Ethics: Some Definitions

By Margot Phaneuf, April 2004

Revised January 2009

In nursing, many situations have serious implications and the

decisions which should be taken ought to be considered from
the point of view of ethics. In some situations, one wonders
on what our reflections should be based and how we should
develop a line of reasoning which would serve as dialogue in
the work team. We should state right away that ethics does
not propose ready-made solutions; it only offers a useful
perspective.

Ethics and bioethics, a new discipline which has developed in recent years, can nourish our
critical thinking and orient our judgement. Perhaps you ask yourself why we speak of ethics
rather than morals. The question is legitimate since, despite the present popularity of the
term ethics, fundamentally, it is a question of morals. Although the terms ethics and
bioethics are now in vogue, that does not mean that morals are old-fashioned and outdated.

Some definitions
Difference between ethics and
A few definitions may help us
demystify the terms and help us
morals
to orient ourselves with regards Morals : Ethics :
to these concepts. ™ Has a religious ™ It is of a secular nature.
connotation. ™ It includes the notion of
The term moral refers to the self-control. It stems
™ It includes the idea of
ensemble of the rules governing from within the person.
our actions and values and external control.
™ It is concerned with the
which function as the norm in a ™ It is concerned with
positive and the
society. Some authors good and evil. negative.
distinguish it from the term ™ It creates obligations. ™ It makes us think and
ethics, while others consider it to act responsibly.
be a synonym. Personally, I see
a slight difference for essentially,
morals is prescriptive and when
misinterpreted is seen as negative and restrictive. It tells us what we should or should not do
in order to conform to society’s rules. It states, for instance “You shall not kill”, and we
must examine the repercussions on health care of this commandment, for example on the
question of abortion or prolonging life by technological means.
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Ethics on the other hand, proceeds in a dialectic manner, that is, it uses rigorous analysis to
reveal the flaws of logic and the contradictions of the reasoning and seeks to go beyond
them. It also deals with what we should or should not do, but it does so by applying
reasoning, for or against, in order to decide on the conduct to be taken when faced with a
moral problem. It is in fact a critical examination of morals, questioning its rules and
seeking orientations which are well thought out and
The main objective of correct. Ethics does not impose rules in an authoritarian
ethics is to place the manner; it is not prescriptive as are morals. The rules of
human at the heart of morals having been defined, the questions and problems
our care and try to act which come up are the domain of ethics. For example,
in the domain of ethics when faced with the above-
for his greatest good. mentioned injunction, “do not kill”, we will analyse the
situation to see how the problem should be examined,
what values are in conflict, and what the alternatives are, in order to decide how to orient our
judgment.

The term deontology or professional code of ethics is simply ethics applied to a

professional domain. It brings together all the rules which govern the exercise of a
profession. We know it as the Nursing Code of Ethics.

The term bioethics, as its

etymological root indicates,
refers to reflections on life Why we need ethics
and death. And as you
already know, this discipline
sheds light on the big
questions. ‰ Constant changes in society require that we
adapt our rules of conduct.
We must also insist on the ‰ Social presures for individual rights require
that we find an optimal balance between
fact that the concept of
individual and collective rights.
morals has not been
‰ The progress of science and medicine and the
evacuated by the arrival of new technologies.
ethics and of bioethics and
‰ The power of caregivers in the face of life and
that the orientations which death.
follow from these disciplines
are today still based on the
foundations of morals
presented in an enlightened manner.

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The relationship between morals, ethics and the law

There are important relationships between these concepts. Morals and ethics raise questions,
bring to the fore various dilemmas whereas the law, via legislation, applies sanctions. For
example, a person found guilty of killing someone for humanitarian reasons which are not
recognized by ethics can, in the name of the law, be prosecuted in the courts. The most
obvious manifestations of these relationships can be seen in the various charts which govern
the rights in our society and the laws which ensue from them.
La morale et l'éthique fournissent des indications
pour
Know the origin of words in order to understand their meaning.

The term ethics originates from two Greek words

MEANING OF THE WORD
ETHICS
one of which means both “stable” and “living
conditions” which demonstrates the
™ Stable or living conditions fundamentally concrete, down to earth, meaning
™ Way of living of the term. And also it finds its roots in another
™ Way of living in oneself to word which has the meaning of a way of living, a
live better. way of living in oneself in such a way as to
orient one’s actions to live better, which shows
us the formative force of this discipline on
human thinking. In reality, ethics is a very old
discipline. It goes back to the Greek
philosophers such as Socrates, in the 4th century B.C. who saw himself as a midwife of
ideas. He was the son of a midwife and in his own way pursued the work of his mother, but
in the domain of thought and reasoning.

In the domain of ethics, openness of mind and the creation of ideas continue to this day, for
this discipline remains mainly one of questioning and critical reflection, so it too is a
midwife of ideas and remains profoundly rooted in the human experience. It is not an
abstract discipline cut off from reality.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

- Badiou, Alain (1993) L'éthique. Paris, Hatier.

- Blondeau, Danielle (1986) De l'éthique à la bioéthique. Montréal, Gaétan Morin.
- Davis, Ann J. in Marsha D.M. Fowler et June Levine-Ariff, (1989) Éthique des soins
infirmiers, traduit par Françoise Bourgeois. Paris, Medsi/McGraw-Hill.