Nature of Ethics and Morality 5 Core Values

1. Challenge
 Ethics
2. Kaizen
 Accountability
3. Genchi Genbutsu
 Principles
4. Respect
 Integrity
5. Teamwork
 Values
“Good people do not need laws to tell them
The Study of Ethics
to act responsibly, while bad people will find
 Ethics is defined as the normative
a ways around the laws.” -Plato (423-348)
science of conduct of human beings.
Nature of Morality
 Ethics is derived from the Greek
 “Moral” derived from the Latin word
word “Ethos”, meaning Custom,
“mores” means custom, and it gives
habit or Character.
importance on customary ways of
 The branch of knowledge that deals
judging human conduct.
with moral principles.
 Morality refers to the most important
 “If ethics are poor at the top, that
code of conduct put forward by a
behavior is copied down through the
society and accepted by the members
organization.” –Robert Noyce
of that society.
 Is concerned with questions of how
Nature of Morals
people ought to act, and the search
 Morals refer to an individual's own
for a definition of right
principles regarding right and wrong
conduct (identified as the one
 Morals are the principles on which
causing the greatest good) and
one’s judgments of right and wrong
the good life (in the sense of a life
are based.
worth living or a life that is
Philosophy
satisfying or happy).
 Philosophy is the systematic study of
What is Ethics ideas and issues, a reasoned pursuit
 Ethics has been defined as the
of fundamental truths, a quest for
philosophical science dealing with
comprehensive understanding of the
the morality of human acts.
world and a study of the principles of
 It provides the principles on the
conduct
morality of human acts.
“People in their natural state are basically
Principled Persons at Work
good. But this natural innocence, however,
-Attendance -Productivity
is corrupted by the evils of society.” -Jean-
-Character -Organizational Skills
Jacques Rousseau
-Teamwork -Communication
 Philosophical training enhances our
-Appearance ` -Cooperation
problem-solving capacities, our
-Attitude -Respect
abilities to understand and express
ideas, and our persuasive powers
Etiquette Catholic Learning
 It is sometimes included as a part of -Life & Dignity of Principle of:
morality, applying to norms that are the Human Person -Human Dignity
considered less serious than the -Call to Family, -Respect for Human
kinds of norms for behavior that are Community & Life
Participation -Association
more control to morality. -Rights & -Participation
 Small morals to describe “decency of Responsibilities -Preferential
behavior, as how one man should -Option for the poor Protection for the
salute another, or how a man should & vulnerable Poor & vulnerable
wash his mouth or pick his teeth -The Dignity of -Stewardship
before company”, and distinguishers Work & Rights of -Subsidiarity
Workers -Human Equality
these from “those qualities of
-Solidarity -Common Good
mankind that concern their living -Care for God’s
together in peace and unity.” Creation

