What does each of the following quotations mean to you? (a) “Ethics is knowing the difference between what you have the right to do and what is right to do” -Potter Stewart. UPSC IAS Mains 2022 General Studies (Paper – 4)
Ethics is a set of standards that society places on itself that guides its behaviour, choices, and actions. Ethics is systematic study of human actions from the point of view of their rightfulness or wrongfulness.
Rights based approach focusses on the right holders and their entitlements.
- Gives rise to legal obligation on the part of others.
- Bearer is entitled to rights as well as entitled to claim rights.
- Entitled to hold the duty bearer accountable.
- Has responsibility to respect the rights of others.
- Based on universal moral and legal-rational background.
For example, Nazi Germany considered it was their right to assert its dominance on the world, but it only brought death and misery upon the humankind.
However, ethics is not merely about the assertion of rights but also about focus on the procedural correctness of action.
- Violation of rights is penalized; however, violation of ethics has only moral sanction.
- Gandhiji said that rights are organically linked with performance of duties.
- Asserting the right may not always be ethically sound (e.g.; slavery in USA, forced labor in China)
- Deontology strongly adheres to the principle of righteousness of means instead of entitlement to commit an immoral act.
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