ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the sources of ethics, similarities and differences between ethics and religion-based morality, and the rather complex relations between ethics and law. Ethics is a branch of philosophy. It is the study of interpersonal or social values, and the rules of conduct that derive from these values. While ethics and law deal with many of the same issues, and often come to the same conclusions, and both provide rules of conduct, there are several reasons why it is not valid to equate one with the other. The field of ethics is usually divided into descriptive and normative ethics. Descriptive ethics simply describes what people say and do. Normative ethics prescribes what people should do. The ethical or virtuous person, according to Aristotle, is the person who shows consistency and moderation in all their dealings with others, be they family or friends or peers or subordinates.
