I took a few philosophy classes 3 or 4 years ago, and we had to study several ethical theories. Ethics change too, no way around that.tokage wrote:This would mean ethics are more a set of general rules, that won't change, and moral value systems are specific rules derived from ethics in specific contexts.
Just jump to wikipedia and compare hedonism ("the principle ethic is maximizing pleasure and minimizing pain") to stoicism ("Peace of mind, or Apatheia, was of the highest value; self-mastery over one's desires and emotions leads to spiritual peace") to consequentialism ("a morally right action is one that produces a good outcome, or consequence" or "ends justify the means"), or deontology (where ethics IS more or less a set of general rules), and then there's David Hoy's "post-critique model", basically saying that ethics is only relevant when there are no rules and that once there are laws and rules, an issue is no more an ethical problem, just a moral question. "For example, should animal experimentation become illegal in a society, it will no longer be an ethical issue" although it would still be a moral concern.