Reading Materials for

ETHICS
What is ethics?
- Ethics can be define as “the practical science” dealing with the morality of human conduct
or human actions.
- the branch of knowledge that deals with moral principles.
- also called moral Philisophy, the descipline concerned with what is morally good and bad
and morally right and wrong.
Difference between Ethics and Morality:
ETHICS MORALITY
- “Practice” Rightness or
- “Theory” of right action and the Wrongness of human Action
greater good Perspective”
- “Systematic study” of the - Tell us what we ought to do
underlying Principles of Morality - Exhorts us to follow the right
way

Types of Ethics
1. Normative Ethics
- Seeks to set norms or standards that regulates right and wrong or good or bad conduct
- DO GOOD AT ALL TIMES
2. Meta Ethics
- Aims to understand the nature and dynamics of ethical principles and the Way we learn and acquire
moral beliefs.
- WHAT IS GOOD ?
Importance of Ethics
1. Evaluate our own choices and actions
2. Decide what is better for us
3. Produce better actions
4. Develop a good human character

HUMAN ACT

- is an act which proceeds from the deliberate free will of man .

- . It is only the act that proceeds from the knowing and freely willing human being that has the full
character of human act.
ACT OF MAN

- acts that man performs indeliberately or without the full exercise of free choice
Elements of Human Act
1. Knowledge

- acts that man performs indeliberately or without the full exercise of free choice

- It is necessary for an act to be free since no one can consent to or reject something unless he
is aware of it first.

2. Freedom
- act or not to act (freedom of exercise), or to choose this thing in preference to others
(freedom of specification).

3. Voluntariness

- an act to be morally imputable to a person is that the person must do it voluntarily or with
consent.
Modifiers of Human Act
- human acts we mean the things that may affect human acts in the essential qualities of knowledge,
freedom, voluntariness, and so make them less perfectly human.

1. Ignorance
- Ignorance is the absence of knowledge-and, for our purpose here, it may be defined as the absence
of intellectual knowledge in man.
* We are to consider ignorance in its effect upon human acts by considering it in two ways

- Ignorance in its object

- the thing of which a person may be ignorant is a matter of law, fact, or

penalty.
1. Ignorance of Law
- It is the ignorance of the existence of duty, rule, or regulation
2. Ignorance of Fact
- is ignorance of the nature or circumstance of an act as
forbidden
3. Ignorance of Penalty
- is the lack of knowledge of the precise sanction.
- Ignorance of its Subject
- .—in the person in whom it exist, ignorance (of law, fact, or penalty) is
either vincible or invincible
1. Vincible Ignorance
- is ignorance that can be dispelled by the use of ordinary
diligence.
2. Invincible Ignorance
- is ignorance that ordinary and proper diligence cannot
dispel.

2. Fear
- is the shrinking back of the mind from danger. More accurately, it is the agitation
of mind (ranging from slight disturbance to actual) brought about by the apprehension of
impending evil.
3. Violence
- It is also known as coaction. It is defined as the external force applied by a free cause for the
purpose of compelling a person to perform an act which is against his will

4. Habit

- Ethics understands operative habit, which is a lasting readiness and facility, born of frequently
repeated acts, for acting in certain manner
VIRTUE ETHICS

- Ethical Theory that emphasizes an individual character rather than following a set of rule
- Doing your telos excellently.

Aristotle

o “TELEOLOGIST
 believed that every object has what he referred to as a final cause
 “ TELOS”
 refers to what we might call a purpose, goal, end or true final function of an
object

According to Aristotle “HUMAN BEINGS HAVE A TELOS”

Function Argument:

1. All objects have a “Telos”

2. An object is good when it properly secures its telos

3. Telos of a human being is to reason

4. The good for a human being is, therefore, in acting accordance with reason

Golden Mean:

- Moral behavior is the mean between two extremes - at one end is excess, at the other deficiency.
Find a moderate position between those two extremes, and you will be acting morally.

You can a attain a virtuous character through HABITUATION.

If you are doing virtuous life meaning you have a good habbits, While if you are doing vicous life you
are doing bad habbits.

Moral Exemplars
- It was a role model or exemplar that one can imitate, cultivating morally appropriate habits that
become moral virtues over time

If you are doing a virtuous life, You will attain a Good Life.

