This document provides an overview of general ethics, including: 1. The major branches of ethics - meta-ethics, normative ethics, applied ethics, descriptive ethics, and moral psychology. 2. The principles of ethics, including personal ethics (concern for others, respect, trustworthiness), global ethics (justice, environmental stewardship), and professional ethics (honesty, integrity, transparency). 3. A discussion of how ethical principles serve as guidelines rather than absolute rules, as they can conflict in practice depending on circumstances.

1. General Ethics
Code of Ethics

2. The Study of Ethics
• Ethics is derived from the
Greek word ETHOS which means –
Characteristic way of acting
Latin word mos, mores which means-
Tradition or custom

3. Major Branches of Ethics
• Meta-Ethics
– the theoretical meaning and reference of moral
propositions and how their truth-values may be
determined.
– seeks to understand the nature of ethical
properties, statements, attitudes, and judgments
– Question: What does 'right' even mean?

4. • Normative ethics
– the practical means of determining a moral course
of action
– Standards of rightness and wrongness
– investigates the set of questions that arise when
considering how ought one to act
– Question: How should people act?

5. • Applied Ethics
– about how moral outcomes can be achieved in
specific situations
– identify the morally correct course of action in
various fields of human life
– Question: How do we take moral knowledge and
put it into practice?

6. • Descriptive ethics
– about what moral values people actually abide by.
– people's beliefs about morality
– research into the attitudes of individuals or groups
of people
– Question: What do people think is right?

7. • Moral Psychology
– about how moral capacity or moral agency
develops and what its nature is.
– Moral development focuses on the
emergence, change, and understanding of
morality from infancy to adulthood.

8. The ethos of man is revealed in the
following:
• He is able to distinguish between good and
evil, right and wrong, moral and immoral
• He feels within himself an obligation to do
what is good and to avoid what is evil.
• He feels himself accountable for his
actions, expecting reward or punishment for
them.

9. What is Ethics?
• Ethics is the practical science of the morality of human
conduct
• Ethics is said to be the study of human motivation, and
human rational behavior
MORALITY - is that quality of human acts by which we call some of
this acts good and some evil.
HUMAN ACTS are those actions performed by man: knowingly
and freely, deliberate or intentional actions, or voluntary.
ACTS OF MAN which are instinctive and involuntary

10. Principles of Ethics
• Personal Ethics – might also be called morality, since they
reflect general expectation of any person in any society, acting
and any capacity.
Principles of Personal Ethics include:
1. Concern for the well-being of others
2. Respect for the autonomy of others
3. Trustworthiness and honesty
4. Willing compliance with the law
5. Basic justice; being fair
6. Benevolence; doing good
7. Preventing harm

11. • Global Ethics – are most controversial of the three
categories, and the least understood.
1. Global Justice
2. Society before self
3. Environmental stewardship
– Protection of water and soil
– Prevention of erosion and water pollution
– Flood management
– Wildlife conservation
– Protect archaeological sites and historic features
– Provide public access to the countryside
– Conserve rare traditional livestock breeds and varieties
4. Interdependence and responsibility for the whole
5. Reverence
– the acknowledgement of the legitimacy of the power of one's superior or
superiors

12. • Professional Ethics - the rules governing the
conduct, transactions, and relationships within a
profession and among its publics
– Honesty - truthfulness
– Integrity – consistency / accuracy
– Transparency - openness
– Accountability – liable / responsible
– Confidentiality - accessibility
– Objective – meeting conditions
– Respectful - honour
– Within the law

13. How good is a set of principles?
• They serve as landmarks – generic indicators to be
used as compelling guides for an active conscience
• They are not absolute rules or values
• They are more like rough measurement where an exact
one is not possible
• They often conflict with each other in practice and
some will trump others under certain circumstances
• They are compatible with the argument that we
should simply follow our intuition and rely on the inner
voice