INTRODUCTION

As ethics is the philosophical treatment of the moral order, its history does not consist in narrating the views of morality entertained by different nations at different times; this is properly the scope of the history of civilization, and of ethnology. The history of ethics is concerned solely with the various philosophical systems which in the course of time have been elaborated with reference to the moral order. Hence the opinions advanced by the wise men of antiquity, such as Pythagoras (582-500 B.C.), Heraclitus (535-475 B.C.), Confucius (558-479 B.C.), scarcely belong to the history of ethics; for, though they proposed various moral truths and principles, they do so in a dogmatic and didactic way, not in a philosophically …show more content…
The term ethics is derived from the Ancient Greek word ethikos, which is derived from the word ethos which means habit or custom. The branch of philosophy axiology comprises the sub-branches of Ethics and aesthetics, each concerned with concepts of value.
As a branch of philosophy, ethics investigates the questions “What is the best way for people to live?” and “What actions are right or wrong in particular circumstances?” In practice, ethics seeks to resolve questions of human morality, by defining concepts such as good and evil, right and wrong, virtue and vice, justice and crime. As a field of intellectual enquiry, moral philosophy also is related to the fields of moral psychology, descriptive ethics, and value theory.

The three major areas of study within ethics are:

1.Meta-ethics, concerning the theoretical meaning and reference of moral propositions, and how their truth values (if any) can be determined
2.Normative ethics, concerning the practical means of determining a moral course of action
3.Applied ethics, concerning what a person is obligated (or permitted) to do in a specific situation or a particular domain of …show more content…
Since everyone necessarily seeks happiness, no one is deliberately corrupt. All malevolent emerges from obliviousness, and the temperance are every last one however such a variety of sorts of judiciousness. Excellence can, along these lines, be bestowed by guideline. Goodness empowers man to request his behavior, as he legitimately ought to, as indicated by the manages of reason, and acting therefore he gets to be similar to unto God. In any case, Plato varied from Socrates in that he didn't consider ideals to comprise in intelligence alone, yet in equity, moderation, and mettle too, these constituting the best possible agreement of man's exercises. It could be said, the State is man writ vast, and its capacity its capacity is to prepare its natives in goodness. For his optimal State he proposed the group of products and of wives and the government funded training of kids. Though Socrates and Plato had been to the fore in this mighty work and had contributed much valuable material to the up building of ethics; nevertheless, Plato's illustrious disciple, Aristotle (384-322 B.C.), must be considered the real founder of systematic ethics. With characteristic keenness he solved, in his ethical and political writings, most of the problems with which ethics concerns itself. Unlike Plato, who began with ideas as the basis of his observation, Aristotle chose rather