5 Pillars of Islam
 Shahadah- belief that there is only
ETHICS vs. MORALS one Allah & that Muhammad is
Guiding Principles Principles on which Allah’s messenger
of conduct of an one’s judgements of  Salah- prayer are to be given Allah 5
individual or group right and wrong are
times a day
based
Influence by Influenced by  Zakat- giving of alms charity, to the
profession, field, society, culture and poor 2.5% of income
organization, etc religion  Hajj- making pilgrimage to the house
Related to Not related to of Allah in Mecca
professional work professional work  Fasting- fasting sunrise to sunset
Uniform compared Vary according to
during the Month of Ramadan
to morals diff cultures &
religions Teachings of Hinduism
 Major Tennets of Hinduism
- 3 main ideas are important in
understanding the Hindu
religions & the cost system
 Reincarnation
 Karma
 Dharma (ethics & duties)
 Vegetarianism
 Kindness to animals
 Humility
 Nonviolence
Teachings of Buddhism
 4 Noble Truths
1. There is suffering. Suffering
is common to all.
2. Cause of Suffering. We are
the cause of suffering
3. End of Suffering. Stop doing
what causes suffering
4. Everyone can be enlightened
by taking the eightfold path.
 The Noble Eightfold Path
Teachings of Judaism
The doctrines of Judaism
1. Divine Image
 every person is created in the
image of God
 Everyone has the potential to
do good
 Humans have freewill, which
has both negative & positive
consequence
2. Zion
 The word that usually refers
to Jerusalem
3. Monotheistic
 Believe in one God
 Jesus believe the word is holy
and therefore do not write it
completely
 Each person has their own,
personal and unique
relationship with God
4. Israel “Eretz Israel”
 The land of Israel is part of
their covenant between God
& Israelites
5. Messiah(Savior)
 Will unite the world / bring
peace to humanity
 Must believe that the Messiah
will be descendant from the
lineage of King David
Brief Overview
1. Torah (Teachings)
 1st 5 book of the Hebrew
Bible, hand- written on a
scroll of parchment including
laws/ customs from written
oral/ law (Genesis, Exodus,
Levitieus, Numbers,
Deutronomy)
2. Shabbat(Sabbath)
 Friday sunset until Saturday
sunset
 Day of rest (no work) &
spiritual enrichment
Important Festivals
1. Passover(Pesach)
 Celebration of liberation
from slavery in Egypt by
Moses
2. Rosh Hashanah (Jewish New Year)
 Celebrates creation (Adam &
Eve)
 Year 5773 (09/2013)
Nature of Ethics and Morality
 Ethics is not limited to specific acts
and defined moral codes, but
encompasses the whole of moral
ideals and behaviors, a
person's philosophy of
life (or Weltanschauung)
Weltanschauung
 personal, philosophy or conception
of the universe and of human life;
worldview
 contemplation of the world, view of
life and humanity held by an
individual or group
The Self – Multiple Intelligences
1. Naturalist- understanding nature
and organic processes
2. Spatial- seeing and mapping the
world in 3d
3. Musical- capacity to recognize
create, reproduce and reflect on
music
4. Logical reasoning- skilled at
deductive reasoning, detecting
patterns and logical thinking
5. Interpersonal- communication &
reading people
6. Bodily-Kinetic – using one’s body
in highly differentiated and skilled
ways
7. Linguistic- a master of spoken and
written language
8. Intrapersonal- understanding
yourself, what you feel and want
The World-Business Environment
Ethics ask questions like:
1. Normative or Prescriptive Ethics –
How should people act?
2. Descriptive Ethics – What do people
think is right?
3. Applied Ethics – How do we take
moral knowledge and put it into
practice?
4. Meta-Ethics – What does right even
mean?
Good actions give strength to ourselves and
inspire good actions in others –Plato
The logic of validation allows us to move
between the two limits of dogmatism and
skepticism –Paul Ricoeur
Socrates – The Father of Western Ethics
 He asserted that people will naturally
do what is good provided that they
know what is right, and that evil or
bad actions are purely the result
of ignorance: "There is only one
good, knowledge, and one evil,
ignorance".
 He equated knowledge and wisdom
with self-awareness (meaning to be
aware of every fact relevant to a
