Answer 1

Ethics and morals are not identical. There are distinct types of ethics. In philosophy normative ethics holds more weight. The name normative ethics implies certain things so it is worth looking into separately if you were not aware it existed.

The slang and frequent use of ethics or morals get used interchangeably because people may be unaware of distinctions in ethics. You can also have descriptive ethics which simply describes what things are they way they are. So if act x is wrong in the society of Cancun this only means the people there and not everywhere consider act x wrong. Act x may be considered permissible somewhere else. This is descriptive ethics. Notice it does not mention should people consider act x wrong or why is doing x wrong to begin with. Should act x be considered wrong? Descriptive ethics does not deal with that. Descriptive ethics deals more with emotions, culture, authorities, etc. This is the most frequent use of the term morals.

Religion often gets mixed up in poor communications with using the wrong terms. When referring to Christianity and behavior the term morals is again misused. In your context you seem to express SIN. Sinful thoughts are wrong is what you mean to say. However, normative ethics is not based on religion. With or without any religion normative ethics could still exist independently. You seem to tie morals only with religion. There is an ethical view that expresses that as well. Divine command theory expresses God defines what acts are moral and what acts God does not accept are immoral.

You specifically mention thoughts as immoral. I would say only ACTS are immoral which is different from sin. Sin by Christian context expresses anything against the will of God (which implies getting to know God by studying the word). So a thought can be a sin. For instance the lustful look without physical contact is a sin. A thought focused on too long and entertained for too long can very well turn into an act. Perhaps your intentions are going in this direction. Sins can fit inside the immoral category depending on the context but they are not one and the same thing. An act can be immoral and be still be legal for instance. Perhaps you can make a point that all immoral acts will fall under a category of the definition of sin.

Answer 2

A first-rate, intriguing question. I think we need to draw some distinctions, though. Are 'thoughts' mental images (as when one imagines someone in a sexual position), or propositions (as when one entertains a crude and unfair generalisation about a group, 'Xs are lazy and dishonest') or practical possibilities that present themselves ('The shop-keeper is not looking, I can pocket this tin of beans'). One can have any or all such thoughts in a 'bracketed' way, disconnected from intentional action altogether. (Gottfried Vosgerau and Matthis Synofzik, 'A Cognitive Theory of Thoughts', American Philosophical Quarterly, Vol. 47, No. 3 (JULY 2010), pp. 205-222; W.J. Ginnane, 'Thoughts', Mind, New Series, Vol. 69, No. 275 (Jul., 1960), pp. 372-390.)

▻ INVOLUNTARY THOUGHTS

Some thoughts in any of the senses I've listed can occur involuntarily. I cannot completely control the workings of my mind, which can throw up absurdities, fantasies, and (whether I like it or not) immoral thoughts such as the above. (Assuming for the sake of argument that they are immoral thoughts.) What I can't control, I can't be responsible for; and if I can't be responsible for these thoughts then they are not 'unethical'. Responsiblity has some connexion with choice; and in respect to these thoughts I had no choice about their occurrence.

In a word, I am responsible for doing only what is in my power to refrain from doing; and it isn't in my power to refrain from involuntary thoughts. (G. P. Henderson, '"Ought" Implies "Can"', Philosophy, Vol. 41, No. 156 (Apr., 1966), pp. 101-112; Robert Merrihew Adams, 'Involuntary Sins', The Philosophical Review, Vol. 94, No. 1 (Jan., 1985), pp. 3-31; Robert C. Solomon, '"I can't get it out of my Mind": (Augustine's Problem)', Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, Vol. 44, No. 3 (Mar., 1984), pp. 405-412.)

☛ Dreams

Separate case : can I have unethical thoughts in a dream ? In what sense are the thoughts mine ? I should say, I can't have such thoughts in a dream since dream-thoughts just happen 'in me' : they are involuntary in a different sense from the kinds of involuntary thought considered so far. But I have no theory about what that different sense is. (William E. Mann, 'Dreams of Immorality', Philosophy, Vol. 58, No. 225 (Jul., 1983), pp. 378-385; Gareth B. Matthews, 'On Being Immoral in a Dream', Philosophy, Vol. 56, No. 215 (Jan., 1981), pp. 47-54.)