GOOD LIFE= EUDAIMONIA

EUDAIMONIA
o is probably “flourishing”. The philosopher Aristotle used it as a broad concept to
describe the highest good humans could strive toward – or a life 'well lived'.

RELEVANCE OF STUDYING ETHICS IN YOUR CHOSEN PROFESSION

- Ethics gives a sense of justification in one’s judgment, and helps ensure that decisions at work are
not made based on purely subjective factors.

Moral Standards and Non-Moral Standrads

- Moral standards are norms that individuals or groups have about the kinds of actions
believed to be morally right or wrong, as well as the values placed on what we believed to
be morally good or morally bad
- Moral standards normally promote “the good”, that is, the welfare and well-being of
humans as well as animals and the environment. Moral standards, therefore, prescribe
what humans ought to do in terms of rights and obligations. According to some scholars,
moral standards are the sum of combined norms and values. In other words, norms plus
values equal moral standards. On the one hand, norms are understood as general rules
about our actions or behaviors. For example, we may say “We are always under the
obligation to fulfil our promises” or “It is always believed that killing innocent people is
absolutely wrong”. On the other hand, values are understood as enduring beliefs or
statements about what is good and desirable or not. For example, we may say “Helping the
poor is good” or “Cheating during exams is bad”.

Characteristics of Moral Standards

1. Moral standards involve behaviors that seriously affect other people well-being.
2. Moral standards take a more important consideration that other standards including self-interest.
3. Moral standards do not depend on any external authority but in how the person perceives the
reasonableness of the action.
4. Moral standards are believed to be universal.
5. Moral standards are based on objectivity.
6. Moral standards are associated with vocabulary that depicts emotion or feelings.

Non-moral Standards
- Non-moral standards refer to standards by which we judge what is good or bad and right or wrong
in a non-moral way.
- Examples: of non-moral standards are standards of etiquette by which we judge manners as
good or bad, standards we call the law by which we judge something as legal or illegal, and
standards of aesthetics by which we judge art as good or rubbish. Hence, we should not confuse
morality with etiquette, law, and aesthetics or even with religion. As we can see, non-moral
standards are matters of taste or preference. Hence, a scrupulous observance of these types of
standards does not make one a moral person. Violation of said standards also does not pose any
threat to human well-being. Finally, as a way of distinguishing moral standards from non-moral
ones, if a moral standard says “Do not harm innocent people” or “Don’t steal”, a non-moral
standard says “Don’t text while driving” or “Don’t talk while the mouth is full”.

MORAL DILEMMA

DELIMMA

-a situation in which a difficult choice has to be made between two or more alternatives, especially
equally undesirable one’s

A moral dilemma is a situation where:

1. There are two or more actions that you can possibly do.

2. There is moral reason(s) for doing such actions.

3. You cannot do all the possible actions presented to you. You only need to choose one.

Three Levels of Moral Dilemma

1. Moral Dilemmas can be categorized according to these levels:

2. Personal Dilemmas. Personal Dilemmas are those experienced and resolved on the personal level.
Since many ethical decisions are personally made, many if not most of moral dilemmas fall under,
or boil down to this level. If a person makes conflicting promises, he faces a moral conflict. When
an individual has to choose between the life of a child who is about to be delivered and the child’s
mother, he faces an ethical dilemma. Our sample situation of Jane versus Ana was an example of
personal dilemma.

3. Organizational Dilemma. Organizational moral dilemmas refer to ethical cases encountered and
resolves by social organization. This category includes moral dilemmas in business, medical fields
and public sector.

MORAL AGENT

Moral Agent

- Is a person who can discern right from wrong and to be held accountable for his or her own
actions. Moral agent has a moral responsibility not a cause unjustified harm.
CULTURE in MORAL BEHAVIOUR

- Ethics are the set of moral pricinples that guide a person’s behaviour, these morals are shaped by
social norms, cultural process and religious influences.

Cultural Relativism

- Is the idea that a person’s belief, values, and practice should be understood based on that person’s
own culture, rather than be judged against the criteria of another.

FILIPINO CULTURE

Positive

- Pakikipagkapwa-tao
- Family Orientation
- Joy Humor
- Flexibility, Adaptability, Creatvity
- Hardwork and industry
- Faith and Religion

Negative

- Extreme Personalism
- Extreme Family Centeredness
- Lack of Discipline
- Passitivity and Lack of Initiative
- Colonial Menatality