Essence of Ethics
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 dif…
