Ethics

Ethics, often called moral philosophy, is the branch of philosophy concerned with the study of moral phenomena. It investigates what people ought to do, which behaviours are morally right or wrong, and what principles should guide human conduct. Ethical inquiry explores the basis of moral obligation, the nature of good and evil, the meaning of a good life and the reasons that justify moral action. In contemporary philosophy, ethics is commonly divided into three major branches: normative ethics, applied ethics and metaethics. Each of these branches examines morality from a distinct angle, ranging from practical issues in daily life to abstract questions about the nature of moral truth.
Ethics is closely connected with value theory, which examines the nature and varieties of value, including distinctions between instrumental and intrinsic value. It also intersects with social sciences and moral psychology, which investigate how people develop moral character, make moral decisions and reason about ethical dilemmas. Descriptive ethics, although related, belongs more to the empirical study of moral beliefs across societies and their historical development.
Historically, ethical thought emerged in ancient civilisations such as Egypt, India, China and Greece, where philosophical and religious traditions—including Hinduism, Buddhism, Confucianism, Daoism and Greek philosophy—formulated early ethical principles. Medieval ethics was largely shaped by religious doctrine, while the modern period saw a shift toward secular and rational approaches to moral life. The twentieth century brought increased attention to metaethics, focusing on the meaning and justification of moral claims.

Definition and Scope

A central question of ethics is how to live a good and meaningful life. Ethics examines the general principles that determine right and wrong, and the conditions under which actions, character traits and institutions can be morally evaluated. It addresses questions such as: How should one live? Which actions are morally required? What values should guide our decisions?
Morality, in this context, refers to what individuals ought to do rather than what they in fact do or desire to do. Ethics seeks systematic and rational grounds for these moral requirements and often aims to discover universal principles that apply across contexts.
The term ethics derives from ancient Greek, entering English through Latin and Old French, while morality comes from Latin via Middle English. Although often used interchangeably, some philosophers distinguish the terms: morality refers narrowly to duties and obligations, whereas ethics includes broader considerations, such as ideals of the good life. Professional codes of conduct—such as medical or business ethics—also use the term ethics to designate domain-specific moral standards.

Normative Ethics

Normative ethics studies the principles of moral conduct and seeks to justify answers to questions about how people should act. It focuses on establishing general rules or frameworks that determine when actions are right or wrong. For example, when one judges that causing extreme suffering to an innocent person is wrong, normative ethics attempts to articulate general principles that explain and justify such judgments.
Normative theories do not describe actual behaviour or the moral beliefs held within societies; these topics belong instead to descriptive ethics. Normative ethics aims to guide decisions by providing principles that apply across many situations. Some theories propose a single overarching principle, while others rely on a plurality of basic moral rules. Systems with multiple principles may encounter conflicts among them, giving rise to ethical dilemmas.
The most influential schools of normative ethics are consequentialism, deontology and virtue ethics. Although sometimes presented as mutually exclusive, these schools overlap in certain respects and may agree on particular conclusions while offering different justifications.

Consequentialism

Consequentialism, also known as teleological ethics, holds that the morality of an action depends on its consequences. According to this view, an act is right if it brings about the best overall outcome relative to available alternatives. The evaluation of consequences typically depends on a theory of what is good. In classical utilitarianism, for example, pleasure is considered intrinsically good, and the right action is the one that produces the greatest total pleasure.
Consequentialists often take a broad view of consequences, including all the effects an action brings about, whether direct or indirect. This is grounded in the idea that actions initiate causal chains that shape the world. A guiding intuition behind consequentialism is that moral action aims at producing the best possible future.
Traditional formulations treat the act itself as distinct from its consequences. Some philosophers argue that if actions have intrinsic moral value, this should be counted among the consequences. Others instead define the outcome as the act together with its effects, thereby incorporating intrinsic features without altering the consequentialist structure.
Most forms of consequentialism are agent-neutral: they evaluate consequences from an impartial standpoint, considering what is good overall, not merely what is good for the agent. Whether agent-relative theories, such as ethical egoism, belong within consequentialism is debated.

Types of Consequentialism

Consequentialist theories differ in what they evaluate, which consequences matter and how moral value is determined:

• Evaluative focus: Some assess acts, while others focus on motives, character traits, rules or social policies.
• Criteria of value: Many emphasise happiness or suffering, while others prioritise desire satisfaction, autonomy, freedom, knowledge, friendship, beauty or self-realisation.
• Axiology: Some theories adopt monism, claiming that only one type of value is fundamental, whereas pluralist theories accept multiple values.