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Essay on Good Manners And Right Conduct

Students are often asked to write an essay on Good Manners And Right Conduct in their schools and colleges. And if you’re also looking for the same, we have created 100-word, 250-word, and 500-word essays on the topic.

Let’s take a look…

100 Words Essay on Good Manners And Right Conduct

What are good manners.

Good manners are polite ways we behave around others. They show respect and make people feel valued. Saying “please” and “thank you” are simple examples of good manners. Holding the door for someone is another kind act that is part of being well-mannered.

Right Conduct in School

Right conduct means acting in a way that is correct and nice. In school, this includes listening to the teacher, not cheating on tests, and being kind to classmates. It’s about following rules and being a good friend.

Why Manners and Conduct Matter

Good manners and right conduct are important because they create a friendly world. They help us get along with each other. When everyone is polite and acts right, we feel happy and safe. It’s how we show we care for people around us.

250 Words Essay on Good Manners And Right Conduct

What are good manners.

Good manners are polite behaviors that show respect to others. They are the small acts that make people feel valued and comfortable around us. Saying “please” and “thank you” are examples of good manners. When we use polite words, we show that we appreciate what others do for us.

Why Right Conduct Matters

Respecting others.

Respecting others is a key part of good manners. It means listening when someone else is talking and not interrupting. It’s also about treating others as you want to be treated. This means not laughing at someone who makes a mistake, but instead, offering help.

Being Helpful

Helping others is a way to show good manners and right conduct. Holding the door for someone or helping to carry a heavy bag are simple ways to be helpful. When you help others, it makes them feel good and they might help someone else in return.

Good manners and right conduct are important because they make the world a nicer place for everyone. They are like the oil that makes a machine work smoothly. When we are polite and act rightly, we make life more pleasant for ourselves and for others.

500 Words Essay on Good Manners And Right Conduct

Good manners are polite and kind behaviors that show respect to others. They are like invisible rules that help us get along with each other. When we say “please” and “thank you,” we are using good manners. Holding the door for someone or waiting for our turn in line are also ways of being mannerly. Good manners make people feel valued and important. They create a friendly environment where everyone can be happy.

Right Conduct in Daily Life

Right conduct means doing the right thing at the right time. It is about being honest, fair, and responsible. For example, if you find a wallet on the ground, right conduct is to return it to its owner. It also means following rules at home, in school, and in public places. When we act correctly, we make our families, teachers, and friends proud of us.

Why Are Manners and Conduct Important?

Learning good manners.

We can learn good manners from our parents, teachers, and friends. Watching how they talk and behave can teach us a lot. Books and stories often show characters with good manners, which we can learn from. It’s also important to practice good manners every day. Saying “sorry” when we make a mistake or “excuse me” when we need to get past someone are simple ways to practice.

Good Manners at School

At school, good manners are very important. They help us to be good students. When we raise our hand to speak and listen when others are talking, we are showing respect. It is also polite to greet our teachers and classmates in a friendly way. Sharing and taking turns are part of good manners at school too.

Good Manners at Home

Challenges in being well-mannered.

Sometimes, it can be hard to always have good manners. We might be in a bad mood or forget to be polite. It’s okay to make mistakes, but we should always try to do better next time. Saying sorry and trying to fix our mistakes are part of having good manners too.

Good manners and right conduct are keys to a happy and peaceful life. They help us make friends and be loved by our families. By being polite and acting rightly, we make the world a nicer place for everyone. Let’s all try to use good manners and right conduct every day!

Apart from these, you can look at all the essays by clicking here .

Happy studying!

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Essay on Ethics for Students and Children

500+ words essay on ethics.

Essay on Ethics – Ethics refers to the concepts of right and wrong conduct. Furthermore, ethics is basically a branch of philosophy dealing with the issue of morality. Moreover, ethics consist of the rules of behavior. It certainly defines how a person should behave in specific situations. The origin of ethics is old and it started from the Stone Age . Most noteworthy, over the centuries many religions and philosophers have made contributions to ethics.

Branches of Ethics

First of all, comes the descriptive branch of ethics. Descriptive ethics involve what people actually believe to be right or wrong. On the basis of this, the law decides whether certain human actions are acceptable or not. Most noteworthy, the moral principles of society keep changing from time to time. Therefore, descriptive ethics are also known as comparative ethics. This is because; it compares the ethics of past and present as well as ethics of one society and another.

Normative ethics is another important branch of ethics. Moreover, Normative ethics deals with certain norms or set of considerations. Furthermore, these norms or set of considerations dictate how one should act. Therefore, normative ethics sets out the rightness or wrongness of actions or behaviours. Another name for normative ethics is prescriptive ethics. This is because; it has principles which determine whether an action is right or wrong.

Meta-ethics consists of the origin of the ethical concepts themselves. Meta-ethics is not concerned whether an action is good or evil. Rather, meta-ethics questions what morality itself is. Therefore, meta-ethics questions the very essence of goodness or rightness. Most noteworthy, it is a highly abstract way of analyzing ethics.

Applied ethics involves philosophical examination or certain private and public life issues. Furthermore, this examination of issues takes place from a moral standpoint. Moreover, this branch of ethics is very essential for professionals. Also, these professionals belong to different walks of life and include doctors , teachers , administrators, rulers.

Get the huge list of more than 500 Essay Topics and Ideas

Applications of Ethics

Bioethicists deal with the ethical questions that arise in the relationships among life sciences, biotechnology, medicine, politics, and philosophy. Furthermore, Bioethics refers to the study of controversial ethics brought about by advances in biology and medicine .

Ethics also have a significant application in business. Moreover, business ethics examines ethical principles in relation to a business environment.

Military ethics involve the questions regarding the application of ethos of the soldier. Furthermore, military ethics involves the laws of war. Moreover, it also includes the question of justification of initiating military force.