person's existence) and virtue and
happiness.
 So, in essence, he considered self-
knowledge and self-awareness to be
the essential good, because the truly
wise (i.e. self-aware) person will
know what is right, do what is good,
and therefore be happy.
According to Aristotle
 "Nature does nothing in vain", so it
is only when a person acts in
accordance with their nature and
thereby realizes their full potential
that they will do good and therefore
be content in life.
 He held that self-realization (the
awareness of one's nature and the
development of one's talents) is the
surest path to happiness, which is the
ultimate goal, all other things (such
as civic life or wealth) being merely
means to an end.
 He encouraged moderation in all
things, the extremes being degraded
and immoral, (e.g. courage is the
moderate virtue between the
extremes of cowardice and
recklessness), and held that Man
should not simply live, but
live well with conduct governed
by moderate virtue.
 Virtue, for Aristotle, denotes doing
the right thing to the right person at
the right time to the proper extent in
the correct fashion and for the right
reason - something of a tall order
Hedonism
 Hedonism is the philosophy
that pleasure is the most important
pursuit of mankind, and the only
thing that is good for an individual.
Hedonists, therefore, strive
to maximize their total pleasure
(the net of any pleasure less any pain
or suffering).
 They believe that pleasure is the only
good in life, and pain is the only evil,
and our life's goal should be
to maximize pleasure and minimize
pain.
Epicureanism
 Epicurus directed that this state of
tranquility could be obtained
through knowledge of the workings
of the world and the limiting of
desires.
 Thus, pleasure was to be obtained
by knowledge, friendship and living
a virtuous and temperate life.
 He lauded the enjoyment of "simple
pleasures", by which he
meant abstaining from bodily
desires, such as sex and appetites,
verging on Asceticism.
 He counseled that "a cheerful
poverty is an honorable state".
Schadenfreude
 All pleasant feeling or experience:
contentment, delight, ecstasy,
elation, enjoyment, euphoria,
exhilaration, exultation, gladness,
gratification, gratitude, joy, liking,
love, relief, satisfaction,
Schadenfreude, tranquility,
 Schadenfreude is a complex
emotion, where rather than feeling
sympathy towards someone's
misfortune, schadenfreude evokes
joyful feelings that take pleasure
from watching someone fail
Hierarchy of Human Needs
Asceticism
 Asceticism, (from Greek askeō: “to
exercise,” or “to train”), the practice
of the denial of physical or
psychological desires in order to
attain a spiritual ideal or goal.
Epicurus
 He argued for moderation in all
things, so that when eating, for
example, one should not eat
too richly, for it could lead
to dissatisfaction later, such as
indigestion or the grim realization
that one could not afford such
delicacies in the future.
Atomist
 Epicurus was an Atomist, believing
that all matter, souls and gods are all
comprised of atoms, and
even thoughts are merely atoms
swerving randomly.
 Atomism is the theory that all
of reality and all the objects in the
universe are composed of very
small, indivisible and indestructible
building blocks known
as atoms (from the Greek "atomos",
meaning "uncuttable")
Ataraxia and Aponia
 Aponia meaning “absence of pain”
 Epicureans believed that the goal of
human life is happiness.
 The Epicureans defined pleasure as
the absence of pain (mental and
physical), and hence pleasure can
only increase until the point in which
pain is absent.
 Ataraxia is a state of freedom from
emotional disturbance and anxiety
tranquility/ untroubled mind
Division of Ethics
1. General Ethics – presents truths
about human acts, and from these
truths deduce the general principles
of morality.
 General Ethics is applied to
individual in relation to
himself, to God and to his
fellow men
2. Special Ethics – is applied ethics. It
applies to the principles of general
ethics in different departments of
human activity, individual and
social. It includes man’s relation to
the family, to the state (country)
and to the world
Importance of Ethics

