Ethics

We explain what ethics is, its characteristics, types and importance. Also, examples of ethical problems and what professional, personal and religious ethics are.

What is ethics?

Ethics is a philosophical discipline that deals with studying and analyzing moral conflicts and the principles that guide human behavior.

Ethics explores these conflicts and provides a theoretical framework for making decisions about how to act in ethical situations. However, ethics does not seek to discern between good and bad, but rather to think about the nature of that distinction and help people form their own opinions through a critical exercise of morality.

The ethics It is divided into four fields of study: metaethics, which studies ethical principles; normative ethics, which is responsible for reviewing the normative criteria of morality; descriptive ethics, focused on moral practice and behaviors, and applied ethics, known as that which investigates how ethical principles are applied to specific situations.

The word “ethics” comes from the Greek ethikos and means “relative to one's character,” since ethikos comes from ethoswhich is “character” or “dwelling.” In ancient Greek they spoke of ethics to name one's customs and character.

Characteristics of ethics

Ethics is a philosophical discipline that works with moral issues and human behavior. Some of its features are:

• It is normative. Ethics is concerned with establishing norms and principles that determine what is morally right or wrong. Provides guidelines for judging human behavior.
• It is universal. Ethical principles seek to be universal, that is, applicable to all people in all cultures. Ethics strives to find moral values ​​and norms that transcend cultural differences.
• It's rational. Ethics is based on reason and critical thinking. It seeks to justify and argue ethical principles through logic and analysis.
• It is autonomous. Ethics promotes moral autonomy, that is, the ability of people to make ethical decisions for themselves and be responsible for their actions.
• It's critical. Ethics is dedicated to asking critical questions about what is right or wrong, analyzing ethical dilemmas and situations to seek answers based on moral principles.
• It is heterogeneous. There are different ethical currents, such as utilitarianism, Kantianism or Aristotelian ethics, which offer varied approaches to addressing ethical problems.
• It is interdisciplinary. Ethics relates to other disciplines, such as political philosophy, psychology, and sociology, as it influences how people interact in society.

Types of ethics

Ethics is classified according to its field of study, according to how it thinks about moral action and according to the time in which each theory is developed.

The most common classification, however, is according to their field of study. Thus, ethics is divided into metaethics, normative ethics, descriptive ethics and applied ethics.

Metaethics

The metaethics studies the origin, meaning and characteristics of ethical principles and moral judgments. It is used to build a theoretical language that responds to ethical problems in relation to language and knowledge.

Some of the frequent problems of metaethics are the problem of being, what ought to be, and the existence or not of free will, among others. Moral realism is an example of a metaethical current.

Normative ethics

normative ethics studies the normative criteria of morality. Work with concepts that determine when behavior is ethical and what is right and wrong. The civil codes of each country and deontology are examples of normative ethics.

Descriptive ethics

Descriptive ethics studies the practice of people's moral beliefs and behaviors. It seeks to describe the characteristics of ethics and morality as they are developed in everyday life.

Although its study approaches the ideas of good and evil, descriptive ethics does not seek to determine what is morally correct, but rather the description of how an ethical decision is made and how a system of values ​​is developed. Kantian ethics is an example of descriptive ethics.

Applied ethics

Applied ethics studies how principles of ethics apply in specific situations such as the workplace or medicine, and is thus divided according to the area where it is applied. Medical ethics and business ethics are examples of applied ethics.

Currently, applied ethics is the branch of ethics that has the most development. Many of the areas in which ethics is developed have scientific autonomy. This means that they are considered a branch of applied ethics independently of the others, since they have their own developments on their own. Some of these branches are professional ethics, personal ethics and religious ethics.

• Professional ethics. It is linked to the exercise of a specific profession. He is interested in the limits of practicing the profession in an honest and responsible manner, as well as in the deontological codes that govern professional groups. For example, the code of ethics for journalists is a regulation that contains the principles of the “healthy” exercise of the profession, as understood at a given time and place.
• Personal ethics. Personal ethics is the way an individual handles themselves in society and in the various areas of personal interaction. It is an approach to the values ​​with which a person chooses to live their life, many of which are determined by their moral, religious, professional and cultural tradition, but also by life choices that the individual will have to make on their own. . For example, interpersonal relationships are part of personal ethics, since they have to do with topics such as adultery, loyalty, friendship and love, among others.
• religious ethics. Different religions influence the morals and ethical codes that govern the different communities that practice them. Religious ethics studies these codes to understand how they influence the behavior and value scales of a society. For example, ideas such as celibacy or love of neighbor are part of religious ethics.

