Ethics and Human Interfac

• Since time immemorial Ethics was practised by several

personalities across the ancient India such as Buddha’s
Ashtanga Marga and Ashoka’s realisation after Kalinga war
• But Ethics became more relevant after Industrial
Revolution started when man became greedy and started
exploiting the nature, colonisation, imperialism and rich
becoming richer, poor becoming poorer, crime and
discrimination started every nook and corner of the society

• Why Ethics

◦ To satisfy basic nee

◦ Create credibilit
◦ Improve decision makin
◦ Self realisatio
Etymologically the term “Ethics” correspond to the Greek word
“Ethos” which mean Character, Habit, Customs or Way of
behaviour, etc. Hence, Ethics, de ned as Systematic study of
human actions from the point of view of their rightfulness or
wrongfulness. Simply it’s “A set of principles which guides us
what to do and what not to do the way acceptable to the
society.”

But what is acceptable to society and what is not acceptable

to society?
What is right and what is wrong?
What is good conduct and what is bad conduct?
 

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 What Ethics is not about?

• Ethics is not moralit
• Ethics is not religion
• Ethics is not following the la
• Ethics is not following culturally accepted norm
• Ethics is not likes and dislike
• Ethics is not belief

ESSENCE OF ETHICS:
Essence is the intrinsic quality of something that determines its
character
• Ethics originate from the sense of justice prevailing in a
particular society
• Ethics operates at different level like individual,
organisation, socio-cultural, political and international. Ethics
at each level affect each other
• Ethics are interrelated to each other. E.g. – honesty,
truthfulness, integrity; values of equality and justice cannot
exist without tolerance et
• Ethical behaviour leads to various bene ts for an
individual as well as the society at large. Ethics leads to
peace, harmony, respect, justice etc
• Ethics preach a certain kind of behaviour to us. It tells us
how should people behave
• Ethics are abstract and subjective in nature i.e., they are
affected by individual’s emotion and perception
• Ethics are determined in a social setting at a given point
of ti A society’s history, culture, values etc. determine ethical
standards which may vary from society to society
• Ethics is not an objective universal concept. Its
understanding varies from time to time, person to person,
society to society
 

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 • Ethical standards may transcend the narrow stipulations

of law and code of regulations

COMPONENTS OF ESSENCE OF ETHICS:

The basic components of essence of ethics are:
• Choices – Certain preferences and priorities makes us to
decide what we want. Such choices which we made re ects
in our action
• Actions – Choices in turn shown through our actions
physically
• Behaviour – It is the way we act or conducts ourselves. The
behaviour in which we exhibit in uenced by choices we
made and acts we did.If its ethical, it called as ethical
behaviour for example, treating others with respect or no
respect

NEED OF ETHICS:
• To regulate social relationship
• Ethical values help in Growth and Development overal
• For self-satisfactio
• To live a happy life and meaningfu
• Making a good citize
• Man, as social animal by nature is so sel sh and exploit
others for his own bene t and satisfaction, therefore to
achieve greater good ethics are required

CONSEQUENCES OF ETHICS:

Consequences for
Consequences for society
individual
 

 
 

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 ·       Happines
·        Peace and harmon
·       Positive outlook toward
·        Good governanc
societ
·        Justice and inclusio
·       Elevated sense of bein
·        Equitable and inclusive
·       Credibilit
developmen
·       Accomplishmen
·        Future generations
·       Acceptability and
·        Environmen
likeability
·        Healthy societ
·       Interpersonal relations
·        Faith
·       Decision making

ETHICS IN INDIA AND SOURCES OF ETHICS:

Source Ethics
·        Ashoka’s giving up war and
spreading dharm
Historic Texts
·        Harshvardhan’s Charity and
truthfulness
Ramayana & Ideal governance, consequences of bad
Mahabharat intentions, Nishkam karma
Non-Violence, Self-sustenance, swaraj,
Gandhi Ethics satyagraha, Courage of conviction,
sustainable development
Liberty, Equality and fraternity, secularism,
Constitution
justice etc.
Four Nobel truths, middle path, non-
Buddhist Ethics
violence
 
 

 Not harm to anyone including small

Jain Ethics
creatures
Sikh Ethics Langar, brotherhood
Islamic Ethics Collectivism, code of conduct
Laws lay down the basic framework for
ethical action, and indicate th
Laws
guidelines for such action.
It plays a crucial role in laying down the
Society norms for acceptable community
behaviour.
Our inner conscience perhaps serves as
the nal point, where the actual decision-
Conscience
making about what is ethical, and what is
not, are eventually made.
The determinants of ethics are often
regarded as the universal human values
Human values
such as truthfulness, honesty, integrity,
etc.

