Ethics

Theoretical

Meta-ethics Normative · Descriptive Consequentialism Deontology Virtue ethics Ethics of care Good and evil · Morality

Applied

Bioethics · Cyberethics · Medical Engineering · Environmental Human rights · Animal rights Legal · Media Business · Marketing Religion · War

Core issues

Justice · Value Right · Duty · Virtue Equality · Freedom · Trust Free will · Consent Moral responsibility

Key thinkers

Confucius · Mencius Aristotle · Aquinas Hume · Kant Bentham · Mill Kierkegaard · Nietzsche Hare · Rawls  · Nozick

Lists

List of ethics topics List of ethicists

This box: view • talk • edit

Morality (from the Latin moralitas "manner, character, proper behavior") is the learning process of distinguishing between virtues and vices. Ethics is a major branch of Philosophy, encompassing right conduct and good life In Philosophy, meta-ethics (sometimes called "analytic ethics" is the branch of Ethics that seeks to understand the nature of ethical properties Normative ethics is the branch of philosophical Ethics that investigates the set of questions that arise when we think about the question “how ought one act Descriptive ethics, also known as comparative ethics is the study of people's beliefs about Morality. Consequentialism refers to those moral theories which hold that the consequences of a particular action form the basis for any valid moral judgment about that action Deontological ethics or deontology (from Greek grc δέον deon, "obligation duty" and grc -λογία -logia) is an Virtue theory is a branch of Moral philosophy that emphasizes character rather than rules or consequences as the key element of ethical thinking The ethics of care is a normative ethical theory; that is a theory about what makes actions right or wrong In Religion, Ethics, and Philosophy, the phrase good and evil refers to the location of objects desires and Behaviors on a two-way Bioethics is the philosophical study of the ethical controversies brought about by advances in Biology and Medicine. Cyberethics is a branch of Ethics that studies ethical dilemma brought on by the emergence of digital technologies Medical ethics is primarily a field of Applied ethics, the study of Moral values and judgments as they apply to Medicine. Engineering ethics is the field of Applied ethics which examines and sets standards for Engineers ' obligations to the public, their clients employers and Environmental ethics is the part of Environmental philosophy which considers the ethical relationship between Human beings and the Natural environment Human rights refers to the "basic Rights and freedoms to which all humans are entitled "Animal liberation" redirects here for other uses see Animal liberation (disambiguation. Legal ethics refers to an Ethical code governing the conduct of people engaged in the Practice of law. Media ethics is the subdivision of Applied ethics dealing with the specific ethical principles and standards of media, including Broadcast media, Film Business ethics is a form of Applied ethics that examines ethical principles and moral or ethical problems that arise in a business environment Fundamental issues in marketing ethics Frameworks of analysis for marketing ethics Possible frameworks Value -oriented framework analyzing ethical Ethics is a branch of Philosophy dealing with right and wrong in human behavior Just War theory is a Doctrine of military ethics of Roman philosophical and Catholic origin studied by moral Theologians Ethicists and international JUSTICE is a Human rights and law reform organisation based in the United Kingdom. Philosophic or ethic value is a property of objects, including Physical objects as well as Abstract objects (e Duty (from "due" that which is owing O Fr deu did past participle of devoir Lat Virtue ( Latin virtus; Greek) is moral Excellence. Personal virtues are characteristics valued as promoting individual Egalitarianism (derived from the French word égal, meaning equal) is a political doctrine that holds that all people should be treated as equals and have Freedom, or the idea of being free is a broad concept that Trust is a relationship of reliance A trusted party is presumed to seek to fulfill policies, ethical codes Law and their previous promises The question of free will Consent as a term of jurisprudence is a possible defence (an Excuse or justification against civil or criminal liability Moral responsibility can refer to two different but related things Confucius ( lit " Master Kung " September 28, 551 BC - 479 BC) was a Chinese thinker and social philosopher Life Mencius also known by his birth name Meng Ke or Ko, was born in the State of Zou (simp Aristotle (Greek Aristotélēs) (384 BC – 322 BC was a Greek philosopher a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. David Hume (26 April 1711 25 August 1776 Scottish Philosopher, Economist, and Historian is an important figure in Western philosophy Immanuel Kant (ɪmanuəl kant 22 April 1724 12 February 1804 was an 18th-century German Philosopher from the Prussian city of Königsberg Jeremy Bentham ( IPA: or) (15 February 1748&ndash6 June 1832 was an English Jurist, Philosopher, and legal and Social reformer John Stuart Mill (20 May 1806 &ndash 8 May 1873 British Philosopher, political economist, civil servant and Member of Parliament, was an influential Søren Aabye Kierkegaard (ˈsœːɐn ˈkʰiɐ̯kəˌɡ̊ɒˀ in Danish Anglicized as;) Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (October 15 1844 August 25 1900 ( was a nineteenth-century German philosopher and classical philologist Richard Mervyn Hare ( 21 March 1919  &ndash 29 January 2002) was an English moral philosopher who held the post of White's John Rawls ( February 21, 1921  &ndash November 24, 2002) was an American Philosopher, a Professor of Robert Nozick ( November 16, 1938  &ndash January 23, 2002) was an American Philosopher and Pellegrino University This list of Ethics topics puts articles relevant to well-known ethical (right and wrong good and bad debates and decisions in one place - including practical problems long List of ethicists including religious or political figures recognized by those outside their tradition as having made major contributions to ideas about Ethics, or raised major Latin ( lingua Latīna, laˈtiːna is an Italic language, historically spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Virtue ( Latin virtus; Greek) is moral Excellence. Personal virtues are characteristics valued as promoting individual The software program VICE (all caps standing for V ersat' I' le C ommodore E mulator, is an Emulator for Commodore

