Philosophically speaking, what is the real difference between "wrongdoing" and doing something illegal?

In the context to which you refer, the folks who use the word "wrongdoing" have no actual concept of right and wrong.

I think illegal is strictly defined. There are laws which provide bounds on human behaviours and when these laws are violated, the behaviour is considered illegal.

I think "wrongdoing" is a much more slippery concept. It seems subjective to me, and obviously captures behaviour which is not technically illegal.

The scumbag politicians you reference, though, are probably substituting "wrongdoing" for "illegal". They don't won't to bring the topic of law into the discussion, so they substitute the loftier sounding term, "wrongdoing."

"Legal" means you have gone through one of the predefined paths to citizenship. "Illegal" means you have not. The reasons the legal paths are there are many, but include: - Safety of the citizenry (countries usually frown on allowing known criminals to become citizens of their country) - Proper Access to Government or "Entitlement" Programs (Again, it is nearly universally frowned upon by countries for non-citizens to take unfair advantage of taxpayer funded programs. In the U.S., this includes WIC, various state and federal health care benefits, and food stamp programs. Most of which are obtained with further illegal activity such as identity theft.) - A legal electorate (many "Illegal" immigrants participate or attempt to participate in local, county, state, and federal elections, thereby skewing the election. What if they were voting against your candidate? How would that make you feel?) - Protection of the "Illegal" immigrant (in many cases, illegals will take jobs at far less than the minimum wage, which is form of Slavery. Additionally, they have no legal way to complain about a careless or dangerous employer). This last point is probably the most important. At one time in U.S. history, there was a group of "employers" that fought against allowing their "employees" to be paid a fair wage (if any) or to complain about their work conditions. The way this issue was resolved was when brother turned against brother and fought the U.S. Civil War. Would you defend slavery or abuse? I know you wouldn't, but this is one side of the debate that frequently is overlooked. EDIT: @Proudly Atheist: Illegal vs. Legal adoption??? I think illegal adoption is considered kidnapping is a lot of cases.

Plain wrong doing can be any unethical act that isn't illegal. Such wrong doings are often done by politicians and, major corporations such as Dish network who tend to screw over and, lie to many customers. It isn't illegal to simply lie to others (unless it's done in a court room under oath).

Ilegal is simply a wrong doing that is against the law. However not everything that is against the law is necessarily a wrong doing or, unethical behavior.

I think "wrongdoing" is a term for doing something wrong but it may or may not be illegal.

If you drive the wrong way down a one way street, you did something wrong, but its also "illegal."

If you put up the wallpaper the wrong way, its a "wrongdoing" but its not illegal.

Its really just another way to "twist" words when someone wants to evade an issue. NObama is great at that.

"Wrongdoing" is when someone does something that is morally wrong, but not necessarily illegal, and doing something illegal isn't necessarily wrong, but it is against the law. Smoking marijuana is illegal, but there is no good reason for it to be and using it doesn't harm anyone.

The politicians are saying they are evil, worthless scum, but that's OK, because they didn't break the rules.

"Right" and "wrong" are subjective evaluations that vary greatly not only between but within different cultures. "Legality" is solely a matter of compliance with legislated and common law. The Holocaust during WW2 was legal under the German Laws of the time, whether it was right or wrong is matter of interpretation, there are still a lot of antisemitic people who support it. Many people today define "right" and "wrong" solely in terms of whether they'll be punished, and to them not being liable for criminal prosecution is, in fact, equivalent to having done nothing wrong.

Wrong doing is a little more abstract, it depends on the person giving the punishment on how bad it is.

Something illegal always has a punishment, but isn't always wrong. For instance, in Maine it's illegal to take a bath with a moose, but most people wouldn't consider it wrong-doing.

"Wrongdoing" Is Political-Speak For Illegal

"Error Of Judgment" Is Political-Speak For Wrongdoing

"Momentary Lapse" Is Political-Speak For Criminal Misbehaviour

I thought you knew everything. There is a big difference in legality (does it violate law) ethics and morality. Being ethical and moral are different but they still rely on societal bounds to determine.