• Ethics in India
◦ Historic Text
◦ Ramaya and Mahabhart
◦ Gandhi Ethic
◦ Constitutional value
◦ Buddhist Ethic
◦ Jain Ethic
◦ Sikh Ethic
◦ Islamic Ethic
 

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 DETERMINANTS OF ETHICS:
• Person: Depends on mental make-up of individual. It
depends upon how the person has internalised personal
attitudes and values regarding ethical behaviour
• Place: It refers to the external environment which includes
family, school, etc. For example, as kids we were told by our
parents and teachers to not to steal things. As we grow up
we tend to carry such knowledge and apply it to real world.
Similarly, work place teaches us ethics of teamwork,
punctuality, responsibility, etc
• Time: Different individuals, societies and culture have
different set of moral codes at different times. It was once
considered ethical to own a slave. But today such a practise
is unethical
• Object: It is unethical to lie despite any circumstances,
purpose or intention. Telling a truth to intentionally harm a
person is also unethical as the intention of telling a truth is
not pure
• Circumstances: Stealing is unethical. But a poor person
stealing to feed her children reduces unethically of the act.
Such situation ethics bring subjectivity as it often makes
morality subjective
• End purpose: To give donation to a poor person is good but
if such donation is to lure poor person to do something for
you, then it becomes immoral
• Culture: Culture has profound effect on shaping individual
values. As western culture surrounds around individualistic
and Indian culture based on universalism
• Role Models/Celebrities/Famous Personalities: The
leadership or role models and celebrities of a society or an
organization or nation also helps to determine the conduct of
their followers or admirers is ethical
.

 • Constitution: Constitution of various countries also is a way

to establish moral disposition of their society
• God & Religion: Every religion and god advocate universal
peace and ethical practices. Religious textbooks teach how
one should behave in a society and how the society should
be
• Conscience & Intuition: A person who follows his
conscience & Intuition feel that what is good is good
because it is good and what is bad is bad because it is bad.
Intuition don’t need any justi cation while following its
actions. But conscience is justi ed based on his actions
because of its moral nature and it has reasoning and
justi cation
• Family: Family is the rst interaction where a children
personality develops since his birth. Today’s Children are
tomorrow’s citizens. Therefore, its utmost important that
Family environment teaches what is ethically correct

Ethical Management and Management of Ethics:

ETHICS, VALUES AND MORALS:

Ethics Values Morals

 
 
 
 

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 Morals are
Values can be principles of right
de ned as and wrong held by
qualities that are an individual.
instrumental to us. Unlike ethics,
Values are morals are
benchmarks or standards of
Ethics are standards on behaviour
standards of which the pertaining to an
human conduct desirability of an individual and not
that society action can be social conduct.
adopts for itself. measured. Values Morals arise from
Ethics are a set of act as an internal personal
dos and don’ts compass which experience,
that govern help a person character,
human conduct in evaluate different conscience and so
a social setting. choices of conduct on. For instance,
and behaviour. Homosexuality
E.g. honesty, might be moral
integrity, empathy, form individual’s
courage, perspective. But it
dedication, might be unethical
compassion etc. in a society’s point
of view.

BELIEF:
• A belief is most common term used to explain the
behavioural component of a person. It is an internal feeling
that something is true, even though that belief may be
unproven and irrational
• g. My belief is that god plays important role in success and
achievements in life
 

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 • g. Gandhiji believed that swaraj can be attained within one

year of launching non-cooperation movement
• Belief can be peripheral (weak) and core (strong). Beliefs
which are formed by direct interaction are generally strong
• Belief is also referred as cognition
Essence of Ethics in Human Actions:
• Essence of ethics in human actions refers to the in uence
of ethical values in human conduct. Ethics is a set of
standards that society places on itself and which helps
guide behaviour, choices and actions
• What kind of conduct a person follows re ects in his actions.
Either he wants to follow good ones which will make him a
good human being or he wants to follow the bad one that will
cause only harm to him as well as to the society
• But standards alone don’t ensure ethical behaviour
which requires a robust culture of integrity. The crux of
ethical behaviour does not lie only in standards, but in their
adoption in action and in sanctions against their violations
• Deciding between Good and Bad is not easy. Our Course of
action decides which is good and bad. Because good is
not always pleasurable but bad always attracts us which is
by nature easy thing to do

