Ethics and morals

• Ethics and morals relate to

“right” and “wrong” conduct.
• While they are sometimes used
interchangeably, they are different:
– Ethics refer to rules provided by an external
source, e.g., codes of conduct in workplaces or
principles in religions.
– Morals refer to an individual's own principles
regarding right and wrong.
 Definition of Morals

• Morals are the social, cultural and religious beliefs or values of an individual or
group which tells us what is right or wrong. They are the rules and standards made
by the society or culture which is to be followed by us while deciding what is right.
• Morals refer to the beliefs what is not objectively right, but what is considered
right for any situation, so it can be said that what is morally correct may not be
objectively correct.

– Some moral principles are:

– Do not cheat
– Be loyal
– Be patient Always
– tell the truth
– Be generous
 Examples -Morals
• Morals are what you have been taught; so they
are passed down from one generation to another.
One person's morals may differ from another as
parents taught differently.
– For example, if you are taught as a youngster that it is
proper to steal from those that have to help those
that don't have then your morals develop to aid the
poor by robbing the richer ones. If you were taught
that stealing is wrong then your morals would not
allow you to aid the poor by robbing the richer ones.
 Definition of Ethics

• Ethics is a branch of philosophy that deals with the principles of

conduct of an individual or group. It works as a guiding principle as to
decide what is good or bad. They are the standards which govern the
life of a person.
• Ethics is also known as moral philosophy.
– Some ethical principles are:
• Truthfulness
• Honesty
• Loyalty
• Respect
• Fairness
• Integrity
 Ethics –Example
• Ethics is what you derive for yourself that is right and good and benefits all
people involved, when you are living to the highest that you know and
doing the most honorable thing.
• So, lets say you were taught not to steal. So you go into a bookstore and
read a magazine while standing up, and left the magazine there when you
left the store. Morally, you did nothing wrong as you did not steal the
magazine.
• Ethically, this is wrong, as you read the magazine without paying for the
information contained in the magazine and thereby deprived the store of
one sale.
• Also, the magazine is technically not now new, as you read it, and so now
the store is selling a used magazine but charging the next customer a price
for a new magazine.
• Ethically, you stole from the store and the person who ends up purchasing
the magazine. So, morally it is not wrong, but ethically it is.
• -CLOTHES
 Examples

• If the son of a big politician has committed a crime and he uses his
powers to free his son from legal consequences. Then this act is
immoral because the politician is trying to save a culprit.

• A very close friend or relative of an interviewer comes for an interview

and without asking a single question, he selects him. This act is
unethical because the selection process must be transparent and
unbiased.

• A grocer sells contaminated products to his customers to earn more

profit. This act is neither moral nor ethical because he is cheating his
customers and profession at the same time.
 Examples – conflict
• Occasionally, professional ethics may conflict with a
person's moral principles, which can present problems.
• For example, a person may have a moral principle that
every person can decide to do whatever they want to their
body. A person is in charge of their body. That might lead
to the belief that every person has the right to suicide.
• However, if the person is a therapist and his or her client in
therapy tells them that they are planning to kill themselves,
the therapist likely has a professional ethical obligation to
take steps to prevent that potential suicide, in violation of
their own moral principle.
 Key Differences Between Morals and
Ethics
• Morals deal with what is ‘right or wrong’. Ethics deals with what is
‘good or evil’.
• Morals are general guidelines framed by the society
– E.g. We should speak truth.
• Conversely, ethics are a response to a particular situation
– E.g. Is it ethical to state the truth in a particular situation?
• The term morals is derived from a Greek word ‘mos’ which refers to
custom and the customs are determined by group of individuals or
some authority.
• On the other hand, ethics is originated from Greek word
‘ethikos’ which refers to character and character is an attribute.
 Contd…
• Morals are dictated by society, culture or
religion while Ethics are chosen by the person
himself which governs his life.
• Morals are concerned with principles of right
and wrong. On the contrary, ethics stresses on
right and wrong conduct.
 Contd…
• As morals are framed and designed by the group,
there is no option to think and choose; the
individual can either accept or reject. Conversely,
the people are free to think and choose the
principles of his life in ethics.
• Morals may vary from society to society and
culture to culture. As opposed to Ethics, which
remains same regardless of any culture, religion
or society
 Contd…
• Morals do not have any applicability to
business, whereas Ethics is widely applicable
in the business known as business ethics.
• Morals are expressed in the form of
statements, but Ethics are not expressed in
the form of statements.
 Conclusion

• Every single individual has some principles which

help him throughout his life to cope up with any
adverse situation; they are known as ethics.
• On the other hand, Morals are not the hard and
fast rules or very rigid, but they are the rules
which a majority of people considered as right.
That is why the people widely accept them. This
is all for differentiating Morals from Ethics.
 Values
• Values are individual in nature.
• Values are comprised of personal concepts
of responsibility, entitlement and respect.
• Values are shaped by personal experience,
may change over the span of a lifetime and
may be influenced by lessons learned.
• Values may vary according to an individual‟s
cultural, ethnic and/or faith based
background.
 Values

• Values are the rules by which we make

decisions about right and wrong, should and
shouldn't, good and bad.
• They also tell us which are more or less
important, which is useful when we have to
trade off meeting one value over another
 Contd…
• If a person is very religious, their religion
should have a strong influence on what values
they have and how they live them.
• For both the religious and non-religious,
wisdom is strong source of influence on
people’s behaviour.
• When people we regard as wise advise us how
to live, we hang on their every word. Science
has a strong influence
 Contd..
• The next dimension on this model of values,
ethics and principles has to do with people’s
values acting as a filter of what they “see”.
People do not see what is “actually out there”
– the “truth may be out there” but people’s
values will stop them seeing it.
– For example, it’s raining outside the house in
Figure 1.5 – rain is what’s actually out there.
 Contd…
• The man. who has values such as work/labour
and duty/obligation, experiences the rain as a
“pain”. The rain is going to make his trip to work
unpleasant. Despite this, he has to go? it’s his
duty as a hard working man.
• The woman, who values art and beauty, looks out
the window and sees her flowers thriving and
blooming.
• The boy, who values fun, play and fantasy, sees
himself playing a toy boat in the puddles.