What are ethics? What is morality?

What are ethics? What is morality?

Ashley Mwanza

Ethics and morality are vitally important in our world.

The area of ethics is one that can always lead to debate, but all the same is one that should be tackled. I believe that ethics are an individual's collection of morals, and that someone who is ethical or moral is someone who makes decisions based on what she or he feels is right. The right decision, as seen by him or her, is the one that does the least (or no) harm to the greatest number.

Ethics and morality extend to a greater good beyond the scope of human individuals. Moral decisions are not based solely on the good of a person or persons, but to all things big and small. For, you cannot do harm to only a small part without causing harm to the greater whole; any harm one causes inflicts the greatest damage to oneself.

Morals and the expression, “moral values” are generally associated with a personal view of values. Personal morals tend to reflect beliefs relating to sex, drinking, gambling, etc. They can reflect the influence of religion, culture, family and friends.

I got writing after a short discussion on the topic of ethics with the great Fr. Liam McCarthy OFM who is currently back home in Ireland and does magnificent work in Zimbabwe with the Franciscans.

Anyway, an ethical or moral person is one who struggles with her or his decision, trying to decide if her actions will have a negative effect on others. When we make ethically sound decisions everyone and everything is to gain.

Many would agree that all people are ethical to a certain extent; some make more ethical decisions than others. But as a whole, we all have a certain innate calling to make morally correct decisions. If this were not true, hurting another person or thing would not cause us to be upset or feel unrest.

So, while there are distinct variations among people throughout the world on what would be considered ethical or moral behavior, most of us subscribe to the a similar belief that intentionally causing harm is wrong, and should be avoided.

Causing harm to whom or what and under what circumstances varies drastically from person to person. Many people would say that it is unethical for me to kill and eat my horse, but not to kill and eat my cow; others might say the opposite and others still would argue that killing either animal is intrinsically wrong, a moral faux pas.

One of the clearest and most useful statements of ethical absolutism came from Aristotle in his ‘Nichomachean Ethics'. He realized that what people desire they regard as good. But to say no more than this means that all desires are good no matter how much they conflict with one another. Consequently, there can be no standards at all.

The test of time will prove if the decisions made today are the right ones. There is a consequence to each one, whether good or bad.The current problems in the world can act as a guideline on where we have gone wrong, this may help in re-thinking what is moraly right or wrong.