Morality is a code of conduct and a guide to good behavior.

■ Moral judgments are those judgments concerned with what an individual or group believes to be the right or proper behavior in a given situation.

■ Th ere is no universal morality.

■ Morality is oft en legislated when diff erences cannot be resolved because of confl icting moral codes with varying opinions as to what is right and what is wrong.

■ Laws are created to set boundaries for societal behavior.

■ Normative ethics is the attempt to determine what moral standards should be followed so that human behavior and conduct may be morally right.

■ General normative ethics is the critical study of major moral precepts of such matters as what things are right, what things are good, and what things are genuine.

■ Applied ethics is the application of normative theories to practical moral problems.

■ Descriptive ethics , also known as comparative ethics , deals with what people believe to be right and wrong.

■ Meta-ethics seeks to understand ethical terms and theories and their application.

■ Consequential ethical theory emphasizes that the morally right action is whatever action leads to the maximum balance of good over evil.

■ Utilitarian ethics involves the concept that the moral worth of an action is solely determined by its contribution to overall utility.

■ Nonconsequential ethics denies that the consequences of an action or rule are the only criteria for determining the morality of an action or rule.

■■ Situational ethics refers to a particular view of ethics in which absolute standards are considered less important than the requirements of a particular situation.
■■ Deontological ethics focuses on one’s duties to others. Deontology is an ethical analysis according to a moral code or rules.
■■ Ethical relativism is the theory that holds that morality is relative to the norms of one’s culture.
■■ Virtue-based ethics focuses on the inherent character of a person rather than on the specific actions he or she performs.
■■ Virtue is that which has moral excellence or beneficial quality.