WHAT IS ETHICS?
We are discussing no small matter, but how
we ought to live.
—Socrates,
in Plato’s Republic
A. ETYMOLOGY
(the
historical derivation or origin of a word)
1. Ethics: From
Greek ethos = character, custom,
habitual disposition, manners of a person, community, or people.
- Plato:
one’s ethos is the character
produced by habitual responses.
- Aristotle:
one’s ethos is the character
produced by moral as opposed to intellectual habits.
- Stoicism: ethos
refers to that which motivates behavior or conduct.
- Ancient rhetoric:
the construction of a person’s ethos,
i.e. the depiction of a character, was an important practice.
- Contemporary
English usage: ethos (n.) refers
to the spirit or character of a culture, a community, or a group.
2. Morality:
From Latin moralis, created or coined
by Cicero (106—43 BCE) to translate the Greek term ethos.
3. General usage:
as synonyms, hence the following pairs are typically utilized as rough
equivalents or synonyms: moral/ethical, morality/ethics, moral
philosophy/ethics.
Specialized usage:
contrastive terms with technical meanings (Hegel, Habermas, etc.).
B. MORALITY:
A set of standards determining the value
(right/wrong, good/bad, praiseworthy/blameworthy, virtuous/vicious, etc.) of character and conduct. It
expresses a basic concern, evaluative orientation, value commitment, habitual
disposition, or mode of behavior. Morality, at this level, is pretheoretical,
i.e. it has not yet explicitly formulated a systematic and comprehensive theory
of the fundamental principles on the basis of which particular moral values
(e.g. lying is wrong) are justified or derived. In other words, a theoretical
account explains or describes why X
(a character trait or type of conduct) is morally right or wrong, valued
positively or negatively.
1. Individual or
personal morality:
Individual profession
(what people say or claim) and/or practice
(what people actually do) regarding:
a) What is valuable, has value, has moral worth: Examples:
life, liberty, privacy, justice, honor, loyalty, honesty, tolerance, etc.
b) What ought to be done/avoided in general, or as a general rule: Examples:
Always help others in great need or suffering,
Never inflict unnecessary pain,
Do unto others as you would have them do unto you,
etc.
c) What ought to be done/avoided in particular contexts or situations:
Examples:
Don’t drink too much and drive, Don’t use profanity in mixed company, etc.
2. Group morality
Group profession and/or practices regarding A through C
above. Typically more systematic or codified than individual morality, yet still
not theoretical. A group is any set of individuals internal to a culture or society.
Examples:
medical ethics, academic ethics, ecological ethics, business ethics, Mafia
morality, Gangsta-rap morality, etc.
3. Cultural or
social morality
An ethic or morality held in common or shared by
individuals and groups within a culture, society, or country. In other words, a
morality characteristic of an entire society
or culture as a
whole.
Examples:
contemporary American society, ancient Greek culture, Nazi Germany, colonial
American society, Chinese culture, etc.
NOTE: These
three types of morality represent increasing levels of generality or
inclusiveness and may therefore be accurately depicted by means of concentric
circles.
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