What is Ethics?

Manuel Velasquez and Claire Andre, Thomas Shanks (S.J.) and Michael J. Meyer

The basis of ethics is well-founded standards that define right and wrong. These standards usually refer to rights, obligations, society benefits, fairness or specific virtues.

Raymond Baumhart, a sociologist, asked businesspeople years ago: "What does ethics really mean to you?" The following were some of their responses:

"Ethics is based on my feelings about what I feel is right and wrong."
"Ethics is a matter of my religious beliefs."
"Being ethical means doing the law's will."
"Ethics is the behavior that society accepts as acceptable."
"I don’t know what the word is."

These responses might be representative of our own. It is difficult to define "Ethics UPSC", and many people hold shaky views about it.

Many people, like Baumhart's initial respondent, tend to associate ethics with their emotions. Being ethical does not mean following one's emotions. One can be influenced by one's feelings and not do what is right. Inreality, emotions can often lead to a deviation from the ethical.

Neither should one confuse ethics with religion. High ethical standards are a hallmark of most religions. But ethics could not be confined to religion. Ethics applies equally to atheists as it does to religious people. The religious can inspire and set high ethical standards. However, ethics is not a limited concept and cannot be used in the same way as religion.

Ethical behavior is not the same thing as following the law. Many laws include ethical standards that most citizens agree to. Laws, like emotions, can be deviated from what is ethical. It is obvious that laws can deviate from the ethical standard in South Africa's pre-Civil War slave laws and South Africa's apartheid laws.

Being ethical does not mean that you accept the norms of society. Most people will accept ethical standards in any society. However, society's standards of conduct can be different from what is ethical. A whole society can be ethically corrupt. A good example is Nazi Germany.

Furthermore, ethical behavior would be doing "what ever society allows", so to determine what ethical behaviour one should do, one must first find out what society will accept. I would need to survey the American society to determine what my views are on abortion. Then I would be able to conform my beliefs to the accepted standards of society. Surveys are not the best way to resolve an ethical issue. It is impossible to make an ethical comparison with what society accepts because there is not enough social consensus on many issues. Many people will accept abortion, while others won't. If ethical meant accepting whatever society allows, it would be impossible to reach an agreement on issues that do not exist.

Then, what is Ethics for UPSC ?Two things make up ethics. The first is ethics. These are well-founded standards that define right and wrong. They usually refer to rights, obligations, society benefits, fairness, or other virtues. For example, ethics refers to the reasonable obligations to abstain from rape and stealing as well as murder, assault, slander, fraud, and murder. Ethical standards include those that encourage honesty, compassion, loyalty. Ethical standards also include standards that relate to rights such as the right of life, freedom from injury, privacy, and the right not to be hurt. These standards are acceptable standards of ethics, as they are backed by solid and well-founded arguments.

Second, ethics is the study and development one's ethical standards. As we have already mentioned, emotions, laws and social norms can all be contrary to what is ethical. It is important to continually examine your standards and ensure they are reasonable. Ethics is also the constant effort to examine one's moral beliefs and conduct and to strive to make sure that institutions and individuals we work with adhere to reasonable and well-founded standards.

This article first appeared in Issues in Ethics IIE Vol 1 N1 (Fall1987). Revisioned in 2010.