Public sector ethics deals with a set of principles that guide public officials in their service. Furthermore, the public sector involves the morality of decision making. Most noteworthy, it consists of the question of what best serves the public’s interests.

In conclusion, ethics is certainly one of the most important requirements of humanity. Furthermore, without ethics, the world would have been an evil and chaotic place. Also, the advancement of humanity is not possible without ethics. There must be widespread awareness of ethics among the youth of society.

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OCTOBER 27, 2022

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  • INQUIRER.NET
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  • Headlines , Parenting

Good manners, right conduct: Will it bring back decency and respect in the behavior of kids?

  • BY Pocholo Concepcion
  • July 22, 2020

A paradoxical scene: President Duterte signing Republic Act 11476 or the Good Manners and Right Conduct (GMRC) and Values Education Law. Here was the country’s head of state, notorious for his rogue ways and offensive language, formalizing the mandatory teaching of decency and etiquette in elementary and high school.

GMRC was already a subject taught in primary school until it was scrapped in 2013 upon the implementation of the K-12 curriculum.

But are today’s kids really more bratty? Is technology a factor in today’s youth’s lack of decorum and proper behavior? Is bullying more rampant now than in previous generations?

Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri, the principal author of the bill in the Senate, believes that students who will be taught GMRC will learn to be analytical when confronted with a situation that challenges their sense of right and wrong.

For instance, Zubiri points out, if a child’s parents are prone to cursing, the child can decide that it’s not good to have a foul mouth. Children with a strong foundation in GMRC may even call out their parents, says Zubiri.

In an email interview with Lifestyle, Zubiri says he saw the need to bring back GMRC as a school subject because of “rising criminality and moral values degradation in the streets and inside our homes committed by youngsters,” and what he observed was a “downgrading of values education (in terms of focus and time allotment) in the curriculum when we implemented K-12 program in 2013.”

Among the law’s salient points: “GMRC shall inculcate among the students the concept of human dignity, respect for oneself, and giving oneself to others in the spirit of community for the effective and holistic development of the decision-making of the child. The curriculum shall also focus on the basic tenets of GMRC, such as caring for oneself, upholding discipline and order, cultivating sincerity, honesty, obedience and love for country.”

Marivic Limcaoco, a mother of two daughters aged 17 and 19, says she’s glad GMRC is back: “At least there’s an attempt to stop the ‘normalization’ of bad behavior we see all around us.”

Character formation

Lawyer Hilario Caraan, former director in the discipline office of De La Salle University (DLSU), believes GMRC starts with character formation.

“I strongly believe that the character of every individual is significantly molded during the fragile formative years, particularly in school, because most of the interactions of the young happen in an outside home environment.

“No matter what we do, as a nation, in making our criminal laws (on rising criminality and moral or values degradation) more stringent or strict, we might not be successful in achieving our national goals if we neglect the core of the problem: character formation initiatives for every individual from their tender years.”

While character formation starts at home, Caraan says: “School teachers and administrators, in the exercise of their ‘special parental authority and responsibility,’ as mandated by the Family Code, must perform their complementary role.”

Zubiri says that when the bill’s version in the Senate was being drafted, the prevalence of kids spending a lot of time online was a major factor. But he didn’t anticipate that new coronavirus disease (COVID-19)would force schools to adopt online classes.

“Kids are going to be home all day, learning in isolation from their peers. They’re not going to have the natural avenues for empathetic learning that spring from face-to-face interaction with their peers and with their teachers. Hopefully, a strengthened GMRC and Values Education program will make up for that.”

Limcaoco says, “Today’s children have opinions and are more vocal and expressive. Because of technology and social media, they are exposed to different cultures, trending news and aberrant behavior. During our time, we were exposed only to our school, a limited community and TV. As martial law kids, we were not even encouraged to have opinions.”

Bullying in school was another compelling factor, says Zubiri: “The number of bullying cases is still quite alarming. A 2018 United Nations data reveals that around 130 million, or one in three children worldwide, experience bullying. According to a Department of Education report, there had been a total of 19,672 cases of bullying in public and private elementary and high schools during the school year 2016-2017. This does not include the bullying committed by students against their teachers.”

GMRC, Zubiri adds, will teach “the values of tolerance and acceptance of our differences, whether based on religion, race, sexual preference and physical attributes, among others.”

Caraan, chair of the student discipline formation board whose task is to investigate major discipline cases at DLSU, says: “A person who has experienced a climate of fear and harassment somewhere will probably learn how to utilize aggression and retaliation as his/her first lines of defense . . . to be offensive so as not to experience the same fate. This could be a genesis of how a bully’s behavior is developed.”

An individual with bully behavior, says Caraan, derives satisfaction from using power to control a situation all the time without due regard to the sensitivities of other people.

He adds, “If not addressed in a timely manner, the behavior could be carried over by that person as an adult, as a parent, as a workplace manager, and even as a government leader.”

To Caraan, the “power bully” can nurture a new generation of individuals with bully behavior.

Limcaoco says, “Unfortunately not all leaders are role models. They probably realize that future generations can do better than them in that department.”

But with GMRC back in school, Limcaoco says, “At least there will be no lack of talking points in the classroom with the type of leaders we have in the world today.” INQ

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  • English Essay for Students – Importance of good manners

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Essay on Importance of Good Manners

How a person behaves towards the other can be termed ‘manner’. Manners play an important part in everyone’s life. Someone’s manners can tell us so many things about that person, like their background, their education etc. But ‘Manner’ is a general term, that is to say, it does not necessarily mean that manners are always good, though they always should be good, if not cultivated properly they can be bad, which is generally termed as ‘bad – Manners’. And therefore, manners, that is to say, ‘Good Manners’ are cultivated in every child from childhood.

The learning of manners starts from the home since parents are the first teacher of the child, the parents also become the first to teach manners to the child. But one thing to understand here is that the mind of a human is receptive, and hence we, the human, receive or rather learn and grasp so many things that happen in our surroundings. And this surrounding also up to an extent plays a role in the cultivation of manners in the child.

