Ethics and values

1. Ethics and values
As a human being, living in a given society, ethics and values are most important.
Ethics word is derived from the word ‘Ethikos’ it means Character in Greek. Ethics are a set
of rules governed by the behaviour of an individual person, which are over a period
reinforced by the societal culture or the group of people. In simple terms ethics is defined as a
system of moral principles. Ethics principles are built based on the following aspects - truth, justice,
integrity and honesty.
Ethics and values are required for everyone to live in a given society.
Values are very much relevant to an individual person's beliefs and preferences. It means
they are very much personal to an individual.
The similarities of ethics and values in practice are:
Honesty and integrity and respecting all are common to Ethics and values.
The common societal values of the people over a period could become Ethics. This is
because values become a norm, if the majority of people follow.
We don't need a written constitution, if people follow the ‘ethics’ of a political geographic
area (Nation) and live in integrity. The reasons for losing ethics and values by people, they
are mean, compete to survive, excel in life and try to establish themselves superior to others.
As an employee Ethical conduct of a person is more important. A person with principles and
ideals constituting values, are also preferred. This is because individuals coming together
make an organisation. Ethical behaviour based on organisational ethics is expected at the
workplace.
Ethics and values also evolve and change with time and space. People migrating from one
nation to another nation often have the challenges of readjustment to new ethics and values.
In the recent past we have seen a mass exodus of people from Syria and other disturbed
nations to Europe. There was a challenge of coping with changed society. It takes several
years to merge with the majority of native people. We also find the minor differences of
ethics and values between people - Rural | Urban; Rich | Poor; Religions; Sects; Nations;
etc. This situation is explained with the term ‘ethical relativism’ which means societies in
different geographies have diverse beliefs, there are also cultural differences.
Gowtham Buddha broke many societal ethics of his times, say left the kingdom ignoring
Rajdharma, left wife and kid ignoring Pathidharma, etc. Based on his values reinforced over
a period created a society with revised ethics and values through Buddhism.
The differences between ethics and values with examples are:
Once a person was doing parikrama of a holy hill, almost everyone walked barefoot. That
was the code of conduct. As an exception, he walked with shoes, because he is diabetic.

2. The values within him did not diminish. But for society it was like breaking ethics.It was
important for him to save his feet too, as per the doctors advice.
Governance ethics, define how to regularise an illegal building, through payment of fine. But
values of individuals should help in correcting the wrong and remain within the building
codes of the area.
Some of the corrupt persons define their values for reasons such as I am paid less salary for
my work so I am taking bribes as an incentive. These are emotional individual values. Where
as ethically to be more acceptable to the society and cover up their wrongs they donate
some funds to an orphanage.
Ethics define the character of an individual which needs to be consistent, say a person
working in an organisation. Whereas the individual values are different to people.
Values lead to achieve personal goals in one's life, define destiny. In the journey one may or
may not be ethical at every action. Say, striving for the freedom of India, was the biggest
value in Gandhi's life. The technology of protest, satyagraha, boycotting goods or conducting
bandhs, was breaking ethics for the then government.
Driving on a road with a particular speed defines what is right or wrong, sometimes due to
urgency, one might increase the speed of driving, it is an individual value - a decision made
with responsibility and for achieving the result.
Ethics based on age old cultures and religious beliefs may not stand to exist in the present
world. A person with values might be willing to change or set different conditions to live.
Which might appear to be immoral and unethical for the current societies. As there are
constitutional amendments keeping in mind the latest requirements, similarly the ethics and
values could also change in a person's lifetime. The suffering of a person will increase when
ethics followed are beyond reason and righteousness.
The global population is having non-vegetarian food, ethically such a food is non-sustainable
considering the carrying capacity of the earth. A person conscious with environmental
concerns and its implications could turn to vegetarian. It is purely the values of such an
individual which brings positive change or adaptation.
For many persons actions, monetary values dominate the ethical aspects. The international
trade which has environmental impacts in another country is ethically not justified. The large
farms in Brazil created for beef is of major concern at the cost of deforestation. Supporting
the beef eating population in the United States of America. With the belief of not in my
neighbourhood, people still practice unsustainable trades. As a result, global warming,
climate change, ecological destruction, floods, soil erosion, loss of biodiversity, etc are the
visible impacts.
Adaptation is a way to change ethics and values in a given system in time and space for
achieving sustainable development.
In education ethics and values need to be taught, and the examples should be provided to
the students for better understanding. This helps students to become better citizens.