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By the end of this lesson, students will be able to define ethics and explain its significance in personal and civic life.

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Students will identify different types of ethical principles and analyze how ethics guide decision-making in various situations.

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How do ethical principles guide our decisions and actions in society? What would happen if people had no ethical guidelines?

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Begin with a think-pair-share activity. Students think about what 'right' and 'wrong' mean to them, then discuss with a partner before sharing with the class.

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Semester Ethics Course condensed into 22mins (Part 1 of 2)

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Teacher presents the definition of ethics as moral principles that govern behavior. Explain the difference between ethics, morals, and values using real-world examples from Ethiopian society.

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How is ethics different from morality?

Is ethics a social science?

ethics, the discipline concerned with what is morally good and bad and morally right and wrong. The term is also applied to any system or theory of moral values or principles.
(Read Britannica's biography of this author, Peter Singer.)
How should we live? Shall we aim at happiness or at knowledge, virtue, or the creation of beautiful objects? If we choose happiness, will it be our own or the happiness of all? And what of the more particular questions that face us: is it right to be dishonest in a good cause? Can we justify living in opulence while elsewhere in the world people are starving? Is going to war justified in cases where it is likely that innocent people will be killed? Is it wrong to clone a human being or to destroy human embryos in medical research? What are our obligations, if any, to the generations of humans who will come after us and to the nonhuman animals with whom we share the planet?

Ethics deals with such questions at all levels. Its subject consists of the fundamental issues of practical decision making, and its major concerns include the nature of ultimate value and the standards by which human actions can be judged right or wrong.

The terms ethics and are closely related. It is now common to refer to ethical judgments or to ethical principles where it once would have been more accurate to speak of moral judgments or moral principles. These applications are an extension of the meaning of ethics. In earlier usage, the term referred not to morality itself but to the field of study, or branch of inquiry, that has morality as its subject matter. In this sense, ethics is equivalent to moral philosophy.

Although ethics has always been viewed as a branch of philosophy, its all-embracing practical nature links it with many other areas of study, including anthropology, biology, economics, history, politics, sociology, and theology. Yet, ethics remains distinct from such disciplines because it is not a matter of factual knowledge in the way that the sciences and other branches of inquiry are. Rather, it has to do with determining the nature of normative theories and applying these sets of principles to practical moral problems.

This article, then, will deal with ethics as a field of philosophy, especially as it has developed in the West. For coverage of religious conceptions of ethics and the ethical systems associated with world religions, see Buddhism; Christianity; Confucianism; Hinduism; Jainism; Judaism; Sikhism.

The origins of ethics

Mythical accounts

Introduction of moral codes

When did ethics begin and how did it originate? If one has in mind ethics proper-i.e., the systematic study of what is morally right and wrong-it is clear that ethics could have come into existence only when human beings started to reflect on the best way to live. This reflective stage emerged long after human societies had developed some kind of morality, usually in the form of customary standards of right and wrong conduct. The process of reflection tended to arise from such customs, even if in the end it may have found them wanting. Accordingly, ethics began with the introduction of the first moral codes.

Virtually every human society has some form of myth to explain the origin of morality. In the Louvre in Paris there is a black Babylonian column with a relief showing the sun god Shamash presenting the code of laws to Hammurabi (died c. 1750 bce), known as the Code of Hammurabi. The Hebrew Bible ( Old Testament) account of God's giving the Ten Commandments to Moses (flourished 14th-13th century bce) on Mount Sinai might be considered another example. In the dialogue Protagoras by Plato (428/427-348/347 bce), there is an avowedly mythical account of how Zeus took pity on the hapless humans, who were physically no match for the other beasts. To make up for these deficiencies, Zeus gave humans a moral sense and the capacity for law and justice, so that they could live in larger communities and cooperate with one another.

That morality should be invested with all the mystery and power of divine origin is not surprising. Nothing else could provide such strong reasons for accepting the moral law. By attributing a divine origin to morality, the priesthood became its interpreter and guardian and thereby secured for itself a power that it would not readily relinquish. This link between morality and religion has been so firmly forged that it is still sometimes asserted that there can be no morality without religion. According to this view, ethics is not an independent field of study but rather a branch of theology ( see moral theology).

