I.

GE 5
II. COURSE TITLE: Ethics
III. COUSE TYPE: Basic
IV. CREDIT UNITS: 3 Units
V. CONTACT HOURS: 54 hours
VI. PRE-REQUISITE: None
VII. CO-REQUISITES: None
VIII. COURSE DESCRIPTION:
• deals with principles of ethical behavior in modern society at
the level of the human person, society, and in interaction
with the environment and other shared resources. (CMO 20 s
2013)
• pertains to the standards of right and wrong that an
individual picks up from the community.
• discusses the context and principles of ethical behavior in
modern society at the level of individual, society, and in
interaction with the environment and other shared resources.
teaches students to make moral decisions by using dominant
moral frameworks and by applying a seven-step moral
reasoning model to analyze and solve moral dilemmas.
• organized according to the three main elements of the moral
experience: (a) agent, including context – cultural, communal,
and environment; (b) the act; (c) reason or framework (for the
act).
IX. COURSE LEARNING OUTCOMES:
At the end of the term, the would be _________ (course) are
expected to:
a) differentiate between moral and non-moral problems;
b) describe what a moral experience is as it happens in different
levels of human existence;
c) explain the influence of Filipino culture on the way students look
at moral experiences and solve moral dilemmas;
d) describe the elements of moral development and moral
experience;
e) use ethical frameworks or principles to analyze moral
experiences;
f) make sound ethical judgments based on principles, facts, and the
stakeholders affected;
g) develop sensitivity to the common good; and
h) understand and internalize the principles of ethical behavior in
modern society at the level of the person, society, and in interaction
with environment and other shared resources.
 I. Introduction: Key Concepts in Ethics.
Ethics – branch of Philosophy that studies morality or the
rightness or wrongness of human conduct.
Morality – speaks of code or system of behavior in
regards to standards of right or wrong behavior.
- A branch of philosophy that deals with human actions
and reasons for action
- It is also concerned with character; Gk. Ethos –
‘character’, or, in plural, ‘manners’.
- Also called ‘moral philosophy’, it evaluates moral
concepts, values, principles, and standards. It is
concerned with norms of human conduct that are
normative.
 Ethos – includes cultural mannerisms,
religion, politics, laws and social
aspirations of a group of people
In our study – ethos- refers to those
belonging to man as a rational being.
What is the ethos of man?
1. Distinguish between good and evil
2. He feels an obligation to do what is good
3. He feels accountable for his actions.
Expects reward or punishment.
Related questions:
- What is good?
- Who is a moral person?
- What are the virtues of a human being?
- What makes an act right?
- What duties do we have to each other?
Clearly, ethics is identified with the concept of moral
standards/rules related to behavior. As a way of
introducing moral rules, let us discuss why rules are
important.
What is a rule?
Explicit or understood regulations/principles governing conduct
within a specific activity or sphere.
- reveals what is/is not allowed in a particular situation.
- serves as a foundation for any healthy society. Without rules,
society will fail.
 1. Importance of Rules to Social Beings.
1. Protects social beings by regulating behavior.
It sets the limits/boundaries of behavior.
People follow them to avoid negative consequences

