amorality

Amorality is the state or condition of lacking moral judgments, obligations, or considerations. It is distinct from immorality, which denotes actions or beliefs that violate a norm of right conduct, and from morality, which encompasses a system of values and rules about good and bad behavior. Amoral can describe a person who is indifferent to moral issues, a thing or system in which moral evaluation is not applicable or possible, or a domain in which moral language is considered inappropriate or meaningless, such as certain natural phenomena or some automated processes.

In philosophy, amoral discourse arises in discussions of moral psychology, moral status, and moral agency. Some theories treat moral agency as a prerequisite for morality, while others contend that some spheres are inherently amoral even for agents with capacity for choice. In science and everyday life, events or entities may be described as amoral when they have no moral valence, or when moral considerations are not part of the causal explanations of why they occur.

Examples: newborn infants are often described as amoral in the sense that they lack mature moral concepts; certain animal behaviors are sometimes called amoral; algorithms or machines can act in an amoral manner if they execute tasks without moral judgment, though designers may impose moral constraints. Critics argue that the boundary between amoral and moral is porous, and that seemingly neutral domains may still involve moral considerations in disguise. The term is used variably across disciplines, and some scholars avoid it to prevent implying a definitive moral stance about the domain.

See also: morality, ethics, immoral, moral psychology.