The proper system of values and principles of moral conduct promotes good customs (virtues), but also condemns bad customs (vices). Moral judgment determines whether an action should be considered as appropriate or inappropriate, selfish or unselfish. The true identification of morality is virtue, which has to be regarded as; goodness, propriety, rectitude, righteousness. In Religion, Ethics, and Philosophy, the phrase good and evil refers to the location of objects desires and Behaviors on a two-way Righteousness in this article refers to the important theological concept in Christianity, Islam, and Judaism. Righteousness in this article refers to the important theological concept in Christianity, Islam, and Judaism. Hypocrisy is the act of false virtue, by claiming to have higher moral standards which in reality do not correspond to the achievements.

Morals are evaluated through logic, experience and proper judgment, whether this originates from culture, philosophy, religion, society or individual conscience. In the normative and universal sense, morality refers to an ideal code of conduct, one which would be espoused in preference to alternatives by all rational people, under specified conditions. To deny 'morality' in this sense is a position known as moral skepticism. " Moral skepticism " denotes a class of metaethical theories all members of which entail that no one has any moral knowledge ^[1]

Morality is sometimes used as a synonym for ethics, the systematic philosophical study of the moral domain. Ethics is a major branch of Philosophy, encompassing right conduct and good life ^[2] Ethics seeks to address questions such as how a moral outcome can be achieved in a specific situation (applied ethics), how moral values should be determined (normative ethics), what morals people actually abide by (descriptive ethics), what the fundamental nature of ethics or morality is, including whether it has any objective justification (meta-ethics), and how moral capacity or moral agency develops and what its nature is (moral psychology). Normative ethics is the branch of philosophical Ethics that investigates the set of questions that arise when we think about the question “how ought one act Descriptive ethics, also known as comparative ethics is the study of people's beliefs about Morality. In Philosophy, meta-ethics (sometimes called "analytic ethics" is the branch of Ethics that seeks to understand the nature of ethical properties Moral psychology is a field of study in both Philosophy and Psychology. ^[3] In applied ethics, for example, the prohibition against taking human life is controversial with respect to capital punishment, abortion and wars of invasion. Capital punishment, the death penalty or execution, is the Killing of a person by judicial process as Punishment. An An invasion is a military offensive consisting of all or large parts of the Armed forces of one geopolitical entity aggressively entering territory In normative ethics, a typical question might be whether a lie told for the sake of protecting someone from harm is justified. In meta-ethics, a key issue is the meaning of the terms "right" or "wrong". Moral realism would hold that there are true moral statements which report objective moral facts, whereas moral anti-realism would hold that morality is derived from any one of the norms prevalent in society (cultural relativism); the edicts of a god (divine command theory); is merely an expression of the speakers' sentiments (emotivism); an implied imperative (prescriptive); falsely presupposes that there are objective moral facts (error theory). Moral realism (in the robust sense see below is the meta-ethical view which claims that Ethical sentences express Propositions In Philosophy, the term anti-realism is used to describe anyposition involving either the denial of an objective Reality of Entities of a certain Social norms have been defined as "the rules that a group uses for appropriate and inappropriate values beliefs attitudes and behaviors