Knowing what ethics is and what makes up the study of ethics centers around understanding ethical behavior. There are nine major theories have been created to explain ethics and to determine whether a decision is ethical or not

University Degree Historical and Philosophical studies

First of all, what is ? Ethics is a branch of philosophy which seeks to address questions about morality; concept of examining morals which about what is right and wrong, moral and immoral. Ethics means that we are doing ethical which is in line with the accepted moral code and is proper. Everyone knows being ethical is very important and easy to see why ethics are important; it is also easy to see its problems. The major problem is that is hard to determine what is ethical or what is morally right.

Actually, ‘’ is not an easy word to define. Almost everyone wants to live in an life, but knowing what that means is not as simple as it sounds! This means ethical dilemma. In certain situations, there are two contrasting ideas that may seem ethical, but it is hard to determine which actually the right action is. This is where things get trickier. After all, who or what determines what is moral or ethical? Does public policy determine what is ethical?For example, is it right to tell the truth when someone asks you if they look fat or if their bad tasting dinner is delicious? The ethical dilemma there: which is more ethical, lying or being unkind? Another ethical dilemma become more complex: for example, is it right to steal from the rich to give to the poor? Is it right to fight wars in the name of a good cause, even if innocent people are injured? The answers to these ethical questions depend on your definition of ethics!

Besides that, people from different cultural backgrounds and different situations may have different moral perceptions. Unfortunately, there is no clear answer to what is ethical or to what ethical behavior is. Many use religion or use the law to give guidance as to ethical behavior. Ultimately, ethical is a relative term not easily defined.

Knowing what ethics is and what makes up the study of ethics centers around understanding ethical behavior. There are nine major theories have been created to explain ethics and to determine whether a decision is ethical or not which are situational ethics, c ethics, value ethics, utilitarian ethics,moralistic ethics,ethical realism, ethical hierarchies,principle and moral development.

In addition, there are two different aspects of ethics which are normative and descriptive. The category of descriptive ethics is simply involves describing how people behave and what sorts of moral standards they claim to follow while the category of normative ethics involves creating or evaluating moral standards. Thus, it is an attempt to figure out what people should do or whether their current moral behavior is reasonable. From here, we can conclude that normative require moral judgement while descriptive does not require moral judgement.

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There are 2 teleological theories that can explain how and why we should be ethical. The first theory is called ethical egoism. Ethical egoism states that we should be ethical because it can ultimately bring us more benefit. This theory explains that everything we do is motivated by self-interest. Even in what appears to be acts of altruism, humans are purely motivated by the benefits the act eventually brings to them. Acting selfishly will create a better world because everyone is seen to be taking care of themselves and this decreases dependency on others. This supposedly results in the world being better as a whole. Hence, according to the theory of ethical egoism, we should be ethical because it would ultimately make us happy and bring benefits to us. Besides that, by acting ethically, we would also be making the world a better place because as everyone is taking care of themselves and reducing dependency on others, the world would supposedly also improve.

The second theory is called utilitarianism. This theory is also known as consequentialism. Utilitarianism states that the aim of being ethical is to make the world a better place. The way to be ethical is about producing the most amounts of good for the world and it is not about having good intentions. Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832) considers the right action to produce pleasure while the wrong action will bring about pain and suffering. His godson, John Stuart Mill (1806-1873) suggested that pleasure should be divided into higher pleasure and lower pleasure with the higher one taking more precedence in making moral decisions. This, hence, brings the issue that not all “pleasures” and “pain and sufferings” are the same. In order to solve this, the utilitarian calculus was developed. Using hedons as a unit for positive consequences and dolors as a unit for negative consequences, being ethical could be somewhat calculated. The more hedons and lessdolors there are the better. Using utilitarianism, we should be ethical because it will make the world a better place. If everyone acts for the greater good of humanity, the human race would progress much faster and there would be less suffering and pain as all decisions would be made to minimize suffering and pain and maximize happiness and pleasure.

Taking into account utilitarianism and ethical egoism, both these theories suggest that we should be ethical. Ethical egoism states that it is both for our own interest and humanities as it decreases dependency while utilitarianism says that we would be making the world a better place.

If everyone is ethical then it can create a better world. Without ethics the world would be even more messed up. Ethics is important to individuals because ethics are part of being human. It keeps people from doing what is wrong. If an individual has no ethics, he will do the wrong thing whenever hebelieves it will benefit him and that he can get away with it.

Furthermore, ethics can help us in dealing with on daily basis. Right sense of thinking will make us to deal with them positively and the wrong sense will make us to contact in negative manner. I think ethical behavior has to be taught by parents and in school. If we no ethics, we already have damaged relationships and poor .

Apart from that, ethics is a requirement for human life. It is our means of deciding a course of action. Without it, our actions would be random and aimless. There would be no way to work towards a goal because there would be no way to pick between a limitless numbers of goals. Even with an ethical standard, we may be unable to pursue our goals with the possibility of success. To the degree which a rational ethical standard is taken, we are able to correctly organize our goals and actions to accomplish our most important values. Any flaw in our ethics will reduce our ability to be successful in our endeavors.

If we are not ethical, we will meet many problems in our life. Since Ethic is part of judgment of a person and an organization, we should be ethical. If a person is not ethical, he or she may be isolated. A person who is not ethical will let other people scare of him or her. Therefore, the person may not have any friend. The person who is not ethical will live in the world lonely and no one concern about this person. And also, if the person is not ethical, his or her reputation might be destroyed. Once the reputation of a person is bad, this person will meet many problems while he or she needs somebody to help him or her to solve problems or doing other things that cannot be done by one person. On the other hand, people will not respect us if we are not ethical because they have judged us as a bad person that they don't like.

If we are not ethical, we may do something harmful to the world. There are many laws judging people and prevent people from doing anything not ethical to the world. If we have done anything which is not ethical and it breaks the rules or law, we will be punished. If we have done anything which is not ethical and harm others, it will cause us getting in the prison and suffering inside the prison. In the prison, there is no delicious food, no air-con, no comfortably bed and room and no freedom. This is how we will meet if we are not ethical. No one loves punishment, so we should be ethical.

Besides, after we got out from the prison, we will meet another problem. We will be hard to find a job as many companies think that a person who had gone into the prison might be a person who is not ethical. They afraid that the person will make problems to the company, steal company’s things and harm others. It will cause a person not able to earn money to live and not respected by other people.

If an organization’s reaction is not ethical, once they are caught, they will be fined or force to closed the business. It willmake them make a loss or blamed by the people. Therefore, we should be ethical so that we won’t meet those problems.

In conclusion, we can know that being ethical in every aspect no matter in workplace, family, school, friends or others is animportant issue for this society. Thus, everyone should understand what is ethics and the reasons why we should act ethically in order to create happiness for everyone and peaceful for this world.

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