Examples:
• Habituating to smoking is easy but Quitting smoke is very
much hard to achieve. By smoking, we get pleasure but
quitting smoke requires we need self-determination
• Therefore, our Course of action decides our Ethical
conduct. The underlying principles to decide whether it is
ethical or not decided by factors like larger public good,
conservation and sustainable development
 

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 CONSEQUENCES OF ETHICS IN HUMAN ACTIONS

Consequences of Ethics means consequences of

human actions which are guided by ethical practices.
This means, if there is an action then de nitely there
is a reaction so being ethical will bring you good
consequences like awards, rewards, appreciation etc
but it will also bring bad consequences like transfers
at work place, societal stigma, fear of harm to family
members etc

·        20 year old girl, Rukhsana Kausar, from the

Kashmir won the Indian National Bravery Award
for the killing of Terrorist
Example
s:
·        IAS of cer Ashok Khemka transferred more
than 50 times just because he is honest civil
servant.

Consequential Ethics – where an act can be considered as

good if it’s able to produce positive results

At Individual level
 
 

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 At Individual level it will builds self-con dence,
courage of conviction, trust and credibility

Examples:
·        Court ruled out accusation charges
against Ex Chairperson of ISRO Madhavan
At Individual Nair and also asked govt to pay
level compensation for his mental suffer
·        Edward Snowdon’s leaking of highly
classi ed CIA personal data monitoring
across the worl
·        Wiki leaks founder Julian Assange’s
home arrest by Leaking US army’s
intelligence mischief.
At organisational Level, its brand quality
improves, creates trusts among people. But
whistle blowers may face life threat for leaking
mischief happening in the organisatio

Examples
·        Election Commission of India – Even
after seven decades it conducting elections
At
free and fair manner. People and political
organisation
parties posed tremendous faith on ECI for
al Level
conducting election
·        TATAs known for their social service. Its
brand never become as history even after
independence
·        Recent Infosys whistle-blower’s letter to
SEBI regarding mischief happening in
management salary structure. Such an
organisation protects such whistle blowers.
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 At societal level, it creates social capital,

communal harmony, absence of greed,
distributive justice
At societal
level Examples:
·        Bhutan is one the happiest nation
across the countries because they measure
wealth in terms of Gross National Happiness

CONSEQUENCES OF LOSS OF ETHICS:

Ethics plays and instrumental role in human life and society.

Ethics helps in arriving at decisions more quickly as it assist
making choices. It reveals the value dimension of a decision
that would otherwise seems value free. However, loss of ethics
could cause following consequences

Dimension Consequences
Petty crimes, domestic violence, urinating
Individual and spitting on public spaces, abusive and
level lthy language, crime against aged, jumping
rad light.
Corruption, Rise in crime rate,
acknowledging goons and ma as, joint
Social level
family, parent’s respect, drug addiction,
regionalism, castes.
 
 

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 Nepotism, Corruption, rise in inequalities,

loss of trust, decrease in ef ciency,
Organisational
economy and effectiveness, destruction of
level
work culture, loss of trust in the
administration, lawlessness.
Hung parliament, corruption, criminalisation
Political level
of politics, Coalition govt.
Trust de cit, frictions, disputes, unhealthy
International competition, damage to the environment
level and unsustainable development, disregard
to international conventions and laws.
Abortion, animal rights, cloning, arti cial
Bioethical
intelligence, consent, con dentiality, GM
level
organisms, Suicide.
Loss of ora and fauna, unsustainable
development, polluter shall pay principle is
Environmental
diminishing, increase in pollution levels,
level
disregard to Common But Differentiated
Responsibility (CBDR)

VALUE SYSTEM:
• Since human born, he will undergo several stages of
personality development. The basic pillar on which his
Behaviour depends on the Values he adopted in his life
cycle
• A strong value system de nes character and character allow
him to follow speci c code of conduct. Such conduct nally
turns into Behaviour. Therefore, a strong value system
makes a person stronger either they are good values or bad
values
 

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 “Values are de ned as a set of standards of Human Conduct
which are important for humans based on human
preferences, beliefs & Knowledge “
 
 
·        Universal across the time and spac
Core Values
·        Examples: Love, self-lessness,
Compassion
·        Changes with time and spac
Peripheral
values
·        Examples: Truthfulness, Impartiality

