1. CHRISTIAN AND PROFESSIONAL ETHICS
Basic Definitions and Key Concepts in Ethics and Morality
Evaluating some definitions of ethics
Differentiating between ethics and morality
Branches of Ethics
Principles in Ethics

2. Definitions of Terms and Concepts
The terms “Ethics” and “Morality” are used mostly interchangeably.
Strictly speaking, it is proper to see Ethics as the father of all disciplines because ethics is found in all disciplines. For example: Christian Ethics, Islam Ethics, Business Ethics, Digital Ethics etc.
Scholars also believe that a universal definition of ethics is not possible.
Ethics in Greek is Ethos and Morals in Latin is Mores are terms having to do with “custom,” ”habit,” and “behaviour.
Ethics is the study of morality.
This definition raises two questions:
(a) What is morality?
(b) What is the study of morality?

3. Definitions of Ethics
The Dictionary of Philosophy defines ethics as that study or discipline which concerns itself with judgements of approval and disapproval, judgements as to rightness or wrongness, goodness or badness, virtue or vice, desirability or wisdom of actions, dispositions, ends, objects, or state of affairs.
Ethics can therefore be said to be an art and science that is concerned with the process of determining right and wrong.
It involves some precision like sciences, but like art, it is inexact and sometimes intuitive discipline.

4. Definition of Morals
Prescriptive measures, norms or set of values acceptable for human and social conduct, or code of conduct that binds people and compels them to perform an acceptable mode of behaviour in society.
Ethics is theoretical, occurs in the mind. Morality is practical taking place in action and conduct.
While ethics refers to the process of determing right and wrong, morality refers to the actual content of right and wrong.
Although ethics and morality are often used as interchangeably, there is a shade of difference between the two words.

5. Differences between Ethics and Morals
MORALITY
1. It is the process of decision-making
It is the implementation of decisions based one’s conviction
2. It examines factors such as motives, principles, aspiration and consequences that inform a certain course of action.
It passes value judgement on an act, classifying it as right or wrong.
3. It is an intellectual exercise which takes place in the head and heart.
It is practical, examining outward and visible conduct or behaviour.
4. It is explorative, seeking to understand standards of behaviour.
It is normative, setting standards of right and wrong.

6. Why be Moral? Because we are told by …..(whom?)
Morality is central to Christian beliefs.
It affords a sense of fulfilment.
It is necessary for the smooth running of society and life in general.
It becomes a source of protection and survival.
Human beings are endowed with an innate/inborn moral sense.
The adverse consequences of not being moral are enough motivation for the cultivation of moral values.
Morality is a factor of self-definition, which helps to overcome personal identity crises.
It helps to promote healthy personal relationships regarding responsibility to family and neighbours.

7. The Benefits and Relevance of Ethics
The ethics enterprise helps to give direction to people and society in determining their values.
Morals lie at the heart of the most important issues in life, like relationships and marriage, childbirth, industry and commerce, and their corollary of employment, governance, health care, and the ultimate issue of death and dying.
Moral issues are pervasive i.e. we encounter them every day and in every area of life.
The complexity of life and culture in the 21st Century has generated numerous conflicting moral issues; hence contemporary society is constantly debating many major ethical issues.

8. Relevance of Ethics to ICT
Do good work
Plan holistically
Consider end use
Evaluate both ends and means
Be stakeholder oriented
Take care of the environment
Contribute to knowledge

9. Branches of Ethics There are basically three main branches. These are:
Normative or Prescriptive Ethics
Applied or Descriptive Ethics
Meta-Ethics

10. Meta Ethics (Analytical Ethics)
Meta-ethics refers to the attempt to find out the meaning of certain important words that occur in ethical statements. Such words are directed at the examination of the quality or uprightness of action or behaviour. Some of these terms are “good,” “wrong,” “right,” “just,” “ought,” and “should.”
Meta-ethics is analytical, it does not provide people with a behavioural predetermined meanings of ethical terms. It rather it explores the moral standards of individuals and society, seeking to understand the meaning of their moral principles and behaviour.
Furthermore meta-ethics also focuses on the goal of the ethical life, that is the motivation and final purpose to be achieved if one maintains certain ethical standards.
For instance the classical Greek had the aim of living the “good life”. Similarly traditional African societies regard a healthy and resourceful life as a reward for living a life that is morally upright. However, for Christians, the main objective for living a moral life is to obey God.
Meta ethics try to show how moral beliefs or convictions can be established as true or false and on what grounds a person can claim they are true or false

11. Normative Ethics (Prescriptive Ethics)
Normative ethics on the other hand is prescriptive, as it seeks to dictate, and judge moral decisions. It points out certain moral standards are and tries to justify them. The end product of normative ethics is to produce moral norms or rules. And many other Christian ethicists hold this conviction.
Philip Edgcumbe Hughes also contends “Ethics is prescriptive, not simply descriptive. Its domain is that of duty and obligation and it seeks to define the distinction between justice and injustice, and between responsibility and irresponsibility.”
Normative ethics therefore determines meaning of ethical words such as such as “right” and “good”. However it is difficult to decide whether these norms or predetermined meanings are the right standard that can be applied in every situation.
The aspect of normative ethics that judges the worth of an action by its consequences is called ‘teleological’ and the aspect of normative ethics that judges the worth of an action is called ‘normatively’. Whether its accords to a certain rule is called ‘deontological’.