1. Ethics means living in proper way

and it is in the development of a
good moral character and virtues
that man finds perfection and
understands his purpose of
existence.
2. Everybody aims to have peace and
harmony among all people, which
is indeed the common interest of the
people and the government. The first
way to the moral development of the
people is to educate.

“The sad truth is that it is the greatest

happiness of the greatest number that is
measure of right and wrong.”-Jeremy Bentham

“We have two lives and the second begins when

we realize we only have one.” –Confucius

“Every heart sings a song, incomplete, until

another heart whispers back. Those who wish to
sing always find a song.” –Plato

“An Unexamined Life is not worth living”

-Socrates
 Deontological System of Ethics
What is Philosophy?
 The study of the fundamental nature
of knowledge, reality, and existence,
especially when considered as an
academic discipline.
 A particular system of philosophical
thought.
 Philosophy is an activity people
undertake when they seek to
understand fundamental truths about
themselves, the world in which they
live, and their relationships to the
world and to each other.
 Philosophy is the discipline that
looks for reasoned answers to certain
very abstract questions, usually left
unasked in everyday life, about the
nature of the universe and the place
in it of humans and everything
distinctively human. These are
questions that the sciences usually do
not tackle, though it may in the end
turn out that scientific discoveries
are relevant to answering them.
 Is the study of knowledge, or
"thinking about thinking"
 When someone
studies philosophy they want to
understand how and why people do
certain things and how to live a good
life.
 they want to know the meaning of
life
 the rational investigation of
questions about existence and
knowledge and ethics
 any personal belief about how to
live or how to deal with a situation
 Philosophy is the systematic and
critical study of fundamental
questions that arise both in everyday
life and through the practice of other
disciplines.
 Some of these questions concern the
nature of reality: Is there an external
world? What is the relationship
between the physical and the mental?
Does God exist?
 Others concern our nature as
rational, purposive, and social
beings: Do we act freely? Where do
our moral obligations come from?
How do we construct just political
states?
Others concern the nature and extent of
our knowledge:
 What is it to know something rather
than merely believe it?
 Does all of our knowledge come
from sensory experience?
 Are there limits to our knowledge?
 And still others concern the
foundations and implications of other
disciplines: What is a scientific
explanation? What sort of knowledge
of the world does science provide?
 Do scientific theories, such as
evolutionary theory, or quantum
mechanics, compel us to modify our
basic philosophical understanding of,
and approach to, reality? What
makes an object a work of art? Are
aesthetic value judgments objective?
What is Philosophy?
 Philosophy is primarily a way of
thinking rather than a fixed body of
knowledge.
 Specifically, philosophy is the
practice of thinking about what, why
and how we think.
 This “thinking about thinking”
involves asking questions about what
we know and believe, about what we
think is true and false, right and
wrong, just and unjust, real and
unreal, valuable and valueless, the
relationship between language and
reality, the nature of consciousness,
freedom, justice, truth, happiness,
goodness and a host of other topics.
 The purpose of this philosophical
questioning is both to clarify our
own thinking and to determine
whether we have good reasons for
thinking as we do.
 The reasons for our beliefs – and the
strength of those reasons – have a
direct impact on the reliability of
those beliefs.
Philosophy is thought which is critical
and comprehensive
 Analytic and Synthetic
 Practical and Theoretical
 Logical and Empirical
Branches of Philosophy – Discipline
1. Metaphysics
2. Epistemology
3. Ethics
4. Axiology
5. Logic
6. Social Philosophy
7. Aesthetics
 Is the study of the nature of reality,
of what exists in the world, what it is
like, and how it is ordered.
Metaphysics
 Is there a God?
 What is truth?
 What is a person?
 What makes a person the same
through time?
 Is the world strictly composed of
matter?
 Do people have minds? If so, how is
the mind related to the body?
 Do people have free wills?
 What is it for one event to cause
another?
Epistemology
 Epistemology is the study of
knowledge.
 It is primarily concerned with what
we can know about the world and
how we can know it.
 What is knowledge?
 Do we know anything at all?
 How do we know what we know?
 Can we be justified in claiming to
know certain things?