Cultural relativism is the principle that an individual Human 's Beliefs and activities should be understood in terms of his or her own Culture. Divine command theory is the meta-ethical view which claims that Ethical sentences express Propositions Those propositions are about the Emotivism (also known as the hurrah/boo theory) is the meta-ethical view which claims that Ethical sentences do not express Propositions Moral nihilism, also known as ethical nihilism, is the meta-ethical view that objective morality does not exist therefore no action is preferable to any other Some thinkers hold that there is no correct definition of right behavior, that morality can only be judged with respect to particular situations, within the standards of particular belief systems and socio-historical contexts. This position, known as moral relativism, often cites empirical evidence from anthropology as evidence to support its claims. This article attempts to confine itself to discussion of relativism in morals and ethics ^[4] The opposite view, that there are universal, eternal moral truths is known as moral absolutism. Moral absolutism is the Meta-ethical view that there are absolute standards against which Moral questions can be Judged, and that certain actions Moral absolutists might concede that forces of social conformity significantly shape moral decisions, but deny that cultural norms and customs define morally right behavior. Social norms have been defined as "the rules that a group uses for appropriate and inappropriate values beliefs attitudes and behaviors A convention is a set of agreed, stipulated or generally accepted Standards norms social norms or criteria, often taking the form of

Contents 1 Religion as a source of moral authority 2 Anthropological perspectives 2.1 Tribal and territorial moralities 2.2 In-group and out-group 2.3 Comparing cultures 3 Evolutionary perspectives 4 Neuroscientific and psychiatric perspectives 4.1 Mirror-neurons 5 Psychological perspectives 6 Morality as maladaptive and universal 7 Morality in judicial systems 8 Morality and politics 9 Moral codes 10 Moral psychology 10.1 Religiosity and morality 11 See also 12 Footnotes 13 Bibliography 14 External links

Religion as a source of moral authority

Main article: Divine command theory

Religious belief systems usually include the idea of divine will and divine judgment and usually correspond to a moral code of conduct. Divine command theory is the meta-ethical view which claims that Ethical sentences express Propositions Those propositions are about the In Christian eschatology, the Last Judgment or Day of the Lord is the judgment by God of every human who ever lived

Anthropological perspectives

Tribal and territorial moralities

Celia Green has made a distinction between tribal and territorial morality. Celia Elizabeth Green (born 26 November 1935 in East Ham, London) is a British writer on Philosophical skepticism, twentieth-century ^[5] She characterizes the latter as predominantly negative and proscriptive: it defines a person’s territory, including his or her property and dependants, which is not to be damaged or interfered with. Apart from these proscriptions, territorial morality is permissive, allowing the individual whatever behaviour does not interfere with the territory of another. By contrast, tribal morality is prescriptive, imposing the norms of the collective on the individual. These norms will be arbitrary, culturally dependent and ‘flexible’, whereas territorial morality aims at rules which are universal and absolute, such as Kant’s ‘categorical imperative’. Immanuel Kant (ɪmanuəl kant 22 April 1724 12 February 1804 was an 18th-century German Philosopher from the Prussian city of Königsberg The categorical imperative is the central philosophical concept of the Moral philosophy of Immanuel Kant, and of modern Deontological ethics Green relates the development of territorial morality to the rise of the concept of private property, and the ascendancy of contract over status.

