What do we mean when we say ethics?
“What one generation finds ridiculous, the next accepts; and the third shudders when it looks back on what the first did.” ― Peter Singer
Do you use this ‘ethics’ word? I hear it used in conjunction with Morals but if I had to define the word on it’s own, I don’t think I could express it well. Currently if we were asked what ethics means, we can’t do it as a one-word explanation but we can definitely explain it in a story. Things like someone who has good work ethic we can list off, or how an ethical leader in the workplace should be (example the Johnson and Johnson 1982 Tylenol poisonings).
So, in preparation for such a time that I might be asked to define ethics, curious little me went to Britannica and looked it up and found this as an ethics definition:
ethics, the discipline concerned with what is morally good and bad and morally right and wrong. The term is also applied to any system or theory of moral values or principles
By that, it would seem that Ethics is the study of what is acceptable good and acceptable bad. But this comes off as very much the same meaning as morals, which is: relating to the standards of good or bad behaviour, fairness, honesty, etc. that each person believes in, rather than to laws4. So what’s the difference?
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I don’t think the online dictionary explanation was enough. I recon we’ll have to go back to see how this word came into the English language. Yes this word is not all english — it’s Greek.
Etymology
English got ethics in the early 14th Century6 from the French, who got it from Latin who got it from Greek. I’m choosing to go to where ethics came from, the origional base word ēthos (ἦθος).
Here the definition of ēthos is: custom, character and an accustomed place, abode9. I was more confused reading this because it seems that the definition has expanded. I had to get more clarification on this and in the back section of the Nicomachean Ethics there is a ‘Key Greek’ part and in there it translates ēthos as ‘Character’. Here is where I reflected on up the ethos definition of abode and character. I think that when talking about ethics, we’re talking about the being held within our abodes; our bodies. And what is within us all? The soul.
“Ethos is the dwelling ground of the human being…so that the human being can come in touch with the divine” — Dr Johannes Niederhauser
I think we’re getting closer to expressing what ethics is and can use it better in conversation. Explaining ethics in one simple word really cannot be done because it’s a word to describe an idea, belief or vibe. To one person, going to join the armed forces to defend their country is a good thing to do. While for another with the possibility of murdering another person, joining the armed forces is unacceptable for them. Both not entirely right or wrong but they have different directions to go in their lives, different souls, different ethics.
A lot of things influence a person to do what they do. I’m sure it’s influenced by where one’s born, who are the parents, culture etc. I think that all that contributes to the ethics of an individual.
If someone asks me what ethics is, I wouldn’t regurgitate what’s in the dictionary or send them to Aristotle. I’d say that ethics is the compass of a soul within a person. While the morals are related to ethics, morals are the actions that move one towards their direction of their ethical compass. Morals are the actions while ethics points the way.