Ethics
 The study of ethics often concerns
what we ought to do and what it
would be best to do.
 In struggling with this issue, larger
questions about what is good and
right arise.
 What is good?
 What makes actions or people good?
 What is right?
 What makes actions right?
 Is morality objective or subjective?
  How should I treat others?
Axiology
 Study of values in human behavior
or the study of moral problems:
1. the rightness and wrongness
of actions
2. the kinds of things which are
good or desirable
3. (3) whether actions are
blameworthy or
praiseworthy.
 Nature of value: is value a
fulfillment of desire, a pleasure, a
preference, a behavioral disposition,
or simply a human interest of some
kind?
 Criteria of value: de gustibus non
(est) disputandum(i.e., (“there's no
accounting for tastes”) or do
objective standards apply?
 Status of value: how are values
related to (scientific) facts? What
ultimate worth, if any, do human
values have?
 In Hamlet, the title character
famously says, “What a piece of
work is a man! How noble in reason!
how infinite in faculty! in form, in
moving, how express and admirable!
in action how like an angel! in
apprehension how like a god! the
beauty of the world! the paragon of
animals! And yet, to me, what is this
quintessence of dust?” (Hamlet, II:ii)
 Who decides what morality is?
 Is a “wrong” act okay if nobody
ever knows about it?
 Who defines good and evil?
 Why do people fear losing things
that they do not even have yet?
 Is a family still relevant in the
modern world?
 How should people live their lives?
 If lying is wrong, are white lies
okay?
Logic
 is the study of the validity of patterns
of inference.
 Another important aspect of the
study of philosophy is the arguments
or reasons given for people answers
to these questions:
1. What constitutes "good" or
"bad" reasoning?
2. How do we determine
whether a given piece of
reasoning is good or bad?
Social Philosophy
 is the study of questions about social
behavior and interpretations
of society and social institutions in
terms of ethical values rather than
empirical relations.
 Is it the main purpose of law to
promote morality?
 Should governments penalize people
for unhealthy lifestyles?
 How much freedom should people
have?
 Is democracy the same as decision
by the majority?
 Should organ donors be financially
compensated?
 Is life meaningless if we can live
forever?
 Is free will real or just an illusion?
 What does it mean to live a good
life?
  What should be the goal of
humanity?
 Will religion ever become obsolete?
 Does hardship make a person
stronger? If so, under what
conditions and at what point is it too
much hardship? If not, what makes a
person stronger?
Aesthetics
 is the branch of philosophy
concerned with the nature and
appreciation of art, beauty and good
taste.
 It has also been defined as "critical
reflection on art, culture and nature"
 What is art?
 Is there progress in art?
 Have we become less happy in this
age of technology?
 Do numbers in a bank account make
people happy?
 Should we recognize a difference
between fine art, commercial art, and
craftwork?
 Are art and beauty essentially
related?
 Is there a connection between
morality and art?
 How do the arts communicate
emotions? How central is emotional
communication to the nature of art?
 How do the arts relate to economic
power and class structure?
 Does the appreciation of beauty
make us better (perhaps more
moral?) human beings?
 In what sense is art an imitation of
reality?
 What is it that makes some things
art while others are not art?
 Where does art end and obscenity
begin? Where does obscenity begin
and art end?
Deontological Ethics
 Is an approach to Ethics that focuses
on the rightness or wrongness of
actions themselves, as opposed to the
rightness or wrongness of the
consequences of those actions
(Consequentialism) or to the
character and habits of the actor
(Virtue Ethics).
 ” is a modern combination of
Classical Greek terms, and means the
study or science (logos) of duty, or
more precisely, of what one ought to
do (deon)
 Let justice be done though the
heavens fall!
 Deontological ethics is commonly
contrasted with consequentialist or
teleological ethical theories,
according to which the rightness of
an action is determined by its
consequences.
 There is a difference between
deontological ethics and moral
absolutism.
 Deontologists who are also moral
absolutists believe that some actions
are wrong no matter what
consequences follow from them.
 Immanuel Kant, for example,
famously argued that it is always
wrong to lie – even if a murderer is
asking for the location of a potential
victim.
 Deontologists who are not moral
absolutists, such as W.D. Ross, hold
that the consequences of an action
 such as lying may sometimes make
lying the right thing to do.
