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Ethics

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For other uses, see Ethics (disambiguation).

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Ethics, also known as moral philosophy, is a branch of philosophy that involves systematizing, defending, and recommending concepts of right and wrong behavior.[1]

Major areas of study in ethics include:[1]

Meta-ethics, about the theoretical meaning and reference of moral propositions and how their truth values (if any) may be determined;Normative ethics, about the practical means of determining a moral course of action;Applied ethics, about how moral outcomes can be achieved in specific situations;

Each of these areas include many further sub-fields of study.

ethics |?eTHiks|
pluralnoun
1 [ usu. treated as pl. ] moral principles that govern a person's or group's behavior: Judeo-Christian ethics.
• the moral correctness of specified conduct: the ethics of euthanasia.
2 [ usu. treated as sing. ] the branch of knowledge that deals with moral principles.
Schools of ethics in Western philosophy can be divided, very roughly, into three sorts. The first, drawing on the work of Aristotle, holds that the virtues (such as justice, charity, and generosity) are dispositions to act in ways that benefit both the person possessing them and that person's society. The second, defended particularly by Kant, makes the concept of duty central to morality: humans are bound, from a knowledge of their duty as rational beings, to obey the categorical imperative to respect other rational beings. Thirdly, utilitarianism asserts that the guiding principle of conduct should be the greatest happiness or benefit of the greatest number.
DERIVATIVES
ethicist |?eTHisist|noun
ethic |?eTHik|
noun [ in sing. ]
a set of moral principles, esp. ones relating to or affirming a specified group, field, or form of conduct: the puritan ethic was being replaced by the hedonist ethic.
adjective rare
of or relating to moral principles or the branch of knowledge dealing with these.
ORIGIN late Middle English (denoting ethics or moral philosophy; also used attributively): from Old French éthique, from Latin ethice, from Greek ( h?) ?thik? (tekhn?)‘(the science of) morals,’ based on ?thos (see ethos) .