Ethics as a science. Identifying ethics as a science in the history of philosophy.

The word ethics was first used by the ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle. It can reasonably be said that ethics, as a theory of morality, was created by him. The notion of ethics reflects knowledge of the essence of man, freedom, the higher good, virtue, vice, purpose and means, and most importantly, justice. Aristotle thinks ethics as a philosophy of everyday life. Still, he prefers to call it a family philosophy, a philosophy of society, politics, and the management of personal behavior - ethics. It is true that politics and ethics are too close, but ethics is a small policy because it does not deal with the great problems of society. But knowing that in ancient Greece, society and the state are the same, Aristotle's reasoning for the distancing of ethics from politics can be explained.

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Politics and ethics are similar because they deal with the same object - man. For Aristotle, the purpose of human life and the meaning of human existence is the superior good, understood as happiness, as a continuous pleasure in which the physical and spiritual enjoyment harmoniously matches the fulfillment of the individual's social obligations.
Ethical knowledge today is a synthesis of scientific and scientific knowledge about moral processes. Scientific knowledge in the structure of ethics is related to the fixing of facts, the classification and the explanation of moral processes in social reality. The scientific element in ethics is related to values. There is no ethical knowledge and knowledge that is value-neutral. The emotional element of ethics encompasses a vast area of ​​the mass psyche and everyday notions of good, evil, honor and dignity, of fair and unfair, of permissible and unlawful. This everyday, century-long, long-lasting, and most often universal human experience is the very element of moral regulation without which our day-to-day relations are almost impossible. This is the sphere of customs, traditions, personal relationships, informal personal communication. Aristotle, as the creator of ethics, divides ethical teachings into three parts: teaching of the higher good; a doctrine of virtues in general; a lesson of individual virtues.

The superior good is characterized by three attributes, which are at the same time original specific features of personality morality. And they are 1- Higher good is not an abstract idea, but something that can be accomplished, attainable in the activity of man. 2- Goodness is the goal of the activity, which is why it is taking. For example, health in medical activity, victory in combat, and so on. Higher blessing is also an objective, but in the hierarchy of goals it occupies a high degree. For example, if there are goals that can be means to achieve goals of a higher degree, the higher good is an end in itself, that is, we strive for it for its own sake. Higher good can not be a means. 3- The superior good is the same with bliss, with happiness. But this is not an amount of good, something perfect and complete in itself. Moral acts are acts of the moral people, that is, virtuous or vicious can be the concrete people, not the acts themselves. This conclusion is too important to understand ethics at all. Ancient Greek ethics is hedonistic; ecumenical and ethic for the higher good. In the course of the economic and cultural development, the terms "ethics" and "morals" are filled with different content. Ethics means science, and morality is a real phenomenon that is studied by ethics. In everyday language they are used as unique concepts - interchangeable. But when it comes to scientific precision, ethics are understood as moral philosophy or moral theory.