What is ethics?

Definition, Scope and Method

of Ethics
The definitions of ethics
 The word ethics comes from the Greek ethos which means
customs or habits.
 Ethics is also often called moral philosophy.
 The word moral is from the Latin mores which also means
customs or habits.
 Thus, ethics means the science of customs or habits of
society.
The definitions of ethics
 While morals or morality refers to customs, ethics extend to
mean habitual conduct or character.
 Morality deals with our reasoning and ethics with our doing.
 Ethics can also mean ‘the science of rightness and
wrongness of character and conduct.’
The definitions of ethics
 Ethics is also the ‘science of the highest good.’ It is the
science of morality.
 It is the science of the supreme ideal of human life.
 Ethics is the study of what is right or good in human
conduct or character.
The nature of Ethics
 It is a normative science. Normative sciences seek to
determine norms, ideals or standards, in this case, of human
conduct and character.

 It is not a natural or positive science but a regulative science.

 It is not a practical science nor does it teach us how to live a

moral life, rather, it merely ascertains the moral ideal.
The nature of Ethics
 Ethics is not an art. Art consists in the acquisition of a skill but
morality consists in an attitude of the will when there is no
overt action.

 Ethics is a science because it aims at systematic

explanation of rightness and wrongness.
The Method of Ethics
 The physical and biological method, in which morality is
traced to the conduct of savages and ultimately to the
conduct of animals which seek pleasure and avoid pain.
 The historical or genetic method, in which ethics is thought
to evolve from the crude customs of primitive people.
 The psychological method, in which morality is deemed to
be a phenomenon of human consciousness.
 The metaphysical method, in which morality is deemed to
be a revelation of the divine and is linked with spirituality and
religion.
The Method of Ethics
The true method of ethics is both empirical and transcendental.
It is both scientific and metaphysical.

Ethics accurately observes the moral phenomena, classifies

them according to their similarities and differences and
explains them.

Just as other sciences systematize judgments of common

sense relating to facts, so ethics systematizes judgments of
common sense relating to moral value, though supplemented
by the metaphysical method.
The end of ethics
 The objective of ethics is to define the nature of the highest
good of humans or society.
 It is the basis of moral reasoning and the root of all moral
distinctions.
 Ethics attacks the basis of popular morality, purges it of
errors and inconsistencies, and places on a secure footing all
that is valid and essential in morality.
Doing ethics:
a craft and a skill
 Doing ethics in journalism must be both learned and
developed.
 Doing ethics in journalism is reasoned, principled and
consistently thinking about how journalists can maximize
their truth telling obligations while minimizing harm to
vulnerable sources and audience.
Doing ethics:
a craft and a skill
 Doing ethics in journalism is about individual responsibility.
 Doing ethics in journalism is about accountability and
excellence in journalism

References
Sinha, J. (2009). A Manual of Ethics. Kolkata: New Central
Book Agency (P) Ltd.
Black, J., Steele, B., and Barney, R. (1999). Doing Ethics in
Journalism: A hand book with case studies. Third edition.
Mass.: Allyn & Bacon.
Jimi Kayode
jimikayode@gmail.com
http://facebook.com/jimi.kayode
Adebola Adegunwa School of Communication,
Lagos State University, Lagos, Nigeria