Ethics: lecture notes (). Ethics as a practical philosophy: subject, structure, modern problems and tasks

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The concept of "ethics" comes from the ancient Greek ethos (ethos). At first, ethos was understood as a place of joint residence, a house, a dwelling, an animal lair, a bird's nest. Then they began to mainly designate the stable nature of some phenomenon, temper, custom, character. Understanding the word "ethos" as the character of a person, Aristotle introduced the adjective "ethical" in order to designate a special class of human qualities, which he called ethical virtues. Ethical virtues, therefore, are the properties of the human character, his temperament, spiritual qualities.

For a more accurate translation of the Aristotelian term "ethical" with Greek Cicero introduced the term "moralis" (moral) into Latin. He formed it from the word "mos" (mores - plural), which was used to denote character, temperament, fashion, cut of clothing, custom. In Russian, such a word has become, in particular, “morality”.

Thus, in its original meaning, "ethics", "morality", "morality" are three different words, although they were one term and are used as synonyms in everyday speech.

Over time, the situation has changed. In the process of development of philosophy, as the identity of ethics as a field of knowledge was revealed, a tradition of distinguishing between these concepts has developed.

Thus, ethics primarily means the corresponding area of theoretical knowledge, science, and morality (or morality) is the subject studied by it, a special form of social consciousness or human activity. Although the researchers had various attempts to breed the terms "morality" and "morality". For example, Hegel under morality understood the subjective aspect of actions, and under morality - the actions themselves, their objective essence.

Ethics arose more than two and a half thousand years ago, when, as a result of the social division of labor, cognitive theoretical activity separated from direct practical moral consciousness. Ethics as a philosophical discipline is a deeply theoretical doctrine that explains the nature of morality, the complex and contradictory world of moral relations, the highest aspirations of man.

The peculiarities of ethics within the framework of philosophy are that ethics constitutes the normative and practical part of the system of philosophical knowledge. The essential peculiarity of ethics lies in its normativity. Aristotle, and after him many other philosophers, considered ethics as a practical philosophy, the ultimate task of which is the production of not knowledge, but values. It sets the value basis of human activity.

Ethics seeks to clarify the general foundations of the moral world order, the whole variety of manifestations of morality: what is goodness, humanity, truth in life, what is the purpose of a person, what makes a person's life meaningful, happy, etc. Ethics studies the origin of moral values, common nature morality, its specificity and role in human life.

Ethics as a theory of morality establishes a logical connection between moral assessments, you reveal the laws in accordance with which judgments are developed, designed to guide people's actions. Ethics does not develop specific recommendations on how to act in a particular case, it formulates only general abstract principles on which specific assessments and recommendations can be built.

As a theory of morality, ethics deals with the study of the main categories in which moral assessments and criteria for distinguishing between good and evil can be described. Within the framework of ethics, a system of concepts is built and explored, in which both the moral laws themselves and the logic of their application to the assessment of human behavior in specific situations can be expressed.

From the characterization of ethics as a theory of morality, which has a normative-practical orientation, two most important functions of ethics follow: cognitive and normative.

The cognitive function of ethics is that ethics studies human behavior in relation to value orientations, evaluates his motives in the categories of good and evil, justice and injustice, etc. In this sense, we can say that ethics explores moral life from the point of view of its compliance with moral standards. The task of ethics is to help a person in each specific historical period to understand what the true good is and to find his own way to achieve this good.

The normative function of ethics is associated with the solution of one of its most important tasks: resolving moral situations that require a new understanding of morality, overcoming the value fragmentation of public consciousness; thus with the opportunity to offer society a new, common moral perspective for all. In order to achieve this, ethics in a given historical period must remove the halo of absoluteness from certain moral norms, values and ideals, show their relative nature, and then elevate others to the absolute.

Ethics is a philosophical science, the object of study of which is morality. Ethics does not create norms, principles and rules of behavior, assessments and ideals, but studies, theoretically generalizes, systematizes and seeks to substantiate uniform norms, values and ideals. To do this, it must reveal the source of the origin of moral norms, values and ideals, the general nature of morality and its role in the life of a person and society, and identify the patterns of its functioning. In a crisis community development ethics ensures the change of moral normative-value systems.

