Human beings are the only animals capable of controlling their behavior, differentiating between right and wrong actions and placing differing values on ideas and deeds. It is this choice of right or wrong actions, and the consequences thereupon, which leads to the study of ethics.  Ethics is a set of standards that society places on itself and which helps guide behaviour, choices and actions. The standards do not, by themselves, ensure ethical behaviour/conduct; that requires a robust culture of integrity. The crux of ethical behaviour does not lie in bold words and expressions enshrined as standards, but in their adoption in action, in sanctions against their violations, in putting in place competent disciplinary bodies to investigate allegations of violations and impose sanctions quickly and in promoting a culture of integrity.

Ethics as a body of knowledge may be defined as the systematic study of human actions from the point of view of their rightfulness or wrongfulness, as a means for the attainment of the ultimate happiness. Ethics is the branch of philosophy that involves systematizing, defending, and recommending concepts of right and wrong conduct. As a branch of philosophy, ethics investigates the questions “What is the best way for people to live?” and “What actions are right or wrong in particular circumstances?” Most people confuse ethics with behaving in accordance with social conventions, religious beliefs and the law and don’t treat ethics as a stand-alone concept. Many people tend to equate ethics with their feelings. But being ethical is clearly not a matter of following one's feelings. A person following his or her feelings may recoil from doing what is right. In fact, feelings frequently deviate from what is ethical.

Nor should one identify ethics with religion or culture. Most religions, of course, advocate high ethical standards. Yet if ethics were confined to religion, then ethics would apply only to religious people. But ethics applies as much to the behavior of the atheist as to that of the devout religious person. Religion can set high ethical standards and can provide intense motivations for ethical behavior. Ethics, however, cannot be confined to religion nor is it the same as religion. Decisions of khap Panchayats related to same gotra marriage are unethical. Same are prescriptions regarding caste, child marriage, women etc in Indian culture.

Being ethical is also not the same as following the law. The law often incorporates ethical standards to which most citizens subscribe. But laws, like feelings, can deviate from what is ethical. Our own pre-Civil War slavery laws and the old apartheid laws of present-day South Africa are grotesquely obvious examples of laws that deviate from what is ethical. Other examples are laws related to women’s rights, children’s rights etc.

Finally, being ethical is not the same as doing "whatever society accepts." In any society, most people accept standards that are, in fact, ethical. But standards of behavior in society can deviate from what is ethical. An entire society can become ethically corrupt. Nazi Germany is a good example of a morally corrupt society.

Ethics are not sciences as well. Sciences can provide important data to help us make better ethical choices but science cannot tell us what we ought to do. Ethics provide reasons for how humans ought to act. Furthermore, just because something is scientifically or technologically possible, it is not always ethical to do so. For instance, Euthanasia is scientifically possible but it may not be ethical to do so.

Moreover, if being ethical were doing "whatever society accepts," then to find out what is ethical, one would have to find out what society accepts. To decide what I should think about abortion, for example, I would have to take a survey of American society and then conform my beliefs to whatever society accepts. But no one ever tries to decide an ethical issue by doing a survey. Further, the lack of social consensus on many issues makes it impossible to equate ethics with whatever society accepts. Some people accept abortion but many others do not. If being ethical were doing whatever society accepts, one would have to find an agreement on issues which does not, in fact, exist.

What, then, is ethics?

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. Ethics, 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, feelings, 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 to standards that are reasonable and solidly-based.

Next, Ethics, branch of philosophy may be defined as the systematic study of human actions from the point of view of their rightfulness or wrongfulness, as a means for the attainment of the ultimate happiness.

Thus what is an ethical conduct depends upon the context and the situation in which a person is. A lot thus depends of what kind of values a person is referring to define is conduct.  The values which guide human action are known as ethical values. Contemporary debates on ethics are flooded with confusion as it is very difficult exactly adopt a universal conception of ethics which is acceptable to all. In broader sense , conception of ethics is seen in terms of ideals forwarded by the welfare state.

Ethics and Human Actions

Ethics isn’t the only way to define what the ‘best’ decision might look like. Some might see it as the one that advances their own goals and interests, or makes the most money. Others may focus on what’s likely to be the most popular choice.

Ethics defines the best option as the one which best achieves what is good, right and consistent with the nature of the things in question. 

Ethics is the process of questioning, discovering and defending our values, principles and purpose. It’s about finding out who we are and staying true to that in the face of temptations, challenges and uncertainty.

How to be Ethical

There is no ready-made way to deal with ethical challenges. They require us to respond to specific circumstances and relationships as well as the various ethical considerations – purpose, values and principles – at play.

Still, there are a few questions you can ask that can help crystalize the ethical issues for you.

Would I be happy for this decision to be headlining the news tomorrow?

This is known as the Sunlight Test. Imagine if your decision – and the reasons you made it – were public knowledge. What if the people you most admire knew what you’d done and why? Do you think you’d be able to defend yourself? Would other people agree, or at least understand, why you did what you did? Note – it’s the ‘don’t be ashamed’ test not the ‘don’t get caught’ test.