2. Help guarantee each person certain rights and freedom

Form frameworks for society – basis of laws
ex. Constitution
Governments cannot just suppress freedom
Rules on divisions of power
Checks and balances to protect freedom
3. Produce a sense of justice among social beings
- Needed to protect the weak from being
exploited by the strong. Generates a stable
system that provides justice, in which the
rich and powerful have limitations on what
they can do.
- If they violate rules and exploit the weak –
there are consequences both socially and
criminally.
4. Essential for a healthy economic system
Without it the business world will fail –
it will result to monopolies
Needed to ensure product
safety/quality, employee safety
Copyright and patents protect IPRs
Keeps the banking system stable to
avoid depression and the like
To SUM UP:
Rules are necessary to protect the common and the
greater GOOD.
Even the most free societies need rules to avoid
exploitation and tyranny
HOWEVER,
Not all rules are moral rules. That is not all
standards are moral standards
 2. Moral vs. Non-moral Standards
Moral Standards
• Those concerned/related to human behavior,
especially the distinction between good and bad
behavior
• It can also refer to the values people place on
the kinds of objects they believe are morally
good and morally bad.
• Some ethicists equate them with moral values
and moral principles.
Non- Moral Standards
• Rules that are unrelated to moral/ethical
considerations
• Not necessarily linked to morality
Ex.
• Rules on etiquette
• Fashion standards
• Game rules
• House rules
Technically, religious rules, some traditions, and
legal statutes are non-moral principles, however,
they can be ethically relevant in some contexts.
Difference b/w Moral and Non-Moral
Standards:
a. Moral standards involve serious wrongs or significant
benefits
• might lead to serious harm but not with non-moral standards
Ex. Violation of a rule in basketball
b. Moral standards ought to be preferred to other values
• they possess overriding or hegemonic character
c. Moral standards are not established by authority figures
• they are not invented, generated by legislation, ideally , they
are to be considered in the formulation of making laws.
• in principle they are immutable
• their validity lies on their reasonableness.
d. Moral standards are universal
Ex. The Golden Rule
e. Moral Standards are based on impartial
considerations
• does not evaluate based on the interest of a certain
person/group
• It should be free from bias or prejudice
• It should give equal/adequate consideration to the
interest of all concerned
f. Moral standards are associated with special
emotions and vocabulary.
▪ they are put forth as imperatives
▪ If they are violated it can result to guilt or shame.
 Only Human beings can be Ethical
This is so because:
a. Rational, autonomous, and self conscious
• Man is the only being capable of certain values
and goods
b. Can act morally or immorally
• man’s actions are the result of his choices
• animals are influenced by their instincts
c. Part of the moral community
• The only being who can communicate in a
meaningful way
 6. Freedom as a Foundation of
Morality
This is so because….
✔ Morality is practically about choices
✔ Morality involves choosing ethical codes
✔ Choosing is impossible without FREEDOM
 7. Minimum Requirement: Reason
and Impartiality
Proposed by James Rachels (1941-2003)
Reason
❖ Help us to evaluate whether our feelings and
intuitions on moral cases are correct and
defensible
Impartiality
❖ Principle of justice that holds moral decisions
should be based on objective criteria
 3. Dilemma and Moral Dilemma
Dilemma:
• Refers to a situation in
which a difficult choice
has to be made
between two or more
options, especially
more or less
undesirable ones.
Activity:
By Diad: Share an
experience of a dilemma
Not all dilemmas are
ethical
 Ethical/Moral Dilemma

