Ethics and Ethical Principles
Ethics: Ethics can be defined broadly as a set of moral principles or values. Each of us has such a set of values, although we may or may not have considered them explicitly.
Need for ethics:
- Ethical behavior is necessary for a society to function in an orderly manner. It can be argued that ethics is the glue that holds a society together.
- The need for ethics in society is sufficiently important that many commonly held ethical values are incorporated into laws.
Ethical principles
The following are the six core ethical values that the Josephson Institute associates with ethical behavior.
Trustworthiness: Includes honesty, integrality, reliability, and loyalty.
Respects: Includes nations such as civility, dignity, tolerance, and acceptance.
Responsibility: means being accountable for one action and exercising responsibility also means pursuing excellence.
Fairness and justice: Includes issues of equality, impartiality, proportionality, openness, and due process. Fair treatment means that similar situations are handled constantly.
Caring: Means being genuinely concerned for the welfare of others and includes acting altruistically and showing benevolence.
Citizenship: Includes obeying laws and performing one fair share to make society work, including activities as voting, serving on juries and conserving resources.