LECTURE #1

Basic concepts of ethics

1. The concept of ethics

The concept of "ethics" comes from the ancient Greek ethos (ethos). At first, ethos was understood as a place of joint residence, a house, a dwelling, an animal lair, a bird's nest. Then they began to designate mainly the stable nature of some phenomenon, temper, custom, character. For example, Heraclitus believed that the ethos of man is his deity. Such a change in the meaning of the concept expressed the connection between the circle of communication of a person and his character.

Understanding the word "ethos" as character, Aristotle introduced the adjective "ethical" in order to designate a special class of human qualities, which he called ethical virtues. Ethical virtues, therefore, are the properties of the human character, his temperament, spiritual qualities.

They differ, on the one hand, from affects, the properties of the body, and, on the other hand, from the dianoetic virtues, the properties of the mind. In particular, fear is a natural affect, and memory is a property of the mind. At the same time, the properties of character can be considered: moderation, courage, generosity. To designate the system of ethical virtues as a special area of knowledge and to highlight this knowledge as an independent science, Aristotle introduced the term "ethics".

For a more accurate translation of the Aristotelian term "ethical" from Greek into Latin, Cicero introduced the term "moralis" (moral). He formed it from the word "mos" (mores - plural), which, as in Greek, was used to denote character, temperament, fashion, cut of clothes, custom.

Cicero, for example, talked about moral philosophy, referring to the same field of knowledge that Aristotle called ethics. In the 4th century A.D. e. V Latin the term “moralitas” (morality) also appeared, which is a direct analogue of the Greek concept of “ethics”.

These words, one of Greek, the other of Latin origin, entered the modern European languages. Together with them, a number of languages have their own words that mean the same thing that is understood by the terms "ethics" and "morality". In Russian, such a word has become, in particular, "morality", in German- Sittlichkeit. These terms repeat the history of the emergence of the concepts of "ethics" and "morality" from the word "morality".

Thus, in their original meaning, "ethics", "morality", "morality" are three different words, although they were one term. Over time, the situation has changed. In the process of development of philosophy, as the identity of ethics as a field of knowledge is revealed, these words begin to be assigned different meanings.

Thus, ethics primarily means the corresponding field of knowledge, science, and morality (or morality) is the subject studied by it. Although the researchers had various attempts to breed the terms "morality" and "morality". For example, Hegel under morality understood the subjective aspect of actions, and under morality - the actions themselves, their objective essence.

Thus, he called morality what a person sees actions in his subjective assessments, feelings of guilt, intentions, and morality - what the actions of an individual in the life of a family, state, people actually are. In accordance with the cultural and linguistic tradition, morality is often understood as high fundamental positions, and morality, on the contrary, is mundane, historically very changeable norms of behavior. In particular, the commandments of God can be called moral, but the rules of a school teacher are moral.

In general, in the general cultural vocabulary, all three words continue to be used interchangeably to this day. For example, in colloquial Russian, what is called ethical norms can just as well be called moral or ethical norms. In a language that claims scientific rigor, an important meaning is given, first of all, to the distinction between the concepts of ethics and morality (morality), but even this is not fully maintained. So, sometimes ethics as a field of knowledge is called moral (moral) philosophy, and the term “ethics” is used to refer to some moral (moral) phenomena (for example, environmental ethics, business ethics).

In lectures, we will adhere to the position that “eti-ka” is a science, a field of knowledge, an intellectual tradition, and the terms “morality” or “morality” are used as synonyms and understand by them what is studied by ethics, its subject.

2. Ethics and morality as a subject of ethics

What is morality (morality)? This question has been a key, initial one in ethics throughout the history of this field of knowledge. It spans about two and a half thousand years.

Various philosophical schools and thinkers gave a variety of answers to it. So far, there is no indisputable single definition morality, which is directly related to the peculiarities of this phenomenon. Reasoning about morality or morality turn out to be different images of morality itself is not at all accidental.

Morality, morality - is much more than the sum of the facts, which is subject to research. It also acts as a task that requires its solution, as well as theoretical reflection. Morality is not just what is. She is most likely what she should be.

Therefore, the relationship between ethics and morality cannot be limited to its reflection and explanation. Ethics, therefore, must offer its own model of morality.

As a result, some researchers compare moral philosophers with architects, whose professional calling is to design, create new buildings.

There are some of the most General characteristics morals, which today are widely represented in ethics and are very firmly entrenched in culture.

These definitions are more in line with generally accepted views on morality.