In-group and out-group

Some observers hold that individuals have distinct sets of moral rules that they apply to different groups of people. There is the "ingroup," which includes the individual and those they believe to be of the same culture or race, and there is the "outgroup," whose members are not entitled to be treated according to the same rules. Some biologists, anthropologists and evolutionary psychologists believe this ingroup/outgroup difference is an evolutionary mechanism, one which evolved due to its enhanced survival aspects. Evolutionary psychology ( EP) attempts to explain mental and psychological traits ��such as Memory, Perception, Gary R. Johnson and V. S. Falger have argued that nationalism and patriotism are forms of this ingroup/outgroup boundary. The term nationalism can refer to an Ideology, a sentiment, a form of Culture, or a Social movement that focuses on the Nation Patriotism is commonly defined as love of and/or devotion to one's country

Comparing cultures

Fons Trompenaars, author of Did the Pedestrian Die?, tested members of different cultures with various moral dilemmas. Fons Trompenaars is a Dutch author in the field of Cross-cultural communication. Did the Pedestrian Die? is a book addressing An ethical dilemma is a situation that will often involve an apparent conflict between Moral imperatives in which to obey one would result in transgressing another One of these was whether the driver of a car would have his friend, a passenger riding in the car, lie in order to protect the driver from the consequences of driving too fast and hitting a pedestrian. Trompenaars found that different cultures had quite different expectations (from none to almost certain).

Evolutionary perspectives

Further information: Altruism#Altruism in ethology and evolutionary biology

Evolutionary biologists start from the assumption that morality is a product of evolutionary forces. Altruism is selfless concern for the welfare of others It is a traditional Virtue in many cultures and central to many religious traditions On this view, moral codes are ultimately founded on emotional instincts and intuitions that were selected for in the past because they aided survival and reproduction (inclusive fitness). There are a few definitions of Inclusive fitness (IF but one (that according to Oli 2003 is not consistent with W The strength of the maternal bond is one example. The maternal bond is typically the relationship between a Mother and her child Another is the Westermarck effect, seen as underpinning taboos against incest, which decreases the likelihood of inbreeding depression. This article is about the psychological term For other meanings see Imprinting. The incest taboo refers to the cultural prohibition of Sexual activity or Marriage between persons defined as "close" relatives - commonly called Incest

The phenomenon of 'reciprocity' in nature is seen by evolutionary biologists as one way to begin to understand human morality. Its function is typically to ensure a reliable supply of essential resources, especially for animals living in a habitat where food quantity or quality fluctuates unpredictably. For example, on any given night for vampire bats, some individuals fail to feed on prey while others consume a surplus of blood. Vampire bats are Bats whose food source is Blood, a dietary trait called Hematophagy. Bats that have successfully fed then regurgitate part of their blood meal to save a conspecific from starvation. Since these animals live in close-knit groups over many years, an individual can count on other group members to return the favor on nights when it goes hungry (Wilkinson, 1984)

It has been convincingly demonstrated that chimpanzees show empathy for each other in a wide variety of contexts. ^[6] They also possess the ability to engage in deception, and a level of social 'politics'^[7] prototypical of our own tendencies for gossip, and reputation management. Gossip is idle talk or Rumor, especially about the personal or private affairs of others Reputation is the opinion (more technically a social evaluation of the public toward a Person, a group of people, or an Organization.

