Updated December 13, 2017 Duty: The Root of Ethics A duty is an obligation to act in a certain way. Though duties arise from various sources, all duties have a moral dimension. Duties create obligations and expectations. Companies, for example, have many duties including an obligation to treat customers and employees fairly, to assure that their products and services are …
“Ought” Versus “Is” Ethics
Many debates about ethical issues become bogged down in a fundamental confusion caused by two very different ways in which the term ethics is used. In most cases, ethics refers to notions of moral obligation, ideas and beliefs about what people should do — the “ought.” Often, however, the term is used simply to describe what certain people or cultures …