Ethics: Some Definitions
By Margot Phaneuf, April 2004
Revised January 2009
In nursing, many situations have serious implications and the
decisions which should be taken ought to be considered from
the point of view of ethics. In some situations, one wonders
on what our reflections should be based and how we should
develop a line of reasoning which would serve as dialogue in
the work team. We should state right away that ethics does
not propose ready-made solutions; it only offers a useful
perspective.
Ethics and bioethics, a new discipline which has developed in recent years, can nourish our
critical thinking and orient our judgement. Perhaps you ask yourself why we speak of ethics
rather than morals. The question is legitimate since, despite the present popularity of the
term ethics, fundamentally, it is a question of morals. Although the terms ethics and
bioethics are now in vogue, that does not mean that morals are old-fashioned and outdated.
Some definitions
A few definitions may help us
demystify the terms and help us
to orient ourselves with regards
to these concepts.
Difference between ethics and
morals
Morals :
™ Has a religious
connotation.
™ It includes the idea of
external control.
™ It is concerned with
good and evil.
™ It creates obligations.
Ethics :
™ It is of a secular nature.
™ It includes the notion of
self-control. It stems
from within the person.
™ It is concerned with the
positive and the
negative.
™ It makes us think and
act responsibly.
The term moral refers to the
ensemble of the rules governing
our actions and values and
which function as the norm in a
society.
Some
authors
distinguish it from the term
ethics, while others consider it to
be a synonym. Personally, I see
a slight difference for essentially,
morals is prescriptive and when
misinterpreted is seen as negative and restrictive. It tells us what we should or should not do
in order to conform to society’s rules. It states, for instance “You shall not kill”, and we
must examine the repercussions on health care of this commandment, for example on the
question of abortion or prolonging life by technological means.
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Ethics on the other hand, proceeds in a dialectic manner, that is, it uses rigorous analysis to
reveal the flaws of logic and the contradictions of the reasoning and seeks to go beyond
them. It also deals with what we should or should not do, but it does so by applying
reasoning, for or against, in order to decide on the conduct to be taken when faced with a
moral problem. It is in fact a critical examination of morals, questioning its rules and
seeking orientations which are well thought out and
The main objective of
correct. Ethics does not impose rules in an authoritarian
manner; it is not prescriptive as are morals. The rules of
ethics is to place the
morals having been defined, the questions and problems
human at the heart of
which come up are the domain of ethics. For example,
our care and try to act
in the domain of ethics when faced with the abovefor his greatest good.
mentioned injunction, “do not kill”, we will analyse the
situation to see how the problem should be examined,
what values are in conflict, and what the alternatives are, in order to decide how to orient our
judgment.
The term deontology or professional code of ethics is simply ethics applied to a
professional domain. It brings together all the rules which govern the exercise of a
profession. We know it as the Nursing Code of Ethics.
The term bioethics, as its
etymological root indicates,
refers to reflections on life
and death. And as you
already know, this discipline
sheds light on the big
questions.
Why we need ethics
‰ Constant
changes in society require that we
adapt our rules of conduct.
‰ Social presures for individual rights require
that we find an optimal balance between
individual and collective rights.
‰ The progress of science and medicine and the
new technologies.
‰ The power of caregivers in the face of life and
death.
We must also insist on the
fact that the concept of
morals has not been
evacuated by the arrival of
ethics and of bioethics and
that the orientations which
follow from these disciplines
are today still based on the
foundations
of
morals
presented in an enlightened manner.
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The relationship between morals, ethics and the law
There are important relationships between these concepts. Morals and ethics raise questions,
bring to the fore various dilemmas whereas the law, via legislation, applies sanctions. For
example, a person found guilty of killing someone for humanitarian reasons which are not
recognized by ethics can, in the name of the law, be prosecuted in the courts. The most
obvious manifestations of these relationships can be seen in the various charts which govern
the rights in our society and the laws which ensue from them.
La morale et l'éthique fournissent des indications
pour
Know the origin of words in order to understand their meaning.
The term ethics originates from two Greek words
one of which means both “stable” and “living
conditions”
which
demonstrates
the
fundamentally concrete, down to earth, meaning
™ Stable or living conditions
of the term. And also it finds its roots in another
™ Way of living
word which has the meaning of a way of living, a
™ Way of living in oneself to
way of living in oneself in such a way as to
live better.
orient one’s actions to live better, which shows
us the formative force of this discipline on
human thinking. In reality, ethics is a very old
discipline.
It goes back to the Greek
philosophers such as Socrates, in the 4th century B.C. who saw himself as a midwife of
ideas. He was the son of a midwife and in his own way pursued the work of his mother, but
in the domain of thought and reasoning.
MEANING OF THE WORD
ETHICS
In the domain of ethics, openness of mind and the creation of ideas continue to this day, for
this discipline remains mainly one of questioning and critical reflection, so it too is a
midwife of ideas and remains profoundly rooted in the human experience. It is not an
abstract discipline cut off from reality.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
-
Badiou, Alain (1993) L'éthique. Paris, Hatier.
Blondeau, Danielle (1986) De l'éthique à la bioéthique. Montréal, Gaétan Morin.
Davis, Ann J. in Marsha D.M. Fowler et June Levine-Ariff, (1989) Éthique des soins
infirmiers, traduit par Françoise Bourgeois. Paris, Medsi/McGraw-Hill.
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