What is the etymology of ethics?

Answer 1

Answer

what is the etymology of ethics? It is thought to be derived from "ethos," the Greek word for "character." The Greek Philosopher Hericlitus compared a man's character to what we might call "the Divine spark," or, in Christian theology, the "imagio dei," that is, the image of God. In other words, the fact that mankind is led to behave in accord with certain moral considerations is a chief component in his distinction from mere beasts, animals who operate purely by instinct. Human history is replete with examples of altruism, bravery, patience, self-sacrifice, that seem utterly inexplicable on the basis of pure evolutionary theory. Perhaps it is fair to say that the use of explicit language (which realizes its fruit in culture), when joined to the apparent ethical nature of man, combine to form a radical wall of separation between mankind and other life on our planet.

Of course, if ethics refers back simply to a man's character, then we have not yet addressed the question of whether his ethics (and hence his character) is good or bad! So in this case, etymological investigation leads us to not much more than a cocretization of the question, meaning that by the etymology we are led to the thought that ethics is not something which can be properly discussed or permiktted to remain an abstraction merely, that is, a purely theoretical concern, but rather must be something which comes to expression and is seen in action in individual as well as corporate human entities.