The Relevance of Ethics to the Society | Ethics play a major role in our every day life as it will show in the society and where ever we find ourselves.
Definition of Ethics – What is Ethics?
It is important to define what ethics clearly is before its relevance to the society can be explained.
The term “ethics” does not lend itself to any one single definition. Like religion and especially philosophy of which it is a branch, ethics is open to so many definitions.
Ethics serves as a moral to daily living and helps us to judge whether our actions or behaviour can be justified. Ethics help in playing a critical role in shaping the individuals behaviour within a society; it acts as a self-governing system to keep human self-interest and the good of society at equilibrium because the eyes of the law are not always available.
Ethics are most principles or values that govern the conduct of an individual or a group. Ethics are not only important in business but also in the society as well, because it is an essential part of the foundation on which a civilized society is built. Good ethics also guide decision making.
Ethical norms are ever changing because it is contextual and affected by culture, technology, religion and politics.
There will be serious impacts to the society if the question of what is ethical and what is not, is not fairly and accurately answered. The society or any kind of human interactions functions because humans rely on a varying level of trust in each other, co-operation with one another and respect for others.
The role of ethics in our society and in our lives is very necessary because, it has a large influence on our today as well as our future. We study and learn about good ethics because they guide the decision we make and makes us who we are as well as determine our future and that of our future generations.
Definition of Society – What is a Society
A society can be defined as aggregate of people living together in a more or less ordered community. It is also an organization or club formed for a particular purpose or activity. A society is a group of individuals involved in persistent social interaction, or a large social group sharing the same spatial or social territory.
Society is defined as a group of people living as a community or an organized group of people for a common purpose.
In sociological terms, society refers to a group of people who live in a definable community and share the same culture. On a broader scale, society consist of the people and the institutions around us, our shared beliefs and our cultural ideas. Most societies share a political authority.
Society according to Merriam – Webster is a community or group of people having common traditions, institution and interest (Merriam – Webster dictionary).
According to Cambridge English dictionary: society can be defined as people considered as a group or a group of people who live together in a particular social system.
The following characteristics define a society;
- Likeness
- The Reciprocal Awareness
- Differences
- Interdependence
- Co-operation
- Conflict
The Relevance of Ethics to the Society – The Importance of Ethics in Society
How is the society without ethics?
Ignoring ethics has deadly effects on the body of society.
Since ethics is the science of morality, ignoring ethics in a society will bring about immorality prevailing, which in turn reduces the level of satisfaction or happiness in the society. When individuals act immorally, they don’t take into consideration the interest of others, who may be harmed by the immoral conduct. Sometimes, in the society, the interest of the majority is sacrificed for the benefit of the minority and by creating a sense of dissatisfaction and failure in the majority, the society gradually moves towards anxiety, depression and the individuals develop negative emotions resulting in suicide, murder and other crimes against humanity.
Another important factor to note is that the breach of morality affects the level of trust among individual. This is an important factor that affects all social relationships.
In a society where there is no ethic where every one cares only for their own advancement; the society is prone to be stagnant and unproductive.
That is why ethic is very important to every society because ethics seeks to state what is right without being biased or preferring one person to another.
Ethics saves as a guide to moral daily living and helps us judge whether our behaviors can be ethically justified. Ethics also refers to the society’s sense of the right way of living our daily lives. Ethics does this by establishing rules, principles and values on which we can base our conduct.
Conclusion on The Relevance of Ethics to the Society
The study of ethics is of great importance because ethics governs every sphere of life like the society, the workplace etc.
The societal context where the behavior of human being can be analyzed by ethical decision-making is entirely relevant to deliberate on what is the right thing to do, since the ethical values and principles response to the actual practices of life and to the needs of humans in the society.
Therefore, ethics is regarded as the bedrock on foundation of every productive society and should be adopted by every individual for the betterment of the individual and the society at large.
