THREE DEFINITIONS OF ETHICS
1. Ethics as a concept suggests the notion of correct or incorrect practices relative to various concerns or fields of study.
Since this definition pertains to the right practice of profession, the concept of ethics can be applied to the medicine profession. People in the medical field should uphold the confidentiality of medical records of patients. Doctors and nurses should keep confidential sensitive issues like patients' illnesses. For example, a patient with AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome) should not be exposed as having the disease.
2. Ethics is derived from the Greek term "Ethos" which means character or custom.
Character or custom is also termed as a particular behavior. While this definition holds true for customs and traditions which are different from one community to another, this definition also pertain to the natural moral law or known or common to all men. It is customary for all men to tell the truth, to pay his debts, to respect the life and property of others. But not because these are considered common law,it still depends on the circumstances.Man has the duty to care for himself, things to consider in telling the truth is when he is caught between life and death, what if in telling the truth his life is also at stake?
3. Ethics is an area of philosophy that deals with man's pursuit of "good life".
Pursuit of good life here not only for one's self but for the good of the community one belongs. What consist a community are families, and it is the social responsibity of parents to raise their children as good citizens. The family is the first human society and has the duty of supplying the community with new citizens and of transmitting the spiritual and material goods of the community from generation to generation. The domestic society or the family is the basis of the civil society and the model of the other forms of social structures.
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