Morality comes in two different forms:

1) as a characteristic of a person, the amount moral character and virtues (truthfulness, kindness);

2) as a characteristic of relations in society between people, the sum of moral rules (“do not lie”, “do not steal”, “do not kill”).

Thus, they usually reduce general analysis morality into two categories: the moral (moral) dimension of the individual and the moral dimension of society.

Moral (moral) dimension of personality Since Greek antiquity, morality has been understood as a measure of a person's elevation above himself, an indicator of the extent to which a person is responsible for his actions, for what he does. Ethical reflections often arise in connection with the need of a person to understand the problems of guilt and responsibility. There is an example in Plutarch's "Biographies" that confirms this.

Once, during a competition, a pentathlete unintentionally killed a man with a dart. Pericles and Protagoras, the famous ruler of Athens and philosopher, spent the whole day discussing who is to blame for what happened - either the dart, or the one who threw it, or the one who organized the competition.

Thus, the question of man's dominance over himself is to a greater extent a question of the dominance of reason over passions. Morality, as the etymology of the word shows, is associated with the character of a person, his temperament. It is a qualitative characteristic of his soul. If a person is called sincere, then they mean that he is responsive to people, kind. When, on the contrary, they say about someone that he is soulless, then they mean that he is evil and cruel. The value of morality as a qualitative certainty of the human soul was substantiated by Aristotle.

Reason enables a person to correctly, objectively, balanced reason about the world. Irrational processes sometimes proceed independently of the mind, and sometimes depend on it. They proceed at the vegetative level.

They depend on the mind in their affective, emotional manifestations. In what is connected with pleasures and sufferings. Affects (passions, desires) can arise in accordance with the orders of the mind or contrary to them.

Thus, when passions are in agreement with reason, we have a virtuous, perfect structure of the soul. In another case, when passions dominate a person, we have a vicious structure of the soul.

Morality can thus be considered as the ability of a person to limit himself in desires. It must resist sensual licentiousness. In all peoples and at all times, morality was understood as restraint, mainly, of course, restraint in relation to affects, egoistic passions. In a number of moral qualities, one of the first places was occupied by moderation and courage, which testified that a person knows how to resist gluttony and fear, the strongest instinctive desires, and also knows how to manage them.

But one should not think that asceticism is the main moral virtue, and the diversity of sensual life is a serious moral vice. To reign over and control one's passions does not mean to suppress. Since the passions themselves can also be "enlightened", be associated with the correct judgments of the mind. Thus, it is necessary to distinguish between two positions, the best ratio of reason and feelings (passions), and how such a ratio is achieved.

3. Ethical values

Let's look at some core ethical values.

Pleasure. Among the positive values, pleasure and benefit are considered the most obvious. These values directly correspond to the interests and needs of a person in his life. A person who by nature strives for pleasure or utility seems to manifest himself in a completely earthly way.

Pleasure (or enjoyment) is a feeling and experience that accompanies the satisfaction of a person's needs or interests.

The role of pleasure and pain is determined from a biological point of view, by the fact that they perform the function of adaptation: human activity depends on pleasure, which meets the needs of the body; lack of pleasure, suffering hinder the actions of a person, are dangerous for him.

In this sense, pleasure, of course, plays a positive role, it is very valuable. The state of satisfaction is ideal for the body, and a person needs to do everything to achieve such a state.

In ethics, this concept is called hedonism (from the Greek hedone - "enjoyment"). At the heart of this teaching lie! the idea that the pursuit of pleasure and the denial of suffering is the main meaning of human actions, the basis for human happiness.

In the language of normative ethics, the main idea of this mind-structure is expressed as follows: "Enjoyment is the goal of human life, everything that gives pleasure and leads to it is good." Great contribution to the study of the role of pleasure in human life introduced by Freud. The scientist concluded that the "principle of pleasure" is the main natural regulator of mental processes, mental activity. The psyche, according to Freud, is such that, regardless of a person's attitudes, feelings of pleasure and displeasure are decisive. The most striking, as well as relatively accessible, can be considered bodily pleasures, sexual, and pleasures associated with satisfying the need for warmth, food, and rest. The principle of pleasure is in opposition to social norms of decency and acts as the basis of personal independence.

It is in pleasure that a person is able to feel himself, to free himself from external circumstances, obligations, habitual attachments. Thus, pleasures are for a person a manifestation of individual will. Behind pleasure there is always desire, which must be suppressed by social institutions. The desire for pleasure turns out to be realized in a departure from responsible relationships with other people.

