Which of the following refers to the set of moral principles and values that governs the behavior of a person or group with respect to what is right or wrong?

Moral principles are guidelines that people live by to make sure they are doing the right thing. These include things like honesty, fairness, and equality. Moral principles can be different for everyone because they depend on how a person was raised and what is important to them in life.

The history of moral principles dates back to Ancient Greece and Ancient China. Moral principles were important in these societies because they believed that to be successful, people needed a clear sense of right and wrong.

Research on moral principles began with Ancient Greek philosophers like Aristotle who wanted to figure out the meaning of virtue. Later, moral principles were studied by philosophers like John Locke, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, and Immanuel Kant.

In the field of psychology, moral principles have been studied in the context of moral development. Psychologists have been interested to understand how children develop a sense of morality and how moral principles are applied in different contexts. For example, psychologist Lawrence Kohlberg studied moral development in boys from different cultures.

In the contemporary world, moral principles still play an important role. They are considered guidelines for living life successfully. For example, honesty is considered a moral principle because it keeps relationships strong.

There are two types of moral principles: absolute and relative.Absolute principles are unchanging and universal. Relative moral principles change depending on the situation.

Absolute moral principles are based on universal truths about the nature of human beings. For example, murder is wrong because it goes against the natural order of things. These are also sometimes called normative moral principles, or those that are generally accepted by society. Below are some examples of absolute moral principles:

• Don't kill.
• Speak the truth.
• Be careful with what you say and do to others.
• Respect the property of others.
• Treat people in need or distress as we would want to be treated if our situation were reversed.

Relative moral principles are based on opinions and circumstances that may change over time or from person to person or for different situations. Relative moral principles depend on a person's beliefs. Relativism to what people perceive as good or bad in relation to themselves. In other words, when someone says something is good, in most cases they are really saying it is good for them, or perhaps it contributes to their well-being. Below are some examples of relative moral principles

Many people strive to live by the moral principles they believe in. But, it can be difficult to follow them all of the time, which is what makes following one's own personal moral values even more valuable.

There are many ways that a person might adhere to their moral principles: through thoughts and feelings, actions, or words. Below are some examples.

• In thoughts and feelings, a person might strive to be honest by being fair and kind.
• With actions, a person might live up to their moral principles by not being violent or aggressive.
• In words, someone might observe their moral principles through politeness.

Moral principles are important for society because they help people learn how to get along and live well with each other. They teach us that all human beings deserve the same rights, which is why it's not okay to discriminate against someone based on their ethnicity or race. People who follow moral principles also tend to have a better quality of life than those who don't.

Moral principles can also impact an individual's identity and sense of self-worth. For example, someone who is honest may feel that they are a good person because they follow the moral principle to be truthful at all times. And for people with strong values about equality, it might make them feel better about themselves when they don't discriminate against people who are different from them.

There are various ways to develop moral principles that transcend culture, religion, and country. If you are just starting on your moral journey, you might consider exploring morals in various philosophical texts.

However, there are also many practical steps a person can take to develop good moral principles:

• Think about what you would do when faced with an ethical dilemma and why you would make those decisions.
• Ask yourself what you think is right or wrong and make sure that your actions are in line with those thoughts.
• Watch out for double standards, like being nice to one person while not being so kind to another.
• If it helps, write down a list of moral principles and post them where they're easy to see, like on a mirror or in your workspace.
• Don't worry if you're not perfectly adhering to your moral principles. The important thing is that you are trying your best.

There are some things that can go wrong when following moral principles. Below are some examples of how moral principles may not always guide you toward the best course of action.

First, it's possible to make judgments about others based on your personal values and not theirs. For example, if you think all women should dress conservatively because you believe dressing another way is immoral, then you are passing judgment on others based on your own set of standards.

In addition, it can be hard to tell the difference between a moral principle and something that's cultural or part of your upbringing. For example, you might believe women should defer to their husbands because in your culture everyone has traditionally agreed with this idea for generations; however, if you were born into a different country where people don't think this way, you might not feel that it's morally right.

