preethical

adjective

pre·eth·i·cal | \ ˌprē-ˈe-thi-kəl

variants: or pre-ethical

Definition of preethical

: 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