WHAT IS ETHICS?

Each society forms a set of rules that establishes the boundaries generally accepted behavior. These rulesare often expressed in statements about how peaple should behave, and they fit together to form the moral code by which a society lives. Unfortunately, the different rules often have contradictions, and you can be certain about which rule to follow. For instance,if you witness a friend copy someone else's answers while taking an exam, you might be caught in a conflict between loyalty to your friend and the value of telling the truth. Sometimes, the rules do not seem to cover new situations, and you must determine how to apply the existing rules or developes new ones. You may strongly support personal privacy, but in a time when employers track employee e-mail and Enternet usage, what rules do you think are acceptable to govern the appropriate use of company resources?
The term morality refers to social conventions about right and wrong that are so widely shared tha they become the basis of an established consensus. However, one's view of what is moralmay vary the age, cultural group, ethnic background, religion, and gender. There is widespread agreement on the immorality of murder,theft, and arson, but other behaviors that are accepted in one culture might be acceptable in another. For example, in the United States it is perfectly acceptable to place one's elderly parents in a managed care facility in their declining years. In most Middle Eastern countries, however, eldrely parents would never be placed in such a facility; they remain at home and cared for by other family members.
Another example concerns attitude toward the illegal copying of software (piracy), which range from strong opposition to acceptance as astandard approach to business. In 2003, 36 percent of all sofewarein circulation worldwide was pirated, at a cost of $29 bilion to sofeware vendors. The highest piracy rates were in Vietnam and China, where 92 percent.
Even wuthin the same society, people can have stong disagrements over important moral issues-in the United States, for example, issues such as abortion, the death penalty, ad gun control are continuously debated, and both sides feel their arguments are in solid moral ground.