ABSTRACT
In English, “ethics” originates from the Latin word Ethica, and Ethica originates from the Greek word Ethos, and means moral character, temperament, customs and mores. Morality originates from the Latin word Mos, and also refers to moral character, temperament customs and mores. Because they have the same etymology, ethics, and morality both refer to behavioral norms that ought to be, which are externalized into customs and mores and internalized into moral character and virtue. The different etymological meaning of ethics between China and the West can be put thus: in the West ethics only refers to the norms of what interpersonal behavior ought to be, while in China it refers not only to the norms of interpersonal behavior that ought to be, but also to the laws of the facts of interpersonal behaviors. Ethics concerns the laws of the facts of behaviors with social utility and the norms of the oughts of behaviors with social utility.
