Download What is Ethics?

ETHICS,
EXCELLENCE &
EMPOWERMENT

The words "ethics" and "morality" have
Greek and Latin origins, respectively.
Traditionally they referred to customary
values and rules of conduct (as in "cultural
ethos" and "social mores"), as well as
insights about what counts as human
excellence and flourishing. "Ethics" and
"morality" are often used interchangeably
by us today. But ethics also refers to moral
philosophy, i.e., a discipline of critical
analysis of the meaning and justification of
moral beliefs.

Ethics and morality--along with law and
etiquette--are essentially normative, that is, they
prescribe human behavior as obligatory,
prohibited, or permissible. There’s considerable
overlap between ethics and law, and ethics and
etiquette. Much of the law embodies ethical
principles: respect for basic rights to life,
property, and the right of citizens to participate in
political life. It’s usually unethical to break the
law. A breach of etiquette can also be unethical if
it is done intentionally to offend someone simply
for one’s own amusement.

Ethics goes beyond etiquette, though, to
include matters that nearly every human
society considers significant: actions such
as lying, breaking a promise or killing
someone are more serious than social
faux pas. Ethics also has to do with human
character and motivation, which in many
cases are irrelevant to etiquette and law.

Excellence is a talent or quality which is
unusually good and so surpasses
ordinary standards. It is also used as a
standard of performance as measured e.g.
through economic indicators.

Excellence is a continuously moving
target that can be pursued through actions
of integrity, being frontrunner in terms of
products / services provided that are
reliable and safe for the intended users,
meeting all obligations and continually
learning and improving in all spheres to
pursue the moving target.[1]

In modern public relations and marketing,
"excellence" is a much
overused buzzword that tries to convey a
good impression often without imparting
any concrete information

Empowerment refers to measures
designed to increase the degree
of autonomy and self-determination in
people and in communities in order to
enable them to represent their interests in
a responsible and self-determined way,
acting on their own authority.

Empowerment refers both to the process
of self-empowerment and to professional
support of people, which enables them to
overcome their sense of powerlessness
and lack of influence, and to recognise
and eventually to use their resources and
chances.
The term empowerment is also used for
an accomplished state of selfresponsibility and self-determination.
 The term empowerment originates from
American community psychology and is
associated with the social scientist Julian
Rappaport (1981).


In social work, empowerment forms a
practical approach of resource-oriented
intervention. In the field of citizenship
education and democratic education,
empowerment is seen as a tool to
increase the responsibility of the citizen.

Empowerment is a key concept in the
discourse on promoting civic engagement.
Empowerment as a concept, which is
characterized by a move away from a
deficit-oriented towards a more strengthoriented perception, can increasingly be
found in management concepts, as well as
in the areas of continuing
education and self-help.