Ethics might simply be described as the study of “What is right and what is wrong”. Another way of defining ethics is “those norms and rules of conduct that distinguish between acceptable and unacceptable behaviour”. Ethics is commonly thought of as a subdivision within the broader discipline of “philosophy” (Philosophy is the study of human thoughts)

The study of ethics is commonly divided into three areas:
1. Meta Ethics
2. Normative Ethics
3. Applied Ethics

• Meta Ethics attempts to understand what ethical positions are.
• Normative Ethics attempts to understand how we should respond to an ethical position.
• Applied Ethics attempts to apply ethics to make decisions and take actions in the real world; whether at work, home or play (or anywhere else).

There are 9 lessons in this course:

1. Overview and Introductory Ethics
2. Arguing an Ethical Position – An Overview of Meta Ethics
3. Accommodating Varying Viewpoints
4. Virtues and Morality
5. Reasons for Ethical Decisions
6. The Social Contract
7. Applied Ethics A - An Individual’s Rights
8. Applied Ethics B - An Ethical Society
9. Applied Ethics C - Ethics in Work and Business

Each lesson culminates in an assignment which is submitted to the school, marked by the school's tutors and returned to you with any relevant suggestions, comments, and if necessary, extra reading.

• Understand the scope, nature and language of ethics
• Demonstrate a capacity to argue varying viewpoints about ethics
• Discuss how conflicting points of view might be rationalized in ethics
• Discuss the virtues found or lacking in different people and groups of people
• Identify how and why different people will choose to adopt one ethical position rather than another
• Explain the social contract
• Explain how ethics can be applied to determine and manage the rights of individuals
• Explain how ethics can be applied to better manage the effective functioning of human societies
• Explain how ethics can be applied by people in the work they do, on a daily basis and throughout an entire career