Ethics in philosophy is the study of moral issues, the way of being and acting of human beings, in addition to their behavior and character. Ethics in philosophy seeks to discover what motivates each individual to act in a certain way, it also differentiates what is meant by good and bad, and evil and good.
Ethics in philosophy studies the values that govern interpersonal relationships, how people position themselves in life, and how they live in harmony with others. The term ethics comes from the Greek, and means "that which belongs to the character". Ethics differs from morality, since morality is related to rules and norms, customs of each culture, and ethics is people's way of acting.
For classical philosophy, ethics studied the way to seek harmony among all individuals, a way to socialize and live with other people, so that each one pursued their interests and everyone stayed satisfied. Ethics in classical philosophy encompassed several other areas of knowledge, such as aesthetics, psychology, sociology, economics, pedagogy, politics, and so on.
With world growth and the onset of the Industrial Revolution, ethics emerged in contemporary philosophy. Several philosophers such as Socrates, Aristotle, Epicurus and others, sought to study ethics as an area of philosophy that studied the norms of society, the conduct of individuals and what makes them choose between the good and the bad.
read all about ethics and about the difference between ethics and morals.