Sources/Factors Affecting Ethics

  • Religion: Religious textbooks deal with questions about how an individual should behave and what society should be. E.g., In Jainism, Non-Veg is unethical, while in Islam, there is no such restriction.
  • Traditions and Culture: Values vary with cultures. E.g., Western-cultures-Individualistic, Indian-Altruism.
  • Law & Constitution: The law and constitution often incorporate ethical standards to which most citizens subscribe.
  • Leadership: The leadership of a society or an organisation, or a nation also helps to determine the conduct of its followers or admirers. For example, democratic, liberal, secular, and tolerant tradition has been the gift makers of modern Indian society.
  • Philosophies: Various philosophers and thinkers subscribe to different sets of ethics.
  • Geography: Brahmins of West Bengal eat fish (a non-veg diet) as geography dictates them to eat fish to survive.
  • Economic Factors: profiteering is considered unethical in communist societies, while profit is deemed ethical in capitalist societies.
  • Organisation: The value system of the organisation affects the ethics of people working in that organisation like ISRO Vs DRDO.
  • Time: 18th century vs now
  • Experience: Kalinga War and Ashoka
  • Cost-benefit analysis: utilitarians
  • Inspiration: Gandhi for us
  • Power: what is right or wrong generally told by socio(brahmin), economic(tata) and political power (Modi).
  • Education: your thoughts depend on your knowledge and knowledge is greatly affected by education but there is no direct relation between ethics and education.