▻ VOLUNTARY THOUGHTS

I think for a thought to be unethical, at least three conditions need to be met (adapted from Gareth B. Matthews, 50):

(1) I have a thought which I recognise as a 'suggestion' to do something ethically wrong.

(2) I have a positive attitude towards this suggestion; I like it, it gives me pleasure, or at any rate I see it as a live option.

(3) I adopt it and include it in my practical reasoning, my decision about how to act.

Roughly these conditions are defined in

Here choice and responsibility are involved; and I should regard thought here as unethical.

Even if the action fails, or if I think better of it and abandon it, at the time the thought occurred, the three conditions were met; and the thought was unethical.

Answer 3

In order for a thing to be potentially 'unethical' (here defined as a thing which ought to be done in a given circumstance), we only need to show that it ought to be done in even a single circumstance. That is, if we can show even a single example where thinking something contrary to societal norms (as we have thusly defined immoral) is good, given the context, then we have shown that thoughts can be potentially 'unethical'(again, remembering that this is here defined in a manner more akin to how 'ethical' is usually defined).

We have not, for the purposes of this question, defined moral goodness, so for the purposes of this answer I will be using the following definition¹:

1755 A morally good act requires the goodness of the object, of the end, and of the circumstances together.

(from the Catechism of the Catholic Church)

Now, we must find a thought with a morally good object, end, and circumstance (which here means something that is a superset of typical usages for 'consequence'). Any such thought will suffice, because our definition of 'immoral' requires only that an action be "deemed improper by the modi operandi of a given society" and societies are quite capable of deeming anything improper.

Most readers, I think, will agree at least one of the following suffices:

• Successfully meditating on Word of God. The object is thought, which is a good, the end is Wisdom and the Love of God, which is a good, and the act is in this case successful and brings about a part of the will of God, which is good.
• Successfully introspecting in order to combat racism. The object is the action of self-awareness, which is good, the end is lessening ones participation in racism, which is good, and the act is successful without negative side effects.
• Reading a book that efficiently communicates perfect ethical and metaethical truth and from it obtaining the ability to knowingly choose good actions in all circumstances, which one will in fact later choose to do. The object is to be good, which is a good object, the end is ethical perfection, which is a good end, and the consequence is good actions, which is a good.

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1. I believe this to be a reasonable definition for this question's purposes as you give examples from a Judeo-Christian background, though it is possible, given your very unusual choices for the definitions of other terms, that this is an error in premise.

Answer 4

We have Freedom Of Thought, defining "thoughtcrime" is unethical

One of the ethical standards that the world has reached consensus about is:

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Article 18 of the UDHR states:

Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance.

If we adhere to this article, then it become unethical to limit thoughts. Therefore any proclamation that paints some thoughts to be wrong or unethical, is therefore unethical in itself. By this article, thought can only be considered unethical, if we adhere to — this is no joke — unethical ethics, because we must disregard an article of ethics (Article 18 of the UDHR) to implement anything that paints thought as unethical.

The UDHR was drafted in 1948 and while article 18 was the subject of some contention, it was never freedom of thought and conscience that was up for debate, but freedom of religion and the right to leave/change religion. Some theocracies were not happy with that, but they eventually relented.

In the spirit of the period, while the UDHR was being worked out was the same time that George Orwell put to us that thoughtcrime is a violation of human rights, as so eloquently described in his famous 1949 novel Nineteen Eighty-Four. The definition of what thoughcrime is, and why it is bad, is perhaps the main reason why Nineteen Eighty-Four is considered a very important piece of literature.

So the answer to your question is: if we are adhering to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, or in any other way keep entertaining the notion that defining "thoughtcrime" is unethical, then thought itself cannot be unethical. This is because we have instead preempted any such ethics — ethics that state (some) thought to be unethical — by saying such ethics are unethical in themselves.

_{By curious consequence: this argument makes most of the world's religions unethical, since they all define at least one form of thoughtcrime, the most famous in western culture of course being the Ten Commandments, along with defining the Seven Deadly Sins}

Answer 5

No, unless one believes thoughts have a direct impact in the physical world.

Being unethical is to act in a way that breaks societal/cultural/group norms. If you do not act unethical you are not unethical, imho.

If someone is externally nice to everyone but actually wishes everyone harm but never acts on those thoughts, is the person nice or evil? I say they are nice because, I believe, words and deeds are all that translates into the physical world.