Hence, good surroundings cultivate good manners and vice-versa.

Afterwards, the parents and the surrounding school and teachers play an important part in teaching good manners to the students. For instance, the students must greet the teacher good morning, or good afternoon (according to the time) whenever the teacher enters the classroom, also the use of phrases such as “may I come in” and “may I go” are taught to be used in the school. And these phrases remain with the students for the rest of their life.

Understanding Good Manners

The one thing to understand here is that good manners are not formalities, neither are they social protocol or the rules, which one has to follow to avoid the fine. But it is something that comes from the inside most naturally and by itself, it is something that should not be forced or faked. The way in which we want others to behave with us is also how they want us to behave to them, it can be the simplest way to understand good manners.

People with good manners are liked by everyone, while on the other hand, those who do not possess good manners are more often than not despised by others. It does not matter how wealthy one is, how well educated one is, or how great marks one managed to score, if the person does not possess good manners people are not going to admire him. But if the person knows how to act and behave with others, then everyone likes that person. Also, good manners turn into good nature, and a person who has a good nature is liked by everyone.

Writing an Essay on the Importance of Good Manners

As discussed, good manners are important in life, writing about the same helps it in a better manner. And hence students are required to write an essay on the importance of good manners. Because for writing an essay students have to think about it, and therefore it also in a way allows the students to check their manners.

But one thing is also important which is, essay writing should be good, and hence Vedantu provides the essay on the “importance of good manners” for free to guide the students in writing the same.

From our childhood, good manners have been cultivated as a major part of every being's life. Being a human it plays an important role in every one day to day life. Our parents nurtured us since our childhood with good mannerism, good behavior and discipline. These three features are a vital part of good manners. Manners either its bad or good can't be imposed to the child, some basically inherited from their parents and other social mannerism etiquettes will be taught by parents itself at home first, since a home is the first school of any child to start its learning process where parents both mother and father plays an important role in developing good social etiquette or good manners to enhance the child’s upbringing in a good shape. 

Good manners has its own definition. If a person needs to be liked by someone then he or she needs to act like a good person with good behavior or manners. No matter what level of studies you did, either highly qualified or simply 10th passed out doesn’t make a difference if a person knows how to act or behave in front of others. 

Respect and courtesy are the major assets in developing good manners. One should be polite and courteous to others, even while communicating we need to be kind, calm and patient enough to listen to others, which means he or she should be a good listener. These qualities even makes life problems more simple and makes the person think more broadly.   

Types of Good Manners:  

Here are some specific mentioned good manners which helps a person in enhancing

Speak politely to others

Say thank you always wherever needed in conversation.

Open doors for others.

 Maintain eye contact while shaking hands. 

Stand up while elders enter the room. 

Polite phone manners.

Serve people when any guest enters your home. 

Highlights of Good Manners

Good manners can differentiate between in two aspects that is one in school and other at-home itself.

At Home: Home is the first place where child traits develop from, the parent is the first teacher who makes them (child) understand the differences between good and bad manners. Keeping in mind future aspects, a child needs to develop traits as polite, calm, and patient. Since childhood, we have taught of maintaining hygiene habit after having lunch or dinner, while eating or drinking not to make bad sound, say THANKYOU and SORRY are the important words to use while making in conversation, keeping own belonging in exact place after taking out from the place, brushing off teeth and bath daily, do not disturb others while working something important task, always take permission for picking up thing while visiting any neighbor place, always mention PLEASE word for requesting or asking for something and so on.

There are various add on traits which give support in child mannerism to act as disciplined and good nature human beings. These are basic traits and habits which a child develops from childhood by learning and observing the parents. 

At School: School manners consist of some different patterns of ethics that need to be followed by the child. Respecting teachers is the most important quality of good manners, here (School) environment also develops hygiene habits as such maintain a distance of put hands while sneezing or coughing, to carry a handkerchief, washing off hands after having lunch, always asks permission to the teacher for going to washrooms, daily completion of homework, maintain focus in class, talk politely to classmates and obey class monitor or teachers instructions, not to push children while standing in a queue. These are some major qualities that help children in enhancing good manners in all aspects.

Good Manners vs Discipline

There is a thin line between these two words which makes a big difference, generally, we cannot identify these differences. Good manners is completely associated with a  person's act or behavior such as politeness, patience, good listener, courtesy, helping nature and so on are some of the traits that signify good manners. Whereas Discipline describes a person's own set of rules and standards which he/ she follows throughout their life for example if a person is a smoker but here his discipline says not to smoke in front of parents or any elders this follows as same by any means. 

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FAQs on English Essay for Students – Importance of good manners

1. What is Good Manners? 

Good manners are expressed by our behavior and implemented on others. Being polite and courteous is good manners. The cultured and well-mannered person was always demanded in the society and appreciated by all. And the person who doesn’t know how to behave and act to others will not be liked by anyone and he or she loses its respect. This quality (good manners) has been developed since childhood to take firm roots. 

2. What are the Advantages of Good Manners? 

Good manners make a person civilized to live in society, it maintains peaceful relations among people and builds up social relations between person to person.

3. What Types of Good Manners Child Learns in School? 

To say PLEASE

Say EXCUSE ME

Always keep a good smile on your face while talking. 

Maintain eye contact while asking any question to the teacher 

Shows respect to others.

Always encourage classmates in any difficult task performance. 

Helping classmates. 

Building up communication with others and classmates as well. 

 4. What are the basic behaviors which are regarded as good manners?

There is much such behavior, below given are some of them.

Greeting others good night, good day, good morning etc, according to the time.

Thanking others when someone helps us.

Saying phrases like “you are most welcome” or “mention not” when someone thanks us after receiving our help.

Serving the guests at home.

Maintaining eye contact when someone is talking with us.

Behaving politely and respectfully on the phone.

Always be polite and humble to others.

