Ethics: Meaning and Importance

Ethics is defined as “a systematic approach to analysing, and distinguishing matters of right and wrong, good and bad, understanding them and admirable as they relate to the well-being of the relationships”.

Ethics decides one’s actions, without it everything a person does is random and aimless. Only with a rational ethical standard, we will be able to correctly organize our goals and actions to accomplish our most important values. Any flaw in our ethics will reduce our ability to be successful.

Importance of ethics

There are several reasons why it is important to adhere to ethical norms. Few of them are as follows.

Integrity

Integrity is the most important value in one’s life. Ethics is required to live with integrity, because it allows us to decide what’s right. If we lack integrity it suggests cowardliness or weakness in towards one’s life.

Respect and Recognition

Making Ethical choices in life earns us a lot of respect and cultivates a strong image in the public domain. A person with high ethical thoughts earns others trust easily.

Dignity

It is any quality of a person entitling them to be regarded, respected and honoured by others. It is the highest possible status that belongs to each and every human being and to live that status.

Rational Nature

True human self-worth is constituted not by success in obtaining the powers or other goods for which people compete, but merely in the capacity to set ends and govern our actions through reason.

Freedom

Freedom is important in maintaining a healthy order in life, and it requires moral discussion in which voice can be heard, respected and accepted by all. People monitor their own activities and regulate them and realize their life plans in accordance with their own or culturally defined values which sets them free from any misconduct.

Responsible to society

The most common way to define ethics is, they are the rules for conduct that distinguish between acceptable and unacceptable behavior. A code of ethics is a guide to an individual‘s attitude through which he expresses his character as a person that reflects his behaviour in the society.