PRELIMINARY

WHAT IS ETHICS?

Ethics is the branch of study dealing with what is the proper course of action for man. It answers the
question, "What do I do?" It is the study of right and wrong in human endeavors. At a more fundamental
level, it is the method by which we categorize our values and pursue them.

ETYMOLOGY

 “ETHICOS” / “ETHOS” – the root of the word

 sense of goodness or badness; rightness or wrongness
 focuses on the results of an act
 judged when an act is done

ETHICAL THEORIES

 HEDONISM – wordly or temporal pleasures (anything happiness in your life)

 UTILITARIANISM – right or wrong action [*greatest* = beneficial – “bono”, general welfare –
common good) number of people]

JEREMY BENTHAM

 An English philosopher
 He wrote about the greatest happiness principle of ethics.
 He said that “Happiness is the greatest good”
 Identified as the natural moral preferability of pleasure.

JOHN STUART MILL

 He refers as a “theory of life”

 Moral value as utility
 Quantity/Quality

NATURE OF MAN

 “Man is a rational being” – Immanuel Kant

 “Man, as an Animal”

CONFUCIUS

 Cultivate his character

 “man’s character”
 Priceless jewel

EGO – other term for “self”

MORALITY – “MOSS” / “MORIS” = custom

3 THEORIES CENTERING ON “SELF”

 SUBJECTIVISM – we value that the person is the sole determinant of what is normally good or
bad
 PSYCHOLOGICAL-EGOISM – theory that is motivated by self during actions or desire, situation,
self-interest, self-serving motive at the root of everything
 ETHICAL-EGOISM – prescribes that we should make our ends as our own interest; act in a way
that is beneficial to others, but we should only do that if it is ultimately beneficial for ourselves

CULTURAL RELATIVISM – observable or acceptable in one culture may not be in other culture

BIOETHICS

 Life “begins with” conception to natural death

EUTHANASIA – mercy killing

NATAL – birth (CONCEPTIONS: pre-natal & post-natal)

ORIGIN OF THE FOUR-WAY TEST

• Created in 1932 by Rotarian Herbert J. Taylor (Rotary International President 1954-55), when asked to
take charge of an aluminum cookware company facing bankruptcy.

• Adopted by Rotary in 1943.

• Translated into over 100 languages and published in thousands of ways as a simple measuring stick of
ethics.

THE FOUR-WAY TEST

• Is it the TRUTH?

• Is it FAIR to all concerned?

• Will it build GOODWILL and BETTER FRIENDSHIPS?

• Will it be BENEFICIAL to all concerned?

MIDTERM
EXISTENTIALISM – concerned with finding self and the meaning of life through free will, choice, and
personal responsibility.

ONION

Symbolizes “TRUESELF”
“AGERE SEQUITUR ESSE” – action follows being

LAW – this is a rule of conduct, a norm of behavior.

2 KINDS OF LAW

 Criminal Law (Revised Penal Code) – for national or entire country

 Special Law – exclusive in selected regions in the country (ex. Sharia Law for Muslims)

SOURCES OF LAW

 Natural Law (The Nature Itself)

 Legislative Law (Legislation)

MALA INSE – intrinsically bad or evil

MALA PROHIBITA – prohibited but not so bad

VIOLATION OF LAW ARISE FROM:

 Act of Omission – “may pinapagawa, pero di ginawa”

 Act of Commission – “pinagbabawal na nga, ginagawa pa din”

CRIME AGAINST HUMAN LIFE

1. SUICIDE
 Latin “SELF” (pronoun) and “TO KILL” (verb)
 The act of human being intentionally causing his/her life.
Causes/Reasons
 Despair/Loneliness
 Mental Health Disorder (Depression, Alcoholism, Schizophrenia, Drug Abuse)
 Financial Difficulties
 Interpersonal Problems (Family, Love life, Other Undesirable Experience)
Methods
 Hanging
 Pesticide Poisoning
 Firearms/Bladed Objects
 Blunt Force Trauma (Jumping from a building/bridge, transmission line)
 Stepping Infront of a train
 Car Collision (*Allusion – one moving object collided with one not moving object)
 Exsanguinations, Bloodletting, Slitting of one’s wrist/throat
 Kamikaze (honorable death)
 Hara-kiri (suicide bombing)

2. STERILIZATION
 Vasectomy (male)
 Ligation (female)
 3. EUTHANASIA
4. DRUG ADDICTION
5. ALCOHOLISM
6. ABORTION
7. SELLING OF ORGANS

FINALS
COMMUNITY

 Serves as eyes and ears

 Supports through their vigilance to apprehend the criminals for their crimes

5 PILLARS OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM IN THE PHILIPPINES

LAW ENFORCEMENT

 Tanod, Police Officers

 Grease Money – illegal
 Criminals aren’t being touched
 “Money Talks”
 Bribery – the wrong was not corrected

PROSECUTION

 “prosecute”
 Probable cause (findings)
o Facts and circumstances antecedent to the commission of the crime sufficient for a
cautious man reliable.

JUDICIARY

 GUILTY (convicted) or NOT GUILTY (acquitted)

 Trial
o due process of law hears before it condemns, proceeds upon inquiry, renders judgment
after trial
 Biblical perspective
o Adam and Eve – sin of disobedience or original sin
 Work by the sweat of thy brow (labor of love)
 Send an entity before you (conceive Jesus Christ)

CORRETIONAL

 Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP)

o Substandard Human Conditions
 Classical Theory (punish) and Positivist (cure)
SOURCES OF AUTHORITY

 LAW
 RELIGION
o “THEOS” – God

o Theology (The study of God)

o Atheist (doesn’t believe in God)
 CULTURE

PROOF OF EXISTENCE OF GOD

 “SUMMA THEOLOGICA” – The highest study of God

 St. Thomas Aquinas (Sto. Tomas de Aquino)
o “Ako’y Katiting na tao ngunit napakalaki ng Diyos ko.

SEXUAL ETHICS – is a study of a person’s sexuality and the manner by which human sexual conduct must
be exercised

PORNOGRAPHY – is the explicit manifestation of sexual matters presented in different forms of media