Immoral vs. Amoral

I feel like people often do not understand the difference between being immoral and being amoral. In short, immoral people do things that they know are bad. Being amoral means not having the compass that tells you if something is good or bad.

The confusion comes from our society believing that any person who does not have an external force telling them to not do destructive things will instinctively do the worst possible things. In that case, immoral and amoral people would be doing the same things.

The reality, though, is that they are two different statuses. Amoral people are governed by a different set of rules. In a sense, they are only amoral relative to your beliefs. Immoral people, on the other hand, are explicitly breaking the rules, and they just don't care.

This is an example of a bigger concept, and it is the prefixes. Im-/in- means the opposite of the root word. A- means without the root word. It can be a very important distinction to make in your descriptions. Consider how different the words would be, what they would really mean, and the impact it would have. Then choose wisely.