What's Ethics?
Ethics is a set of moral principles that guide each individual’s behavior. Based on different life background and experiences, moral principles and values vary from individual to individual. Ethics can also be described as an internal value ruler that directs each individual to distinguish what’s right and what’s wrong. Each individual is actually the judge of whether his or her own behavior is ethical or unethical. Each individual also uses his or her own ethical values to judge if others' behaviors are ethical. Although each individual holds different ethical principles and values, there are still some common ethical principles that most people share. For example, we do not randomly throw trash in the neighbors’ lawn or park our car at the entrance of people’s drive way even when there is no sign saying “no parking”.
Five Ethical Principles - Kitchener (1984)
- Autonomy: the freedom and right to make decisions about oneself.
- Nonmaleficence: no harm can be caused to an individual.
- Beneficence: “doing good” for others.
- Justice: be fair and treat each individual equally.
- Fidelity: be truthful to fulfill all commitments.