Finally, sometimes people can use moral principles to justify bad behavior like stealing or hurting others in some way. For example, if you steal because you believe it will help the poor, then your thoughts could be twisted to say that stealing is OK.

In general, moral principles are beneficial both to society and the individual person. However, blindly following moral principles without considering their origin or using your judgment based on the situation can be problematic. The best course of action is usually to adhere to a loosely defined set of moral principles that align with your beliefs and society as a whole but to also consider each situation individually and weigh the cost of adhering to your morals in terms of its impact on other individuals.

Manuel Velasquez, Claire Andre, Thomas Shanks, S.J., and Michael J. Meyer

Ethics is based on well-founded standards of right and wrong that prescribe what humans ought to do, usually in terms of rights, obligations, benefits to society, fairness, or specific virtues.

Some years ago, sociologist Raymond Baumhart asked business people, "What does ethics mean to you?" Among their replies were the following:

"Ethics has to do with what my feelings tell me is right or wrong.""Ethics has to do with my religious beliefs.""Being ethical is doing what the law requires.""Ethics consists of the standards of behavior our society accepts."

"I don't know what the word means."

These replies might be typical of our own. The meaning of "ethics" is hard to pin down, and the views many people have about ethics are shaky.

Like Baumhart's first respondent, many people tend to equate ethics with their feelings. But being ethical is clearly not a matter of following one's feelings. A person following his or her feelings may recoil from doing what is right. In fact, feelings frequently deviate from what is ethical.

Nor should one identify ethics with religion. Most religions, of course, advocate high ethical standards. Yet if ethics were confined to religion, then ethics would apply only to religious people. But ethics applies as much to the behavior of the atheist as to that of the devout religious person. Religion can set high ethical standards and can provide intense motivations for ethical behavior. Ethics, however, cannot be confined to religion nor is it the same as religion.

Being ethical is also not the same as following the law. The law often incorporates ethical standards to which most citizens subscribe. But laws, like feelings, can deviate from what is ethical. Our own pre-Civil War slavery laws and the old apartheid laws of present-day South Africa are grotesquely obvious examples of laws that deviate from what is ethical.

Finally, being ethical is not the same as doing "whatever society accepts." In any society, most people accept standards that are, in fact, ethical. But standards of behavior in society can deviate from what is ethical. An entire society can become ethically corrupt. Nazi Germany is a good example of a morally corrupt society.

Moreover, if being ethical were doing "whatever society accepts," then to find out what is ethical, one would have to find out what society accepts. To decide what I should think about abortion, for example, I would have to take a survey of American society and then conform my beliefs to whatever society accepts. But no one ever tries to decide an ethical issue by doing a survey. Further, the lack of social consensus on many issues makes it impossible to equate ethics with whatever society accepts. Some people accept abortion but many others do not. If being ethical were doing whatever society accepts, one would have to find an agreement on issues which does not, in fact, exist.

What, then, is ethics? Ethics is two things. First, ethics refers to well-founded standards of right and wrong that prescribe what humans ought to do, usually in terms of rights, obligations, benefits to society, fairness, or specific virtues. Ethics, for example, refers to those standards that impose the reasonable obligations to refrain from rape, stealing, murder, assault, slander, and fraud. Ethical standards also include those that enjoin virtues of honesty, compassion, and loyalty. And, ethical standards include standards relating to rights, such as the right to life, the right to freedom from injury, and the right to privacy. Such standards are adequate standards of ethics because they are supported by consistent and well-founded reasons.

Secondly, ethics refers to the study and development of one's ethical standards. As mentioned above, feelings, laws, and social norms can deviate from what is ethical. So it is necessary to constantly examine one's standards to ensure that they are reasonable and well-founded. Ethics also means, then, the continuous effort of studying our own moral beliefs and our moral conduct, and striving to ensure that we, and the institutions we help to shape, live up to standards that are reasonable and solidly-based.

This article appeared originally in Issues in Ethics IIE V1 N1 (Fall 1987). Revised in 2010.