Ethics: Philosophy or Science?

The answer to the question formulated in the title has often polarized world specialists in moral issues, most inclining to regard ethics as a field of philosophical reflection both by the tradition to which it relates, as early as Socrates and Aristotle, and especially by the nature of its discourse, which displays plainly its synthesis spirit and vocation of universality. There are thinkers - and they are not few, especially in the horizon of post-moralism - who emphasize the requirement that ethical standards be applied, bringing extra knowledge about a distinct segment of reality - the phenomenon of morality - with specific scientific means and methods. The aim of this paper is to argue that ethics is a systematic theoretical reflection that covers the moral principles and values with a double status, philosophical and scientific, without being able to accurately distinguish which side is more important, even though, at some point, in relation to a particular issue, either the philosophical interpretation or the scientific has the power to prevail. (C) 2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.