An ethic is driven by a moral, an idea of what is right and wrong, what should and shouldn't be. Ethics are the driving force behind every action and decision a person makes. Weather choosing tactful words to use when speaking to a person who might get offended to ordering dinner, every decision that is made has an ethic as the driving force. As a person grows, learns, and develops, ethical actions may change and evolve in society's eyes and in the person's eyes as well. Many factors define a person's set of morals, but weather the set of morals be righteous or unjust, no set of morals will ever be perfect; however, weather these actions are smiled and frowned upon, it is a fact that ethics have as much of an impact on an individual as gravity or the sun because ethics are the driving force behind action.
When we are born, there is no such thing as an ethic. Ethics are taught to us by our parents at a young age, and religion, household values, and environment are among the most common and powerful shapers of ethics there are. As a person grows and learns, their morals and ethics change, and with every new bit of knowledge, that person's ethics are changed. There is no correct of incorrect set of ethics. Ethics is very much like a philosophy on life, because there is no real way of determining what is right and wrong. Nietzche had a very interesting writing that preached that Christian values and ethics were staggering the human development as a people. Instead of looking out for your own well-being, Christians are supposed to look out for "Thy neighbors". Nietzche said that if this trend, which has been around for millennia, were to be changed to a more selfish ethic, putting yourself first, we would be much further as far as a society goes. I don't know if I necessarily agree with this philosophy, but it goes to show that there is no right ethic, only what's accepted.
My own system of ethics comes primarily from my religion.