Christopher Boehm (1982) has hypothesized that the incremental development of moral complexity throughout hominid evolution was due to the increasing need to avoid disputes and injuries in moving to open savanna and developing stone weapons. Other theories are that increasing complexity was simply a correlate of increasing group size and brain size, and in particular the development of theory of mind abilities. " Theory of mind " is the ability to attribute mental states—beliefs intents desires pretending knowledge etc Richard Dawkins in The God Delusion suggested that our morality is a result of our biological evolutionary history and that the Moral Zeitgeist helps describe how morality evolves from biological and cultural origins and evolves with time within a culture. Clinton Richard Dawkins, FRS, FRSL (born 26 March 1941 is a British ethologist, evolutionary biologist, and Popular science The God Delusion is a 2006 bestselling non-fiction book by British biologist Richard Dawkins, holder of the Charles Simonyi Chair for the Public Understanding The Moral Zeitgeist is a term used to describe the progress of modern human Morality.

Neuroscientific and psychiatric perspectives

Mirror-neurons

Research on mirror neurons, since their discovery in 1996^[8], suggests that they may have a strong role to play in empathy. A mirror neuron is a Neuron which fires both when an animal acts and when the animal observes the same action performed by another (especially Conspecific Empathy is the capacity to recognize or understand another's state of mind or Emotion. Social neuro-scientist Jean Decety thinks that the ability to recognize and vicariously experience what another creature is undergoing was a key step forward in the evolution of social behavior, and ultimately, morality. Jean Decety is a neuroscientist and an internationally recognized expert in Social neuroscience. ^[9] The inability to feel empathy is one of the defining characteristic of psychopathy, and this would appear to lend support to Decety's view. Psychopathy ( is a psychological construct that describes chronic immoral and Antisocial behavior ^{[10] [11]}

Psychological perspectives

Further information: Jean_Piaget#Education_and_development_of_morality

Morality as maladaptive and universal

Phil Roberts, Jr. Jean Piaget pjaʒɛ ( August 9, 1896 &ndash September 16, 1980) was a Swiss philosopher, natural scientist has offered a perspective in which morality, and specifically the capacity for guilt, is viewed as a maladaptive byproduct of the evolution of rationality:

Guilt is a maladaptive manifestation of our need to justify our existence, in this case by conforming to a shared subconscious theory of rationality in which 'being rational' is simply a matter of 'being objective', as exemplified in the moral maxim, 'Love (intrinsically value) your neighbor as you love (intrinsically value) yourself'. Although none of us can actually measure up to this standard, we nonetheless come to experience feelings of worthlessness (guilt) along with a corresponding reduction in the will to survive (depression) when we deviate from the standard to an unreasonable degree. In other words, a capacity for guilt (having a conscience) is a part of the price we humans have had to pay for having become a little too objective (too rational) for our own good. [4]

Morality in judicial systems

In most systems, the lack of morality of the individual can also be a sufficient cause for punishment, or can be an element for the grading of the punishment.

Especially in the systems where modesty (i. Standards of modesty (also called demureness or reticence) are aspects of the Culture of a Country or people at a given point in time e. , with reference to sexual crimes) is legally protected or otherwise regulated, the definition of morality as a legal element and in order to determine the cases of infringement, is usually left to the vision and appreciation of the single judge and hardly ever precisely specified. In such cases, it is common to verify an application of the prevalent common morality of the interested community, that consequently becomes enforced by the law for further reference.

The government of South Africa is attempting to create a Moral Regeneration movement. The Republic of South Africa (also known by other official names) is a country located at the southern tip of the continent of Africa Part of this is a proposed Bill of Morals, which will bring a biblical-based "moral code" into the realm of law. Etymology According to the Online Etymology Dictionary, the word bible is from Latin biblia, traced from the same word through Medieval Latin and Late Latin This move by a nominally secular democracy has attracted relatively little criticism.