The list is endless, but the first and foremost thing is that it has to come from the inside by itself.

5. Why should I use the essay on “the importance of good manners” that Vedantu provides?

Vedantu believes in delivering top-quality content to all the students and to fulfill this promise the team of expert teachers at Vedantu works very hard to provide the students with the best material. And the same goes for the essay on the importance of good manners. Also, this essay is written in such a manner that it exactly matches the level of students, the sentence formation, the vocabulary use, everything is chosen by considering the level of students. Last but not least, it is available for a free of cost download.

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The importance of good manners

By Your Headspace Mindfulness & Meditation Experts

Good manners cost nothing. These are wise words that we probably remember being taught as children, and those who are now parents probably repeat to their own kids.

But while these gifts are free to give, the simple offerings of being polite and kind — like saying please and thank you, listening carefully, and making eye contact with people — can bring huge benefits to ourselves and those around us.

In this article

Mindfulness your manners, how to teach kids good manners.

They can help us appear more confident, maintain more fulfilling personal relationships, lead to us prospering at work and generally enjoying happier and healthier lives.

But what we probably didn’t realize when we were being taught to be well-mannered as children — and perhaps those teaching it didn’t recognize either — is that when we were learning about good manners, we were often learning about mindfulness .

By living more mindfully, it can lead to us naturally having better manners and help us to live a more prosperous life — without spending a cent.

What are good manners?

By practicing basic good manners, we are showing those around us that we respect them and are considerate to their feelings. This makes them feel better, and us too.

Most of us have heard the old adage: “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” This wisdom is so ingrained in our life lessons, it has become known as “the golden rule.”

Examples of good manners can manifest themselves in seemingly small actions and rewards — like holding the door open for someone and receiving a silent smile of recognition in return. But it can also make or break crucial relationships and be the difference between harmony and conflict at home, at work, or even between countries and cultures on the world stage.

Like any rule, there are some exceptions , and we must appreciate that others’ experiences, needs, and boundaries can be different from our own.

But it is a concept with solid and natural roots. And Kristen Monroe, director of the University of California Irvine Interdisciplinary Center for the Scientific Study of Ethics and Morality, says : "There is a lot of good, if emerging, scientific work suggesting people have an innate sense of fairness built into them and that the golden rule captures much of that innate moral sense. A lot of people instinctively follow it.”

So if that moral sense of respect and fairness is already built into us, let’s look at how to unlock it naturally to benefit ourselves and others around us.

Meditation can be a great training ground for mindfulness . We meditate to practice being more present in the moment and then develop the ability to use these skills in our day-to-day lives, and that is living mindfully.

Being more present is crucial when it comes to looking at how to get good manners. That could mean being focused on one thing — or person — without being lost in the thoughts in your head. If we are present when we meet someone, for example, we are more likely to remember their name, which is an admirable skill associated with well-mannered people.

Empathy is another of the most important building blocks of a healthy relationship and treating others with kindness. And being able to understand how someone else is feeling — and having a spirit of generosity — is an important component of how to improve manners.

Headspace co-founder and former Buddhist monk Andy Puddicombe says , “Empathy does not require that we have been through the same thing as another person, simply that we meet them where they are now.”

Meditation for compassion — or loving kindness meditation — can help to nurture and release our natural empathy. This meditation encourages us to direct good will first onto ourselves, and then to others. The more we practice this meditation, the more we can let go of judgment and hostility, and apply this kindness to our everyday interactions.

Researchers from Emory University discovered that compassion meditation could improve our ability to empathize with those around us and to activate the areas of the brain associated with compassion.

And an important way to make those around you feel happy, positive, and at ease is to embrace that state of mind yourself. Headspace offers guided meditations to help us change our relationship with the thoughts that can sometimes cloud our happiness and reconnect with our underlying sense of contentment; it includes a 10-day happiness course. A study published in the Journal of Happiness Studies found 10 days of Headspace increased happiness by 16%.

Another example of where we can be more present in our lives — and where a lot of our life lessons on social etiquette are taught from an early age — is having good table manners.

Mindful eating encourages us to remove distractions and sit uninterrupted with our food and fellow diners. This encourages a healthier relationship with our food and with those eating with us.

The dinner table is often one of the key places we discuss manners with our children – but we also know there are many other elements to encouraging good manners for kids.

Headspace offers specific meditation for kids that can help nurture a kind, focused, and calm young mind. Headspace for Kids splits its content into three age groups: 5 and under, 6-8 and 9-12 and features collaborations with Sesame Street to teach kids about mindfulness.

Among the specific themes are helping children to be calm with simple breathing exercises, using their imagination to practice a relaxed, precise kind of focus, and encouraging kindness using visualization exercises to teach children about openness and generosity.

Headspace founder Andy says, “It’s almost as though meditation was designed for kids. They just get it – there is this elasticity and freedom in their minds which allows them to be present in the moment and free from any external thoughts or pressures.”

“By introducing meditation and mindfulness at an early age, not only can we build on this and help nurture their mind development, but we are also making meditation simple and accessible.”

And, of course, a good first step in showing kids the importance of good manners is to be a positive role model with our own behavior. Mindful parenting involves being fully present with our children, free from distractions and judgment, and with a soft and open mind.

Join more than 66 million people who have downloaded the Headspace app, which features hundreds of guided meditations to help us live with empathy, compassion, and to be more present in the moment. Be kind to your mind. Start with a free trial of Headspace.

READ NEXT: How to be more empathetic

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Ethics and Morality

Morality, Ethics, Evil, Greed

Reviewed by Psychology Today Staff

To put it simply, ethics represents the moral code that guides a person’s choices and behaviors throughout their life. The idea of a moral code extends beyond the individual to include what is determined to be right, and wrong, for a community or society at large.

