preethical

adjective

pre·​eth·​i·​cal ˌprē-ˈe-thi-kəl 

variants or pre-ethical

: existing or occurring before personal or social ethics have been developed or considered

The analytical history starts by attempting to understand relevant psychological capacities of the preethical ancestors …

—Philip Kitcher

More remote ancestors, human beings without full language perhaps, were pre-ethical.

—Philip Kitcher

… what ethicians might call the pre-ethical stages of human development …

—Robert J. Starratt

Laws are a pre-ethical stage. While they orient a person to virtue, acting because the law obliges one to act is not truly virtuous.

—Raymond J. Devettere

It sounds like a story from journalism's pre-ethical days …

—Jack Shafer

Word History

First Known Use

1881, in the meaning defined above