“All Ethics Are Values. All Values Are Not Ethics”

 
 
 
Example:
 
Bad Values Good Values
 
 
 

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 ·        Believe in Patriarchy

and women subordinate to
me ·        Kindnes

·        Generation “Ok ·        Respecting elders,

boomer”, who believe in wome
Climate change is a myt ·        Protecting Environmen
·        Killing of animal ·        Honest
·        Corruptio ·        Tolerance
·        Opaqueness in a Govt
organisation
 
Personal Values vs. Social Values

Personal Values Social Values

·        Important for other
·        Important for individual
people’s wellbeing
wellbeing
·        Examples: equality,
·        Examples: self-respect,
social justice, national
comfortable life, freedom etc.
security, world peace etc.

A positive and ful lling life requires a coordinated and balanced

pursuit of both self-serving and other serving values
 
Different Types of Values:
We are having different types of value system based on where
they are applicable according to the time and space

Strong No change in his value system . Not subjected

Values: to others in uence
 
 

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 Weak Frequent change and subject to in uence by

Values: others
Universal Does not changes Time& Space they are
Values: Universal in nature
Time
speci c Changes according to time & Space
Values:
Individual
Follow according to his conscience
Values:
Social Untouchability, Child Marriage, Gender
Values: equality, Social Justice etc
Economic Fair in Trade, Economic Justice, Adulteration,
Values: Crony capitalism etc
Ethical
Honesty, Truthful, Integrity etc
Values:
Political
Public Service, Democracy, Rights etc
Values:

·        Toleranc

·        Atithi devo bhav

Indian values ·        Universal Brotherhoo
·        Non-Violenc
·        Vasudhaivaa kutumbaka
·        Living with Nature etc
 

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 ·        Libera

Western ·        Individualis

Values ·        Egalitarian societ
·        Materialis
·        Privacy etc
·        Universalis

·        Benevolenc
·        Compassio
Universal ·        Empath
Values ·        Self-Sustenanc
·        Sustainable Developmen
·        Universal Brotherhoo
·        Service to Mother earth and Humanit
·        Sel essness
 
Source to the Universal Values:
• Universal Values derived from Primary laws that is Natur
• Vedas and other religious scriptures Talk about primary laws
which are always universal
• Example: Sel essnes

Knowledge and wealth always bene cial to the people so if we hit

a tree with stone it will give fruits instead of hitting us back.
Universal values are primary, unconditional & self-lessness.
Service based on complete Compassion and Love
Relative Values: Relative values are –
• Depends on time and spac
• Secondary value
• Subject to chang
 

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 Examples:
1. Untouchability & Slavery was considered as upper-class
value but its abolished over a period of tim
2. Child marriages was banned which were considered earlier
customary practic
3. Dowry syste
4. Sea voyage was a sin to Hindus but its misconception was
removed by Raja Rammohan Roy after travelling to England
through sea route

Values can also be classi ed as:

• Terminal Values: related to an ultimate goal or end of a
perso
• Instrumental Values: related to means of achieving the
desired outcome or an en

Terminal Values Instrumental Values

 

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 ·       Ambitious, Hardworking

and aspirin
·       Beaut
·       Broad and open minde
·       Equalit ·       Courageou
·       Family Securit ·       Honest
·       Freedo ·       Self-Contro
·       Inner harmon ·       Obedienc
·       Self-Respec ·       Intelligent and re ectiv
·       Wisdo ·       Politenes
·       True friendshi ·       Forgivenes
·       National Securit ·       Helpful and welfare
·       Salvatio oriente
·       Sense of ·       Cheerful, light hearted
accomplishment and joyfu
·       Competence and
effectiveness

ETHICS (What Is Right?) Vs VALUES (What Is Important?)

 
ETHICS VALUES
Set of principles which are Values are nothing but
accepted by the society Choices of Individuals
Macro in Nature Micro in Nature
Basically, at societal level Individual level
It can be only good choices
It can be either good or bad
made by individuals

ATTITUDES:
 

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 • Attitudes are views, beliefs, or evaluations of people about

something (the object). The attitude object can be a person,
place, thing, ideology, or an event. Attitudes can be positive
or negative
• g.: I hate men with long hair. In this example, the person is
having a negative attitude towards men who grow long hair
• Both Attitudes and Values are the beliefs (views)of a
person. However, attitude is the belief (views) of a
person towards ‘something’. Examples: I hate snakes, I
don’t like big cars
• Thus you can see that attitude is all about whether you like
or dislike something
• Value is also a belief (about what is important), but it’s not
towards anything
• Value can exist in itself
• Then how is attitude connected with value? Attitude is the
view of a person regarding a value
 