Ethics is concerned with rights, responsibilities, use of language, what it means to live an ethical life, and how people make moral decisions. We may think of moralizing as an intellectual exercise, but more frequently it's an attempt to make sense of our gut instincts and reactions. It's a subjective concept, and many people have strong and stubborn beliefs about what's right and wrong that can place them in direct contrast to the moral beliefs of others. Yet even though morals may vary from person to person, religion to religion, and culture to culture, many have been found to be universal, stemming from basic human emotions.

  • The Science of Being Virtuous
  • Understanding Amorality
  • The Stages of Moral Development

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Those who are considered morally good are said to be virtuous, holding themselves to high ethical standards, while those viewed as morally bad are thought of as wicked, sinful, or even criminal. Morality was a key concern of Aristotle, who first studied questions such as “What is moral responsibility?” and “What does it take for a human being to be virtuous?”

We used to think that people are born with a blank slate, but research has shown that people have an innate sense of morality . Of course, parents and the greater society can certainly nurture and develop morality and ethics in children.

Humans are ethical and moral regardless of religion and God. People are not fundamentally good nor are they fundamentally evil. However, a Pew study found that atheists are much less likely than theists to believe that there are "absolute standards of right and wrong." In effect, atheism does not undermine morality, but the atheist’s conception of morality may depart from that of the traditional theist.

Animals are like humans—and humans are animals, after all. Many studies have been conducted across animal species, and more than 90 percent of their behavior is what can be identified as “prosocial” or positive. Plus, you won’t find mass warfare in animals as you do in humans. Hence, in a way, you can say that animals are more moral than humans.

The examination of moral psychology involves the study of moral philosophy but the field is more concerned with how a person comes to make a right or wrong decision, rather than what sort of decisions he or she should have made. Character, reasoning, responsibility, and altruism , among other areas, also come into play, as does the development of morality.

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The seven deadly sins were first enumerated in the sixth century by Pope Gregory I, and represent the sweep of immoral behavior. Also known as the cardinal sins or seven deadly vices, they are vanity, jealousy , anger , laziness, greed, gluttony, and lust. People who demonstrate these immoral behaviors are often said to be flawed in character. Some modern thinkers suggest that virtue often disguises a hidden vice; it just depends on where we tip the scale .

An amoral person has no sense of, or care for, what is right or wrong. There is no regard for either morality or immorality. Conversely, an immoral person knows the difference, yet he does the wrong thing, regardless. The amoral politician, for example, has no conscience and makes choices based on his own personal needs; he is oblivious to whether his actions are right or wrong.

One could argue that the actions of Wells Fargo, for example, were amoral if the bank had no sense of right or wrong. In the 2016 fraud scandal, the bank created fraudulent savings and checking accounts for millions of clients, unbeknownst to them. Of course, if the bank knew what it was doing all along, then the scandal would be labeled immoral.

Everyone tells white lies to a degree, and often the lie is done for the greater good. But the idea that a small percentage of people tell the lion’s share of lies is the Pareto principle, the law of the vital few. It is 20 percent of the population that accounts for 80 percent of a behavior.

We do know what is right from wrong . If you harm and injure another person, that is wrong. However, what is right for one person, may well be wrong for another. A good example of this dichotomy is the religious conservative who thinks that a woman’s right to her body is morally wrong. In this case, one’s ethics are based on one’s values; and the moral divide between values can be vast.

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Psychologist Lawrence Kohlberg established his stages of moral development in 1958. This framework has led to current research into moral psychology. Kohlberg's work addresses the process of how we think of right and wrong and is based on Jean Piaget's theory of moral judgment for children. His stages include pre-conventional, conventional, post-conventional, and what we learn in one stage is integrated into the subsequent stages.

The pre-conventional stage is driven by obedience and punishment . This is a child's view of what is right or wrong. Examples of this thinking: “I hit my brother and I received a time-out.” “How can I avoid punishment?” “What's in it for me?” 

The conventional stage is when we accept societal views on rights and wrongs. In this stage people follow rules with a  good boy  and nice girl  orientation. An example of this thinking: “Do it for me.” This stage also includes law-and-order morality: “Do your duty.”

The post-conventional stage is more abstract: “Your right and wrong is not my right and wrong.” This stage goes beyond social norms and an individual develops his own moral compass, sticking to personal principles of what is ethical or not.

right conduct essay

Moral disengagement involves both perpetration and disavowal. Understanding the impact of moral disengagement in relationships and society is important for healing.

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Your client wants to remain in a romantic relationship that you believe is highly toxic. What is your priority for helping the client—their wishes or their interests?

right conduct essay

Recent news stories about mental health facilities and involuntary hospitalization echo debates from the past and require historical contextualization.

right conduct essay

Education is about the formation of a person. ChatGPT and related technologies undermine this important task.

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Throughout history, some cultures have tried to suppress things beautiful. While they succeeded to some extent, beauty always found its way, just as water finds the sea.

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We don't often pay attention to the feelings, thoughts, and sensations driving our actions. Mindful balance of head and heart is key to making the “right” decision. Here's how.

right conduct essay

Research sheds light on shared personality traits of people with strong moral character.

right conduct essay

Personal Perspective: Many people who access death-with-dignity medication do not use it, but are still comforted by having autonomy and choice. Here's a real-life story.

right conduct essay

An intentional response to the climate crisis.

right conduct essay

Malpractice litigation can be emotionally devastating to a healthcare practitioner. But there are ways of preventing this.

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Types of Moral Principles and Examples of Each

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  • Development

Moral principles are guidelines that people live by to make sure they are doing the right thing. These include things like honesty, fairness, and equality. A person's morality or moral principles can be different from someone else's because they depend on how a person was raised and what is important to them in life.

To better understand your moral principles or those of people in your life, it helps to know the different types of principles and examples of each. We also share their impact, how they develop, and their possible pitfalls. But first, let's look at how moral principles came about.

History of Moral Principles

The history of moral principles dates back to Ancient Greece and Ancient China. Moral principles were important in these societies because they believed that to be successful, people needed a clear sense of right and wrong.