Morality and politics

If morality is the answer to the question 'how ought we to live' at the individual level, politics can be seen as addressing the same question at the social level. It is therefore unsurprising that evidence has been found of a relationship between attitudes in morality and politics. Jonathan Haidt and Jesse Graham have studied the differences between liberals and conservatives, in this regard. Jonathan Haidt is associate professor of Psychology at the University of Virginia. Liberalism is a broad array of related ideas and theories of Government that consider individual Liberty to be the most important political goal Conservatism is a term used to describe political philosophies that favour Tradition, where tradition refers to various religious cultural or nationally defined ^[12][13][14] According to their model, political conservatives make their moral choices using five moral variables (harm/care, fairness/reciprocity, ingroup loyalty, authority/respect, purity/sanctity), whereas liberals use only two (harm/care and fairness/reciprocity). Haidt also hypothesizes that the origin of this division in the United States can be traced to geohistorical factors, with conservatism strongest in closely knit, ethnically homogenous communities, in contrast to port-cities, where the cultural mix is greater, thus requiring more liberalism. ||-||-|-||-||-||-||-||-||-|} A port is a facility for receiving Ships and transferring cargo

Group morality develops from shared concepts and beliefs and is often codified to regulate behavior within a culture or community. The term "concept" is traced back to 1554–60 ( l conceptum - something conceived but what is today termed "the classical theory of concepts" is the theory of Aristotle Belief is the psychological state in which an individual holds a Proposition or Premise to be true Culture (from the Latin cultura stemming from colere, meaning "to cultivate" generally refers to patterns of human activity and the symbolic Various defined actions come to be called moral or immoral. Individuals who choose moral action are popularly held to possess "moral fiber", whereas those who indulge in immoral behavior may be labeled as socially degenerate. The continued existence of a group may depend on widespread conformity to codes of morality; an inability to adjust moral codes in response to new challenges is sometimes credited with the demise of a community (a positive example would be the function of Cistercian reform in reviving monasticism; a negative example would be the role of the Dowager Empress in the subjugation of China to European interests). Empress Dowager Cixi 1 ( ( November 29 1835 – November 15 1908) popularly known in China as the Within nationalist movements, there has been some tendency to feel that a nation will not survive or prosper without acknowledging one common morality, regardless of in what it consists. The term nationalism can refer to an Ideology, a sentiment, a form of Culture, or a Social movement that focuses on the Nation Political Morality is also relevant to the behaviour internationally of national governments, and to the support they receive from their host population. Noam Chomsky states that ^{[15] [16]}

“

. . . if we adopt the principle of universality: if an action is right (or wrong) for others, it is right (or wrong) for us. Those who do not rise to the minimal moral level of applying to themselves the standards they apply to others -- more stringent ones, in fact -- plainly cannot be taken seriously when they speak of appropriateness of response; or of right and wrong, good and evil.

”

“

In fact, one of the, maybe the most, elementary of moral principles is that of universality, that is, If something's right for me, it's right for you; if it's wrong for you, it's wrong for me. Any moral code that is even worth looking at has that at its core somehow. But that principle is overwhelmingly disregarded all the time. If you want to run through examples we can easily do it. Take, say, George W. Bush, since he happens to be president. If you apply the standards that we applied to Nazi war criminals at Nuremberg, he'd be hanged. Is it an even conceivable possibility? It's not even discussable. Because we don't apply to ourselves the principles we apply to others. There's a lot of talk about 'terror' and how awful it is. Whose terror? Our terror against them? I mean, is that considered reprehensible? No, it's considered highly moral; it's considered self-defense. Now, their terror against us, that's awful, and terrible. But, to try to rise to the level of becoming a minimal moral agent, and just entering into the domain of moral discourse is very difficult. Because that means accepting the principle of universality. And you can experiment for yourself and see how often that's accepted, either in personal or political life. Very rarely.

