ETHICS, that branch of moral philos osophy which is concerned with human character and conduct. It deals with man as a source of action and is closely related to psychology and sociology. It seeks to determine the principles by which conduct is to be regulated, having to do not merely with what is, but with what ought to be. Modern ethics has frequently a distinctly legal or theolo gical stamp, being presented as a system of duties prescribed by God, or by con science. Underlying this notion is the conception of certain kinds of conduct, or certain types of character, as better than others or preferable to them. The doctrine that pleasure is the highest good was held by predecessors and con temporaries of Aristotle, and was after ward formulated by EPICURUS (q. v.) into an ethical theory. Contrasted with this is Universalistic Hedonism or Utili tarianism, which owes its development to modern, and especially to English writers, and holds that the chief good is the hap piness or pleasure of the community, or of mankind, or even of sentient crea tures. The founder of modern utilita rianism was DAVID HuME (q. v.). The utilitarianism of PALEY (q. v.) was founded on the belief that the happiness of mankind was the ethical end pre scribed by God; that of BENTHAM (q. v.) resulted from looking at action from the point of view of the community and its interests rather than from that of the interests of the individual. Applied only to the method of utilitarianism in HER BERT SPENCER'S (q. v.) hands, the evolu
tion theory has been used by other wri ters to show the inadequacy of the utili tarian principle.
The controversies, especially of Eng lish ethics, have been largely occupied with the debate on the question between the empirical and intuitive schools of ethics. The intuitive school lays stress on the immediateness and universality of the moral judgment passed by each man's conscience. A doctrine of the Moral Sense, as a feeling or perception by which action or motives are morally distinguished apart from their conse quences, was developed by SHAFTESBURY (q. v.) and HUTCHESON (q. v.); and W. A. Butler formulated the doctrine that conscience is the supreme authority as to what is right or wrong.
The introduction of Christianity brought a new element into ethical spec ulation; among Christians ethics was intimately associated with theology, and morality was regarded as based on and regulated by a definite code contained in the sacred writings. Most modern ethical systems consider the subject as apart from theology and as based on in dependent philosophical principles; they fall into one of two great classes, the utilitarian and the rationalistic systems. The first of the modern school in Eng land was Hobbes (1588-1679). Among subsequent names are those of Cud worth, Locke, Clarke, Shaftesbury, But ler, Hutcheson, Hume, Adam Smith, Reid, Paley, Whewell, Bentham, and John Stuart Mill.