What are ethics primarily concerned with?

Ethics are fundamentally concerned with a set of rules or standards that guide behavior and decisions, especially in the context of right and wrong. These guidelines help individuals discern appropriate actions within various situations and form the basis for evaluating conduct in personal and professional environments. By establishing norms of behavior, ethics play a crucial role in maintaining trust and integrity within a community or organization.

While personal preferences, legal requirements, and moral teachings can influence ethical considerations, they do not solely define ethics. Personal preferences do not impose a broader moral framework for society, while legal requirements often represent the minimum standards for acceptable behavior, which may not reflect ethical ideals. Additionally, moral teachings from religious texts provide important values for many people, but ethics as a discipline encompasses a wider array of considerations, including secular philosophies and cultural values that inform conduct beyond religious contexts. Thus, the correct answer highlights the foundational aspect of ethics in guiding conduct through established standards.