POLYTECHNIC UNIVERSITY OF THE PHILIPPINES

Maragondon Branch
Maragondon, Cavite

Name: Salamat, Andre Agassi D. Date: October 27, 2020

Course/Year: BSEE-3 Subject Code: GEED 10093 Ethics
Lesson No.1: Unit 1 Understanding Ethics

Activity: 1
Answer the following:

1. Briefly discuss your understanding about Ethics. Write your answer in one paragraph, with 200
maximum number of words.
Ethics aim to answer one big question; how should I live? My ethics govern my thought process
so that when a problem arises or I need to try and work my way through a situation my solution is based
on my ethics. Most people take ethics to be their feelings. But being ethical is clearly not a matter of
following your feelings. Once you take after your sentiments you'll draw back from doing the correct
thing by doing what’s best for you, which may not be what’s best for others. One should not equate
ethics with religion either. Most religions advocate for high ethical standards. Yet if ethics were confined
to religion, the ethics would apply to religious people only. Being ethical is not the same as doing
"whatever society accepts." In any society, most people accept standards that are, in fact, ethical. But
standards of behavior in society can deviate from what is ethical. An entire society can become ethically
corrupt. For me, then, ethics refers to standards of right and wrong that prescribe to what I ought to do,
usually in terms of right, fairness or specific virtues. For examples it can be standards that make me
refrain from stealing, murder, slander, and fraud. My ethical standards also include standards relating to
rights, such as the right to privacy, right to life and right to freedom. I also believe ethics refers to the
consistent study, evaluation and development of one’s ethical standards because as mentioned above
feelings, law, social norms can deviate from what is ethical, so it is necessary to constantly examine
one’s standards to ensure that they are reasonable and well founded. Being open minded is key to
leading an ethical life.

2. Differentiate the three types of ethics: meta-ethics, normative ethics, and applied ethics.
Meta-ethics talks about the nature of ethics and moral reasoning. Discussions about whether
ethics is relative and whether we always act from self-interest are examples of meta-ethical discussions.
In fact, drawing the conceptual distinction between Meta-ethics, Normative Ethics, and Applied Ethics is
itself a "meta-ethical analysis."
Normative ethics is interested in determining the content of our moral behavior. Normative
ethical theories seek to provide action-guides; procedures for answering the Practical Question ("What
ought I to do?").
Applied Ethics attempts to deal with specific realms of human action and to craft criteria for
discussing issues that might arise within those realms. The contemporary field of Applied Ethics arouse
in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Today, it is a thriving part of the field of ethics. Numerous books and
websites are devoted to topics such as Business Ethics, Computer Ethics, and Engineering Ethics.