ABSTRACT
Interest in ethics and ethical behaviour has always been strong. Bennett (2010) posits that this is mainly because in a society, people feel a need or are even compelled to explain or defend their decisions to others, especially those that may have signicant consequences. He further adds that ‘Ethics is the study of what actions really can be defended under scrutiny’ (p. xiv). is aspect has been the motivation for searching for theories or approaches that will help members of society to decide on ethical matters – decisions they will be able to defend if questioned. is chapter presents some of the commonly known traditional and current theories and approaches in the West. A brief introduction is also provided to some of the common approaches in the Eastern traditions, with a view to making the background information more diverse and allowing readers to make some comparisons.