Of course, for each individual, pleasure is pleasant and therefore desirable. As a result, it can represent a value for the individual in itself and determine and influence the motives of his actions.

Ordinary behavior based on prudence and the acquisition of benefits is the opposite of an orientation towards pleasure. Hedonists distinguished between psychological and moral aspects, psychological basis and ethical content. From a moral-philosophical point of view, hedonism is an ethic of pleasure.

Pleasure as a position and value in it is both recognized and accepted. A person's desire for pleasure determines the hedonist's motives and the hierarchy of his values, his way of life. Calling good pleasure, the hedonist consciously builds his goals, in accordance not with good, but with pleasure.

Can pleasure be a fundamental moral principle? Three approaches can be found in the history of philosophy. The first - positive, belongs to the representatives of ethical hedonism. The other, negative, belongs to religious thinkers, as well as philosophers-fam-universalists (V. S. Solovyov and others). They criticized hedonism, believed that the variety of predilections, tastes, attachments does not allow recognizing pleasure as a moral principle. The third approach was developed by the eudemonists (Epicurus and the classical utilitarians). Eudemonists denied the unconditionality of sensual pleasures. But they accepted sublime pleasures, considering them genuine, and regarded them as a universal moral basis for actions.

Benefit. This is a positive value based on interests, a person's attitude to various objects, the comprehension of which makes it possible to maintain and improve his social, political, economic, professional, cultural status. The principle of utility can thus be expressed in the rule: "Based on your own interest, take advantage of everything."

Since interests are expressed in terms of the goals pursued by a person in his activity, it can be considered useful that which contributes to the achievement of goals, and also that thanks to which the goals are achieved.

Utility as a result characterizes the means necessary to achieve some goal. Along with the benefits, utilitarian thinking includes other value concepts, for example, "success", "efficiency". Thus, something is considered useful if:

1) meets someone's interests;

2) ensures the achievement of the set goals;

3) contributes to the success of actions;

4) contributes to the effectiveness of actions. Like other practical values (success, expediency, efficiency, advantage, etc.), utility is a relative value in contrast to absolute values (goodness, truth, beauty, perfection).

The principle of benefit was also criticized from various social and moral positions - patriarchal and aristocratic, religious, revolutionary and anarchist. But from whatever position the criticism was carried out, one way or another, a socio-ethical problem was posed in it: the desire for benefit is self-serving, immense concern for success leads to ignoring obligations, the consistently pursued principle of utility leaves no room for humane -sti, but from the point of view of the life of society, it largely feeds the centrifugal forces.

As a value, utility is in the interests of people. However, accepting utility as the only criterion for actions leads to a conflict of interest. Entrepreneurship is considered the most characteristic expression of a person's benefit-oriented activity as an activity aimed at achieving profit through the production of goods and the provision of various services.

Firstly, they are necessary for a society of private consumers and, secondly, they are able to compete with similar goods and services offered by other manufacturers. self-interest, utility itself is recognized and highly valued only as general utility, as a common good.

Justice. Etymologically Russian word"justice" comes from the words "truth", "righteousness". In European languages, the corresponding words come from the Latin word "justitia" - "justice", indicating its connection with legal law.

Justice is one of the principles that regulates the relationship between people regarding the distribution or redistribution, also mutual (in exchange, donation), of social values.

Social values are understood in the broadest sense. These are, for example, freedom, opportunities, income, signs of respect or prestige. Just people are called those who obey the laws and return good for good, and unjust are those who create arbitrariness, violate the rights of people, do not remember the good done to them. Retribution to each according to his merits is recognized as fair, and undeserved punishments and honors are recognized as unfair.

The tradition of dividing justice into two types goes back to Aristotle: distributive (or rewarding) and equalizing (or directional). The first is connected with the distribution of property, honors and other benefits among members of society. In this case, justice is that a certain amount of goods should be distributed in proportion to merit. The second is associated with the exchange, and justice is designed to equalize the parties. Justice presupposes a certain level of agreement between the members of society regarding the principles by which they live. These principles may change, but the understanding of justice will depend on what rules have been established in a given society.

