IMPORTANT DETAILS SA 9 AND 10 EWAN BASTA GANITO INTINDI KO HAHAHA
an act because it is our duty, understand the nature of this
MODULE 9 – Deontology and Teleology, and Rawls Essay
Deontology or Kantian Ethics
• Known defender of this theory is Immanuel Kant, he believes that
feelings have nothing to do with ethical judgements, that ethical
judgements are base on the reason/s alone.
1. Good Will
o One of the functions of our reason to produce a will which is
good, Kant believes Good will is the highest good, and not
happiness which other ethicists believes, for Kant happiness
can be corrupting or worthless if not combined with Good
will.
o “Even if good, because of some hindrances, accomplishes
nothing, it remains to be something with full value in itself.
Good will is good itself.”
o Person of Good will – For Kant, it is the person who acts from
a sense of Duty
▪ For an act to be moral, it must be a Voluntary action,
not forced or compelled one.
o He believes that we act morally only when we restrain our
feelings and inclinations and do that which we obliged to
do. Morality as Kant sees, it is essentially connected with
duties and obligations.
o There is however a need to make a distinction between acts
done from the motive of duty and those are in accordance
with duty.
▪ Respecting one’s parents for expediency or solely in
obedience to custom, paying one’s debt for fear of
being sued, helping others because it’s pleasing to
do so, taking care of one’s children because one is
so fond of doing so, displaying honesty to receive an
award, and keeping promise by accident are all
examples of acts that are in accord with duty but not
from duty.
▪ Moreover, acting morally entails acting from the
motive of duty regardless of the consequences that
doing so or not doing so will bring. To perform an act
for fear of undesirable consequences of not doing it
that is to act from a sense of prudence is only to do a
prudential act but not necessarily a moral one
o Therefore, it is only when we recognize that we ought to do
obligation, and act upon it that we are said to perform an
authentically moral act.
2. Categorical Imperatives
o “Is there a test to find out what one’s duty is in a particular
set of circumstances?” Kant believes that there is. First it is
one’s duty, as a rational being to act on principle or maxim,
as contrasted to simply acting on impulse.
o To distinguish actions on maxim from actions on impulse, let’s
provide some examples.
▪ Suppose a man wants to financially help a certain
lady who is in need, merely because he likes her
personally, and he might not want to give the same
assistance to another woman in an exactly similar
situation because he does not happen to like her.
This is acting on impulse and not done for a reason or
on any principle or maxim.
▪ Now contrast this with another man who give relief to
total strangers who are victims of a calamity.
Because he accepts it as his duty to provide support
to those in need, he treats in precisely the same
manner any other person whose situation has the
same characteristics. This is acting on maxim. The
agent has a reason for his action, and out of this
reason, a maxim like this is formulated. “This situation
has such-and-such features, any situation possessing
these features must be dealt with in such-and-such
manner”
o Maxim, as we have seen, is a general rule or principle which
serves as a guide to action. “Be honest’, “Don’t always shoot
the ball when you get it”, etc. are examples of maxim.
Evidently, not all maxims are moral ones. In Ethics, Kant is
concerned with maxims that are moral, that is those
dictated by reason and thus have imperative force
o There are two kinds of Imperatives: (Imperatives are
understood as a command of reason)
▪ Categorical Imperatives – “Keep your promises” is an
example of Categorical Imperatives, actions we
ought to take regardless of whether doing so would
enable us to get anything we want.
 - “No matter what end you desire to attain, act
in such-and-such a way.”
▪ Hypothetical Imperatives - identify actions we ought
to take, but only if we have some particular goal.
Kant means that the commands depend upon the
goals to be fulfilled. They are contingent and
derivative.
- “If you want to attain a certain end, act in
such-and such a way.”
o Kant provides various formulations of the categorical
imperatives, the universalizability and end in itself
formulations
▪ Formula of Universality and the Law of Nature – “Act
only on that maxim through which you can at the
same time will that it should become a universal law”
▪ The Second Formulation: The Formula of Humanity –
“Act in such a way that you treat humanity, whether
in your own person or in the person of any other,
never merely as a means to an end, but always at
the same time as an end”
3. Strength of Duty-Based Ethics
o Duty-Based Ethics are concerned with what people do, not
the consequences of their action.
