Redefinition of ethics: on the internal ethics and ethical behavior

Abstract

This theoretical article is aimed at concretization and analysis of ethics, including psychological ethics as a concept of personal and psychological concept. The author subdivides ethics into internal and external. The latter, in the author’s opinion, is the “external” norms and rules in relation to the actor (an individual), which are usually reflected in such external sources as laws, codes, codes of conduct. Internal ethics consists of the ethical attitude and ethical behavior. At the same time, ethics manifests to the “outer world” through the act. Ethical behavior is a manifestation of suprasituative activity (according to V. A. Petrovsky), since it puts a person in a subjective position, i.e "the cause of the own actions", neither fits into the framework of “here-and-now” goal setting nor satisfaction of the motive, goes beyond the boundaries of the basic "criteria of the situation". The experience is viewed as a mediating link between the attitude and the frame of mind, since it connects the knowledge of ethical rules, person’s representation of ethical rules (external ethics), and ethical "attitudes" as a component of internal ethics, the “attitude to oneself and the world" – the ethical behavior. As a vector for further research, the author suggests theoretical and empirical development of the concepts of internal ethics and ethical behavior (including their connection with other ethical and intrapersonal constructs – morality, motivation, etc.), as well as the concept of experience as a mediation of the inner into the outer.