( UPSC Ethics Simplified is a special series under UPSC Essentials by The Indian Express. It examines news and syllabus themes through an ethical lens, linking current affairs with core ethical principles to help aspirants build clarity, application skills, and a value-based understanding for GS Paper IV. Today’s article addresses how to identify and apply ethical reasoning in everyday situations, beyond obvious moral issues, which should be the starting point for studying applied ethics.) There are countless situations around us that provoke a simple yet difficult question: is this ethical or not? Consider a recent outrage expressed by a woman in Mumbai over traffic jams caused unnecessarily by political parties. Should such actions be accepted as part of public life, or questioned on ethical grounds? Similarly, if a senior publicly humiliates a junior during an official meeting and the junior expresses indignation, how should this be judged?…