Definition and Concepts of Ethics

Before the Ethics, Integrity and Aptitude paper gets into specific frameworks and case studies, it asks a more basic question first: what actually is ethics? How is it structured as a field of study? These basic definitions come up constantly — often as the opening line of a longer answer.

Must Know

• Ethics is the branch of philosophy that studies right and wrong, and good and bad conduct. It looks at the principles that should guide human behaviour.
• Ethics splits into three branches. Meta-ethics asks what words like “good” or “right” actually mean. Normative ethics sets standards for right conduct — think utilitarianism, deontology, virtue ethics. Applied ethics uses ethical principles on real, practical problems — medical ethics, business ethics, environmental ethics.
• Ethics and law are not the same thing. Law is a set of rules the state enforces, with formal punishments. Ethics is a broader standard of conduct — courts don’t always enforce it. An action can be legal but still widely seen as unethical, or illegal but not really unethical.
• People often use “ethics” and “morality” to mean the same thing. But some writers separate them. Morality usually means a person’s or culture’s personal beliefs about right and wrong. Ethics usually means the more systematic, philosophical study of conduct — or a written code, like a professional code of ethics.

Good to Know

• Ethical values come from many sources: scripture and religion, family upbringing, culture and tradition, law, philosophy, and individual conscience. No single source covers everything. That’s part of why ethical reasoning often has to weigh several considerations against each other.
• There are several common approaches to ethical decision-making. The Utilitarian approach looks for the greatest good for the greatest number. The Rights approach respects the fundamental rights of everyone affected. The Fairness or Justice approach treats equals equally. The Common Good approach protects the shared conditions that benefit the whole community. The Virtue approach asks you to act the way a person of ideal character would.
• Ethics works at several levels. Personal ethics covers an individual’s own conduct. Professional or organisational ethics sets standards for a specific workplace or profession. Social ethics covers wider norms shared by society. A public servant’s conduct is usually judged against more than one of these levels at once.
• Private ethics and public ethics aren’t the same. A private ethical failure may hurt only the people directly involved. A public official’s ethical failure damages public trust and the legitimacy of institutions. That’s part of why we expect higher, more clearly written standards from public office than from purely private conduct.

Test Yourself

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1. In ethics-and-aptitude literature, Emotional Intelligence is typically distinguished from which of the following as a separate, complementary capacity relevant to administrative effectiveness?

Physical fitness

IQ (cognitive intelligence)

Formal educational qualifications

Years of service

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Great to Know

• The word “ethics” comes from the Greek ethos, meaning character or custom. “Morality” comes from the Latin mores, which also means custom. The two words share almost the same origin, even though modern philosophy sometimes draws a sharper line between them.
• Different ethical traditions define “the good” in very different ways. Classical hedonism says the good is pleasure. Aristotelian ethics says it’s eudaimonia — often translated as flourishing, or living well. Kantian ethics says it’s acting from duty, whatever pleasure or pain follows. In other words, “ethics” isn’t one settled framework — it’s a family of competing theories that disagree with each other.
• Applied ethics has grown fast over the last century. It now covers problems classical philosophers never imagined — bioethics, environmental ethics, and more recently, the ethics of artificial intelligence. New branches keep appearing as new kinds of dilemmas show up.