▪ Do the right thing.
▪ Do it because it is the right thing to do.
▪ Don’t do wrong things.
▪ Avoid them because they are wrong.
o The strengths and weaknesses of Duty-based ethics
Strengths Weaknesses
Real of Duty, Free from utility Hyper-rationally and lack of
emotions
Respect for persons The irrelevance of inclination
Golden rule – Do unto Overly formal and universal
others, express in national
terms.
Reason Based Inflexibility
Supererogation
o Some other Weaknesses of Deontology itself?
▪ It offers Paradox – “You are tasked with saving lives,
but one cannot purposely sacrifice a life to save the
other”
▪ It can be applied in non-realistic situations – One
form of Deontology involves divine commands
▪ It is a matter of subjective opinion – The definition of
right and wrong from a person’s deontological
perspective depends on the skills and insights of the
individuals involved in the situation.
▪ It eliminates the idea of self-defense – Deontology
ethics dictate that all forms of violence are wrong
▪ It could take people at risk – Kant argument was that
all ethics were absolute and because ethics are
based on the action, a better choice would be to do
nothing, e.g. even lying to a murderer to save
someone from becoming a victim was morally
wrong.
4. Right Theory
o For Kant, governments were entrusted with the capacity to
create laws by the citizens they governed in exchange for
protection. Thus, government have no right to disrupt that
trust with cruel intent against the freedom that citizens had
been promised.
o The principle of right theory is the idea that in order for a
society to be effective, government must approach the
making and enforcement of laws with the right intentions in
respect to the end goal of the society that it governs.
Members of society agree to give up some freedom for the
protection enjoyed by organized society, but government
cannot infringe upon the rights that citizens have been
promised.
o When applied to war, right theory states that in order for a
war to be considered morally reasonable, the intention of
entering into war ought to be right in relation to human
rights. Kant’s principle of rights theory thus teaches that it is
not merely the outcome of actions that is significant but also
the reasoning behind them, because the intent is evil, then
the outcome is all likelihood, is bad as well.
o Legal vs. Moral Rights – What is legal is not always moral.
And sometimes, what is moral is not necessarily legal in a
particular country.
 ▪ Legal rights – Denote all rights within exiting legal
codes.
▪ Moral rights – In plain contrast are rights that exist
prior to and independently from their legal
counterparts.
▪ It must be clear, therefore that human right cannot
be reduced to, or exclusively identified with legal
rights. In fact, some human rights are best identified
as moral rights. Human rights are meant to apply to
all human beings universally, regardless of whether or
not they have attained legal recognition by all
countries everywhere.
Teleology
• Refers to moral system that determines the moral value of actions
by their outcomes or results.
• From the Greek word ‘telos’, which means ‘end,’ teleology takes
into account the end result of the action as the exclusive
consideration of its morality.
• Deems an action as morally right if its favorable consequences are
greater than its adverse outcomes. Its most famous form is
consequentialism which proposes that morality is determined solely
by a cost-benefit evaluation of the action’s consequences.
• Utilitarianism
o Consequentialist ethics proposes that actions, rules, or
policies should be ethically measured and evaluated by
their consequences, not by intention of motives of the
agent.
o Utilitarianism is a teleological ethical system judges the
rightness of an act in terms of an external goal or purpose
o Utilitarian ethics argues that the right course of action is one
that maximizes overall happiness. It is basically pleasure-
seeking as it identifies happiness with pleasure
• Act and Rule Utilitarianism
o Act Utilitarianism: the principle of utility is applied directly to
every alternative act in a situation of choice. The right act is
then defined as the one which brings about the best results
or at least amount of bad results. It focuses on what to do.
o Rule Utilitarianism: is the principle of utility that is used to
decide the validity of rules of conduct. It focuses on how to
do.
• Act vs Rule
o Act: I think it’s okay if it causes more happiness or prevents
pain in some way
o Rule: I think we should make rules that from our experience
show increase happiness, and follow those rules
• Origin and Nature of the(?) Theory:
It is founded by Jeremy Bentham but systematized and modified by
John Stewart Mill.
