ethics

ethics
ethics, morals
1. Both terms are concerned with the practice of right and wrong. The Concise Oxford Dictionary (1995) defines ethics as ‘the science of morals in human conduct’; what this means is that morals forms the basis of abstract principles whereas ethics are the application of these principles in human activity, especially in specific areas of activity such as law and medicine (professional ethics).
2. Of the corresponding adjectives, ethical describes what is right or wrong in terms of an accepted code of behaviour, whereas moral describes what is right or wrong in principle, as affecting human behaviour generally:

• The various moral systems of the world may include many of the same moral ideas —G. A. & A. G. Theodorson, 1970

• They believe in the moral superiority of primitive over civilised man —Daily Telegraph, 1972

• It is neither easy nor ethical to perch with notebook or video camera over spontaneous scenes of human mating or aggression —New Scientist, 1983

• If you want your bank to have an ethical lending policy, then write to them and say so, or switch to a bank that does have one —Express, 2007.

Moral also occurs in a few fixed expressions such as moral certainty (= strong probability), moral courage, moral majority, and moral support, and here means ‘having a psychological effect associated with confidence in a right action’.

Modern English usage. 2014.

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Look at other dictionaries:

  • Ethics — • Many writers regard ethics as any scientific treatment of the moral order and divide it into theological, or Christian, ethics (moral theology) and philosophical ethics (moral philosophy) Catholic Encyclopedia. Kevin Knight. 2006. Ethics …   Catholic encyclopedia

  • ethics —    Ethics may be defined as the study of morality (though some, such as Bernard Williams, distinguish differently between the two). It is traditionally divided into three areas: (1) meta ethics, concerned with the meaning of moral terms ( good ,… …   Christian Philosophy

  • ethics — eth·ics / e thiks/ n pl but sing or pl in constr: the principles of conduct governing an individual or a profession see also aba model rules of professional conduct in the important laws section Merriam Webster’s Dictionary of Law. Merriam… …   Law dictionary

  • Ethics — Eth ics ([e^]th [i^]ks), n. [Cf. F. [ e]thique. See {Ethic}.] The science of human duty; the body of rules of duty drawn from this science; a particular system of principles and rules concerting duty, whether true or false; rules of practice in… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • ethics — Trustees in Bankruptcy are subject to the Codes of Ethics under: CAIRP, The Canadian Association of insolvency and Restructuring Professionals; The Bankruptcy and insolvency Act; The Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants, and where… …   Glossary of Bankruptcy

  • ethics — is often defined as the concern with what ought to be, whereas science (including social science ) is concerned with describing reality as it actually exists. This distinction has given rise to the notion that social science should be value free… …   Dictionary of sociology

  • ethics — the science of morals, c.1600, plural of M.E. ethik study of morals (see ETHIC (Cf. ethic)). The word also traces to Ta Ethika, title of Aristotle s work …   Etymology dictionary

  • ethics — / ethic [n] moral philosophy, values belief, conduct, conscience, convention, conventionalities, criteria, decency, ethos, goodness, honesty, honor, ideal, imperative, integrity, moral code, morality, mores, natural law, nature, practice,… …   New thesaurus

  • ethics — ► PLURAL NOUN 1) the moral principles governing or influencing conduct. 2) the branch of knowledge concerned with moral principles. DERIVATIVES ethicist noun …   English terms dictionary

  • ethics — [eth′iks] n. 1. the study of standards of conduct and moral judgment; moral philosophy 2. a treatise on this study 3. [with sing. or pl. v.] the system or code of morals of a particular person, religion, group, profession, etc …   English World dictionary

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