What is ethics 什么是道德倫理
What is ethics? It is clearly not a matter of following one's feelings. A person following his or her feelings may recoil from doing what is right. In fact, feelings frequently deviate from what is ethical.
Nor should one identify ethics with religion. Most religions, of course, advocate high ethical standards. Yet if ethics were confined to religion, then ethics would apply only to religious people. But ethics applies as much to the behavior of the atheist as to that of the saint. Religion can set high ethical standards and can provide intense motivations for ethical behavior. Ethics, however, cannot be confined to religion nor is it the same as religion.
Being ethical is also not the same as following the law. The law often incorporates ethical standards to which most citizens subscribe. But laws, like feelings, can deviate from what is ethical. Our own pre-Civil War slavery laws and the old apartheid laws of present-day South Africa are grotesquely obvious examples of laws that deviate from what is ethical.
Finally, being ethical is not the same as doing "whatever society accepts." In any society, most people accept standards that are, in fact, ethical. But standards of behavior in society can deviate from what is ethical. An entire society can become ethically corrupt. Nazi Germany is a good example of a morally corrupt society.
Moreover, if being ethical were doing "whatever society accepts", then to find out what is ethical, one would have to find out what society accepts. To decide what I should think about abortion, for example, I would have to take a survey of American society and then confirm my beliefs to whatever society accepts. But no one ever tries to decide an ethical issue by doing a survey. Further, the lack of social consensus on many issues makes it impossible to equate ethics with whatever society accepts. Some people accept abortion but many others do not. If being ethical were doing whatever society accepts, one would have to find an agreement on issues which does not, in fact, exist.
What, then, is ethics? Ethics is two things. First, ethics refers to well-founded standards of right and wrong that prescribe what humans ought to do, usually in terms of rights, obligations, benefits to society, fairness, or specific virtues. Ethics, for example, refers to those standards that impose the reasonable obligations to refrain from rape, stealing, murder, assault, slander, and fraud. Ethical standards also include those that enjoin virtues of honesty, compassion, and loyalty. And, ethical standards include standards relating to rights, such as the right to life, the right to freedom from injury, and the right to privacy. Such standards are adequate standards of ethics because they are supported by consistent and well-founded reasons.
Secondly, ethics refers to the study and development of one's ethical standards. As mentioned above, feelings, laws, and social norms can deviate from what is ethical. So it is necessary to constantly examine one's standards to ensure that they are reasonable and well-founded. Ethics also means, then, the continuous effort of studying our own moral beliefs and our moral conduct, and striving to ensure that we, and the institutions we help to shape, live up to standards that are reasonable and solidly-based.
什么是道德,或道德的實(shí)質(zhì)是什么,這是數(shù)千年來一直困擾著無數(shù)哲學(xué)家和倫理學(xué)家的一個(gè)深不見底的問題。依照其美德倫理學(xué),亞里士多德把道德(arete--通譯為"善")視作為支配人們選擇的某種理想的品質(zhì)。根據(jù)其道德情感論,休謨把道德視作為源自人性中的自然原則即"同情心"的某種"約定"(convention)。出于其批判哲學(xué)的進(jìn)路和對(duì)理性的劃分,康德把道德(法則)界說為人的實(shí)踐理性中的"定言命令"(categorical imperative)?;谄湓獋惱韺W(xué)(meta-ethics)的理論建構(gòu),斯蒂文森(Richard L. Stevenson)把道德視作為知識(shí)領(lǐng)域之外的某種"態(tài)度"。依照其規(guī)定主義倫理學(xué)(prescriptivism ethics),黑爾(Richard M. Hare)把道德歸諸為某種語言的"命定性"(prescriptivism)和"可普遍化性"(universalizability)。在什么是道德和倫理的問題上,還是維特根斯坦來得簡單:倫理問題是"超驗(yàn)的",是"不可言說"的。
Spitting on the floor is an unethical behavior.
隨地吐痰是不道德的行為。
The cannibalistic ethics of feudal society should be banned.
吃人的封建禮教應(yīng)當(dāng)被取締。
Human behaviors are restricted by ethics.
人們的行為都受到道德倫理的約束。
Any code of ethics must be predicated upon the basic principles of truth and honesty.
