Our ancestors were known for their highly ethical behavior but can we apply those ethics to today’s world? We have already read Doreen Yellow Bird's argument that we cannot.
No one can disagree with her that times have changed. Are there some principles that are timeless?
Or does the right course of action depend on the circumstances?
First, let determine exactly what is ethics are not:
Ethics is clearly not doing what feels right. Ethics do not originate from religion nor is it the same as religion. Ethics and law are not always the same. Ethics is not doing whatever society finds acceptable.
“Ethics is two things. First, ethics refers to well-based standards of right and wrong that prescribe what humans ought to do, usually in terms of rights, obligations, benefits to society, fairness, or specific virtues. Ethics, for example, refers to those standards that impose the reasonable obligations to refrain from rape, stealing, murder, assault, slander, and fraud.
Ethical standards also include those that enjoin virtues of honesty, compassion, and loyalty. And, ethical standards include standards relating to rights, such as the right to life, the right to freedom from injury, and the right to privacy. Such standards are adequate standards of ethics because they are supported by consistent and well founded- reasons.
Secondly, ethics refers to the study and development of one's own ethical standards. Feelings, laws, and social norms can deviate from what is ethical. So it is necessary to constantly examine one's own standards."
Can Ethics be Taught? By Claire Andre and Manuel Velasquez(Issues in Ethics IIE V1 N1 (Fall 1987).