(1):

(a.) Sophistical, equivocal, or false reasoning or teaching in regard to duties, obligations, and morals.

(2):

(a.) The science or doctrine of dealing with cases of conscience, of resolving questions of right or wrong in conduct, or determining the lawfulness or unlawfulness of what a man may do by rules and principles drawn from the Scriptures, from the laws of society or the church, or from equity and natural reason; the application of general moral rules to particular cases.