What, then, is ethics? Ethics is two thing. First, ethics refers to well-founded standards of
right and wrong that prescribe what humans ought to do, usually in terms of rights, obligations,
benefits to society, fairness, or specific virtues. Ethich, for example, refers to those standards that
impose the reasonable obligations to refrain from rape ,stealing, murder, assault, slander, and fraud.
Ethical standards also include those that enjoin virtues of honesty, compassion, and loyalty. And,
Ethical standards include standards relating to rights, such as the right to life, the right to freedom
From injury, and the right to privacy. Such standards are adequate standards of ethics because they
Are supported by consistent and well-founded reasons.
Secondly,ethics refers to the study and development of one’s ethical standards. As mentioned
Above, feeling, laws,and social norms can deviate from what is ethical. So it is necessary to
Constantly examine one’s standards to ensure that they are reasonable and well-founded. Ethics also
Means, then, the continuous effort of studying our own moral beliefs and our moral conduct, and
Striving to ensure that we, and the institutions we help to shape, live up standards that are reasonable and solidly-based.
This article appeared originally in lssues in Ethics llE V1 N1 (Fall 1987)