What Is Moral Ethics?

Knowing the difference between right and wrong would be the simplest, most universally understood answer to this query but let's look deeper.  These are your personal principles or habits regarding right or wrong conduct, not a corporate or judicial set of Ethics.  Morals and Ethics are very similar and are sometimes used synonymously but when combined, they are used to clearly define a set of ethics that is dependent upon your Morals. 

The definition of Ethics refers back to your morals and is defined as a moral set of behaviors or patterns pertaining to your beliefs.  Ethics is also referred to as the branch of philosophy dealing with values relating to human conduct, with respect to the rightness and wrongness of actions and to the goodness and badness of the motives and ends of such actions.

Your morals are formed not by DNA, but by experiences and patterns set in our lives from birth.  Our morals are based on our teachings by our families and our churches.  The reactions of others around us also play a large role in forming these early moral opinions.  For instance, seeing someone steal for a living from an early age would seem morally acceptable to a child when others are taught to share and never touch what is not theirs.  Children of alcoholics would easily fit in this category because they see this as morally acceptable, at least in the beginning.  Some of these children grow to despise and become repulsed by the mere thought of alcohol and go in a complete opposite direction.  To them, these things are facts, it's not a moral question, but it's forming moral opinions. 

Each of us has the ability to adapt, learn and adjust our moral compasses and standards to fit what we now know to be true and right in our lives.  Some of those persons who are products of unhappy childhoods and impoverished beginnings fight hard every day and overcome their earlier limitations.

Moral ethics can be defined as those principles on which our moral decisions are based. Ethics are the sense of right and wrong, good and evil, values and responsibility. Thus it is considered as a major branch of philosophy. It can be described as the science of human duty. These ethics are therefore the measurement by which a human being is graded as being good, bad and evil. In simple terms moral ethics are nothing but the code of conduct decided by each person for himself or herself for operating in this world and fellow beings.

Moral ethics are formed from the obligations and duties of a person in the society. Nobody can force a person to adhere to moral ethics. For e.g. if a person sees an accident victim lying on the road it is his moral ethic to help out the victim but if he chooses to not do so then no social institution can punish him for this unwillingness. Thus these ethics are relative and subjective.

Morals have a greater social element to values and tend to have a very broad acceptance. Morals are far more about good and bad than other values. We thus judge others more strongly on morals than values. A person can be described as immoral, yet there is no word for them not following values.

Moral ethics has certainly changed with changing times. As times change, there are sweeping changes in technology, media, communication and other avenues which can affect human life. People also respond to these changes and adapt accordingly. The total change which transpires has a defining influence on the moral fabric and culture an individual hails from.

Let us take an example. On the days of yore, people would send greeting cards to wish another or congratulate for a meritorious occasion. Today, in the world of text messaging, people resort to an SMS or send an email, as a gesture of appreciation or compliment. Such a message can be deleted by the click of a button. The personal touch is simply missing in an SMS. One can give thousands of examples as to how perceptions, ideas and outlook have changed with times. One takes the elderly for granted, loves to talk about the world around them without giving any thought about what goes in his own home and neighbourhood. Sometimes, it becomes quite important to simply stand and smell the flowers.

The concept of Ethics is a subject of much debate in modern society, many people simply do not use them and I ask you, is this right?? The very question that Ethics is based around.