Examples of ethical problems

The ethical problems are dilemmas involving questions about what is morally right or wrong in a situation. These problems arise when there are conflicts between values, duties, responsibilities or interests.

Some common ethical problems include issues related to justice, freedom, equality, privacy, honesty, responsibility, and moral conduct in general.

• The problem of freedom. Freedom means making your own decisions. It is having the ability to act in accordance with what the individual believes is right. The ethical problem of freedom refers to questions about how much freedom we should have and how to balance it with the rules and norms of society. For example, is it ethical for parents to limit their children's freedom by setting rules at home? To what extent should society limit people's freedom to maintain order and security?
• The problem of responsibility. Responsibility involves being aware of the consequences of one's actions and assuming their consequences. The ethical problem of responsibility relates to questions about who is responsible for certain actions. For example, if someone accidentally breaks something at a friend's house, should they take responsibility and offer to pay for it? Who should be responsible for damages in a car accident?
• The problem of lying. Lying involves saying something that is not true with the intention of deceiving someone. The ethical problem of lying involves considering when it is right or wrong to lie and what the consequences of lying are in relationships. For example, is it ethical to lie if it can protect someone's feelings? Or is it best to always tell the truth, even if it might hurt someone?

Importance of ethics

Ethics is a fundamental branch of philosophy because it helps people think about themselves and the way they conceive right and wrong in the different areas of their lives. Ethics is key in the formation of codes of conduct and the administration of justice.

However, ethics does not intend to say how good and evil differ: its interest is to think about the nature of that distinction. Its objective is to help people form their own opinions through a critical exercise of morality.

Difference between ethics and morals

Ethics and morality reflect on people's behavior. Both help distinguish good actions from bad ones.

Morality has to do with the set of spiritual, social and personal norms that govern in a given community, according to what is considered “good” and what is considered “bad.”

Ethics, on the other hand, aims to review the codes of values ​​and the theory that makes them possible. Thus, it tries to put into perspective the possible behavioral models around a given topic.

While morality judges, ethics understands. In general, it is said that morality is the set of customs and practices of a society, while ethics is the study of the principles that underpin them.

Origin and history of ethics

The ethics It has its origins in Greek philosophy. Aristotle, a disciple of Plato, explored the nature of happiness and a happy life in Nicomachean ethicsthe first formal treatise on ethics, virtues, duty and happiness.

In the Middle Ages, Greek concerns came into conflict with Christian moralitywhich was strictly governed by the commandments of the Old Testament and the doctrine of the Gospels. From the hand of thinkers such as Augustine of Hippo (354-430) and Thomas Aquinas (1224-1274) the idea of ​​charity appeared as the ultimate goal of life, understood as the free love of one's neighbor and other forms of life.

In the Modern Age and thanks to the emergence of the Renaissance, the Greco-Roman tradition was taken up together with medieval scholasticism. Rationalism then took over the leadership of ethical matters.following the work of philosophers such as Baruch Spinoza, David Hume and Immanuel Kant, among others.

The work of Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) was responsible for revolutionizing modern ethics. Works like Metaphysical foundation of customs, Critique of practical reason and Metaphysics of customs They imposed the categorical imperative as the maxim that should govern human behavior. This theory maintains that one should only act according to a maxim that can be postulated as a universal law: Before acting, you have to ask yourself what would happen if all people did exactly the same thing.

References

• Bonilla, A. (2007) “Ethics: contemporary issues and problems”, Vertex. Argentine Journal of Psychiatry, Vol. XVIII, No. 75, 2007, pp. 362-369.
• Cullen, C. (1998) “The contemporary ethical debate”, Enoikos, yearVI, No. 13, pp. 26-32.
• Griffin, J. (2001) “METAETHICS. Metaethics and normative ethics”; in Canto-Sperber, M. (ed.) (2001) Dictionary of Ethics and Moral Philosophy, Mexico, FCE, Vol. 1, pp. 1052-1058.
• Maliandi, R. (1993) Ethics, concepts and problems, chap. I and III.
• Roig, A. (2002) “Hermeneutical problems for a foundation of Ethics”, in Ethics of power and morality of protest. Responses to the moral crisis of our time, Mendoza, EDIUNC, pp. 131-136.