Attitudes vs. Values
 
Attitudes Values
What do you like / dislike? What is important for you?
Derives from Beliefs Derives from Beliefs
E.g. They like honest people E.g. They value honesty

MORALS:
• Ethics, Morals and Values often use interchange. Morals
are part ethics based on concept of goodness
 

 • Here Bad part of ethics excluded. Morality is standards of

individuals for right and wrong. Derived from Latin word
‘Moralitus’ which means character
• Examples: Being Honest, Transparency, Fair choice to
everyone in recruitment exam et

Private Morality Public Morality Political Morality

This is called Inter Inter group Morality among
personal Morality Morality rulers
Political morality
specifying what
rulers and the
Harmony between ruled owe one
Obligations to our different religious- another and also
children, spouse, philosophical subjects owe
parents, teachers groups generated obedience to their
and relatives by the exercise king. But the ruler
of self-restraint too owed
something to his
subjects to ensure
the good of all
As there is no Values such as
personal political freedom,
Here Morality is attachments, solidarity, shared
guided by Individual goals traditions and
unarticulated and self-interest cultural heritage
emotions among guides morality. guides morality as
members of family There is no citizens are
commonly held subjects of
ethic either. political state.
 

 We have a duty
towards those Neither hate
The core of
under our special speech nor speech
political morality is
care, including the glorifying oneself
a commitment to
aged, ‘servants’, was acceptable as
justice, to
animals and, part of public
impartiality.
occasionally, morality
strangers.
We have to
overcome our
loyalty to blood
relations, not
We can’t
pursue only our
completely escape
private interests,
from being
Some degree of and commit
impartial because
partiality exists instead to using
obligation towards
power grounded
our personal
in shared
relationships
principles and
complete
impartiality and no
discrimination
Political morality
One’s private life
Public morality need not be
automatically
transforms to elect shown private
guarantees high
morally correct morality after
moral stature in
leaders assuming the
political life.
power

CONSTITUTIONAL MORALITY
 

 • Constitutional morality is substantive content of the

constitution in the form of Ethical Ideas that underlines
formal provisions
• Justice, liberty, equality, fraternity, can be taken as elements
of modern constitutional morality
• According to the Ambedkar, constitution could be at best
provides a legal framework, a necessary but not suf cient
condition for such a transformation
• To be effective, constitutional laws have to be rest upon
substratum of Constitutional morality. It is not a natural
sentiments but has to be cultivated
• Constitutional morality:
• Enhances values like liberty, equality and fraternit
• Secularism i.e., respect for pluralit
• Political, social and economic justic
• Open culture of dissent and constructive criticis
• Tolerance, restraint and mutual accommodation in public lif
• Respect for formally prescribed rules and procedure
• Constitutional morality is the basis for which any statutory
acts should be made

VOICE OF CONSCIENCE
• It’s part of sub conscious state that which instructs us to
act in a particular way. Power to think decisions about value
system. Here Ends have given more importance than
means
• Voice of Conscienceis our ability to make a practical
decision in light of ethical values and principles
• Voice of Conscienceis a person’s moral compass of right
and wrong as well as the consciousness of one’s actions. It
is the small voice from inside and also voice of god. But
usually, we don’t pay heed to such voice so we end up taking
wrong decisions
 

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 • Man loses his state of mind and for moment he will act and
later realisation happen with punishment. Lot of criminal
cases happens when a person loses his state of mind and
don’t listen to his Voice of Conscience

Examples:
◦ When we have to choose between family or
organisation in a case involved from your family, it is the
conscience guides you what decision you have to take
◦ When appointing Vivekananda as chief disciple of
Ramakrishna paramahamsa he asked to steal rice from
home with condition of nobody watching but
Vivekananda replied that, “his inner conscience always
watching himself”
◦ Famous business woman and her husband Indrani
Mukherjee killed her own daughter. In this world only
snakes kill their own babies where their inner
conscience became blind

COURAGE OF CONVICTION
It means you will do what you believe and have that courage to
accept what you believe. If you have the courage of
your convictions, you have the con dence to do what you
believe is right, even though other people may not agree or
approve

Examples:
• Gandhiji fought against discrimination happened to Indians
and blacks in South Afric
• Raja Rammohan Roy fought against sati abolitio
• Ishwar Chandra Vidya Sagar fought against child marriages
and supported widow remarriag
 

