UPSC Ethics (GS-IV) Glossary: 51 Key Terms with Definitions & Examples
by
Prince Luthra Sir (UPSC CSE AIR 577)
·
26 June 2026
By Prince Luthra · Ethical Officers (UPSC CSE, AIR 577)
Ethics (GS Paper IV) rewards precise vocabulary backed by sharp examples. This glossary distils the entire GS-IV syllabus into 51 must-know terms — each with a crisp definition and a one-line example you can drop straight into an answer. Bookmark it, revise it, and watch your answer quality jump.
1. Ethics — The Basics
| Term | Definition | Example |
|---|
| Ethics | The systematic study of what is right and wrong; the set of moral principles that guide a person's conduct. | An officer follows a code of conduct even when it slows down a personally beneficial decision. |
| Morality | A society's shared sense of right and wrong conduct; the standards by which behaviour is judged good or bad. | Returning a lost wallet because society regards keeping it as wrong. |
| Values | Deeply held beliefs about what is desirable and worth pursuing; they shape goals and priorities. | Valuing honesty, one declares full income on a tax return despite the cost. |
| Norms | Unwritten social rules and shared expectations that prescribe how people ought to behave. | Standing in a queue at a ration shop instead of pushing ahead. |
| Ethical Dilemma | A situation where one must choose between two or more options, each backed by valid moral reasons. | A collector must choose between completing a dam (development) and saving a tribal village (displacement). |
| Conscience | The inner moral sense that judges one's own actions as right or wrong; the 'inner voice'. | An officer feels guilt after staying silent about a colleague's fraud, prompting disclosure. |
2. Foundational Values for Civil Service
| Term | Definition | Example |
|---|
| Integrity | Steadfast adherence to moral principles; consistency between values, words and actions. | An officer refuses a bribe to clear a tender even though it would go unnoticed. |
| Probity | Confirmed uprightness and incorruptibility, especially in handling public office and funds. | A commissioner returns unspent project money to the treasury instead of diverting it. |
| Objectivity | Basing decisions on facts and evidence, free from personal bias or emotion. | A board member ranks candidates purely on merit, ignoring that one is a relative. |
| Impartiality | Treating all persons equally, without favour to any group, party or individual. | An SDM applies the same encroachment rule to a minister's land as to a farmer's. |
| Non-partisanship | Serving the government of the day loyally without political bias toward any party. | A secretary implements a scheme faithfully regardless of which party framed it. |
| Dedication to Public Service | Commitment to serving citizens' welfare above personal comfort or gain. | A doctor in a PHC works extra hours during an outbreak without being asked. |
| Empathy | Understanding and sharing another's feelings by imagining their situation. | A collector visits relief camps personally to grasp victims' distress before planning aid. |
| Compassion | Empathy translated into a desire and effort to relieve another's suffering. | An officer fast-tracks pensions for destitute widows after sensing their hardship. |
| Tolerance | Respect and acceptance of views, beliefs and practices different from one's own. | A DM facilitates two communities' festivals impartially despite personal preference. |
| Courage of Conviction | Firmness to act on one's beliefs and do right despite risk or pressure. | An officer files an honest report against a powerful contractor despite threats. |
3. Attitude
| Term | Definition | Example |
|---|
| Attitude | A learned, settled way of thinking or feeling that predisposes one to act in a certain way. | A positive attitude to public service makes an officer approachable to citizens. |
| Moral Attitude | A disposition shaped by ethical principles that guides conduct toward what is right. | Refusing to falsify records because dishonesty feels intrinsically wrong. |
| Persuasion | Changing another's attitude or behaviour through reasoned communication, not force. | An officer convinces villagers to adopt toilets through dialogue rather than penalties. |
| Social Influence | The process by which others' presence or actions shape an individual's behaviour. | Peer pressure leading a community to take up tree-planting after neighbours do. |
| Prejudice | A preconceived, usually negative attitude toward a group, held without fair evidence. | Overcoming bias, a recruiter judges a candidate on skills, not caste. |
4. Aptitude & Emotional Intelligence
| Term | Definition | Example |
|---|
| Aptitude | A natural or acquired capacity to learn and perform a particular kind of work well. | An officer with administrative aptitude quickly grasps and resolves field problems. |
| Emotional Intelligence | The ability to perceive, understand, manage and use emotions, in self and others. | Staying calm and reassuring during a riot situation to defuse public panic. |
| Self-awareness | Recognising one's own emotions, strengths, weaknesses and their effect on others. | An officer notices rising anger in a meeting and pauses before responding. |