”

Moral codes

Codified morality is generally distinguished from custom, another way for a community to define appropriate activity, by the former's derivation from natural or universal principles. Social norms have been defined as "the rules that a group uses for appropriate and inappropriate values beliefs attitudes and behaviors In certain religious communities, the Divine is said to provide these principles through revelation, sometimes in great detail. Divinity and divine (sometimes 'the Divinity' or 'the Divine' are broadly applied but loosely defined terms used variously within different faiths and belief systems — Revelation is the act of revealing or disclosing (see etymology or in the theological perception making something obvious and clearly understood through active or passive communication Such codes may be called laws, as in the Law of Moses, or community morality may be defined through commentary on the texts of revelation, as in Islamic law. term " Torah " ( Hebrew: תּוֹרָה "teaching" or "instruction" sometimes translated as "Law" most commonly refers to Sharia ( Arabic: ar شريعة) is the body of Islamic Religious law. Such codes are distinguished from legal or judicial right, including civil rights, which are based on the accumulated traditions, decrees and legislation of a political authority, though these latter often invoke the authority of the moral law. A right is a legal or moral Entitlement or Permission. Rights are of vital importance in theories of Justice and deontological ethics

Morality can also be seen as the collection of beliefs as to what constitutes a good life. Since throughout most of human history, religions have provided both visions and regulations for an ideal life, morality is often confused with religious precepts. Human beings, humans or man (Origin 1590–1600 L homō man OL hemō the earthly one (see Humus History is the study of the past particularly the written record Those who study history as a Profession are called Historians Etymology A religion is a set of Tenets and practices often centered upon specific Supernatural and moral claims about Reality, the Cosmos An ideal is a Principle or value that one actively pursues as a goal. A Precept (from the Latin præcipere, to teach is a commandment instruction or order intended as an authoritative rule of action In secular communities, lifestyle choices, which represent an individual's conception of the good life, are often discussed in terms of "morality". The term lifestyle was originally coined by Austrian psychologist Alfred Adler in 1929 As commonly used, individual refers to a Person or to any specific object in a collection Individuals sometimes feel that making an appropriate lifestyle choice invokes a true morality, and that accepted codes of conduct within their chosen community are fundamentally moral, even when such codes deviate from more general social principles.

Moral codes are often complex definitions of right and wrong that are based upon well-defined value systems. A value system is a set of Consistent Ethic values (more specifically the Personal and cultural values) and measures used for the purpose of Ethical Although some people might think that a moral code is simple, rarely is there anything simple about one's values, ethics, etc. A personal and cultural value is a Relative ethic value, an assumption upon which implementation can be extrapolated Ethics is a major branch of Philosophy, encompassing right conduct and good life or, for that matter, the judgment of those of others. The difficulty lies in the fact that morals are often part of a religion and more often than not about culture codes. A religion is a set of Tenets and practices often centered upon specific Supernatural and moral claims about Reality, the Cosmos Culture (from the Latin cultura stemming from colere, meaning "to cultivate" generally refers to patterns of human activity and the symbolic Sometimes, moral codes give way to legal codes, which couple penalties or corrective actions with particular practices. A Code is a type of legislation that purports to exhaustively cover a complete system of laws or a particular area of law as it existed at the time the code was enacted by a Note that while many legal codes are merely built on a foundation of religious and/or cultural moral codes, ofttimes they are one and the same.

Examples of moral codes include the Golden Rule; the Noble Eightfold Path of Buddhism; the ancient Egyptian code of Ma'at ;the ten commandments of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam; the yamas and niyama of the Hindu scriptures; the ten Indian commandments; and the principle of the Dessek. The ethic of reciprocity is a fundamental moral Value which " refers to the balance in an interactive system such that each party has both rights and Buddhism is a family of beliefs and practices Maat or Mayet, thought to have been pronounced as *Muʔʕat (Muh-aht was the Ancient Egyptian concept of Truth, balance order— Law The Ten Commandments, or Decalogue, are a list of religious and moral imperatives that according to Judeo-Christian tradition were authored by God and given Judaism (from the Greek Ioudaïsmos, derived from the Hebrew יהודה Yehudah, " Judah " in Hebrew יַהֲדוּת Yahedut Christianity ( Greek Χριστιανισμός from the word Xριστός ( Christ)is a monotheistic Religion centered on the life and teachings For other meanings including people named 'Islam' see Islam (disambiguation. A yama ( Sanskrit) यम literally "death" is a rule or code of conduct for living which will help bring a compassionate death to the ego or "the lower self" Niyama ( Sanskrit: नियम is a set of behaviors codified as "the observances" in numerous scriptures including the Shandilya and Varuha Upanishads Hatha Yoga Pradipika The Ten North American Commandments are a set of ethical instructions purporting to be the Native American equivalent of the biblical Ten Commandments. The Desseks are characters in a Fictional universe called Cotrahviné created by Dutch Science Fiction / Fantasy writer Tais Teng.

