Etiikkaan

Etiikka, or ethics, is a branch of philosophy that studies morality—principles, values, and norms that guide human conduct. It asks how people ought to live, what constitutes a good life, and how to resolve conflicts between competing duties or interests. Ethics is distinct from, but related to, law and religion; laws describe enforceable rules, while ethics reflects judgments about right and wrong that may inform or challenge those rules.

Normative ethics investigates which actions are right or wrong and why, while meta-ethics examines the nature of ethical properties, moral language, and justification. Applied ethics considers concrete issues such as medical ethics, environmental ethics, business ethics, and technology ethics. Major theories include consequentialism (for example utilitarianism), deontology (Kantian ethics), virtue ethics (Aristotelian), and care ethics. Methods of ethical reasoning combine logical argument, reflection on moral intuitions, and consideration of broader social impacts.

Ethics interacts with other disciplines such as law, politics, religion, and the social sciences. It informs professional codes of conduct, public policy, and organizational decision-making, and it is actively debated in contemporary debates on rights, justice, autonomy, and responsibility. In Finnish grammar, etiikkaan is the illative form of etiikka, used to express movement toward ethics or engagement with ethical topics in a sentence.