Cathy Johansen, age 14, of Pittsfield, Mass., for her question:

WHAT DO WE MEAN BY ETHICS?

 Ethics is the study of human actions in respect to their being right or wrong. Ethics in philosophy has developed as man has reflected on his intentions and consequences of his acts.

One of man's very special traits is to ask thoughtful questions about what he should or should not do. He does not have to ask about breathing and digestion since these are involuntary actions. But he does ask himself if he wants to cheat in an examination or how he should treat his friends.

Ethics makes a systematic study of our moral ideals and goals, our motives of choice and our patterns of good and bad conduct. It remains a science of right living, however, and not in itself a form of moral action or practice.

Ethics gives us some general practical knowledge, but we must still make personal decisions which apply this knowledge to particular cases.

The Greek word for ethics and the Latin term for morals, or morality, both come from the same root, the Greek word ethos, meaning custom or a habitual mode of conduct. Yet it is convenient to distinguish between ethics, which refers to the systematic general science of right and wrong conduct, and morals, or morality, which refers to the actual patterns of conduct and the direct working rules of moral action.

Without morals or morality, ethics would be an empty formal abstraction, for ethics bases itself upon a reflective analysis of moral experience.

The basic reason that we need ethics in addition to our working morality is that men became curious about their own actions and began to reflect upon them, compare them and seek their general principles.

Ethical reflection has seldom been carried on in isolation from religious convictions. One reason is that religion strongly affects the moral judgments of individualities and communities.

The religions of ancient civilizations involved definite moral codes regulating conduct and governing decisions in moral matters. The religious commitment extended beyond matters of worship and ritual to include moral precepts.

Judaism developed ethical monotheism, the belief in a just God who is the Father of all men and the goal of all our striving for goodness. The conception of a just God enforced man's ethical obligations.

Christianity adopted many of the ethical precepts of Judaism. Both Christian and Jewish scholars were concerned with the questions of man's ultimate goal and good and the basis of moral obligation.

Both the Muslims and the Hindus have supported the ethical standards of kindness, temperance and nonviolence. Buddhism and Confucianism also encourage personal ethical reflection.

Many Western moral philosophers have stressed the development of an independent system of ethics apart from a religious and theological background.