What is ethis Can ethics be taught - Term Paper Example

Ethics Ethics “Ethics is the branch of study dealing with what is the proper of action for man” (Landauer and Rowlands, 2001).It is difficult to define ethics in few words. Some people believe that ethics is nothing but strong adherence of religious principles. For many others, ethics is a set of norms which help people to act or behave in the right manner. A third segment of people believe that ethics means the strict observance of social norms and laws. In my opinion, ethics is the sum of all the things mentioned above.

“Being ethical is not the same as doing whatever society accepts" (What is ethics, 2010). For example, in some fundamental societies, killing of people who say something against the religion is accepted as a sacred act. According to newspaper reports, Indian capital New Delhi faced a severe terrorist attack in which more than 10 innocent people were killed. The terrorist who accepted responsibility for this attack was a fundamental Islamic terrorist organization. For them, what they did in Delhi is ethical.

But for others, it cannot be considered as ethical. So it is not necessary that religions or the society may always teach moral activities. From the above discussion, it is clear that ethics cannot be taught; but it should be learned through logical analysis and synthesis of experiences in the past. “When most people think of ethics (or morals), they think of rules for distinguishing between right and wrong” (Resnik, 2010). My personal code of ethics is formulated in line with the above argument.

In fact my personal ethics has nothing to do with my religious beliefs. I have no hesitation in accepting the good teachings of other religions. For example, according to Christian and Muslim belief, killing of animals for food is not a sin. However, Buddhism and Hinduism consider all types of killing as sin. I have no hesitation in accepting the arguments of Buddhism and Hinduism as far as killing of animals is concerned. For me, any activity which may not cause any kind of discomfort to others can be considered as ethical.

When I was working in the production department of an organization, a sales executive who is working for another company approached me with a major job. Even though his organization has all the facilities to complete that job, he told me that he doesn’t want to complete that job with the help of his own organization. His intention was to make more money out of this job. Since my organization has lack of works at that time, his offer put me in a dilemma. According to my personal ethics, I cannot take that job since it is an act of helping a person who is doing an unethical act.

At the same time, according to professional ethics, it is my duty to accept any job offers since my company is in a crisis situation. The question was whether I should give more importance to my personal ethics or professional ethics. I accepted that job after a long thought since I felt that it is my duty to help my organization in a crisis situation. I also felt that I should not mix personal ethics with professional ethics. To conclude, ethics is highly subjective. The rights of one person or a society may not be the right of another person or society.

Moreover, yesterday’s rights need not be true today or tomorrow. References Landauer J and Rowlands J (2001). Retrieved from http://www.importanceofphilosophy.com/Ethics_Main.htmlResnik DB, PhD. (2010). What is Ethics in Research & Why is It Important? Retrieved from http://www.niehs.nih.gov/research/resources/bioethics/whatis.cfmWhat is ethics (2010). Retrieved from http://www.scu.edu/ethics/practicing/decision/whatisethics.html