It can be observed in both the individual and social lives that the actions are mostly considered in terms of whether they are right or wrong. An individual, in most of the cases, while performing actions, tries to gauge it in perspective of his individual concept or the social concept of right or wrong. Same is the case with society; while analyzing the character and the actions of an individual the social beings try to tally them in accordance to the determined concepts of right and wrong. These concepts of rights and wrongs are basically studied and discussed in ethics.

Ethics, in wider perspective, is a complete branch of knowledge and can be easily placed in moral philosophy. To put in the simplest possible terms, it basically involves systematizing, defending and recommending concepts of right and wrong conduct. It is important to understand what the vague and qualitative terms like 'right' and 'wrong' really mean. In most of the cases these concepts are derived from the social norms and traditions. 'Right' is the action that is socially acceptable and in accordance to the social values, while 'wrong' is a conduct that is adverse to the socially accepted behavior.

The important point, however, is to determine whether the social norms and values are humane and they keep in consideration the basic human rights. As it can be observed that in a given society a particular conduct may be socially acceptable and may be considered right but in accordance to the basic human rights they may be very discriminating; as can be observed in some of the backward societies of the world.

For example, discriminatory behavior in some of the societies may be considered right but it cannot be considered humane. The question, then, is whether such actions can be considered as ethical or not. According to Tomas Paul and Linda Elder of the Foundation for Critical Thinking, "Most people confuse ethics with behaving in accordance with social conventions, religious beliefs, and the law", and don't treat ethics as a stand-alone concept. Paul and Elder define ethics as "a set of concepts and principles that guide us in determining what behavior helps or harms sentient creatures".

With the globalization, there has been development of universal ethics, which, though to a limited extent, tends to invigorate the conduct based on the universal concepts of human rights and betterment. The universal ethics consider the actions that harm other human beings as wrong and the ones that benefit others as right. However, it is very difficult to promulgate and implement universal ethics to all the societies of the world as the diversities are immense in different societies, mostly because of uneven development of social lives and different cultures and religious beliefs.

Religion and culture have been the most dominant sources of ethics. The followers of different religions derive most of their ethical values from the basic teaching of their religions which are present in their holy scriptures or from the lives and behaviors of their Prophets. In this regard, most of the religions of the world clearly define the behavior that is ethically acceptable to them. They have their own systems of reward and punishment, which is to ensure that the ethical behavior is in accordance to the teachings.

Laws, mostly in the modern societies, also try to ensure ethical behavior. Mostly, laws are made by the political and legal institutions, which happen to be the part of society wherein they exist; therefore, they strive to keep in consideration the society's ethical values. Though they have been very influential in the modern societies, laws are not able to implement the ethical values to a large extent and may also contradict them in certain cases. Moreover, there are limitations of the legal systems to implement the law in its true nature.

Though societies have large impact on the lives of the individuals, their behaviors and conducts are not mostly determined by the ethical values of the societies. The individuals, on certain occasions, perform their actions on the basis of their own beliefs and thoughts, which are not necessary conforming to that of the society.

There has been concept of analyzing the ethical values on the basis of pleasure and bliss. The individuals, mostly after the advent of individualism and industrialization, have considered the actions that lead them to pleasure, happiness and comfort as ethical. Such concept can be based defined as Hedonism. Hedonism posits that the principal ethic is maximizing pleasure and minimizing pain.

There are several schools of Hedonist thought ranging from those advocating the indulgence of even momentary desires to those teaching a pursuit of spiritual bliss. In their consideration of consequences, they range from those advocating self-gratification regardless of the pain and expense to others, to those stating that the most ethical pursuit maximizes pleasure and happiness for the most people.

The Afghan society, like all the other societies in the world, has certain ethical values, which are respected and pursued by most of the Afghans. Afghan society derives these values from its culture, tradition and religious beliefs. However, it should not be forgotten that Afghan society is very diverse and ethical values are not homogeneous. Nonetheless, that does not create any major issue as long as diversities are respected and tolerated. The major issue, however, is that some of the ethical values are derived from obsolete tribal values, which are based on discriminatory behavior.

The Afghans need to realize that the ethical values that are obsolete and discriminatory must be discouraged so that they should be able to make developments towards a civilized society. On the other hand the individuals must keep in consideration the welfare and security of others while performing different social actions.

The different strata in the society must be dealt with in accordance to their due rights. The weaker strata like the poor, women, and minorities must be treated appropriately. Moreover, the ethics is not just about doing good to one's own-self, rather it should be based on the principles of humanity and must avoid discriminatory behavior.