There is some difficulty, already known to Plato, with the view that morality was created by a divine power. In his dialogue , Plato considered the suggestion that it is divine approval that makes an action good. Plato pointed out that, if this were the case, one could not say that the gods approve of such actions because they are good. Why then do they approve of them? Is their approval entirely arbitrary? Plato considered this impossible and so held that there must be some standards of right or wrong that are independent of the likes and dislikes of the gods. Modern philosophers have generally accepted Plato's argument, because the alternative implies that if, for example, the gods had happened to approve of torturing children and to disapprove of helping one's neighbours, then torture would have been good and neighbourliness bad.

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Ethics | Definition, History, Examples, Types, Philosophy, & Facts

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Ethics, the philosophical discipline concerned with what is morally good and bad and morally right and wrong. Its subject consists of fundamental issues of practical decision making, and its major concerns include the nature of ultimate value and the standards by which human actions can be morally evaluated.

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Introduce key ethical principles: honesty, integrity, respect, responsibility, and justice. Use Ethiopian cultural examples and proverbs to illustrate each principle.

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Present students with age-appropriate ethical scenarios. In small groups, students discuss what they would do and why. Groups can use Padlet to collaborate and share their reasoning.

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Character Education - Social Emotional Learning - Life Skills - Lesson Plans & Curriculum

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THE DAILY DILEMMA ARCHIVE

This is an archive of moral & ethical discussion starters from the case files of Charis Denison, Prajna Consulting. It presents a variety of age-appropriate, real-life dilemmas that usually ignite intense student discussions. These are just synopses. When you see something that looks interesting (and they all are), just click on the number and you'll get the full story, notes for the facilitator (that's you), and challenging discussion questions.

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Ethical Dilemmas Archive - Lesson Plan & Curriculum

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This is an archive of moral & ethical discussion starters from the case files of Charis Denison, Prajna Consulting. It presents a variety of age-appropriate, real-life dilemmas that usually ignite intense student discussions. These are just synopses.

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Students analyze a real-world ethical situation relevant to Ethiopian society (e.g., environmental protection, helping community members). They identify the ethical principles involved.

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Independent Practice - Personal Ethics Reflection

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Independent Practice - Personal Ethics Reflection

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Students write a short reflection on their own ethical principles and how they apply them in daily life. They should give specific examples.

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Extension Activity - Ethics in Leadership

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Extension Activity - Ethics in Leadership

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Advanced students research Ethiopian leaders who demonstrated strong ethical principles and prepare a brief presentation about their ethical decision-making.

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Remediation Activity - Ethics Vocabulary

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Remediation Activity - Ethics Vocabulary

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Students who need additional support create a visual vocabulary chart with key ethics terms, definitions, and illustrations or examples.

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Students complete a quick 3-2-1 exit ticket: 3 things they learned about ethics, 2 examples of ethical principles, 1 question they still have.

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Formative Assessment - Group Discussions

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Formative Assessment - Group Discussions

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Teacher observes and takes notes during small group discussions about ethical dilemmas, noting student understanding and participation.

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A short quiz covering the definition of ethics, types of ethical principles, and application through scenario-based questions.

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Do you tend to act in the most ethical of manners? Perhaps your sense of the moral principles that govern a person’s behaviour is somewhat skewed? Let’s take a look at the following quiz on ethics using high school as an example – picture yourself back in school and imagine yourself in the following scenarios and let us know how you would act. Let’s find out how ethical you are!

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Performance Assessment - Scenario Analysis

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Performance Assessment - Scenario Analysis

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Students demonstrate their understanding by analyzing a new ethical scenario and explaining which principles apply and why.

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Students participate in a whole-class discussion answering: 'How will understanding ethics help you in your daily life and as a future citizen of Ethiopia?'

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Each student writes one ethical principle they want to focus on improving in their own life and explains why they chose it.

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Preview how ethics connects to upcoming topics in civics such as civic responsibility, democratic participation, and social justice.

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Students interview a family member or community elder about an ethical decision they had to make. Write a one-page summary including the situation, the decision made, and the ethical principles involved.

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For one week, students keep a brief daily journal noting ethical decisions they observe or make themselves, reflecting on the principles that guided these decisions.

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Students explore free online resources about ethics and complete a worksheet identifying examples of ethical and unethical behavior in various contexts.

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Quiz & Worksheet - High School Ethics Instruction | Study.com

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See what you know about how and why ethics should be taught to high school students by completing this quiz and worksheet. The questions will help…