Mercy. In the history of ethics, merciful love as a moral principle has been recognized in one form or another by many thinkers. Although quite serious doubts were also expressed: firstly, can mercy be considered ethical principle and, secondly, whether the commandment of love can be considered an imperative, all the more fundamental. The problem was seen in the fact that love, even in the broadest sense, is a feeling, a subjective phenomenon that is not subject to conscious regulation. Feelings cannot be imputed (“you can’t order your heart”). Thus, feeling cannot be considered a universal basis for moral choice.

The commandment of love was put forward by Christianity as a universal requirement, which contains all the requirements of the Decalogue. But at the same time, both in the sermons of Jesus and in the epistles of the Apostle Paul, there is a difference between the law of Moses and the commandment of love, which, in addition to the theological significance, also had an essential ethical content. The ethical aspect of distinguishing between the Decalogue and the commandment of love was perceived in modern European thought.

According to Hobbes, the norms of the Decalogue forbid intrusion into the lives of other people and significantly limit the claims of everyone to the possession of everything. Mercy liberates, not limits.

It requires one person to allow another everything that he himself wants to be allowed to him. Pointing to the equality and equivalence of the golden commandment, Hobbes interpreted it as a standard of social relations.

Thus mercy is the highest moral principle. But there is no reason to always expect it from others. Mercy must be considered a duty, and not a duty of a person. In human relations, mercy is only a recommended requirement. Mercy can be imputed to a person as a moral duty, but he himself has the right to demand from others only justice and nothing more.

1. Basic concepts of ethics

concept "ethics" comes from ancient Greek ethos (it with). At first, ethos was understood as a place of joint residence, a house, a dwelling, an animal lair, a bird's nest. Then they began to mainly designate the stable nature of some phenomenon, temper, custom, character.

Understanding the word "ethos" as the character of a person, Aristotle introduced the adjective "ethical" in order to designate a special class of human qualities, which he called ethical virtues. Ethical virtues, therefore, are the properties of the human character, his temperament, spiritual qualities.

At the same time, the properties of character can be considered: moderation, courage, generosity. To designate the system of ethical virtues as a special area of knowledge and to highlight this knowledge as an independent science, Aristotle introduced the term "ethics".

For a more accurate translation of the Aristotelian term "ethical" from Greek into Latin Cicero coined the term "moralis" (moral). He formed it from the word "mos" (mores - plural), which was used to denote character, temperament, fashion, cut of clothes, custom.

Words that mean the same thing as the terms "ethics" And "morality". In Russian, such a word has become, in particular, “morality”, in German - Sittlichkeit . These terms repeat the history of the emergence of the concepts of "ethics" and "morality" from the word "morality".

Thus, in their original meaning, "ethics", "morality", "morality" are three different words, although they were one term.

Over time, the situation has changed. In the process of development of philosophy, as the identity of ethics as a field of knowledge is revealed, these words begin to be assigned different meanings.

Yes, under ethics first of all, it means the corresponding field of knowledge, science, and morality (or morality) is the subject studied by it. Although the researchers had various attempts to breed the terms "morality" and "morality". For example, Hegel under morality understood the subjective aspect of actions, and under morality - the actions themselves, their objective essence.

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Hello, dear readers of the blog site. We live in a society among other people who differ from each other in their worldview and perception of reality.

In order to coexist peacefully, mankind has come up with certain rules and laws that regulate the interaction between individuals.

Ethics is the study of the relationship between man and society. studying values and moral principles underlying human behavior.

Definition - what is it

The word "ethics" comes from the ancient Greek ethos ( it with). Initially, ethos meant a place of common residence: a house, a nest, a lair. Later, they began to call them a certain constancy - character or.

Philosopher Aristotle, understanding ethos as a character, added the adjective "ethical" to it, meaning by it a certain set of virtues.

Further, Cicero, when trying to translate the word "ethical" from ancient Greek into Latin, introduced a new concept - "moralis" (moral). So in those days the words "ethical" and "moral" "ethics" and "morality" were synonyms. But over time, the situation has changed: each of the concepts has its own meaning.

At present, the science of ethics is a branch of philosophy, a science whose subject of study is public morality and.

Morality is understood as the norms and rules established by people for more comfortable communication (what society requires of you). Morality - these are the same norms of behavior, but coming from within - your personal ones, laid down from childhood (your requirements for yourself and others - through the prism of personality).

Since there is a society different groups and subgroups (parties, teams at the enterprise, communities), each of them has its own ethical code.

Ethics is the regulator of human behavior. But unlike, for example, from jurisprudence, in ethics, the regulation of behavior is carried out by the individual independently on the basis of good will.

