ETHICS: The Wednesday Word #WednesdayWisdom
INTRO: What do you use to make a decision? Your entire life is a direct response to the thoughts you have, the decisions you make and the actions you take. Today’s word examines what guidelines we put into place to guide our thoughts, decisions and actions.
WORD: Ethics (noun)
DEFINITION of Ethics:
- moral principles that govern a person’s behavior or the conducting of an activity.
“medical ethics also enter into the question” - the branch of knowledge that deals with moral principles.
“neither metaphysics nor ethics is the home of religion” - a set of moral principles, especially ones relating to or affirming a specified group, field, or form of conduct.
“the puritan ethic was being replaced by the hedonist ethic”
ETYMOLOGY of Ethics:
late 14c., ethik “study of morals,” from Old French etique “ethics, moral philosophy” (13c.), from Late Latin ethica, from Greek ēthike philosophia “moral philosophy,” fem. of ēthikos “ethical, pertaining to character,” from ēthos “moral character,” related to ēthos “custom” (see ethos). Meaning “moral principles of a person or group” is attested from 1650s.
ethos (n.)
“the ‘genius’ of a people, characteristic spirit of a time and place,” 1851 (Palgrave) from Greek ēthos “habitual character and disposition; moral character; habit, custom; an accustomed place,” in plural, “manners,” from suffixed form of PIE root *s(w)e- third person pronoun and reflexive (see idiom). An important concept in Aristotle (as in “Rhetoric” II xii-xiv).
Ethics: The Wednesday Word ACTION IDEAS:
What are your personal ethics? You have them, even if you’ve never quantified them. Everyday you are having thoughts, making decisions and taking actions based on something. Do you know what that something is?
When was the last time you examined your ethics? What are they? Where did they come from? Are they even your ethics? Or were they passed on to you? How do you use them? Are they still relevant? To what degree does your own personal system of ethics have a positive impact on the greater good or… are your ethics all about you and your survival alone?