任何倫理的規(guī)約都必須以真實(shí)與誠實(shí)的基本原則為依據(jù)。
We should abide by and promote compliance with the IIA Code of Ethics.
我們應(yīng)當(dāng)遵守國際內(nèi)部審計(jì)師協(xié)會(huì)的《職業(yè)道德規(guī)范》,并加強(qiáng)其遵循程度。
We should go against the acts that are contrary to our code of ethics.
我們應(yīng)當(dāng)?shù)种婆c我們的道德標(biāo)準(zhǔn)相悖的行為。
If you're not taking care of your job well, if you're always late, if you're overpromising and under delivering, there's no way for you to win people's trust.
如果你的工作做不好,總是遲到,信口開河,不履行承諾,那么沒有人會(huì)信任你。
Ethical problems cannot be solved by fist.
道德問題不能靠拳頭來解決。
The companies should creates and fosters a culture of business practices, instills an awareness of the commitment to the UTC Code of Ethics and performs responsibilities in compliance with the Code.
公司應(yīng)該建立培養(yǎng)一種商業(yè)行為的文化,灌輸U(kuò)TC商業(yè)道德標(biāo)準(zhǔn)的意識(shí),并按照此標(biāo)準(zhǔn)履行責(zé)任。
Ethics is a branch of philosophy.
倫理學(xué)是哲學(xué)的分支。
We can't divorce science from ethical questions.
我們不能使科學(xué)和倫理問題截然分開。
Article 44 Members of the bid assessment committees shall objectively and impartially perform their duties, comply with the code of ethics and be personally liable for their assessment opinions.
第四十四條評(píng)標(biāo)委員會(huì)成員應(yīng)當(dāng)客觀、公正地履行職務(wù),遵守職業(yè)道德,對(duì)所提出的評(píng)審意見承擔(dān)個(gè)人責(zé)任。
Ethics has important function and is an indispensable and important tool in dealing with these relations between the employees, employees and administrators etc.
在企業(yè)管理中,員工之間、員工與顧客之間、員工與管理者之間等等都是人與人發(fā)生關(guān)系的某個(gè)特殊領(lǐng)域,在處理這些關(guān)系中倫理是不可或缺的重要工具。
Steven: Well, Wilson. You have been reading the novel the whole morning.
史蒂芬:噢,威爾森。這部小說你已經(jīng)讀了一個(gè)上午了。
Wilson: That's not a novel, brother. I'm reading a new book about business ethics.
威爾森:老兄,這不是小說。我在讀一本關(guān)于職業(yè)道德的新書。
Steven: Why are you interested in this field?
史蒂芬:你怎么會(huì)對(duì)這行感興趣呢?
Wilson: Because in the past five to ten years, a news course has appeared in the curriculum of most American business schools: Business Ethics.
威爾森:因?yàn)樵谶^去的5到10年中,在大多數(shù)美國的商學(xué)院的課程中都開了一門新課:商業(yè)道德。
Steven: Why has this change taken place?
史蒂芬:為什么會(huì)發(fā)生這種變化?
Wilson: No one knows exactly.
威爾森:沒人能說清楚。
Steven: Do you think that ethics is important in business today?
史蒂芬:你認(rèn)為道德在當(dāng)今商業(yè)活動(dòng)中很重要嗎?
Wilson: Of course it's very important.
威爾森:當(dāng)然了,非常重要。
Steven: Why?
史蒂芬:為什么?
Wilson: Partly because to be caught lying, cheating, stealing, or reneging on contracts is not easily forgotten or forgiven in the business world.
威爾森:部分原因是如果被發(fā)現(xiàn)在履行合同時(shí)有撒謊、欺騙、偷竊,或者是毀約,在商業(yè)界是不容易被原諒和忘記的。
Steven: So you feel like reading the book. What's the main idea of it?
史蒂芬:這么說,你很喜歡讀這本書。它主要說些什么?
Wilson: One of the goals the book stated is to show ethics is the key to improve performance in business.
威爾森:其目的之一是要指出道德在改進(jìn)商業(yè)行為中的重要性。
Steven: It sounds interesting. Let me share it when you finish.
史蒂芬:聽起來挺有意思。你讀完后借我看看。