Ethics is the branch of philosophy concerned with morality, including questions about what is right or wrong, what people ought to do, and what makes actions, intentions, or character morally good or bad. Ethics examines principles and values that can be used to evaluate human conduct and guide decisions.
Ethical questions arise whenever people must decide how they should behave toward themselves, other people, animals, society, or the natural environment. Ethics may consider concepts such as justice, fairness, duty, responsibility, virtue, rights, freedom, harm, well-being, and happiness.
Ethics is often divided into several major areas of study. Normative ethics examines general principles for determining how people ought to act. Meta-ethics investigates the meaning and nature of moral judgments, including questions about whether moral values are objective or subjective. Applied ethics considers ethical questions arising in particular areas of life, such as medicine, business, technology, war, politics, and the environment.
Descriptive ethics is the study of people's actual moral beliefs and practices. Unlike normative ethics, it does not primarily seek to determine which moral principles are correct, but instead examines how different individuals and societies understand and practice morality.
Several major ethical theories have been developed throughout the history of philosophy. Consequentialism evaluates actions according to their outcomes. One influential form, utilitarianism, holds that actions should generally be judged by how much overall well-being they produce.
Deontological ethics emphasizes duties, rules, and principles. According to some deontological theories, certain actions are morally required or prohibited regardless of their consequences.
Virtue ethics focuses on the character of the person performing an action. It asks what qualities make someone a good person and emphasizes virtues such as courage, honesty, justice, wisdom, and compassion.
Other approaches include care ethics, which emphasizes relationships, care, and interdependence, and contractualism, which examines principles that people could reasonably accept as a basis for living together.
Ethical thought has developed across many philosophical and cultural traditions. Ancient Greek philosophy played an important role in the development of Western ethics. Philosophers such as Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle examined questions concerning virtue, justice, happiness, and the good life.
Aristotle developed a systematic form of virtue ethics in which human flourishing was connected with the development and exercise of virtues. Later philosophers developed different approaches to morality, including theories based on religious principles, reason, natural law, and human experience.
During the modern period, philosophers such as Immanuel Kant, Jeremy Bentham, John Stuart Mill, and David Hume made influential contributions to ethical theory. Their ideas helped establish several of the major approaches that continue to be studied today.
Ethical traditions have also developed outside Western philosophy. Indian philosophy, Chinese philosophy, Islamic philosophy, and other intellectual traditions contain extensive discussions of morality, duty, virtue, justice, compassion, and the nature of a good life.
Applied ethics examines moral problems in specific areas of human activity. Medical ethics considers issues involving patients, healthcare professionals, medical research, and treatment. Topics include informed consent, confidentiality, end-of-life decisions, and the allocation of medical resources.
Business ethics examines the moral responsibilities of businesses and their employees. It can address subjects such as honesty, working conditions, consumer protection, corruption, corporate responsibility, and environmental impact.
Environmental ethics examines the moral relationship between humans and the natural world. It considers questions about the value of animals, ecosystems, biodiversity, natural resources, and future generations.
Technology ethics considers the social and moral consequences of technological development. Modern discussions include artificial intelligence, privacy, surveillance, automation, digital rights, and the responsible use of data.
Other areas of applied ethics include bioethics, animal ethics, political ethics, journalism ethics, research ethics, and computer ethics.
The terms ethics and morality are often used interchangeably, although they can have different meanings depending on context. Morality commonly refers to the beliefs, rules, values, and practices that people use to distinguish right from wrong. Ethics can refer more specifically to the philosophical study of those beliefs and principles.
Ethical reasoning involves examining the reasons behind moral judgments rather than simply accepting a rule or belief without question. Philosophical ethics may ask whether a moral principle is consistent, whether it can be applied universally, and what consequences follow from accepting it.