 What is Ethics?

 Why is it important to every society?

◦ Ethics is the primary vehicle for men to reach the
very purpose of life –the pursuit of happiness
◦ Ever since civilizations began their baby steps,
societies are created to ensure their security from
predators –real or imagined, they have to create
laws but of what use is it if not guided by reason,
and that is where Ethics come in.
◦ The written law is used to ensure order but what is
the ultimate source of it all–ethics no doubt.
 Ethics made men decide what is right or wrong
guided by reason should ambiguity in the written law
persists.
 As we all know nothing is perfect, everything has
flaws, with that confusion comes in.
 Human Ethics are clouded by man’s self-interest that
interpretation to law and order
 As time goes by changes in the environment as well
as the complexities of the human world as well as his
thinking altered the understanding of Ethics.
 That is an undeniable fact. Sadly leaders of the
modern world lack ethical standards that at times
their morals are condescending
 In the current world we are currently in, there are
age-old questions that even baffled geniuses and
they are:
 1) what is the supreme purpose of human living?,
 2) What is man’s greatest good and perfection?,
3) what is the ultimate objective of human
strivings, is it attainable?,
 4) what is the summum bonum (highest good) of
human life and
 5) what is the root cause and remedy to human
suffering.
 Is man intrinsically good or evil?
 Which brings us to another philosophical
question, why are not moral acts are not legal
and vice versa?
 Humans are not born endowed with ethics as
if it is an inherent characteristic; but their
behaviour jives with human development.
 Man initially behaves like brutes, and under
human development, he behaves less morally
and more ethically
 Ethics and morality are interchangeable for
they are both patterns of human behaviour
but in reality are different.
 Ethics refer to rules provided by an external
source, such as laws, codes of conduct in
workplaces or principles in religions.
 Morals on the other hand refer to an
individual’s own principles regarding right
and wrong.
 personal development
◦ in general, is a process of internalization of values,
judgement and thought; and morally, is a transition
from what we should ought to do, to what is the
best thing to do.

 Human development.
◦ the combination of -collective-personal
development and social development.