Somehow I seemed to have missed this until now. It appears to be of
import and a common topic found here at ME.
I'm copy/pasting a small part of it and the link to the original is at
the bottom.
For the benefit of all beings,
orn
Introduction to Ethics for the New Millennium
Ethics for the New Millennium is addressed to a general audience. It
presents a moral framework based on universal rather than religious
principles. It rests on the observation that those whose conduct is
ethically positive are happier and more satisfied and the belief that
much of the unhappiness we humans endure is actually of our own
making. Its ultimate goal is happiness for every individual,
irrespective of religious belief.
Though the Dalai Lama is himself a practicing Buddhist, his approach
to life and the moral compass that guides him can be of use to each
and every one of us – Muslim, Christian, Jew, Buddhist or atheist – in
our quest to lead a happier, more fulfilling life. According to the
Dalai Lama our survival has depended and will continue to depend on
our basic goodness as human beings. In the past, the respect people
had for their religion helped maintain ethical practice through a
majority following one religion or another.
Today, with the growing secularization and globalization of society,
we must find a way that transcends religion to establish consensus as
to what constitutes positive and negative conduct, what is right and
wrong and what is appropriate and inappropriate.
...
Definitions of Ethics
1. Webster’s New International Dictionary, 2nd Edition
i. A treatise on morals (Aristotle)
ii. The science of moral duty, more broadly the science
of the ideal human character and the ideal ends of human action. The
chief problems with which ethics deals concern the nature of the
summum bonum or highest good, the origin and validity of the sense of
duty, and the character and authority of moral obligation.
The principal ethical theories are:
1. Such as consider happiness to be the greatest good; these may be
egoistic, as is usually the case with hedonistic and eudaemonistic
theories, or altruistic, as utilitarianism.
2. Theories of perfectionism or self realization.
3. Theories resting upon the nature of man to the universe or to
divine laws, as Stoicism, evolution, Christian ethics. Intuitionism
and empiricism in ethics are doctrines opposed with respect to the
character of the sense of duty. Absolute ethics affirms an unchanging
moral code; relative ethics regards moral rules as varying with human
development.
iii. Moral principles, quality or practice; a system or
moral principles; as, social ethics, medical ethics, professional
ethics forbids him; the morals of individual action or practice, as
the ethics of conscientious man.
2. WordNet ® 1.6, © 1997 Princeton University
i. Motivation based on ideas of right and wrong [syn: ethical motive,
morals, morality]
ii. The philosophical study of moral values and rules [syn: moral
philosophy]
3. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth
Edition
i. A set of principles of right conduct.
ii. A theory or a system of moral values: “An ethic of service is at
war with a craving for gain” (Gregg Easterbrook).
iii. The study of the general nature of morals and of the specific
moral choices to be made by a person; moral philosophy.
iv. The rules or standards governing the conduct of a person or the
members of a profession: medical ethics.
4. Dictionary of Religion and Philosophy by Geddes MacCregor
i. The term ethics is derived from the Greek ethos, which means
custom or usage. It has basic affinities, therefore, with similar
notions in non-Western cultures, such as China, where the Confucian
term li, meaning propriety or courtesy or decorum has the same
fundamental significance. The Greeks, e.g., Plato, used the term dike,
meaning also custom or usage to designate the right way of behaving,
very much as Confucius used the term li in Chinese.
ii. The adjectives ethical and moral are synonymous and
philosophers who concern themselves with ethical problems have been
sometimes known as moral philosophers as contrasted with logicians,
metaphysicians, and other specialists. Moral philosophers may either
build systems of guidance in reaching ethical decisions, i.e.,
decisions about what course of actions is good or bad. They also
analyze what is to be meant by good and bad, right or wrong. Modern
ethics tends more in the latter than in the former direction, but both
functions are necessary in the pursuit of ethical questions. Ethics as
a whole belongs to value theory, which includes aesthetics and other
branches.
From: http://www.dalailamafoundation.org/studyguide