An ethical dilemma (ethical paradox or moral dilemma) is a problem

in the decision making process between two possible options, neither
of which is absolutely acceptable from an ethical perspective.
Although we face many ethical and moral problems in our life, most
of them come with relatively straightforward solutions.
On the other hand, ethical dilemmas are extremely complicated
challenges that cannot be easily solved. Therefore, the ability to find
the optimal solution for ethical dilemmas is critical to everyone.
Every person can encounter an ethical dilemma in almost every
aspect of his life, including personal, social, and professional.
 Key Features:
a) Agent is required to do each of two actions or
more actions;
b) Agent can do each of the actions, but the agent
cannot do both (or all) of the actions. He/she is
condemned to moral failure.
c) Neither of the conflicting moral requirements
can be overriden.
 4. Three Levels of Moral Dilemma
A. Personal
▪ experienced and resolved on a personal level
B. Organizational
▪ encountered and resolved by social
organizations.
Ex. Business, medical, public organizations
C. Structural
▪ Cases involving network of organizations
 How to solve an ethical dilemma?
The biggest challenge of ethical dilemma is that it does not offer
an obvious solution that would comply with ethical norms.
Throughout the history of humanity, people always faced ethical
dilemmas, and philosophers aimed and worked to find solutions to
the problems.
By far, the following approaches to solve an ethical dilemma were
deduced:
• Refute the paradox (dilemma): The situation must be carefully
analyzed. In some cases, the existence of the dilemma can be
logically refuted.
• Value theory approach: Choose the alternative that offers the
greater good and the lesser evil.
• Find alternative solutions: In some cases, the problem can be
reconsidered, and the new alternative solutions may arise.
Part I. The Moral Agent
A. CULTURE IN MORAL BEHAVIOUR
WHAT IS CULTURE?
❑ Broadest sense – cultivated behavior – learned through
social learning
❑ Cumulative deposit of knowledge, experience, beliefs,
values, etc. by a group of people in the course of
generations through individual and group striving
❑ Patterns that are implicit/explicit, of and for behavior
acquired and transmitted from one generation to
another through symbols.
❑ Symbolic communication- meaning of the symbols are
learned and deliberately perpetuated in a society
through its institutions.
BROADLY
It includes all the things a person learn while growing up within a
group:
Attitudes
standards of morality
rules of etiquette
perceptions of reality
language
notions about the proper way to live
beliefs about how males and females should
interact
Ideas about how the world works and so on
and so forth
We call this CULTURAL KNOWLEDGE
 1. Culture and its role in moral behavior
Our sense of morality can also be learned through
culture. Why?
❑ Many aspects of morality are learned from
transmitters of culture: parents, teachers, novels,
films and tv
❑ Observing and watching them, we develop our
sense of what is right and wrong, acceptable and
unacceptable
❑ This process is called enculturation or socialization
Implication:
❖ Some thinkers propose:
since our sense of MORALITY is “handed down to us”,
moral standards therefore are merely human
invention
??? Do you AGREE???
Is morality/ethics the product of convention?
Where does morality/ethics belong?
Can our process moral decision making be
explained by ‘SOCIAL CONDITIONING
THEORY’?
SOCIAL CONDITIONING
❖ Can effect our ethical knowledge
❖ However, ultimately it is the intellect that is
molded or socially conditioned, not our sense of
morality
❖ The role played by our intellect in moral decision
making explains how social conditioning can affect
one’s perception of morality.
HOWEVER!
Ethical decisions are supposed to be based on some
sort of moral law that affects every person and not
just on social conditioning.
 CULTURAL RELATIVISM IN ETHICS
❖ Most famous form of MORAL RELATIVISM
❖ Holds that ethical judgments are based on
personal/cultural standards
❖ What is moral is what is ‘socially approved by the
majority in a particular culture.
❖ Advocates consider themselves as open-minded as
they consider other cultures, not as ‘wrong’, but
simply as ‘different’.
❖ The moral code of any given society has no special
status; it is merely one among many.
 Implication of Moral Relativism
• There is no “objective truth” in Morality because
different cultures have different codes!
• Right or wrong is a matter of opinion, and opinions
vary form culture to culture.
Rachels (1941-2003) called this CULTURAL
DIFFERENCES ARGUMENT
DO YOU AGREE?????
Ideal answer is NO? Why?
Differences lies in BELIEF SYSTEMS, not in VALUES
Ex. Belief in Reincarnation (p.25)
 Bad Consequences of C.R.
1. We could no longer say that the customs of other
societies are morally inferior to our own
2. We could decide whether actions are right or
wrong just by consulting the standards of our
society.
3. The idea of moral progress is called into doubt
 Important lessons from C.R.
❑ Encourage tolerance
necessary for people of different cultural origins
to co-exist and live peacefully in a society
❑ Encourage us to be open-minded
-makes us understand that our feelings/beliefs
do not necessarily reflect the truth – result of
social conditioning
-warns us against being biased/prejudiced to the
beliefs and practices of others
- the TRUTH is not a monopoly of a particular
group