 When C. D. Broad first used the
term 'deontological' in the way that is
relevant here, he contrasted the term
with 'teleological', where
'teleological' theories are those that
are concerned with outcomes or
consequences
Teleological
 Is a reason or explanation for
something as a function of its end,
purpose, or goal.
 It is derived from two Greek
words: telos (end, goal, purpose)
and logos (reason, explanation).
 relating to or involving the
explanation of phenomena in terms
of the purpose they serve rather than
of the cause by which they arise.
Things are not always what they seem; the
first appearance deceives many; the
intelligence of a few perceives of what has
been carefully hidden -Phaedrus
Immanuel Kant Theory of Ethics
Immanuel Kant Theory of Ethics
 First, Kant argues that to act in the
morally right way, people must act
according to duty (deon).
 Second, Kant argued that it was not
the consequences of actions that
make them right or wrong but the
motives of the person who carries
out the action.
 Kant's argument that to act in the
morally right way, one must act from
duty, begins with an argument that
the highest good must be both good
in itself, and good without
qualification.
 Something is 'good in itself' when it
is intrinsically good and ‘good
without qualification when the
addition of that thing never makes a
situation ethically worse.
 Kant then argues that those things
that are usually thought to be good,
such as intelligence, perseverance
and pleasure, fail to be either
intrinsically good or good without
qualification.
 Pleasure, for example, appears to
not be good without qualification,
because when people take pleasure
in watching someone suffering, this
seems to make the situation ethically
worse.
 There is only one thing that is truly
good:
“Nothing in the world—indeed
nothing even beyond the world—can
possibly be conceived which could
be called good without qualification
except a good will.”
 Kant then argues that the
consequences of an act of willing
cannot be used to determine that the
person has a good will; good
consequences could arise by accident
from an action that was motivated by
a desire to cause harm to an innocent
person, and bad consequences could
arise from an action that was well-
motivated.
 Instead, he claims, a person has a
good will when he or she 'acts out of
respect for the moral law'.
 People 'act out of respect for the
moral law' when they act in some
 way because they have a duty to do
so.
 So, the only thing that is truly good
in itself is a good will, and a good
will is only good when the willer
chooses to do something because it is
that person's duty.
 Thus, according to Kant, goodness
depends on rightness
Consequentialism
 is the class of normative ethical
theories holding that
the consequences of one's conduct
are the ultimate basis for any
judgment about the rightness or
wrongness of that conduct.
 Thus, from a consequentialist
standpoint, a morally right act (or
omission from acting) is one that will
produce a good outcome, or
consequence.
Deontology:
“Stop trying to calm the storm, Calm
yourself the storm will pass.”
Everyone is trying to find the right person,
but nobody is trying to be the right person
Money is numbers and numbers never end.
If it takes money to be happy, your search
for happiness will never end.
If an egg is broken outside by force, lifer
ends. If broken by inside force, life begins,
Utilitarianism
great things always begin from inside
The mind is everything. What you think you
become -Buddha
Consequentialism
 An action that brings about more
benefit than harm is good, while an
action that causes more harm than
benefit is not.
 “Capitalism is the extraordinary
believe that the nastiest of men for
the nastiest of motives will somehow
work for benefit of all” -John
Maynard Keynes
Niccolo Machiavelli (quotes):
 If an injury has to be done to a man it
should be so severe that his
vengeance need not to be feared
 Politics have no relation to morals
 It is better to be feared than loved if
you cannot be both
 It is double pleasure to deceive the
deceiver
 Hence it comes about that all armed
Prophets have been victorious, and
all unarmed Prophets have been
destroyed.
 is a version of consequentialism,
which states that the consequences of
any action are the only standard of
right and wrong.
  Actions are right in proportion as
they tend to promote happiness,
wrong as they tend to produce the
reverse of happiness” –John Stuart
Mill
 An ethical philosophy in which the
happiness of the greatest number of
people in the society is considered
the greatest good.
 Utilitarianism is a modern form of
the Hedonistic ethical theory which
teaches that the end of human
conduct is happiness
 “That Action is best, which
accomplishes the greatest Happiness
for the greatest Numbers. –Francis
Hutcheson
Hedonism

