Unit 1: Nature and Scope of Ethics

1. Definition and Etymology

The word Ethics is derived from the Greek word ethos, which means "character," "custom," or "habit." Similarly, the word Morality comes from the Latin mores, meaning "customs."

Ethics is the branch of philosophy that systematically studies the Summum Bonum (The Highest Good) of human life and the principles that determine the rightness or wrongness of human actions.

2. Ethics as a Normative Science

Science is generally divided into two types: Positive Sciences and Normative Sciences. Ethics belongs to the latter.

3. The Concept of Human Conduct

Ethics does not judge every human movement. It only focuses on Conduct. Conduct refers to voluntary actions—actions done with a purpose or an end in mind.

• Voluntary Actions: Actions done with knowledge of the end and with the freedom of will (e.g., telling the truth). These are the only actions subject to moral judgment.
• Non-voluntary Actions: Reflexes, actions of infants, or the mentally insane. These are outside the scope of moral evaluation.

4. The Nature of Moral Judgment

Moral judgment is a mental act that evaluates a voluntary action as right or wrong. It involves three components:

1. The Subject: The person who judges (the moral agent).
2. The Object: The voluntary action being judged.
3. The Standard: The rule or ideal used to judge the action (e.g., Utility, Duty, or Virtue).

5. Scope of Ethics

The scope of ethics is vast, covering:

• The Individual: Personal character and virtues.
• The Society: Social justice, rights, and duties.
• The Meta-Ethics: The meaning of ethical terms like "good" and "right."
• Applied Ethics: Ethics in specific fields like Medicine, Environment, or Business.