Is there an ethical non-negotiable at play?

Is there a rule that any reasonable person should apply to this situation regardless of the consequences? Some rules are unbreakable, even when the stakes are high. For instance, we should never act in ways that undermine the equality and dignity of all people – ourselves included. The rules are often associated with duties – some of which we create ourselves, like when we make a promise.

Will my action make the world a better place?

We often think about ethics in terms of consequences. ‘The greatest good for the greatest number’ is a maxim many people recognise and accept. Consequences are an important part of ethical decisions, but are they everything?

We should be aware of what we’re sacrificing when trying to bring about good consequences. Are we violating an important principle? Are we compromising our own values? If so, have we considered these facts when balancing harms and benefits?

What would happen if everybody did this?

Would you be happy if your reason for action was used by everyone in the same circumstance? If not, then what makes you so special? Most ethical frameworks suggest the right decision for one person should be right for everybody in the same position. A lot of unethical behavior arises from people making special exceptions for themselves. This test helps us be sure we’re willing to hold ourselves to the same standards we hold others to.

What will this do to my character or the character of my organisation?

Many people believe that our decisions shape our character and vice versa. That is, we can’t lie and cheat without becoming a fraudulent liar. For instance, if we’re a liar we’ll tend to lie more often.

Think about whether your action is establishing a habit either for you or your organisation. Is it a good habit (virtue) or a bad one (vice)? If I cut corners on a work job today am I developing a habit of laziness that may affect my future work?

Is this consistent with my values and principles?

Plenty of people and organizations are happy to tell you what they stand for – but do they walk the talk? Are my actions reflecting my ethical beliefs? Most ethical systems have no time for hypocrisy.

Types of Ethics/ Areas of Ethical Study

• Meta ethics

• Normative ethics

• Applied ethics

• Descriptive ethics

Meta-ethics is the branch of ethics that seeks to understand the nature of ethical properties, statements, attitudes, and judgments.

While normative ethics addresses such questions as “What should I do?”, thus endorsing some ethical evaluations and rejecting others, meta-ethics addresses questions such as “What is goodness?” and “How can we tell what is good from what is bad?”, seeking to understand the nature of ethical properties and evaluations.

A meta-ethical theory, unlike a normative ethical theory, does not attempt to evaluate specific choices as being better, worse, good, bad, or evil.

Descriptive ethics, also known as comparative ethics, is the study of people’s beliefs about morality. It contrasts with prescriptive or normative ethics, which is the study of ethical theories that prescribe how people ought to act, and with meta-ethics, which is the study of what ethical terms and theories actually refer to. For Ex:

Descriptive ethics: What do people think is right?

Meta-ethics: What does “right” even mean?

Normative (prescriptive) ethics: How should people act?

Applied ethics: How do we take moral knowledge and put it into practice?

Descriptive ethics is a form of empirical research into the attitudes of individuals or groups of people. Those working on descriptive ethics aim to uncover people’s beliefs about such things as values, which actions are right and wrong, and which characteristics of moral agents are virtuous.

Research into descriptive ethics may also investigate people’s ethical ideals or what actions societies reward or punish in law or politics. What ought to be noted is that culture is generational and not static. Therefore a new generation will come with its own set of morals and that qualifies to be their ethics. Descriptive ethics will hence try to oversee whether ethics still holds its place.

Descriptive ethics is on the less philosophical end of the spectrum, since it seeks to gather particular information about how people live and draw general conclusions based on observed patterns.

Normative ethics is the study of ethical action. It is the branch of philosophical ethics that investigates the set of questions that arise when considering how one ought to act. Normative ethics is distinct from meta-ethics because it examines standards for the rightness and wrongness of actions, while meta-ethics studies the meaning of moral language and the metaphysics of moral facts.

Normative ethics is also distinct from descriptive ethics, as the latter is an empirical investigation of people’s moral beliefs. To put it another way, descriptive ethics would be concerned with determining what proportion of people believe that killing is always wrong, while normative ethics is concerned with whether it is correct to hold such a belief. Hence, normative ethics is sometimes called prescriptive, rather than descriptive.

Applied ethics is a discipline of philosophy that attempts to apply ethical theory to real-life situations. The discipline has many specialized fields, such as engineering ethics, bioethics, geoethics, public service ethics and business ethics.

Applied ethics is used in some aspects of determining public policy, as well as by individuals facing difficult decisions. The sort of questions addressed by applied ethics include: “Is getting an abortion immoral?” “Is euthanasia immoral?” “Is affirmative action right or wrong?” “What are human rights, and how do we determine them?” “Do animals have rights as well?” and “Do individuals have the right of self determination?”

Difference between Values and Ethics

Ethics and Values together lay the foundation for sustainability. While they are sometimes used synonymously, they are different, wherein ethics are the set of rules that govern the behaviour of a person, established by a group or culture. Values refer to the beliefs for which a person has an enduring preference.

Ethics and values are important in every aspect of life, when we have to make a choice between two things, wherein ethics determine what is right, values determine what is important.