Research on moral principles began with Ancient Greek philosophers like Aristotle, who wanted to figure out the meaning of virtue. Later, moral principles were studied by philosophers like John Locke, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, and Immanuel Kant.

In the field of psychology, moral principles have been studied in the context of moral development. Psychologists seek to understand how children develop a sense of morality and how moral principles are applied in different contexts. For example, psychologist Lawrence Kohlberg studied moral development in boys from different cultures.

In the contemporary world, moral principles still play an important role and are considered guidelines for living life successfully. As an example, honesty is considered a moral principle because it keeps relationships strong.

Types of Moral Principles

There are two types of moral principles: absolute and relative.

  • Absolute principles are unchanging and universal. They are based on universal truths about the nature of human beings. For example, murder is wrong because it goes against the natural order of things. These are also sometimes called normative moral principles or those that are generally accepted by society.
  • Relative principles change depending on the situation. They are based on opinions and circumstances that may change over time, from person to person, or for different situations. Relative moral principles depend on a person's beliefs , relative to what people perceive as good or bad in relation to themselves. In other words, when someone says something is good, in most cases, they are really saying it is good for them or perhaps it contributes to their well-being.

Morals Examples

Some examples of absolute moral principles include:

  • Don't kill.
  • Speak the truth .
  • Be careful with what you say and do to others.
  • Respect the property of others.
  • Treat people in need or distress as we would want to be treated if our situation were reversed.

Examples of relative moral principles are:

  • It is morally wrong to spend money on a luxury item.
  • It is morally right to care for our planet and preserve it for future generations.

How to Adhere to Moral Principles

Many people strive to live by the moral principles they believe in. But, it can be difficult to follow them all of the time, which is what makes following one's own personal moral values even more valuable.

There are many ways that a person might adhere to their moral principles: through thoughts and feelings, actions, or words. Below are some examples.

  • In thoughts and feelings, a person might strive to be honest by being fair and kind .
  • With actions, a person might live up to their moral principles by not being violent or aggressive.
  • In words, someone might observe their moral principles through politeness.

Impact of Moral Principles

Moral principles are important for society because they help people learn how to get along and live well with each other . They teach us that all human beings deserve the same rights, which is why it's not okay to discriminate against someone based on their ethnicity or race. People who follow moral principles also tend to have a better quality of life than those who don't.

Moral principles can also impact an individual's identity and sense of self-worth . For example, someone who is honest may feel that they are a good person because they follow the moral principle to be truthful at all times. For people with strong values about equality, it might make them feel better about themselves when they don't discriminate against people who are different from them.

Tips to Develop Good Moral Principles

There are various ways to develop moral principles that transcend culture, religion, and country. If you are just starting on your moral journey, you might consider exploring morals in various philosophical texts.

However, there are also many practical steps a person can take to develop good moral principles:

  • Think about what you would do when faced with an ethical dilemma and why you would make those decisions.
  • Ask yourself what you think is right or wrong and make sure your actions are in line with those thoughts.
  • Watch out for double standards , like being nice to one person while not being so kind to another.
  • If it helps, write down a list of the moral principles you want to work on and post them where they're easy to see, like on a mirror or a sticky note that you hang in your workspace.
  • Don't worry if you're not perfectly adhering to your moral principles. The important thing is that you are trying your best.

Pitfalls of Moral Principles

There are some things that can go wrong when following moral principles. Below are some examples of how moral principles may not always guide you toward the best course of action.

First, it's possible to make judgments about others based on your personal values and not theirs. For example, if you think all women should dress conservatively because you believe dressing another way is immoral, you are passing judgment on others based on your own set of standards.

In addition, it can be hard to tell the difference between a moral principle and something that's cultural or part of your upbringing. For example, you might believe women should defer to their husbands because in your culture everyone has traditionally agreed with this idea for generations; however, if you were born into a different country where people don't think this way, you might not feel that it's morally right.

Finally, sometimes people can use moral principles to justify bad behavior like stealing or hurting others in some way. For example, if you steal because you believe it will help the poor, your thoughts could be twisted to say that stealing is okay.

In general, moral principles are beneficial both to society and the individual person. However, blindly following moral principles without considering their origin or using your judgment based on the situation can lead to issues.

The best course of action is usually to adhere to a loosely defined set of moral principles that align with your beliefs and society as a whole while also considering each situation individually. Also, weigh the cost of adhering to your morals in terms of its impact on other individuals. Aim to do right by you and by others so everybody wins.

Puett M. Genealogies of gods, ghosts and humans: the capriciousness of the divine in early Greece and early China . In: Ancient Greece and China Compared .

Park S. Cultural relativism vs. cultural absolutism . Cultura . 2021;18(2):75-91. doi:10.3726/CUL022021.0004

Austin CL, Saylor R, Finley PJ. Moral distress in physicians and nurses: Impact on professional quality of life and turnover . Psych Trauma Theory Res Pract Policy . 2017;9(4):399-406. doi:10.1037/tra0000201

Macko A. Contingencies of self-worth and the strength of deontological and utilitarian inclinations . J Soc Psychol . 2021;161(6):664-682. doi:10.1080/00224545.2020.1860882

By Arlin Cuncic, MA Arlin Cuncic, MA, is the author of The Anxiety Workbook and founder of the website About Social Anxiety. She has a Master's degree in clinical psychology.



The Buddhist Eightfold Path is the guideline by which one can live a life that leads to enlightenment. The fourth of the Eightfold Path is right conduct or right action.

What is right conduct? Right conduct is living in a moral and ethical way in the absolute sense rather than by the standards of any particular time or society. All the major religions say that killing is wrong. Yet, even today, we see acts of war that lead to death being justified as necessary for the greater good. Buddhism teaches to look at the entire picture and decide what is right conduct. Buddhism also teaches that each individual has their set of perceptions so that when faced with a complex situation different decisions may be reached. A person who feels that any killing is wrong practices right conduct when they oppose such action. However, a person who sees the result of a war as the freedom from oppression and a way of ending the cycle of violence may also be said to be practicing right conduct. Acts of retribution and revenge are not right conduct since they prolong the karmic cycle of suffering. The true test of an action is whether it helps relieve suffering.

