For centuries, philosophers, theologians, and politicians have written about different ethical systems which influence how personal choices are made, and then are balanced against the more general goals of society.
Individuals have a tendency to champion their own welfare.
At the same time society wants to advance the general welfare without allowing any one group or individual to benefit at the expense of another. Recognizing that these needs may sometimes conflict, laws and covenants codify what society regards as moral or immoral for individuals. The links below are the result of an investigation of these questions and their answers. For those visual thinkers out there, graphic indices of this material are included alongside the table of contents below. The superscripted numbers you see throughout the text link to the bibliography.