| Self-regulation | Controlling or redirecting disruptive emotions and impulses; thinking before acting. | Holding back an angry reply to a rude petitioner and answering politely. |
| Motivation | An inner drive to pursue goals with energy and persistence for their own sake. | A teacher keeps improving a government school out of personal commitment, not reward. |
| Social Skills | Managing relationships, building networks and finding common ground with others. | A DM coordinates police, NGOs and locals smoothly during disaster relief. |
5. Ethical Theories & Thinkers
| Term | Definition | Example |
|---|
| Deontology | Judging actions by adherence to duty and rules, regardless of consequences (Kant). | Telling the truth in court because honesty is a duty, whatever the outcome. |
| Consequentialism | Judging the rightness of an act solely by its outcomes or results. | Choosing a policy because it yields the greatest public benefit overall. |
| Utilitarianism | The greatest happiness for the greatest number is the measure of right action (Bentham/Mill). | Allocating scarce vaccines to maximise lives saved across the population. |
| Virtue Ethics | Right action flows from good character and virtues like courage and honesty (Aristotle). | An honest officer acts rightly out of habit of character, not fear of rules. |
| Categorical Imperative | Act only on principles you could will to become universal law (Kant). | Refusing a small bribe because universal bribery would destroy governance. |
| Nishkama Karma | Performing one's duty selflessly without attachment to its fruits (Bhagavad Gita). | An officer does honest work without craving promotion or praise. |
6. Ethics in Public Administration
| Term | Definition | Example |
|---|
| Accountability | The obligation to answer for one's decisions and accept responsibility for outcomes. | An officer owns up to a delayed project and reports it to higher authority. |
| Responsibility | The duty to perform assigned tasks diligently and bear their consequences. | A BDO ensures MGNREGA wages reach workers on time as part of his charge. |
| Transparency | Openness in decisions and actions so that they can be seen and scrutinised by the public. | Publishing tender criteria and results online for all bidders to see. |
| Code of Conduct | A set of enforceable rules prescribing minimum acceptable behaviour for officials. | Conduct Rules barring a civil servant from accepting expensive gifts. |
| Code of Ethics | Broad value-based principles that inspire the highest standards of conduct. | A pledge to serve citizens with integrity, beyond what rules strictly require. |
| Citizen's Charter | A public document declaring service standards, timelines and grievance redress to citizens. | A passport office charter promising delivery within a fixed number of days. |
| Work Culture | The shared attitudes, ethics and practices that shape how an organisation functions. | A punctual, citizen-friendly office where staff resolve grievances promptly. |
| Conflict of Interest | A clash between official duty and personal interest that can bias decisions. | An officer recuses himself from a contract awarded to his family's firm. |
7. Probity in Governance
| Term | Definition | Example |
|---|
| Right to Information | The citizen's legal right to access information held by public authorities (RTI Act). | A villager obtains records of road-work funds through an RTI application. |
| Whistle-blower | A person who exposes wrongdoing, corruption or illegality within an organisation. | An engineer reports inflated bills in a bridge project to the vigilance wing. |
| Social Audit | Public review of official records and works by the community they are meant to serve. | Villagers verify a Gram Panchayat's spending in an open assembly. |
| Constitutional Morality | Loyalty to the spirit and core values of the Constitution above personal or majority will. | Upholding minority rights even when locally unpopular. |
| Good Governance | Administration that is participatory, transparent, accountable, effective and rule-bound. | A district that delivers services on time with citizen feedback built in. |
| Corruption | Misuse of public office for private gain, eroding trust and fairness in governance. | Demanding speed money to release a rightful subsidy is corruption. |
8. Corporate & Applied Ethics
| Term | Definition | Example |
|---|
| Corporate Governance | The system of rules and practices by which a company is directed and held accountable. | An independent board overseeing management to protect shareholders' interests. |
| Corporate Social Responsibility | A firm's commitment to act ethically and contribute to society and the environment. | A company funding rural schools and clean-water projects from its CSR budget. |
| Business Ethics | Moral principles guiding fair, honest conduct in commerce and the workplace. | A firm recalls a faulty product voluntarily to protect consumer safety. |
| Sustainable Development | Meeting present needs without compromising future generations' ability to meet theirs. | Approving an industry only after ensuring it does not exhaust local water. |
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Prince Luthra · Ethical Officers
Tags: aptitudeethicsGlossaryGS Paper 4integrityMainsupsc
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