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 CRISIS OF CONSCIENCE
• It is a situation in which it is very dif cult to decide what is
the right thing to do. It’s one of the ethical dilemmas but in
strong sense
• Example: To withdraw Non-cooperation movement Gandhiji
underwent such situation. If withdraws the movement he will
face backlash from fellow leaders and if it was not withdrawn
it will lead to more violent nature. But he followed what he
believed and subsequently withdrawn

ETHICS Vs MORALS

ETHICS MORALS
·        Ethics are standards of ·        These are principles of
human conduct that society right and wrong held by an
adopts for itself. individual.
·        Ethics are a set of dos
and don’ts that govern ·        Self-regulation in a
human conduct in a social personal life
setting.
·        Ethics is the standards
of “good and bad” ·        Morality as something
distinguished by a certain that’s personal and normative
community or social setting.
·        ethics is the term used
·        Moral connotation linked
in conjunction with business,
theology and spirituality
medicine, or law
·        Uniform across the ·        Vary person to person
cultures and culture to culture
 
 

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 ·        But at personal level you

·        Examples: Ethically
may either support to adultery
adultery is wrong
or you feel it’s wrong.

Relationship Values Examples

Helping to downtrodden
section of people or any
Ethical & Sel essness &
act which is in
Moral Integrity
consistency between
moral and ethics
Live-in relationship moral
to youngsters but not
Neo-liberal values
Ethical but acceptable to older
like freedom and
not moral generations. Another
liberty
example is Home
sexuality
Moral but Sel shness,
War
not ethical cultural values

ETHICS Vs LAW

ETHICS LAW
The law is de ned as the
systematic body of rules that
Ethics means the science of
governs the whole society and
a standard human conduct.
the actions of its individual
members
 

 
 

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 Ethics comprises of
guidelines and principles that
The law consists of a set of
inform people about how to
rules and regulations
live or how to behave in a
particular situation.
Ethics are governed by an
individual, legal or The law is created by the
professional norm, i.e., Government, which may be
workplace ethics, local, regional, national or
environmental ethics and so international
on.
The law is expressed in the
It cannot be found in written
constitution in a written form or
form.
statute books
It is externally driven –
It is internal – Intrinsic
Extrinsic
Breach or violation may not The breach of law may result
result in immediate in punishment or penalty, or
punishment. both
Ethically acceptable can also Legally acceptable need not
be acceptable to the law be Ethical
Ethics has no such binding
Legally binding
on the people
Ethics that are the code of The objective of the law is to
conduct that helps a person maintain social order and
to decide what is right or peace within the nation and
wrong and how to act. protection to all the citizens.
 

 APPROACHES TO ETHICS
•Every day we come across several ethical and moral
dilemmas in our daily life. Dealing with these moral issues is
often perplexing. How, should we think through an ethical
issue
• What questions should we ask? What factors should we
consider? Therefore, to solve an ethical dilemma the rst
step in analyzing moral issues is to get the facts
• But having the facts is not enough. Facts by themselves only
tell us what is; they do not tell us what ought to be. In
addition to getting the facts, resolving an ethical issue also
requires an appeal to values. Philosophers have developed
ve different approaches to values to deal with moral issues.
They are
◦ Utilitarian approac
◦ Rights approac
◦ Justice approac
◦ Common good approac
◦ Virtue approac
Utilitarian Approach
• Utilitarianism was conceived in the 19th century by Jeremy
Bentham and John Stuart Mill to help legislators determine
which laws were morally best. Both Bentham and Mill
suggested that ethical actions are those that provide the
greatest balance of good over evil. To analyze an issue using
the utilitarian approach
• First identify the various courses of action available to us
• Second, we ask who will be affected by each action and
what bene ts or harms will be derived from each
• Third, we choose the action that will produce the greatest
bene ts to the greatest no of peoples with the least harm
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 “The ethical action is the one that provides the greatest good
for the greatest number.”

