
Exactly.  Although this may be a dissapointing answer, there has to be an
interplay of the two.  Personal Ethos and Societal Morality.  A person's
self-generated/learned set of beliefs are usually expressed on a purely
mental/verbal level, and don't usually find expression in society except in an
impure (not in the sense of bad :) ) state.  Sometimes this has to be so.


Also, what if one feels oneself to be part of more than one society, in a very
real sense?  To use the obvious example, there is a political society, and a
racial society, and a gender society, and sometimes they do not always agree on
every issue...



Yes.  Perhaps with an infamous "do what you want so long as it doesn't hurt
others?"  The problem with this is that it is merely saying what you CAN do: it
is not a morality in that it doesn't propound any specifically preferred
behaviours.


I'll add a hearty "me two".  However, one could just as well say just because
certain actions are moral does not make them legal: one still doesn't really
get an impression of which one is truly "right".




best regards,