Another aspect of right conduct is the act of giving, known in Buddhism as “dana.” Dana is not simply an act of charity. Dana also includes the reason for giving. Many times people give because they feel they must. They concern themselves with what others will think or they are acting out of a sense of guilt. True Buddhist dana has no feeling before the act that this is what “should be done.” Nor does it have any expectation of even an acknowledgment of the act. Dana is giving or acting because it is the natural thing to do. Simply stated, if you think “I have done a good deed” then it is just that, a good deed, not true dana. There is nothing wrong with doing good deeds, however, Buddhism is about attaining the state of being in which acts of dana are your way of living.

Buddhism does not have a list of “shalts” and “shalt nots.” Rather, the teachings, or Dharma, provide guidelines by which to live. The Buddhist belief in an infinite wisdom and compassion, from which we all can draw, puts the responsibility on the individual to do what is necessary to attain enlightenment. A basic Buddhist teaching is that all living things want have an end to their suffering and have a desire to be happy. Buddhism teaches the idea of “oneness” of all things. We are not superior, in the absolute sense, to any other thing. Only when we recognize this and direct all our actions to the ending of suffering of all things can we be said to be practicing true right conduct.

If you would like more information, or have questions, please e-mail [email protected].

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Introduction of moral codes

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  • Moore and the naturalistic fallacy
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  • Existentialism
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  • Moral realism
  • Kantian constructivism: a middle ground?
  • Irrealist views: projectivism and expressivism
  • Ethics and reasons for action
  • The debate over consequentialism
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Code of Hammurabi

What is ethics?

How is ethics different from morality, why does ethics matter, is ethics a social science.

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Aristotle (384-322 BC), Ancient Greek philosopher and scientist. One of the most influential philosophers in the history of Western thought, Aristotle established the foundations for the modern scientific method of enquiry. Statue

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The term ethics may refer to the philosophical study of the concepts of moral right and wrong and moral good and bad, to any philosophical theory of what is morally right and wrong or morally good and bad, and to any system or code of moral rules, principles, or values. The last may be associated with particular religions , cultures, professions, or virtually any other group that is at least partly characterized by its moral outlook.

Traditionally, ethics referred to the philosophical study of morality, the latter being a more or less systematic set of beliefs, usually held in common by a group, about how people should live. Ethics also referred to particular philosophical theories of morality. Later the term was applied to particular (and narrower) moral codes or value systems. Ethics and morality are now used almost interchangeably in many contexts, but the name of the philosophical study remains ethics .

Ethics matters because (1) it is part of how many groups define themselves and thus part of the identity of their individual members, (2) other-regarding values in most ethical systems both reflect and foster close human relationships and mutual respect and trust, and (3) it could be “rational” for a self-interested person to be moral, because his or her self-interest is arguably best served in the long run by reciprocating the moral behaviour of others.

No. Understood as equivalent to morality, ethics could be studied as a social-psychological or historical phenomenon, but in that case it would be an object of social-scientific study, not a social science in itself. Understood as the philosophical study of moral concepts, ethics is a branch of philosophy , not of social science.

ethics , the discipline concerned with what is morally good and bad and morally right and wrong. The term is also applied to any system or theory of moral values or principles.

(Read Britannica’s biography of this author, Peter Singer.)

How should we live? Shall we aim at happiness or at knowledge, virtue , or the creation of beautiful objects? If we choose happiness, will it be our own or the happiness of all? And what of the more particular questions that face us: is it right to be dishonest in a good cause? Can we justify living in opulence while elsewhere in the world people are starving? Is going to war justified in cases where it is likely that innocent people will be killed? Is it wrong to clone a human being or to destroy human embryos in medical research? What are our obligations, if any, to the generations of humans who will come after us and to the nonhuman animals with whom we share the planet?

Ethics deals with such questions at all levels. Its subject consists of the fundamental issues of practical decision making , and its major concerns include the nature of ultimate value and the standards by which human actions can be judged right or wrong .

The terms ethics and morality are closely related. It is now common to refer to ethical judgments or to ethical principles where it once would have been more accurate to speak of moral judgments or moral principles. These applications are an extension of the meaning of ethics. In earlier usage, the term referred not to morality itself but to the field of study, or branch of inquiry, that has morality as its subject matter. In this sense, ethics is equivalent to moral philosophy.

Although ethics has always been viewed as a branch of philosophy , its all-embracing practical nature links it with many other areas of study, including anthropology , biology , economics , history , politics , sociology , and theology . Yet, ethics remains distinct from such disciplines because it is not a matter of factual knowledge in the way that the sciences and other branches of inquiry are. Rather, it has to do with determining the nature of normative theories and applying these sets of principles to practical moral problems.

right conduct essay

This article, then, will deal with ethics as a field of philosophy, especially as it has developed in the West. For coverage of religious conceptions of ethics and the ethical systems associated with world religions, see Buddhism ; Christianity ; Confucianism ; Hinduism ; Jainism ; Judaism ; Sikhism .

The origins of ethics

Mythical accounts.

When did ethics begin and how did it originate? If one has in mind ethics proper—i.e., the systematic study of what is morally right and wrong—it is clear that ethics could have come into existence only when human beings started to reflect on the best way to live. This reflective stage emerged long after human societies had developed some kind of morality, usually in the form of customary standards of right and wrong conduct . The process of reflection tended to arise from such customs, even if in the end it may have found them wanting. Accordingly, ethics began with the introduction of the first moral codes .

