LAW

Latin: Lex

“AN ORDINANCE OF REASON, PROMULGATED FOR

THE COMMON GOOD, BY ONE WHO HAS
AUTHORITY AND CARE OF THE COMMUNITY.”
 LAW
“AN ORDINANCE OF REASON”
• PRODUCT OF REASONING
• INDUCES A KIND OF OBLIGATION
• REQUIREMENTS: EFFICACIOUS AND BINDING
: FIRM, STABLE, AND ENDURING
 LAW
“PROMULGATED FOR THE COMMON GOOD”
• THERE MUST BE A COMMUNICATION IN THE PRESENCE OF
THE LAW (THE LAW MUST BE KNOWN BY THE PEOPLE)
• PROMULGATED: FOR THE LAW TO HAVE A BINDING POWER
• COMMON GOOD: PURPOSE OF THE LAW
 LAW
“ONE WHO HAS AUTHORITY AND CARE OF THE
COMMUNITY”
• AUTHOR/LEGISLATOR OF THE LAW
 ETERNAL
LAW NATURAL
TEMPORAL DIVINE
POSITIVE ECCLESIATICAL
HUMAN
CIVIL
 ETERNAL LAW
-AUGUSTINE OF HIPPO-
“Divine reason (will of God) commanding the preservation
of the natural law and forbidding its disturbance.”
-THOMAS AQUINAS-
“Plan of divine wisdom, insofar as it directs all acts,
activities, and motion towards the final end”
 NATURAL LAW
-THOMAS AQUINAS-
“Participation of the rational creatures in the eternal law”
• Man is subject to it from the very moment of his birth.
• Derived from the very nature of man.
• Can be grasped by the human reason without the aid of God.
• Promulgated by God through man’s reason.
 POSITIVE LAW
“Laws made requiring some specific action.”
• Divine Positive law:
Derived from eternal law as it appears historically to humans, especially through revelation,
• Human Positive law:
Human-made laws that oblige or specify an action
Ecclesiastical law = law of the Church
Civil law= law of the State
 CONSCIENCE
• Conscience came from the Latin “cum” which means “with” and “scientia”
which means “knowledge”.
• Therefore, man, because of conscience, has knowledge whether his actions
are morally good or morally evil.
 CONSCIENCE
“A PRACTICAL JUDGEMENT OF REASON
UPON AN INDIVIDUAL ACT, AS GOOD TO
BE PERFORMED, OR EVIL TO BE AVOIDED”
 CONSCIENCE
“PRACTICAL JUDGMENT”
• Indicates a course of action
• It is not speculative judgment because it does not enrich the knowledge
by addition of newly recognized truth
 CONSCIENCE
“JUDGMENT OF REASON”
• Designates the act of reasoning out the right or wrong of a situation
before choosing what to do
• Such reasoning requires a principle or set of principles
• MORAL PRINCIPLES
• SYNDERESIS (understanding of the general principles of morality)
 CONSCIENCE
“JUDGMENT UPON AN INDIVIDUAL ACT”
• To be performed or omitted
• It judges the act before and after action
• Before action, conscience judges the act as good to be performed or evil to be omitted
• After action, conscience is a judges it as approved or disapproved
• In a word, conscience is a DICTATE or COMMAND.
• It judges the act as good and therefore commands it to be performed or judges it as evil
and therefore must be avoided
 CONSCIENCE
• RIGHT OR TRUE CONSCIENCE
Judges what is really good as good and what is really evil as evil
• ERRONEOUS CONSCIENCE
Judges what is really good as evil and what is really evil as good
 CONSCIENCE
• CERTAIN CONSCIENCE
Subjective assurance (assertion) of the lawfulness or unlawfulness of certain actions
to be done or omitted
Firm judgment in which the “agent has no fear of being in error”
• DOUBTFUL CONSCIENCE
Suspends the judgment on the lawfulness of an action
A person with doubt has uncertainty and hesitation of his actions and he is aware that
he might be in error
When in doubt, do not act!
 CONSCIENCE
• SCRUPULOUS CONSCIENCE
Inclines one to judge for a slight reason that moral evil exists where actually it
does not. A person with such conscience is constantly afraid of committing evil
while others having such are seriously concern with moral perfection.
• LAX CONSCIENCE
Tends to follow the easy way and find excuses for omissions and mistakes
• Culture describes a collective way of life, or way of doing things.
• It is the sum of attitudes, values, goals, and practices shared by
individuals in a group, organization, or society.
• Cultures vary over time periods, between countries and
geographic regions, and among groups and organizations.
• Culture reflects the moral and ethical beliefs and standards that
speak to how people should behave and interact with others.
• Cultural norms are the shared, sanctioned, and integrated systems
of beliefs and practices that are passed down through generations
and characterize a cultural group.
• They act as prescriptions for correct and moral behavior, lend
meaning and coherence to life, and provide a means of achieving a
sense of integrity, safety, and belonging.
• These normative beliefs, together with related cultural values and
rituals, impose a sense of order and control on aspects of life that
might otherwise appear chaotic or unpredictable.
 This is where culture intersects with ethics. Since
interpretations of what is moral are influenced by cultural
norms, the possibility exists that what is ethical to one group
will not be considered so by someone living in a different
culture.
 MORAL BEHAVIOR
• Moral reasoning is the process in which an individual try to determine
the difference between what is right and what is wrong in a personal
situation by using logic.
• To make such an assessment, one must first know what an action is
intended to accomplish and what its possible consequences will be on
others.
• People use moral reasoning in an attempt to do the right thing.

