Why Ethics?

At its most basic, ethics is a field of study that attempts to understand rightness and wrongness, goodness and badness, and how these interact with our obligations to ourselves and to others. Whenever you wonder what action would be right, whenever you judge that someone acted wrongly, whenever you contemplate whether you should take a certain course of action, whenever you criticize a policy as unfair or unjust, for example, you are entering into the domain of ethics.

Importantly, then, ethics is what might be called a normative discipline, in contrast to a descriptive one. Some disciplines are descriptive: they aim to tell us how things are. Physics is a good example. It tells us where things (planets, stars, electrons, quarks) are located, how they are moving, where they were in the past, and where they will be in the future. Physics also tells us what will happen in hypothetical scenarios: what would happen if I were to drop this glass vase? Ethics is importantly different from this. Ethics does not seek to tell us how things are or how they were, or how they will be, but rather, it seeks to tell us how things should be or how they should have been. Simply put, physics might tell us that a certain collection of objects will result in a nuclear explosion, but it won’t tell us whether that is good or bad. Ethics attempts to answer that latter question but is silent on the former.

Ethics is usually divided into three main areas:

Meta-Ethics is concerned with figuring out the nature of right and wrong and good and bad. Where did right and wrong come from? Does rightness and wrongness depend on the existence of God? On social agreements? On laws? Is it all fiction, or is it all just in our heads? If you’re asking these questions, you’re in the field of meta-ethics. 

Normative Ethics is concerned with determining rules or principles that explain the rightness or wrongness of something. Perhaps an action is right or wrong based on its consequences, the intentions with which it was taken, or whether it respects people’s rights. If you are trying to figure this out, you are in the field of normative ethics. 

Applied Ethics is concerned with figuring out what the right (or wrong) action or policy is in a particular case. Franz Kafka, on his deathbed, asked his best friend Max Brod to burn his unpublished work. Brod did not do as Kafka asked. But what should Brod have done? What would have been right (or wrong) in this situation? To answer these questions is to be engaged in applied ethics. Though answering such questions might draw on the other fields of ethics, the goal of applied ethics is not to come up with a grand ethical theory or an overarching account of where rightness and wrongness come from; it is, instead, to answer specific ethical questions. Popular areas of applied ethics include bioethics, technology ethics, business ethics, the ethics of war, and environmental ethics. Most of the initiatives sponsored by the Prindle Institute fall under the field of applied ethics.

Even if you already have a strong sense of your own values, studying ethics is still deeply worthwhile. It sharpens your ability to think clearly about complex issues and helps you engage respectfully with people who see the world differently. It can challenge you to reexamine your beliefs, clarify what truly matters to you, and live with greater integrity. Ethics gives you the tools to become the kind of person you want to be—curious, thoughtful, and consistent in your values. Even good people can grow, and ethics offers a path toward that kind of growth. There are also practical benefits. Research shows that people trained in ethics tend to have stronger critical thinking and communication skills—qualities that stand out in any workplace. Whether you’re planning for a career in law, medicine, tech, public service, or business, the ability to navigate moral complexity is a real advantage. Want to learn more about how ethics can enrich your life? Explore our diverse offerings at the Institute or reach out—we’d love to start a conversation.