Character, a Relection of Values Guided by Morals and Ethics

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CHARACTER, A RELECTION OF VALUES GUIDED BY MORALS AND ETHICS Character, an extension of the conscience of an individual, is determined by his Values and not by his Morals and Ethics alone. Morality is “the character of being in accord with the principles or standards of right conduct” (Jackson, 1984, p.319). The reinforcement of society and religion, which gives rise to a set of rigid beliefs or opinions, is known as morals. Hence, this moral voice is not something which one follows from heart, rather one does it to have broader acceptance in the society or religion. Compared to values, it has greater social element and is just about what is right or wrong or what is acceptable to the society. Hence, it implies that morals provide us guidelines to lead a good life but they do not constitute the conscience or gut feeling, which is a characteristic or choice of a particular individual and determines his individuality as a whole . “Ethics is the science of conduct, and the fundamental problem of ethics is determining what constitutes proper conduct” (Carnell, 1948, p. 315). Ethics tend to be codified into a formal system or set of rules, which are explicitly adopted by a group of people, like professional ethics, societal ethics, etc. The ethics which applies for a particular situation may be completely opposite to what is applicable for another. For e.g. - The professional ethics of a lawyer to defend a murderer is against the societal ethics of punishing the murderer. Thus, ethics are external influences on an individual to conduct himself in a particular situation and hence, cannot constitute his conscience. "Values are our measures of importance, where as ethics represent our judgments about right and wrong" (Shockley-Zalabak 1999, p. 438). Values depend on an individual’s personal choice and thus influence his behavior as a whole. The values, developed
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