What is ethics?
Ethics is a system of moral principles. They affect how people make decisions and lead their lives.
Ethics is concerned with what is good for individuals and society and is also described as moral philosophy.
The term is derived from the Greek word ethos which can mean custom, habit, character or disposition.
Ethics tries to answer the following dilemmas
• How to live a good life?
• What are our rights and responsibilities?
• The language of right and wrong
• Moral decisions - what is good and bad?
What is the use of studying ethics?
Ethics needs to provide answers. If ethical theories are to be useful in practice, they need to affect the way human beings behave.
Some philosophers think that ethics does do this. They argue that if a person realises that it would be morally good to do something then it would be irrational for that person not to do it.
But human beings often behave irrationally - they follow their 'gut instinct' even when their head suggests a different course of action
However, ethics does provide good tools for thinking about moral issues.
Ethics can provide a moral map
Most moral issues get us pretty worked up - think of abortion and euthanasia for starters. Because these are such emotional issues we often let our hearts do the arguing while our brains just go with the flow.
But there's another way of tackling these issues, and that's where philosophers can come in - they offer us ethical rules and principles that enable us to take a cooler view of moral problems.
So ethics provides us with a moral map, a framework that we can use to find our way through difficult issues
Ethics doesn't give right answers
Ethics doesn't always show the right answer to moral problems.
Indeed more and more people think that for many ethical issues there isn't a single right answer - just a set of principles that can be applied to particular cases to give those involved some clear choices.
It's up to each individual to come to their own conclusions.
Ethics can give several answers
Many people want there to be a single right answer to ethical questions. They find moral ambiguity hard to live with because they genuinely want to do the 'right' thing, and even if they can't work out what that right thing is, they like the idea that 'somewhere' there is one right answer.
But often there isn't one right answer - there may be several right answers, or just some least worst answers - and the individual must choose between them.
For others moral ambiguity is difficult because it forces them to take responsibility for their own choices and actions, rather than falling back on convenient rules and customs.
Ethics is about the 'other'
At the heart of ethics is a concern about something or someone other than ourselves and our own desires and self-interest.
Ethics is concerned with other people's interests, with the interests of society, with God's interests, with "ultimate goods", and so on.
So when a person 'thinks ethically' they are giving at least some thought to something beyond themselves.
Ethics as source of group strength
One problem with ethics is the way it's often used as a weapon.
If a group believes that a particular activity is "wrong" it can then use morality as the justification for attacking those who practice that activity.
When people do this, they often see those who they regard as immoral as in some way less human or deserving of respect than themselves; sometimes with tragic consequences.
Eg – Cow vigilantism; Lover’s day celebration etc.
Can Ethics provide conclusions?
Even philosophers are less sure that it's possible to devise a satisfactory and complete theory of ethics - at least not one that leads to conclusions.
The role of ethics is limited to clarifying 'what's at stake' in particular ethical problems.
Philosophy can help identify the range of ethical methods, conversations and value systems that can be applied to a particular problem. But after these things have been made clear, each person must make their own individual decision as to what to do, and then react appropriately to the consequences.
Where does ethics come from?
Philosophers have several answers to this question:
• God and religion
• Human conscience and intuition
• a rational moral cost-benefit analysis of actions and their effects
• the example of good human beings
• a desire for the best for people in each unique situation
• political power
Supernaturalism vs Consequentialism vs Deontology
• Supernaturalism makes ethics inseparable from religion. It teaches that the only source of moral rules is God. So, something is good because God says it is, and the way to lead a good life is to do what God wants.
• Consequentialism - This is the ethical theory that most non-religious people think they use every day. It bases morality on the consequences of human actions and not on the actions themselves. Consequentialism teaches that people should do whatever produces the greatest amount of good consequences.
• Non-consequentialism or deontological ethics - It teaches that some acts are right or wrong in themselves, whatever the consequences, and people should act accordingly.
Moral absolutism vs Moral relativism
• Moral absolutism - Some people think there are such universal rules that apply to everyone. This sort of thinking is called moral absolutism. Eg - Declaration of Human Rights; Religious views
• Moral relativism - Moral relativists say that if you look at different cultures or different periods in history you'll find that they have different moral rules. Therefore it makes sense to say that "good" refers to the things that a particular group of people approve of.
What is good or bad?
Expectations
• There is no one absolutely good or evil
• (pass/fail depends on minimum percentage)
• If our expectations are low, we find the people mostly good
• If our expectations are high, we find the people mostly bad
Subjective
• Our concepts of good and bad depends on what we are
• A poor sees the world differently than the rich
• A powerful person’s concept of good and bad is different than that of powerless person
• An educated person perceives the world differently than an uneducated person
• A man understand the world differently than woman
Situations
• Human beings inherently desire to be good; they fall victims of situations sometimes and commit evil acts.
• In desperate saturations, even the best person can commit crimes
• An ill person can be cured with proper treatment; a bad person can become good in due time
• Every saint has a past and every sinner has a future – Oscar Wilde
• Hate the sin, but not the sinner – Mahatma Gandhi
Ethics and morals
• Morality pertains to the individual’s choice of right and wrong
• Ethics pertains to the society’s perspective of right and wrong
• Morals define personal character; Ethics define a social system
Ethical literacy
Understanding complex ethical issues.
Knowing the consequences of actions.
Ethical competence
Knowledge of ethical principles.
Aware of professional code of ethics.
As a citizen aware of constitutional principles.
Respect and follow the public law.
Embrace and promote ethical behaviour at workplace.
Refuse to do something unethical.
Guarding against conflicts of interest.
Being responsible to our own actions and behaviours.
Golden rule of ethics
We should do to others what we want others to do to us.