Corporate Vocabulary describes Ethics as “A Philosophical concept that determines the definition of ‘right’ and ‘wrong’…” What is right and what is wrong? What you and I consider right may be considered wrong by others. Many people consider lying and cheating to be wrong but are they both really wrong? That answer may differ with every person you ask. Personally I consider cheating to be wrong but for lying it depends and I’m not the only person that thinks this. “About four in 10 think lying is justified sometime, while just over half, 52 percent, said it is never justified. Asked whether lying is OK in a number of circumstances, about two-thirds, 65 percent.” These are the results of a survey conducted in 2006. So basically 6/10 people consider lying to be wrong and 4/10 people say lying is right sometimes. There are many other topics that fall into the same gray area of ethics.

“It is forbidden to kill; therefore all murderers are punished unless they kill in large numbers and to the sound of trumpets.” – Voltaire

Most people think that murder is wrong but what about war? So it is wrong for one person to kill another person but it is somehow right for a country to attack another country and kill thousands of people? War is technically just murdering people in large numbers as Voltaire said, so then why is war okay?

Before you can define ethics you must first find one definition of the words “right” and “wrong.”