ACTS => HABIT => BEHAVIOR

 MORAL BEHAVIOR
• People are frequently faced with moral choices, such as whether to lie to
avoid hurting someone’s feelings, or whether to take an action that will
benefit some while harming others.
• Such judgments are made by considering the objective and the likely
consequences of an action.
• Moral reasoning is the consideration of the factors relevant to making
these types of assessments.
 MORAL BEHAVIOR
According to consultant Lynn W. Swaner, moral behavior has four
components:
• Moral sensitivity, which is “the ability to see an ethical dilemma, including
how our actions will affect others.”
• Moral judgment, which is “the ability to reason correctly about what
‘ought’ to be done in a specific situation.”
• Moral motivation, which is “a personal commitment to moral action,
accepting responsibility for the outcome.”
• Moral character, which is a “courageous persistence in spite of fatigue or
temptations to take the easy way out.”
 MORAL BEHAVIOR
The ability to think through moral issues and dilemmas, then,
requires an awareness of a set of moral and ethical values; the
capacity to think objectively and rationally about what may be an
emotional issue; the willingness to take a stand for what is right,
even in the face of opposition; and the fortitude and resilience to
maintain one’s ethical and moral standards.
 MORAL BEHAVIOR
Realizing good conduct, being an effective moral agent, and bringing
values into one’s work, all require skills in addition to a moral
inclination. Studies have uncovered four skill sets that play a
decisive role in the exercise of moral expertise.
• Moral imagination
• Moral creativity
• Reasonableness
• Perseverance
 MORAL BEHAVIOR
MORAL IMAGINATION

The ability to see the situation through the eyes of others. Moral
imagination achieves a balance between becoming lost in the
perspectives of others and failing to leave one’s own perspective.
Adam Smith terms this balance “proportionality,” which we can
achieve in empathy.
 MORAL BEHAVIOR
MORAL CREATIVITY

Moral creativity is closely related to moral imagination, but it centers

on the ability to frame a situation in different ways.
 MORAL BEHAVIOR
REASONABLENESS

Reasonableness balances openness to the views of others with

commitment to moral values and other important goals. That is, a
reasonable person is open, but not to the extent where he is willing to
believe just anything and/or fails to keep fundamental commitments.
 MORAL BEHAVIOR
PERSEVERANCE

Perseverance is the ability to decide on a moral plan of action and

then to adapt to any barriers that arise in order to continue working
toward that goal.
 CULTURAL RELATIVISM
• Cultural relativism is the ability to understand a culture on its own terms and
not to make judgments using the standards of one’s own culture.
• Using the perspective of cultural relativism leads to the view that no one
culture is superior than another culture when compared to systems of
morality, law, politics, etc.
• It is a concept that cultural norms and values derive their meaning within a
specific social context.
 CULTURAL RELATIVISM
• This is also based on the idea that there is no absolute standard of good or
evil, therefore every decision and judgment of what is right and wrong is
individually decided in each society.
• The concept of cultural relativism also means that any opinion on ethics is
subject to the perspective of each person within their particular culture.
• Overall, there is no right or wrong ethical system.
 UNIVERSAL VALUES
A value is a universal value if it has the same value or worth for all.
Universal values apply across the world.

The claim for universal values can be understood in two different

ways:
• First, it could be that something has a universal value when everybody
finds it valuable.
• Second, something could have universal value when all have reason to
believe it has value.
 UNIVERSAL VALUES
PEACE
• Freedom from disturbance
• Peace is when people are able to resolve their conflicts without
violence and can work together to improve the quality of their lives
 UNIVERSAL VALUES
DEMOCRACY
• Control of an organization or group by the majority of its member
 UNIVERSAL VALUES
EQUALITY
• The state of being equal, especially in status, rights or
opportunities.
 UNIVERSAL VALUES
TOLERANCE
• The ability or willingness to tolerate the existence of opinions or
behavior that one dislikes or disagrees with.
 UNIVERSAL VALUES
FREEDOM
• The ability to act or change without constraint.
 UNIVERSAL VALUES
SOLIDARITY
• Unity or agreement of feeling or action, especially among
individuals with a common interest; mutual support within a group.
 UNIVERSAL VALUES
CONTENTMENT
• A state of happiness and satisfaction either mental or emotional
 UNIVERSAL VALUES
HUMAN DIGNITY
• Dignity is the right of a person to be valued and respected for their
own sake and to be treated ethically
 UNIVERSAL VALUES
HUMAN RIGHTS
• Rights inherent to all human beings, regardless of race, sex,
nationality, ethnicity, language, religion or any other states.
 UNIVERSAL VALUES
LOVE
• Deep care and concern for others, encompassing all of the attributes
 UNIVERSAL VALUES
TRUTH
• The quality or state of being true and honest
 UNIVERSAL VALUES
JUSTICE
• Justice is a concept of moral rightness based on ethics, rationality,
law, natural law, religion, equity and fairness.
 UNIVERSAL VALUES
Universal values require us to recognize the human
characteristics, both good and bad, that we have in common with all
our fellow human beings, and to show the same respect for human
dignity and sensitivity in people of other communities that we expect
them to show for ours. Therefore, the rights of an individual include
the right to empathize, and to express solidarity, with others who
share this or that aspect of that individual’s identity.
Additional terminologies
• CULPABILITY
responsibility for a fault or wrong; blame.
• IMPUTABILITY
to ascribe to or charge (a person) with an act or quality because of the conduct
of another over whom one has control or for whose acts or conduct one is
responsible (responsibility for an act, whether good or bad).