IMPORTANCE OF STUDYING ETHICS AND VALUES

2. REASONS
• Helps you identify different kinds of moral values and distinguish
them from other kinds of values.
• It helps you see what moral values are at stake in a variety of
situations.
• Helps you decide what to do when faced with difficult moral
choices.

3. STUDYING ETHICS IS IMPOTANT, NOT ONLY
DOES IT TEACH YOU ABOUT MORAL
THEORIES AND PRINCIPLES BUT MORE
IMPORTANTLY, IT HELPS YOU MAKE YOU
BETTER DECISIONS AND ULTIMATELY
REDUCE LIFE STRESSES AND REGRETS.

4. Ethics is a central component of any happy, healthy,
and mature life. But some critics still question the
value of studying ethics and living an ethical life.
After all, if you ignore ethics, you can just focus on
yourself, right? Not so fast. Some great reasons to
resist those critics include the following:

5. Ethics allows you to live an authentic life.
• An authentic and meaningful life requires you to live with a sense of
integrity. Integrity is making commitments and sticking to them through
thick and thin — no matter how much violating them may benefit you.
Having a firm character or set of principles to guide your life and the choices
you make is what ethics is all about.

6. Ethics makes you more successful.
• You may think that ethics can hold you back in all kinds of ways, but the
truth is the opposite. Ethical people embody traits that unethical people have
to work at to fake — they’re honest, trustworthy, loyal, and caring. As a
result, ethical people are perfectly suited not only for interpersonal
relationships generally, but also more specifically for the kinds of interactions
that make for thriving business. Unethical people generally don’t do so well
at these things.

7. Ethics allows you to cultivate inner peace.
• Lives that are lived ethically tend to be calmer, more focused, and more
productive than those that are lived unethically. Most people can’t turn off their
sympathy for other human beings. Hurting people leaves scars on both the giver
and the receiver. As a result, unethical people have stormier internal lives
because they have to work to suppress their consciences and sympathies to deal
with the ways they treat others. When they fail to properly suppress their
sympathies, the guilt and shame that comes with harming or disrespecting one’s
fellow human beings takes deep root within them.

8. Ethics provides for a stable society.
• When people live ethical lives, they tell the truth, avoid harming others, and
are generous. Working with such people is easy. On the other hand, callous
and insensitive people are distrusted, so it’s difficult for them to be integrated
well into social arrangements. A stable society requires a lot of ethical people
working together in highly coordinated ways. If society were mostly
composed of unethical people, it would quickly crumble.

9. Ethics may help out in the afterlife.
• Some religious traditions believe ethics is the key to something even greater
than personal success and social stability: eternal life. No one can be sure
about an eternal life, but people of faith from many different religions believe
that good behavior in this life leads to rewards in the next life.

10. Values reflect our sense of right and wrong.
They help us grow and develop. They help
us create the future we want. The decisions
we make every day are a reflection of our
values.

11. We learn most of our values from our
parents and extended families. Our
family values stem from our social and
cultural values. Sometimes new life
experiences may change values we
previously held.

12. • Relationship values reflect how we relate to other people
in our life, such as friends, family, teachers, managers,
etc. Relationship values include openness, trust,
generosity and caring.
• Social values reflect how we relate to society. Social
values include justice, freedom, respect, community, and
responsibility.

13. In today’s world, it may seem our society
doesn’t practice many values. We have a rise
in discrimination, abuse of power, greed, etc.
What are we leaving behind for our future
generations? Maybe it’s time society takes a
hard look at its values.

14. Here are some things that our society needs
more of:
• Empathy – It is defined as understanding and sharing the
feelings of another. People need to understand who others
are and accept who they are. Focusing on how we can
grow together should be our ultimate goal.

15. • Respect – Mutual respect is needed for all of us. This is what makes us human.
Having respect for everyone, despite the differences between us, is vital in order for
a society to function well.
• Love – Having love in our hearts keeps us from feeling the need to harm others.
Love helps us acknowledge the similarities we all share rather than the differences
of color, religion or sexual orientation.
• Loyalty – Loyalty is a value that binds us to a person, thing or sentiment. With
loyalty, we do not betray. If we all shared loyalty, it would help us build the strength
needed to stand up against something that would harm our society.
• Honesty – One form of honesty in society is accepting yourself. With honesty, you
can admit your flaws and take the necessary steps to improve yourself. When we can
admit to our flaws it can help someone else admit theirs. Ultimately, we can all help
each other become better people.

16. Values can be contagious; if you practice
them, many others will also, including our
children.