Are social codes different than morality? They are sometime in line, but other times are way off. Morally, stealing is wrong. It's hard to argue the "rightness" of theft. Yet people are pirating on-line in droves and telling each other about it. It's becoming socially acceptable to pirate even though it doesn't stand up well morally.

How to tell what's right and wrong?

Method #1 - Is anyone going to be harmed by your action? Who are they? And how much will it hurt compared to how much it will help us or stop our own pain? Should we stop shopping at WalMart because it's killing independent stores? Well, it would harm WalMart, so to determine which is the more ethical choice, we have to decide who is harmed less, or who we care about more.

Method #2 - If everyone did it, would it benefit the world? If everyone stole just one grape when shopping, then the store would go under. This one's good if you're contemplating doing something tiny but immoral. Stealing a penny is still stealing.

Method #3 - Does it make you feel like crap to do it? Or, as my mom would say, would you want it on the front page of the paper? Here's something dishonest I do regularly - I borrow one of 10 papers from the lunchroom to read at my desk, then I bring it back. I hide the paper under my books when I walk down the hall with it, so that tells me I'm doing something wrong. BUT maybe it just tells me I don't want to get told off for doing something that causes nobody any harm. Tricky one. Also, I really believe we get this feeling in part innately. Sure, partly it's from getting told off when we do wrong, but partly it's from our own in-born conscience. And I believe everyone's born with a different level of compassion. Serial killers have close to zero. Mother Theresa had a lot. So, if we use this as the primary basis of morality it falls short for those who aren't at all bothered by harming others (regardless how often their dads hit them when they were being jerks as kids).

Method #4 - Does the decision, honestly, come from a place of love or fear? Are you doing it to further the world, to help others, to be a good person, OR are you doing it because you're afraid of not being most liked, or afraid of being overlooked, or afraid of losing someone, etc.

Just my personal analysis of the question.