That is, if the rules of a certain group do not correspond to your inner beliefs and values, then you can refuse to accept and implement them. For example, I will never work for a company where corporate ethics allows employees to be cruel to each other.

Sections of ethics

Ethical categories

So, what ethics studies: the object is society and man, and the subject is their moral values. Any science has its own laws and ethics is no exception. Her main rule(it is called "golden") says: "Do to others as you want to be treated to you."

Also, this doctrine has its own categories, through the prism of which it studies human morality and morality. There are seven in total:

. The first is everything that concerns goodness, the second is that which is contrary to it;
Duty- a set of duties of the individual in relation to the representatives of society;
Conscience- an internal controller of human behavior, a censor, personal lynching. is considered one of the most powerful feelings, the presence of which indicates high level morality and awareness of the individual;
personal dignity, the level of which is directly related to the level of self-realization of the individual in society. Evaluated both by the person himself and by people;
Honor- is formed by a person in connection with a connection with a certain group. Collective honor becomes not only professional, but also personal;
Liberty(?) - reflects the range of conscious, voluntary choices and opportunities;
Responsibility- conscious anticipation of the consequences of their actions and their voluntary acceptance.

For example, having done something bad - choosing the category of evil, a self-conscious person will suffer remorse, as he will feel the loss of personal dignity. Perhaps he wants to be rehabilitated in the eyes of people, take responsibility for what is happening and try to change the situation, or perhaps not (freedom again).

This discipline has two kinds of values through which she studies her subject:

positive These are the ideals that underlie gracious behavior. This includes goodness, conscience, honor, a sense of shame, justice, etc. In fact, these concepts are absolutes, that is, it is impossible to achieve them 100%, but the desire for this is encouraged by religion and society.
Negative values are reverse side medals are the opposite of positive ones. These include evil, cynicism, envy and others. These vices are condemned by the public: a person who is guided by them in life is condemned by people.

These values, both good and bad, are the voluntary choice of each person and underlie his actions. Which of them he will use on his way, and which he will throw aside, depends on the level of his morality, instilled by significant adults.

And if the worldview of a person differs from public moral principles, then it will be difficult for her to get along among people ().

Thus, ethics is a science that governs human relationships, teaches “how to and how not to” act with others.

What is etiquette

A system of signs based on moral principles that people use when interacting in society.

Etiquette rules differ from different indicators, such as:

a country;
nationality;
religious beliefs and others.

In our country The following rules of etiquette exist:

if a woman enters the room, then the men in it must stand up (an exception will be a business meeting);
a man opens the door for a lady, but enters first if the room is unfamiliar, and second if they enter a familiar space;
when introducing yourself to another person, you need to get up (if you were sitting);
it's not nice to praise yourself;
the younger must give way to the older;
you can not interrupt the interlocutor;
in the company of several people it is impossible to whisper;
it is customary to greet when meeting and say goodbye when parting;
you can't talk with your mouth full;
can't discuss appearance interlocutor, talk about tastes and personal opinions.

These are just a small part of the rules and norms of decency, following which people will be able to communicate more pleasantly and effectively. In order to grow a worthy adult out of a child, from an early age it is necessary explain to him what ethics is and why it is needed.

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The concept of "ethics" comes from the ancient Greek ethos (ethos). At first, ethos was understood as a place of joint residence, a house, a dwelling, an animal lair, a bird's nest. Then they began to mainly designate the stable nature of some phenomenon, temper, custom, character. For example, Heraclitus believed that the ethos of a person is his deity. Such a change in the meaning of the concept expressed the connection between the circle of communication of a person and his character.

Cicero, for example, talked about moral philosophy, referring to the same field of knowledge that Aristotle called ethics. In the 4th century A.D. e. the term “moralitas” (morality) appeared in the Latin language, which is a direct analogue of the Greek concept of “ethics”.

These words, one of Greek, the other of Latin origin, entered the modern European languages. Together with them, a number of languages have their own words that mean the same thing that is understood by the terms "ethics" and "morality". In Russian, such a word has become, in particular, "morality", in German - "Sittlichkeit". These terms repeat the history of the emergence of the concepts of "ethics" and "morality" from the word "morality".

So, ethics primarily means the corresponding field of knowledge, science, and morality (or morality) - the subject studied by it. Although the researchers had various attempts to breed the terms "morality" and "morality". For example, Hegel under morality understood the subjective aspect of actions, and under morality - the actions themselves, their objective essence.

