1.6 MORALITY, VIRTUES, AND SOCIAL ETHICS
How ought Ave to live? This fundamental question of ethics can be interpreted in two ways. "We" can mean each one of us individually, or it might mean all of us collectively. In this first individual sense, this is a question about how I should live my life, how I should act, what I should do, what kind of person I should be. This meaning of ethics is sometimes referred to as morality. Part of morality involves examining principles and rules that might help us decide how to act. Another important part of morality involves an examination of those character traits, or virtues, that would constitute a life worth living. This distinction is sometimes made in terms of deciding how we should act, and deciding the type of person we should be. In the collective sense, this is a question about how a society ought to be structured, about how we ought to live together. This area is sometimes referred to as social ethics and it raises questions of public policy, law, civic virtue, and political-philosophy.