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Ethics is a word with many definitions. While this may be frustrating to the student of ethics, it is an inevitability given the scope of the subject matter covered by the term. For purposes of this month's column, we shall use the definition offered by Will Durant in the introduction to his now classic work on the evolution of philosophic thought: "Ethics is the study of ideal conduct."(1)
The fundamental importance of ethics as an academic pursuit (and as a personal goal) was recognized centuries ago. Long before the birth of Aristotle in 384 BC, ethics had been recognized as a separate companion to religion in the human attempt to explain the difference between good and evil. In Aristotle's teaching, the study of ethics was ultimately given a place of prominence amongst all other fields of study. Durant writes: "...as Aristotle developed,...more and more his mind turned from the details of science to the larger and vaguer problems of conduct and character. It came to him more clearly that above all questions of the physical world there loomed the question of questions--what is the best life?"(2)
The quality of one's life has only a fleeting relationship with one's income and possessions. This causes considerable conflict in a business which has traditionally measured a person's worth more in terms of "how much production" rather than the quality of service provided. I do not mean to denigrate the importance of production to a commission-based business. However, I do mean to suggest that a single focus on "how much" is inconsistent with the common law concept of professionalism which would require a more prominent focus on "how good." It is this inherent human conflict between the need to preserve one's self with the desire to help others that makes ethics such an interesting and difficult course of study. It also makes the decision to live an ethical life a...