Morality justifies whatever system of social hierarchy the dominator system provides. When the political system takes the form of patriarchy, morality will justify men. When it is a monarchy, morality will tell you kings are gods, or they rule by divine right. When the dominator system is capitalistic, its morality justifies private property and those who acquire great wealth with theories like Social Darwinism, or the Protestant Work Ethic. Morality stands ready to justify any political system from fascism to democracy. It has been doing this since the dawn of civilization when morality developed the criteria that determined a person’s worthiness to receive food.

Ethics does not serve civilization. It supports life. Its function is always the same. It always identifies with those marginalized by the morality of any social system. A feudalistic system uses morality to justify the feudal order while an ethical person would identify with people marginalized by the morality of the feudal order – the serfs and peasants. Capitalist morality justifies private property and the rich while an ethical person within a capitalistic system identifies with the poor and homeless. In a meritocracy, morality justifies the meritorious while an ethical person considers those without merit. Nazi morality justified the Aryans whereas an ethical person in Nazi Germany would identify with the Jews. Since ethics is reasoned activity in the service of life, ethical people will also identify with non-human life forms if these life forms are marginalized or not given due consideration by the civilized ones. Thus, ethics can identify with other species, the environment and even the earth when our policies and practices marginalize these life forms.