Rights Approach
• Proposed by Immanuel Kant and similar thought of
philosophers, who focused on the individual’s right to
choose for herself or himself. According to this school of
philosophers, what makes “human beings different from
mere things is that people have dignity based on their
ability to choose freely what they will do with their lives, and
they have a fundamental moral right to have these choices
respected”
• In deciding whether an action is moral or immoral using this
approach
• Does the action respect the moral rights of everyone
• Actions are wrong to the extent that they violate the rights of
individual
• The more serious the violation, the more wrongful the action

People are not objects to be manipulated. It is a violation of

human dignity to use people in ways they do not freely choose.
Some of the examples of individual rights are right to privacy, right
to truthful, right to not be harm by anyone

The Fairness or Justice Approach

• The fairness or justice approach to ethics has its roots in the
teachings of the ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle, who
said that “equals should be treated equally and unequal
unequally.
• The basic moral question in this approach is
◦ How fair is an action
◦ Does it treat everyone in the same way, or does it show
favouritism and discrimination
 

 • Favouritism gives bene ts to some people without a

justi able reason for singling them out; discrimination
imposes burdens on people who are no different from those
on whom burdens are not imposed. Both favouritism and
discrimination are unjust and wrong

The Common-Good Approach

• This approach to ethics assumes a society comprising
individuals whose own good is linked to the good of the
community. Community members are bound by the pursuit of
common values and goals
• The common good is a notion that originated more than
2,000 years ago in the writings of Plato, Aristotle, and
Cicero. More recently, contemporary ethicist John Rawls
de ned the “common good as certain general conditions
that are equally to everyone’s advantage.” In this
approach, we focus on ensuring that the social policies,
social systems, institutions, and environments on which we
depend are bene cial to all
• Examples of goods common to all include affordable health
care, effective public safety, peace among nations, a just
legal system, and an unpolluted environment

The Virtue Approach

• There is another kind of approach apart from above four, The
virtue approach. In this approach, certain ideals strive
towards full development of our humanity. These ideals
are discovered through thoughtful re ection on what kind of
people we have the potential to become
• Virtues are attitudes or character traits that enable us to
be and to act in ways that develop our highest potential
• They enable us to pursue the ideals we have adopted
 

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 • Honesty, courage, compassion, generosity, delity, integrity,

fairness, self-control, and prudence are all examples of
virtues
• Virtues are like habits – that is, once acquired, they
become characteristic of a person
• Moreover, a person who has developed virtues will be
naturally disposed to act in ways consistent with moral
principles. The virtuous person is the ethical person
• In dealing with an ethical problem using the virtue
approach, we might ask:
• What kind of person should I be
• What will promote the development of character within
myself and my community

Ethical Problem solving using above approaches:

• Using the above ve approaches, once we have ascertained
the facts, we should ask ourselves ve questions when
trying to resolve a moral issue
◦ What bene ts and what harms will each course of
action produce, and which alternative will lead to the
best overall consequences
◦ What moral rights do the affected parties have, and
which course of action best respects those rights
◦ Which course of action treats everyone the same,
except where there is a morally justi able reason not to,
and does not show favouritism or discrimination
◦ Which course of action advances the common good
◦ Which course of action develops moral virtues
• This method, of course, does not provide an automatic
solution to moral problems. It is not meant to. The method is
merely meant to help identify most of the important ethical
considerations. In the end, we must deliberate on moral
 

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 issues for ourselves, keeping a careful eye on both the facts

and on the ethical considerations involved

Challenges to Ethics :
Although value con icts occur in manifold areas and at all levels
of the public service, there are speci c challenges to current
public service values which are considered here. They arise in the
context of
• New modes of governanc
• Market-based reform
• Politicisatio
• Agenci catio
• Decentralisation/relocatio
• Changes in HRM and recruitmen
• Information and Communication Technolog
• Red Tapis
BRANCHES OF ETHICS

Branch of
Description
Ethics
·        This branch seeks to understand the
nature of ethical properties and judgments such
as if truth values can be found and the theory
behind moral principles
Meta
Ethics
·        Determines validity of theories advanced
in normative ethics branch. Its described by
thinkers as study & origin of meanings of ethical
concepts.
 

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 ·        Focuses on what is right things to do?

Also called as prescriptive ethics. It is study of
ethical acts
Normative
(Prescripti ·        The largest branch, it deals with how
ve) Ethics individuals can gure out the correct moral
action that they should take. Philosophers such
as Socrates and John Stuart Mill are included in
this branch of ethics.
·        Kohlberg’s moral education explains this
kind of ethics. Studies history and development
of ethics
Descriptive
·        This branch is more scienti c in its
Ethics
approach and focuses on how human beings
actually operate in the real world, rather than
attempt to theorize about how they should
operate.
·        Analyses the application of ethical issues

·        This is the study of applying theories from

Applied philosophers regarding ethics in everyday life.
Ethics This uses application of moral knowledge to
practical problems and uses philosophical
methods to identify the morally correct course
of action in various elds of human life.

