You can study ethics from both a religious and a philosophical point of view. There are five branches of ethics:
Normative Ethics - The largest branch, it deals with how individuals can figure out the correct moral action that they should take. Philosophers such as Socrates and John Stuart Mill are included in this branch of ethics.
Meta-Ethics - This branch seeks to understand the nature of ethical properties and judgments such as if truth values can be found and the theory behind moral principals.
Applied Ethics - This is the study of applying theories from philosophers regarding ethics in everyday life. For example, this area of ethics asks questions such as "Is it right to have an abortion?" and "Should you turn in your friend at your workplace for taking home office supplies?"
Moral Ethics - This branch questions how individuals develop their morality, why certain aspects of morality differ between cultures and why certain aspects of morality are generally universal.
Descriptive Ethics - This branch is more scientific in its approach and focuses on how human beings actually operate in the real world, rather than attempt to theorize about how they should operate.
Knowing how to best resolve difficult moral and ethical dilemmas is never easy especially when any choice violates the societal and ethical standards by which we have been taught to govern our lives.