Virtually every human society has some form of myth to explain the origin of morality. In the Louvre in Paris there is a black Babylonian column with a relief showing the sun god Shamash presenting the code of laws to Hammurabi (died c. 1750 bce ), known as the Code of Hammurabi . The Hebrew Bible ( Old Testament ) account of God’s giving the Ten Commandments to Moses (flourished 14th–13th century bce ) on Mount Sinai might be considered another example. In the dialogue Protagoras by Plato (428/427–348/347 bce ), there is an avowedly mythical account of how Zeus took pity on the hapless humans, who were physically no match for the other beasts. To make up for these deficiencies, Zeus gave humans a moral sense and the capacity for law and justice , so that they could live in larger communities and cooperate with one another.

That morality should be invested with all the mystery and power of divine origin is not surprising. Nothing else could provide such strong reasons for accepting the moral law. By attributing a divine origin to morality, the priesthood became its interpreter and guardian and thereby secured for itself a power that it would not readily relinquish. This link between morality and religion has been so firmly forged that it is still sometimes asserted that there can be no morality without religion. According to this view, ethics is not an independent field of study but rather a branch of theology ( see moral theology ).

There is some difficulty, already known to Plato, with the view that morality was created by a divine power. In his dialogue Euthyphro , Plato considered the suggestion that it is divine approval that makes an action good . Plato pointed out that, if this were the case, one could not say that the gods approve of such actions because they are good. Why then do they approve of them? Is their approval entirely arbitrary? Plato considered this impossible and so held that there must be some standards of right or wrong that are independent of the likes and dislikes of the gods. Modern philosophers have generally accepted Plato’s argument, because the alternative implies that if, for example, the gods had happened to approve of torturing children and to disapprove of helping one’s neighbours, then torture would have been good and neighbourliness bad.

right conduct essay

What is Ethics?

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Ethics is based on well-founded 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.

Some years ago, sociologist Raymond Baumhart asked business people, "What does ethics mean to you?" Among their replies were the following:

"Ethics has to do with what my feelings tell me is right or wrong." "Ethics has to do with my religious beliefs." "Being ethical is doing what the law requires." "Ethics consists of the standards of behavior our society accepts." "I don't know what the word means."

These replies might be typical of our own. The meaning of "ethics" is hard to pin down, and the views many people have about ethics are shaky.

Like Baumhart's first respondent, many people tend to equate ethics with their feelings. But being ethical is clearly not a matter of following one's feelings. A person following his or her feelings may recoil from doing what is right. In fact, feelings frequently deviate from what is ethical.

Nor should one identify ethics with religion. Most religions, of course, advocate high ethical standards. Yet if ethics were confined to religion, then ethics would apply only to religious people. But ethics applies as much to the behavior of the atheist as to that of the devout religious person. Religion can set high ethical standards and can provide intense motivations for ethical behavior. Ethics, however, cannot be confined to religion nor is it the same as religion.

Being ethical is also not the same as following the law. The law often incorporates ethical standards to which most citizens subscribe. But laws, like feelings, can deviate from what is ethical. Our own pre-Civil War slavery laws and the old apartheid laws of present-day South Africa are grotesquely obvious examples of laws that deviate from what is ethical.

Finally, being ethical is not the same as doing "whatever society accepts." In any society, most people accept standards that are, in fact, ethical. But standards of behavior in society can deviate from what is ethical. An entire society can become ethically corrupt. Nazi Germany is a good example of a morally corrupt society.

Moreover, if being ethical were doing "whatever society accepts," then to find out what is ethical, one would have to find out what society accepts. To decide what I should think about abortion, for example, I would have to take a survey of American society and then conform my beliefs to whatever society accepts. But no one ever tries to decide an ethical issue by doing a survey. Further, the lack of social consensus on many issues makes it impossible to equate ethics with whatever society accepts. Some people accept abortion but many others do not. If being ethical were doing whatever society accepts, one would have to find an agreement on issues which does not, in fact, exist.

What, then, is ethics? Ethics is two things. First, ethics refers to well-founded 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 ethical standards. As mentioned above, feelings, laws, and social norms can deviate from what is ethical. So it is necessary to constantly examine one's standards to ensure that they are reasonable and well-founded. Ethics also means, then, the continuous effort of studying our own moral beliefs and our moral conduct, and striving to ensure that we, and the institutions we help to shape, live up to standards that are reasonable and solidly-based.

This article appeared originally in  Issues in Ethics  IIE V1 N1 (Fall 1987). Revised in 2010.

Home / Essay Samples / Life / Manners / Student’s Manners: Reimplementing Gmrc Now Matters

Student’s Manners: Reimplementing Gmrc Now Matters

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  • Clipa, O., & Lorga, A. M. (2013.). The Role of school-family partnership on Moral Development. Retrieved from https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1877042813006411/pdf?md5=b43284400f041f7ee3379e1aea3f51cb&pid=1-s2.0-S1877042813006411-main.pdf&_valck=1
  • Legaspi, A. (2020). Senate approves GMRC bill on third and final reading. GMA News. Retrieved from https://www.gmanetwork.com/news/news/nation/726286/senate-approves-gmrc-bill-on-third-and-final-reading/story/
  • Mary, J. (2016). ROLE OF PARENTS IN INCULCATING VALUES. Retrieved from http://ijariie.com/AdminUploadPdf/ROLE_OF_PARENTS_IN_INCULCATING_VALUES_c1264.pdf
  • Moral Development. (n.d.). Encyclopedia of Children's Health. Retrieved from http://www.healthofchildren.com/M/Moral-Development.html
  • Senators seek the return of GMRC in basic education. (2019). Manila Bulletin. Retrieved from https://news.mb.com.ph/2019/10/29/senators-seek-the-return-of-gmrc-in-basic-education/
  • The Relationship of Morality and Technology. (n.d.). Markkula Center for Applied Ethics. Retrieved from https://www.scu.edu/ethics/all-about-ethics/the-relationship-of-morality-and-technology/  

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