Consequentialism Ethics:
Consequentialism is based result-based ethics. It gives us this
guidance when faced with a moral dilemma. It is based on two
principles
 

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 • Whether an act is right or wrong depends only on the results

of that ac
• The more good it produces, it treated as a good ac

Different forms of consequentialism are:

• Utilitarianismstates that people should maximise human
welfare or well-being (which they used to call ‘utility’ – hence
the name)
• Hedonismstates that people should maximise human
pleasure
• Other forms of consequentialism take a more subtle
approach- for example stating that people should maximise
the satisfaction of their fully informed and rational
preferences

DIMENSIONS AND TYPES OF ETHICS:

Ethics can be classi ed into different categories based on its
Nature and area of application
• Depends on its Nature (Theoretical Dimensions):
• Deontological Ethics – Both Means & End importan
• Teleological Ethics – End is the only Important means are
not importan

• Depends of Area of Application (Applied Dimension):

• Personal Ethics –Kind, Truthful, Donations from his earnings
etc
• Societal Ethics – Respect to each weaker sections, Social
service, Social Responsibility et
• Administrative Ethics – Honesty, Integrity, Transparent,
Attitude and Aptitude et
• Media Ethic
• Ethics Of Journalis
• Corporate Ethics – trusteeship etc
 

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 • Business Ethic
• Bio-Ethic
• Environmental Ethics – Sustainable development,
Conservation, Resource ef ciency etc
• Medical Ethics – Treat every patients without discrimination,
Service to Humanity etc
• Professional Ethics – Business Ethics, Corporate
governance, Safe work place for women, Equal opportunities
in the Organisation etc

DEONTOLOGICAL ETHICS
• Derived from the word “Deont” means duty. The MEANS or
instruments adopted to achieve outcome is very much
important along with the desired END. Both MEANS and
ENDS both should be good
• Thinkers like Gandhiji, Vivekananda, Kant, Nehru Comes
under this category
• Example: Gandhiji’s recalling of Non-cooperation movement
is example of Deontological Ethics. After the Chauri chaura
incident he called off the movement before it gets more
violent. Gandhiji always believed in Non-Violence

TELEOLOGICAL ETHICS
• Derived from the Greek philosophy. Telos means Ends/
Goals. According to this school of thought if the outcome is
good then the actions followed to reach that goal or
objectives or ends are also considered as good actions
• Thinkers like Epicurus, Thomas Aquinas, Aristotle, Thomas
Hobbes, JS Mill and Bentham’s Utilitarian principle, Karl
Marx etc who are considers ends are more important than
means
 

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 • Example: Robbin Hood – He Plunders the food and

distributes it to poor

ENVIRONMENTAL ETHICS
• Since Ancient times Indians started living with Nature. We
respect the rights of the animal species and plant species.
But after the Industrial revolution and LPG era India entered
into POLLUTERS CLUB having members include USA,
China, EU
• Emergence of New concept “Anthropocentrism”, is the
belief that HUMAN BEING is the most important entity of this
Universe. Then humans started exploited the nature and
disturbing the Natural cycle
• We are heading towards SIXTH MASS EXTINCTION. India
took several Initiatives to protect our Environment like
enacting acts like Wild life Protection Act, Environmental
Protection Act etc, setup National Green Tribunal (NGT), to
protect endangered species took initiatives like Project Tiger,
Project Elephant, ZSI Red data book etc. Even Judiciary too
time to time interfering where Environment is at stake
• Examples: Uttarakhand High Court declared River Ganga
as living entity where it has equal rights along with Human
beings

Some of the noted Initiatives across the Globe are India’s pledge
towards going green with Renewable Energy, Friday for Future,
EU net zero carbon emissions by 2050 etc. Therefore,
Sustainable Development and Environmental Justice is the
way forward
Thomas Aquinas: If there is a Con ict between Primary laws
(Natural Laws) and Secondary laws (Manmade), We shall always
prioritize Primary laws
Environmental Ethic
 

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 • Anthropocentri
◦ Consequentialisti
◦ Deontologi
▪ Chritsian stewardshi
▪ Nature Mangemen
▪ Kentensia
▪ Rawlesia
• Non-Anthropocentri
◦ Consequentialisti
◦ Deontologi
▪ Animal Protectio
▪ Biocentric individulis
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