Another related concept is the moral core which is assumed to be innate in each individual, to those who accept that differences between individuals are more important than posited Creators or their rules. This, in some religious systems and beliefs (e. g. Taoism, Moralism and Gnosticism), is assumed to be the basis of all aesthetics and thus moral choice. Taoism (pronounced /ˈdaʊɪzəm/ or /ˈtaʊɪzəm/ also spelled '''Daoism''') refers to a variety of related Philosophical and Religious traditions Moralism is the firm belief that humans are instilled with morals which govern themselves and by following these morals humans can achieve a more meaningful life than they would if Gnosticism (γνώσις gnōsis, Knowledge) refers to a diverse Syncretistic Religious movement consisting of various Belief systems Aesthetics or esthetics ( also spelled æsthetics) is commonly known as the study of sensory or sensori-emotional values sometimes called Moral codes as such are therefore seen as coercive — part of human politics. Politics Politics is the process by which groups of people make decisions

Moral psychology

Religiosity and morality

In the scientific literature, the degree of religiosity is generally found to be associated with higher ethical attitudes. ^[17] Although a recent study by Gregory S. Paul published in the Journal of Religion and Society argues for a positive correlation between the degree of public religiosity in a society and certain measures of dysfunction,^[18] an analysis published later in the same journal contends that a number of methodological problems undermine any findings or conclusions to be taken from the research. Gregory S Paul (born 1954) is a Freelance Paleontologist, Author and Illustrator. In Probability theory and Statistics, correlation, (often measured as a correlation coefficient) indicates the strength and direction of a linear ^[19] In a response ^[20] to the study by Paul, Gary F. Jensen builds on and refines Paul's study. His conclusion, after carrying out elaborate multivariate statistical studies, is that there is a correlation (and perhaps a causal relationship) of higher homicide rates, not with Christianity, but with dualism in Christianity, that is to say with the proportion of the population who believe the devil and hell exist. List of countries by homicide rate Homicide ( Latin homicidium, homo human being + caedere to cut kill refers to the act of killing another Excerpt: "A multiple regression analysis reveals a complex relationship with some dimensions of religiosity encouraging homicide and other dimensions discouraging it. " Meanwhile, other studies seem to show positive links in the relationship between religiosity and moral behavior^{[21] [22] [23]} — for example, surveys suggesting a positive connection between faith and altruism. ^[24] Modern research in criminology also acknowledges an inverse relationship between religion and crime,^[25] with many studies establishing this beneficial connection (though some claim it is a modest one). Schools of thought In the mid-18th century criminology arose as social philosophers gave thought to crime and concepts of law ^[26] Indeed, a meta-analysis of 60 studies on religion and crime concluded, “religious behaviors and beliefs exert a moderate deterrent effect on individuals’ criminal behavior”. ^[27]

See also

• Ethics
• Secular ethics
• Mores
• Ethos
• Norms
• Moral relativism
• Moral absolutism
• Moral universalism
• Consequentialism
• Deontological ethics
• Ethical dilemma
• Applied ethics
• Moral particularism
• Guilt
• Criticism of atheism
• Criticism of religion
• Conscience
• Kohlberg's stages of moral development
• Public morality
• The ends justify the means
• Moral Zeitgeist
• Amorality
• Sin

Footnotes

© 2009 citizendia.org; parts available under the terms of GNU Free Documentation License, from http://en.wikipedia.org
Dapyx Software network: MP3 Explorer | Ebook Manager | Zenithic