Ethics aside, what is characterful about saying no to money? Should I say no to my salary for character reasons?

There's a difference between doing your job and earning money as a result vs. finding keys to someone's house and selling said keys to the highest bidder.

Yes: ethics.

Some of us can get there without the organized principles simply with empathy. It's even deeply selfish in it's own way.

Ethics is our answer for those that can't.

I haven't encountered people whose empathy is so perfectly aligned with ethics that they don't need to be taught anything, but I suppose these perfectly selfless people might exist.

However of course in reality, empathy only gets you so far. Should you feel empathy for a CSA consumer because their feelings are important too? Do you empathise with their feelings?

It's true, empathy is a thing worked on, so is ethics by the way.

> but I suppose these perfectly selfless people might exist

I don't suppose you read what I typed. Empathy is not the setting of self aside, but the experience of feeling what someone else would in a given scenario. It is deeply selfish.

I would also say it is a prerequisite for an organized system of ethics.