Ethics

Ethics, branch of philosophy devoted to the consideration of the moral principles of human behavior and social organization. Over the centuries, various theories have been put forward to explain how it is that people develop awareness of and opinions about what is right and wrong. Some have argued that these values are absolute and/or innate, others that they are dependent on individual expertise or historical circumstances. Historically, ethics has been closely tied to religion, but in Europe and America, in the 19th and 20th centuries, there have been philosophical currents that have argued ethical positions from a non-religious standpoint.