Ethics as an independent discipline is born of centuries-old reflection on human actions. It is she who warns against seemingly obvious considerations, sometimes (completely according to Ficht) "transparent as a clear sun." Ethics awakens to doubts, to torment of conscience, it enlightens consciousness, responding to murmurs of the soul. Ethics is a philosophical science, the object of its study is morality. In the first part of the textbook, the author reflects on such categories of ethics as good and evil, shame, conscience, duty, love and friendship, selfishness and pleasure, the world of values, freedom; in the second part analyzes the history of the origin and formation of ethics and various ethical systems.