In general, in the general cultural vocabulary, all three words are still used interchangeably. For example, in colloquial Russian, what is called ethical norms can just as well be called moral or ethical norms. So, sometimes ethics as a field of knowledge is called moral (moral) philosophy, and the term “ethics” is used to refer to some moral (moral) phenomena (for example, environmental ethics, business ethics).

In modern times, ethical ideals again receive a humanitarian focus. However, the sphere of moral and ethical problems has become more and more correlated with the processes taking place in the public life of people, acquiring a socio-legal character. Indicative is the fact that significant changes are taking place in the previously identical concepts of ethics, morality and morality. Now they are endowed with social meanings. Ethics is a theory, and morality and morality reflect real phenomena in the life of a person and society. Moreover, morality is behavior that corresponds to generally accepted customs, traditions, values and norms. A moral person automatically acts “like everyone else”, as an obedient member of society. He follows accepted rules, traditions and norms. Thus, morality is a condition for a person to enter society, it does not require originality, creativity and individual choice; on the contrary, it presupposes the fulfillment of the generally accepted norm, submission to the traditional model.

Ethics originated as regulator of human behavior in the company of other people. In addition to ethics, such regulators are religion, law, economics, politics, etc. Ethics differs from them (for example, law) in that the moral regulators of behavior are the good will of a person, while in law, for example, there are prohibitions, punishments (punitive , administrative sanctions), forceful methods (imprisonment) and institutions (prisons). Nowadays ethics is interpreted as a science, a system of universal and specific moral requirements and norms of behavior implemented in the process of social life; as the science of morality morality .. At the same time, morality is the theoretical part of ethics: these are the principles, norms and rules that are presented to a person, and the implementation of which is voluntary. Morality is the practical part of ethics, the area of real actions, human behavior. The object of ethics(field of activity) is society and man, subject(what studies) - their morality and morality. Like any science, ethics has its own laws, for example, "Golden Rule": "Do unto others as you would like them to do unto you." Main categories ethics: 1) Good, in the most general form, - everything that contributes to the good; evil - everything that undermines and destroys the good, opposes it. 2) The category of debt reflects the totality of a person's obligations in relation to society, a team, a family, and individuals. Debt grows out of a general interest that is at the same time personal. 3) Conscience is an internal regulator of human behavior, his lynching. This is one of the most powerful human feelings, indicating a high degree of moral development of the individual, his self-awareness and responsibility. 4) The true dignity of the individual is associated with its social significance, with the extent to which specific principles and requirements of goodness are implemented in human activity. The dignity of the individual must be correctly assessed both by society and by the individual himself. 5) A sense of honor is formed in a person as he relates himself to the social group of people of which he is a member. The honor of the team is transformed into a personal or professional one, which requires a responsible attitude to the performance of professional duties perceived need. 7) Responsibility - the ability to foresee and be responsible for the consequences of actions, to realize the significance (importance) and conscientiously fulfill duties. The categories of ethics simultaneously presuppose each other.

Ethics correlates 2 types of values: - positive, they are social ideals (goodness, conscience, shame, honor), which in the real practice of people are transformed into specific forms of behavior and state. These states are absolute and unattainable in real life, not only in their totality, but also each separately. It is they who are illuminated by religion from above. On the other hand, ethics postulates the lower vice of behavior and the state of society in the form of sinful standards or negative values (evil, cynicism, selfishness) for the violation of which people are responsible in the form of public condemnation. Unlike morality, law deprives a person of positive values and ideals, instilling only the idea of the need to adhere to the norms of the law, without crossing the lower limit in behavior. Law is not perfect, it is a system of arbitrary, deliberate factors that provide only a system of punishments, but do not provide social ideals. By origin, morality is rooted in 2 tendencies:

It goes back to Kant and recognizes that morality has an external autonomous character in relation to a person, does not depend on the human psyche, nor on his experience.

It comes from Feuerbach and is based on a position that assumes that man, nature and experience form and improve moral standards.

This belief is rooted in the specificity of society, which consists in the fact that, unlike animals that adapt to the environment, people create a new environment, which is called culture. This implies the position that, developing, culture contributes to the transformation of animal instincts into collective forms of conscious cooperation, and then into moral states. Moral standards are exemplary rules for the normal behavior of people. Morality is evaluatively edifying, instructive in nature.

