Why are ethics important?

Ethics Are Important

 

So, why are ethics important? They are important because they keep people from doing what is wrong. If an individual has no ethics, he will do the wrong thing whenever he believes it will benefit him and that he can get away with it.
Ethics are different than laws, and different than doing the right thing as a result of fear of consequences. While something that is unethical might be illegal, there is not necessarily a perfect overlap. Furthermore, in many ways ethics can be even more important than the law, since the law will only deter a person from bad behavior if he fears penalty, while a person with a strong code of ethics will do the right thing just because it is the right thing.
If a person had no code of ethics, he could steal, as long as no one was watching. He could lie to his loved ones or to strangers, as long as the lie didn't rise to the level of criminal fraud. He could engage in all sorts of things that were "wrong" and "bad" as long as he didn't get caught.
Since the law can't possibly catch everyone each time they do something bad, and the law can't make every "wrong" action illegal, society would quickly fall apart if there were no ethical principles or moral rights or wrongs.

Reference:

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