Evaluating Aristotle Essay Far from being a social constraint, or perhaps a force that elicits fear of being caught, the motives that move a person to choose what is good and avoid what is evil draw well the fine line that separates actions that may be regarded as moral, or those that are immoral. Ethics is important, if not necessary in relation to human living. At the very least, this science helps maintain the fundamental order of and within a society. This is possible because ethics is not only a theory that informs people about what is good or bad, it also asks them to adhere to the principles it teaches. It is thus both informative and formative, or both a theory and practice, consistent with how it is commonly defined: “the discipline dealing with what is good and bad, and with moral duty and obligation†(Merriam-Webster). But what would perhaps be an equally interesting point to look at is the diverging manner by which many people believe to be the basis of moral action. Key to understanding this would be to ask: why be moral?