What is the goal of ethics?

Question:I'm taking ethics right now. Utilitarianism seems like a good sound theory except in certain situations, where it can not tell you what is right and wrong. This is where opponents of utilitarianism try to attack the theory.

So what is the goal of ethics. Is it to create a theory that tells us what is right and wrong in all circumstances, or does it require that only most situations can be solved using said theory?

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: I'm taking ethics right now. Utilitarianism seems like a good sound theory except in certain situations, where it can not tell you what is right and wrong. This is where opponents of utilitarianism try to attack the theory.

So what is the goal of ethics. Is it to create a theory that tells us what is right and wrong in all circumstances, or does it require that only most situations can be solved using said theory?

Indeed ethics can apply only to most and not universally to all situations. In fact it is very possible that one dictate of ethics conflicts with another in a given situation leading to no single ethical solution or mandate. In the ultimate analysis, what must prevail is whatever means the maximum wellbeing of all in the long run.

ethics are unwritten laws to guide us to live a pleasureable and peaceful existence in whatever society we live in.

at least that's what it seems like to me.
i dunno, i've never even taken a philosophy course & never studied ethics.

The goal of ethics is to provide a guide line for human to create an ideal society where everyone can co-exists peacefully ^-^

Aristotle indicates that the purpose of ethics is to promote virtue or to improve life in the polis.

The goal of an ethical system is to provide a consistent set of principles on which to base our decisions and subsequent actions. I prefer teleological systems like Aristotle's, which first establishes what a (good) human being is, and then evaluates actions based on what it is to be most like a human. If I say that of all human traits, rationality is the most specific and fundemental to being human, then my ethical system will be based on reason. If I conclude that spirituality is most specific to humans, then my system would be based on being spiritual. In Aristotle's case, virtue was his pick, so his system is based on being virtuous. Utlitiarian systems, as well as others, require some sort of objective evaluation of what is good for all things at all times in all cases, and they therefore struggle to be consistent or even intuitively rational at times. This problem is what has given us things like "situational ethics" and other systems that rely on evaluating individual and specific circumstances which change from time to time and from person to person, and therefore such systems struggle to really be consistent, or even considered a system per se, at all. In short, the more general a system is, the better its chances of remaining consistent.