12. Applied Ethics (Descriptive Ethics)
Is a branch of ethics that studies the moral codes of different societies and cultures.
As the term applies, it is the application of ethical principles to specific contexts of various professions for the purpose of achieving good life.
Applied ethics is usually divided into various fields. Business ethics discusses ethical behaviour in the corporate world, while professional ethics refers directly to a professional in his field. Biomedical and environmental ethics delve into health, welfare, and the responsibilities we have towards other people and our environment.
Organizational ethics defines what a group values in relation to its stated goal. International ethics tries to determine if a nation's primary responsibility is to itself as a sovereign entity or to the world community at large. Sexual ethics speaks to issues such as homosexuality and polygamy, while Cyber ethics tries to get a handle on issues in the Information Age.

13. Applied Ethics (Descriptive Ethics) cont’d
Deals with difficult moral questions and controversial moral issues that people actually face in their lives
Examples: the moral issues regarding...
abortion
euthanasia
giving to the poor
sex before marriage
the death penalty
gay/lesbian marriage (or other rights)
corruption
Drug abuse
so-called “white lies
etc

14. Principles of Ethics
A principle is a general truth used as a basis of reasoning or action. That is, when I say such and such is the case, what general truth do I use to determine that such and such is the case?
All actions or principles are based on some kind of principles, otherwise such actions or reasoning will be baseless and meaningless.
There are principles relating to law, religion, politics, economic and also ethical principles.
In all cases, the principles provide the basic foundations upon which our reasoning or actions are based and justified.

15. Principles of Ethics cont’d
Beneficence (Good)
Good and bad are the basic fundamental principles in ethics which provides the gateway to ethical issues.
The basic ethical principle is that good must be done and evil avoided, that is why by instincts alone human beings refrain from doing things that are bad, but are motivated to do good.
Good and bad reflects quality and value and so when we say an action is good or bad, we have passed judgement on its quality in terms of value.
Good and bad are inherently interwoven in human language, so if we say that an action, policy product or event is good, we accept that it has value on its own account and that the value is positive and beneficial to mankind.

16. Principles of Ethics cont’d
Right and wrong
Closely related to good and bad in ethical language is the concept of right and wrong.
The terms right and wrong assumes that an action is compared with some standard of morality outside the action itself. The standard could be a matter of social, traditional, custom, national or religious law.
The terms good and bad and right and wrong are closely related but they are different in content, in a sense that a good action might be wrong, while a bad action could be good. For example, while an action can be right in the sense that it conforms to a tradition or custom or law, if the motives that produce it are selfish or unworthy, it is not good action.

17. Principles of Ethics cont’d
Making choice
We make choices out of the available options before us.
The choices we make are on the scale of varied options on the grounds of good and bad, right and wrong, valid and invalid, relevant and irrelevant, helpful and unhelpful etc.
In making choices, we weight the degree in the value of items before us and therefore make a comparative moral judgement.
Generally speaking, everyone is expected to be free to make choices of the things in life out of permissible and non-permissible.

18. Principles of Ethics cont’d
Obligation/duty
Is a moral duty which is enforced by moral conscience and law. Obligation or moral duty is governed by a principle of compulsion.
Official assignments and duty are obligations that bind various people in various areas of endeavour.
An assigned duty comes with the principle of compulsion and consequently becomes a moral obligation binding on the employee to his/her official duties. These duties are not based on ones motives, beliefs, efforts attitudes etc.
All citizens of a nation have a moral obligation to subject themselves to the economic, social, political and to some extent the religious laws of a country.
Obedience to the law is a civic and moral responsibility of all.

19. Principles of Ethics cont’d
Human rights
Human rights are those right endowed on man by virtue of the fact that he is a man.
The principle of human rights tradition is close to natural law thought.
This declaration has two groups of rights: individual rights and social good.

20. Principles of Ethics cont’d
Happiness and pleasure
An ethical principle everyone seeks happiness in his life. By instincts, human beings are more inclined towards things that that produce happiness rather than things that produce pain and suffering.
All people engage in what produces happiness or pleasure. People do not only seek pleasure, but they ought to do so because it is good.
According to Aristotle, happiness is something that accompanies certain activities in life instead of being the goal of these activities.