What are ethics? Ethics are the moral principals set by a person or by a larger group. These principles set the boundaries on how far people can go in what they are doing. An example of a area where ethics are very important is in the field of science. Having ethics in society is important because it helps clarify what is wrong and what is right. This helps guide people into having their moral compass fit into this range of ethics, and it does this by using the population’s basis of morals to be set as the standard, which means that when a foreigner to that area arrives then they can see this standard and adapt to it.