For example, ethics business communication - the doctrine of the manifestation of morality and morality in business communication, relationships between business partners.

Ethics in the broad sense of the word is understood as a system of universal and specific rules and norms of behavior implemented in the process of social life. Based on universal norms of behavior, the ethical norms of business relations have some peculiarities.

Ethics in business relations is currently given great attention in the selection and hiring of personnel, as well as in the process of employees performing their duties. Compliance with the ethics of business relations is one of the main criteria for professionalism, both for an individual employee and for the organization as a whole.

It should be emphasized that ethics includes a whole system of universal and specific requirements and norms of behavior, i.e. the ethics of business relations is based on the general norms of behavior developed by a person in the process of joint life. Therefore, many norms of relationships in business area are valid for everyday life, and vice versa, almost all the rules of interpersonal relations are reflected in official ethics.

The relationship between ethics in the broadest sense and business ethics can be traced using the basic methods of communicating with people. These rules are very simple, and their observance contributes to the establishment of favorable business relations with partners. The ethics of business communication should be based on coordination and, if possible, harmonization of interests.

Business ethics is professional ethics that regulates the system of relations between people in the field of business.

Business ethics is based on moral and moral principles, on certain rules of conduct both in the company and outside it, as well as on legal criteria that are established by the legislative acts of the state, and on international rules and principles. To succeed in business, it is important for managers (entrepreneurs) to be able to negotiate with partners, interact as one team, skillfully manage subordinates, and work without conflicts.

Every manager (entrepreneur) must master at least the basics of business ethics and the basics of etiquette. The basis of business ethics is professional ethics, which prescribes a certain professionally civilized type of relationship between business people and subordinates, partners, competitors, customers, excluding opposing one to another. Business ethics should be based on general principles conducting a risky, innovative, honest, competent and legitimate business in a particular field of activity.

Regardless of the type of entrepreneurial activity and its individual types, business ethics and etiquette must also take into account national and ethnic traditions and the rules of conduct that follow from this.

Principles are abstract, generalized ideas that enable those who rely on them to correctly shape their behavior, their actions, their attitude to something.

Business Ethics Principles, i.e. professional ethics, give a particular employee in any organization a conceptual ethical platform for decisions, actions, actions, interactions, etc. Let's take a look at some of them:

the appearance of a business person is the first step to success, since for a potential partner his suit serves as a code indicating the degree of reliability, respectability and luck in business;

compliance general rules ethics: courtesy, attentiveness to the interlocutor, the ability to direct the conversation in the right direction, competence in solving a particular problem, refusing to make critical statements or judgments about a partner, etc.

possession of some skills of rhetoric, the ability to listen to the interlocutor and influence him. According to the statement of D. Carnegie, "There is only one way to influence another person - it is to tell him what he would like to hear and show him how he could achieve what he wants."

The use of norms and rules of business ethics is perceived favorably by others in any case, even if a person does not have well-developed skills in applying the rules of ethics. The effect of perception is amplified many times over if ethical behavior becomes natural and unintentional. This happens when the rules of ethics are an internal psychological need of a person, and are also worked out in the process of systematic training. Moreover, this training involves the use of both special training practical exercises within the framework of a particular educational program, and any situation that develops in the course of professional activity, to develop the skills of ethical relationships. It should be noted that this approach should be extended not only to the sphere of official relations, but also to use appropriate life situations in relations with friends, relatives, random interlocutors.

Thus, the rules of business ethics are similar to the rules of human behavior in everyday life. In addition, all business ethics rules are built on the basis of fundamental ethical principles:

respect for the dignity and personal status of another person;

Understanding the interests and motives of the behavior of others;

social responsibility, etc.

Once again, it should be emphasized that ethics includes a system of universal and specific (for example, for any professional activity) moral requirements and norms of behavior, i.e. business ethics are based on general rules behavior developed by people in the process of joint life. Naturally, many norms of relationships in a business environment are valid for everyday life, and vice versa, almost all the rules of interpersonal relationships are reflected in work ethics.

So, almost all areas of business ethics have rules applicable to the ethics of conduct in a broad sense. In addition, without exception, all areas of business ethics are based on the fundamental norms of ethics. These include respect for the self-esteem and personal status of another person, understanding the interests and motives of the behavior of others, social responsibility for their psychological security, etc.