Ethics is a major branch of thought concerned with what is good and bad, what is right and wrong, and what constitutes a life well lived. Ethics demands we explore what we ought and ought not to think and do, outside the realm of formal legislation. As Immanuel Kant put it: ‘In law a man is guilty when he violates the rights of others. In ethics he is guilty if he only thinks of doing so.’
The ethical triangle
Though it is often used interchangeably with ‘morality’, ethics is arguably the more broad-ranging concept. It can be useful to think of it as comprising three distinct areas:
• Normative ethics: what is right and wrong, good and bad? What criteria do we use to reach a decision?
• Applied ethics: looking at specific, often complex, ethical problems. For instance, war, abortion, animal rights, and crime and punishment.
• Meta-ethics: what is ethical judgement? How do we evolve and discourse on ethical principles?
While there are general ‘ethical truths’ to which most of us adhere – for example, that it is wrong to kill another person for personal gain – the full ethical profile of any two individuals is likely to differ starkly, having been formed by a multitude of influences, including religious belief, philosophical contemplation and cultural traditions. That is why, for instance, some of us are vegans and others joyous carnivores, why some of us will do whatever we can to reduce our tax bills while others unquestioningly pay them, why some of us believe a freed convict has paid his dues while others wish the key had been thrown away, and why one man’s terrorist is another’s freedom fighter.
Socrates is often considered the founding father of the Western tradition of ethical philosophy. His basic contention was that the wise, self-aware individual will be naturally driven to behave in a good and right way, as that is the means by which happiness is achieved. Contrastingly, he believed, ‘wrong’ behaviour directly stems from ignorance. ‘There is only one good, knowledge,’ he claimed, ‘and one evil, ignorance.’
Modern ethics continues to accommodate a range of contrasting positions. One may, for instance, take a consequentialist approach, whereby the morality of an action is judged upon its result. Alternatively, deontology suggests we should focus not on outcomes but on the inherent rightness of an action, often considered in relation to our duties and obligations. Virtue ethics, on the other hand, looks more at the all-round character of a person and their adoption of virtuous activity over a lifetime, rather than at specific actions in isolation. Indeed, Aristotle may be said to have favoured a virtue ethics approach. We must then consider whether or not there are objective moral values or in fact all moral decisions are subjective.
As well as having profound implications for our personal conduct, the philosophy of ethics moulds how our society operates, in areas as disparate as medicine, law, business and the media.