ETHICS

Ethics

What do I mean by ethics? Ethics guide us as to what in our behavior is good or evil, right or wrong, just or unjust, proper or improper, moral or immoral. Of course, a painting can be good or bad, as can be a book, movie, motor, or bridge. But what distinguishes ethical from, for example, aesthetic or technological values, is that ethics carry or imply responsibility, obligation, duty. That is, we are supposed to keep our promises or support our children. Not to do so is unethical. For nonethical values, however, no such responsibility or duty is implied. If we deem a book badly written, we hardly imply that the author was obligated as a person to write a good book. The author, indeed, may have a most outstanding character, from which his badly written book would not detract at all. However, no matter how competent or skilled an author, were he to lie to us for his own gain we would immediately question his worth as a person. I have much more to say about ethics,⁸ but to provide a foundation I first must sketch various theories about ethics.