What is meant by the term ethics?

From a philosopher’s point of view, ethics is the field of knowledge that deals with moral principles. The tasks for moral philosophy are commonly thought to be four-fold: (i) Prescribing moral oughts, (ii) Describing what morality is, (iii) Vindicating morality and explaining why one should be moral, and (iv) Critique - proposing areas for change in contemporary social practice. In business, this usually manifests itself as a code of conduct which applies ethical and moral principles to situations that may arise in the context of doing business.