ètiques

ètiques is a term that appears most often as a variant spelling of éthiques in French or of ethics in English. In standard usage, the field is simply called ethics; the form ètiques is uncommon and typically restricted to stylistic choices or typographical peculiarities.

Ethics is the branch of philosophy that studies moral principles and how they guide human conduct. It is commonly divided into normative ethics, metaethics, and applied ethics. Normative ethics asks what people ought to do and which actions are right or wrong. Metaethics examines the nature of moral judgments, the meaning of moral terms, and the status of moral claims. Applied ethics addresses concrete domains such as medicine, business, technology, and the environment, seeking practical guidance for policy and personal decisions.

Major theoretical approaches include deontology (duty-based ethics), consequentialism or utilitarianism (outcomes-based ethics), and virtue ethics (character and virtues). Other strands include care ethics, contractarianism, and debates between relativism and absolutism in moral judgments.

Historically, ethical thought extends from ancient philosophy in Greece and Rome through medieval Scholasticism to modern and contemporary moral philosophy, with influential contributions from figures such as Aristotle, Kant, and Mill, and ongoing developments in fields like bioethics, environmental ethics, and AI ethics.

Ethics informs professional codes, public policy, and everyday decision-making by weighing duties, rights, consequences, and character. It remains a dynamic area as societies confront new technological, social, and environmental challenges.