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Ethics: fun facts and quiz
The essentials in 7 ideas, with fun facts, an illustrated story and a quiz to see how much you know.
The essentials
What Ethics Is
Ethics asks how we should live and what makes actions right or wrong. Philosophers have given very different answers.
Key fact
“Ethics” comes from the Greek “ethos”, meaning character.
Utilitarianism
Utilitarians, like Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill, judge actions by their results: the right choice brings the greatest happiness to the greatest number.
Key fact
Bentham’s preserved body sits in a glass case at University College London.
Duty & Kant
Immanuel Kant argued that some actions are right or wrong in themselves, whatever the results. For example, you shouldn’t lie, even to get a good outcome.
Key fact
Kant said: act only on rules you’d want everyone to follow.
Virtue Ethics
Virtue ethics, going back to Aristotle, focuses on character: becoming honest, brave and kind through practice, like learning a skill.
Key fact
For Aristotle, courage sits between cowardice and recklessness.
The Golden Rule
“Treat others as you would like to be treated” appears in some form in many cultures and religions, from Confucius to the Bible.
Key fact
It’s one of the most widely shared moral ideas.
Animals & Ethics
In 1975, philosopher Peter Singer argued that animals’ suffering matters morally. His book Animal Liberation helped spark the modern animal welfare movement.
Key fact
Bentham asked of animals: “Can they suffer?”
Everyday Dilemmas
Ethics isn’t only for philosophers. Should you tell a friend a hard truth, hand back extra change, or keep a promise that’s become inconvenient?
Key fact
Different theories can give different answers to the same dilemma.
Fun facts
Most medical and psychology studies on people must be approved by an ethics committee before they begin.
Bentham designed a prison, the Panopticon, where a single guard could watch every cell.
Kant published his masterpiece, the Critique of Pure Reason, in 1781, at the age of 57.
Aristotle compared becoming good to learning the lyre: you become fair by doing fair things, again and again.
George Bernard Shaw joked: don’t do unto others as you would have them do unto you, as their tastes may not be the same.
Several places, including the UK and the EU, now recognise animals in law as sentient beings.
In a 2019 study across 40 countries, lost wallets holding more money were returned more often, not less.
Story: The Clockwork Philosopher
The Clockwork Philosopher
Königsberg, 1700s. Every afternoon, Immanuel Kant takes the same walk at the same time, so reliably that neighbours are said to set their clocks by him.
He hardly ever left his home city in 80 years, yet his ideas travelled the world, shaping how we think about duty, right and wrong.
The story goes that he skipped his walk only once: when he couldn’t put down Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s new book, Émile.
True or false?
Tap your answer to see if you got it, and why.
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Question 1 of 10
Ethics studies right and wrong.
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True. And how we should live.
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Question 2 of 10
Utilitarianism judges actions by their consequences.
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True. Outcomes are what count.
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Question 3 of 10
Kant believed some actions are wrong whatever their results.
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True. Lying, for example.
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Question 4 of 10
Virtue ethics focuses on good character.
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True. On who you are, not just what you do.
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Question 5 of 10
Versions of the golden rule appear in many cultures.
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True. Across continents and centuries.
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Question 6 of 10
Bentham asked of animals: “Can they suffer?”
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True. Long before Singer.
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Question 7 of 10
Different ethical theories can disagree about a dilemma.
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True. That’s what makes them interesting.
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Question 8 of 10
All philosophers agree about what’s right.
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False. They disagree a lot.
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Question 9 of 10
Utilitarians say results never matter.
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False. For them, results are everything.
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Question 10 of 10
Kant was a utilitarian.
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False. Utilitarians judge by results; Kant by duty.
Keep going in the app
KnowSoda learns what you know and brings back what you’re about to forget. Ethics has 6 more ideas at the Advanced and Expert levels.
Sources
- Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy — Consequentialism, Kant’s moral philosophy, virtue ethics
- Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy — Ethics
- Peter Singer (1975), Animal Liberation
- University College London — Jeremy Bentham’s auto-icon
- Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy — moral relativism, effective altruism, Hobbes, moral luck
- GiveWell — Cost to save a life
- United Nations (1987), Our Common Future