 The word ‘hedonism’ comes from

the ancient Greek for ‘pleasure’.
Psychological or motivational
hedonism claims that only pleasure
or pain motivates us.
 “Is pleasure all that matters?”
 “Thoughts without content are
empty, intuitions without concept are
blind” –Immanuel Kant
 “The true measure of a man is how he
treats someone who can do him
absolutely no good” –Samual Johnson
 “If civilization is to survive, we must
cultivate the science of human
relationships- the ability of all
peoples, of all kinds, to live together,
in the same world at peace.”
-Franklin D. Roosevelt
 “Revenge is profitable, gratitude is
expensive” –Edward Gibbon
 CLO3: Intuitionism and Existentialism
Intuitive
 Using or based on what one feels to
be true even without Conscious
reasoning
 Intuition is the ability to understand
something instinctively without the
need
 There are moral truths which are
self-evident – our intuition (gut
Instinct)
 Objective moral laws exist
Independently of human beings
 Truths are discovered by Reasoning
& thinking about Situations
 Moral truths can be discovered By
using our mind in an intuitive way
 These truths are objective and exist
independently of human beings
which just can’t make statements
Out of them. They are true for
everyone.
 E.g. Everyone’s intuition teaches
Them that murder is wrong

Ethical Intuitionism

 Ethical intuitionism is the thesis that

our intuitive awareness of value, or
intuitive knowledge of evaluative
facts forms the foundation of our
ethical knowledge.
 Intuition is the ability to acquire
knowledge without recourse to
conscious reasoning
 Direct access to unconscious
knowledge, unconscious cognition,
inner sensing, inner insight to
unconscious pattern-recognition and
the ability to understand something
instinctively, without the need for
conscious reasoning.
 Ethical values can’t be defined –e.g.
I can’t say ‘it is wrong to kill’
  Rationalism: Pure reason could tell
us how the world is, independent of
experience
 Empiricism: Denied that we have
any Innate ideas and argued that all
knowledge comes from experience.
 Our minds are a Tabula rasa, an
empty slate, upon which experience
writes her lessons
Rationalism

Empiricism

Rule-Intuitionism

 Each act as a unique ethical occasion

and holds that we must decide what
is right or wrong in each situation by
consulting our conscience or our
intuitions or by making a choice
apart from any rules
 Rule-Intuitionism must decide what
is right or wrong in each situation by
consulting moral rules that we
receive through intuition

Rule Intuitionism
 Reasons in support of moral
Intuitionism:
1. Any well-meaning person
seems to Have Immediate
sense of right and wrong.
2. Human beings had moral
ideas and Convictions long
before a system of Ethics was
created
Sir William David Ross
 was a Scottish philosopher who is
known for his work in ethics
 The Right and the Good (1930)
 Lists seven prima facie duties,
without claiming his list to be all-
inclusive:
1. Fidelity
2. Reparation
3. gratitude;
4. justice
5. beneficence
6. non-maleficence
7. Self-improvement.
Existentialism
 a philosophical theory or approach
which emphasizes the existence of
the individual person as a free and
responsible agent determining their
own development through acts of the
will.
 In the broader sense is a 20th century
philosophy that is centered upon the
analysis of existence and of the way
humans find themselves existing in
the world.
 The belief is that people are
searching to find out whom and what
they are throughout life as they make
choices based on their experiences,
beliefs, and outlook.
 And personal choices become unique
without the necessity of an objective
form of truth.
 believes that a person should be
forced to choose and be responsible
without the help of laws, ethnic
rules, or traditions
What It Is and Isn’t
• Human free will
• Human nature is chosen through life
choices
• A person is best when struggling
against their individual nature,
fighting for life
• Decisions are not without stress and
consequences
• There are things that are not rational
• Personal responsibility and discipline
is crucial
• Society is unnatural and its
traditional religious and secular rules
are arbitrary
• Worldly desire is futile

• wealth, pleasure, or honor make the
good life
• social values and structure control
the individual
• accept what is and that is enough in
life
• science can and will make
everything better
• people are basically good but ruined
by society or external forces
• “I want my way, now!” or “It is not
my fault!” mentality
Existentialism
 wealth, pleasure, or honor make the
good life social values and structure
control the individual accept what is
and that is enough in life science can
and will make everything better
people are basically good but ruined
by society or external forces“I want
my way, now!” or “It is not my
fault!” mentality
 Existentialism considers the radical
option for freedom as the supreme
norm of morality.
 Man has an absolute freedom. The
decision to be free and to be morally
sound is one and the same reality
 A man, with absolute freedom,
should judge the values according to
their usefulness in particular
situations.
 This main value or norm a man
should take. After all, values are not
founded on God.
Jean Paul Sarte
 Was a French philosopher,
playwright, novelist, screenwriter,
political activist, biographer,
and literary critic.
 He was one of the key figures in the
philosophy of
existentialism and phenomenology,
and one of the leading figures
in 20th-century French
philosophy and Marxism
 phenomenology attempts to create
conditions for the objective study of
topics usually regarded as subjective:
consciousness and the content of
conscious experiences such
as judgements, perceptions,
and emotions
Decisionism
 Is
a political, ethical and jurisprudential
doctrine which states that moral or
legal precepts are the product of
decisions made by political or legal
bodies.
 it is not the content of the decision,
but rather the fact that it is a decision
made by the proper authority, or by
using a correct method, which
determines its validity.
 Carl Schmitt was a conservative
German jurist, political theorist, and
prominent member of the Nazi Party.