• Bentham’s Utilitarianism: Principle of Utility
People act in their own interest
Nothing else but pleasure is intrinsically good
gives no importance to the quality of pleasures
o Quantitative Hedonist / Quantitative Utilitarian
Intensity
Duration
Certainty
Propinquity (remoteness)
Fecundity(fruitfulness)
Purity
Extent
o As regards to Justice and Punishment Jeremy Bentham
disapproves... "He who has done harm shall endure harm". It
is evil for evil. "For Bentham, punishment- future harms”
• Mill’s Utilitarianism: Greatest happiness principle – It states that it is
the greatest happiness of the greatest number that is the measure
of right and wrong.
o Mill differs fundamentally the Bentham on two central
aspects
▪ Mill rejects the purely quantitative treatment of the
principle of utility.
▪ He introduces the so-called “secondary principle”
which set the tone for a contemporary variant of the
theory called the utilitarianism
o Mill’s First point: Distinguished between higher and lower
pleasures
▪ Higher Pleasures means intellectual and includes
artistic, political, and even spiritual pleasures
▪ Lower Pleasures are those which animals, too, can
experience, such as those from food, drink and sex
(Physical Pleasures)
o Mills Secondary Principles:
▪ He believes that past experiences teach us which
kinds of action promote happiness and which do not
 ▪ It serves as practical rules, giving knowledge about
the tendencies of actions when no better information
is available. This does not mean however that the
actions are justified by these practical rules --- it’s the
consequences manifested in past experiences which
validate them
• Utilitarianism Analysis:
o Utilitarianism appears to be a direct negative reaction
against Kantian ethics. Kant focuses on motive (Deontology)
while Bentham and Mill focuses on consequences.
(Utilitarianism/ Teleology)
o Utilitarianism also allows for exceptions to the rule if justified
by the consequences. Take the case of lying to protect
another from sure danger. For Kant this wrong while for
Utilitarianism it is right.
"Justice as Fairness: Political not Metaphysical" is an essay by John Rawls,
published in 1985.
• Justice and Fairness
o In it he describes his conception of justice. It comprises two
main principles of liberty and equality; the second is
subdivided into Fair Equality of Opportunity and the
Difference Principle.
▪ First principle: the liberty principle – The first and most
important principle states that every individual has
an equal right to basic liberties, Rawls claiming "that
certain rights and freedoms are more important or
'basic' than others”
▪ Second principle: the equality principle - The Equality
Principle is the component of Justice as Fairness
establishing distributive justice. Rawls awards the Fair
Equality of Opportunity Principle lexical priority over
the Difference Principle: a society cannot arrange
inequalities to maximize the share of the least
advantaged whereas not allowing access to certain
offices or positions.
• Fair equality of opportunity
o This principle maintains that "offices and positions" should be
open to any individual, regardless of his or her social
background, ethnicity or sex. Rawls argues that an individual
should not only have the right to opportunities but should
have an effective equal chance as another of similar natural
ability.
• Difference principle
o The Difference Principle regulates inequalities: it only permits
inequalities that work to the advantage of the worst-off.
• Original position
o A key component of Rawls' argument is his claim that his
Principles of Justice would be chosen by parties in
the original position.
Generalization
• Deontology is an ethical system that bases morality on independent
moral rules or duties. The term came from the Greek word deon
which means ‘duty’, implying the foundational nature of man’s
duties or obligations. Kantian ethics is an example of deontology
where it believes that when we wish to determine the moral status
of an action, we would consult reason. An act either accords with
reason or it does not. If it accords with reason, we must do it, if not
we must not do it.
• Teleology refers to moral system that determines the moral value of
actions by their outcomes or results. Utilitarianism is a teleological
ethical system judges the rightness of an act in terms of an external
goal or purpose.
• The fundamental idea in the concept of justice is fairness. Justice is
considered as a virtue of social institutions (henceforth “practices”)
and its function is essentially distributive. Justice is considered as only
one of the many virtues of practices. Justice is just one aspect of
any conception of a good society.
---END OF MODULE 9(?)---

MODULE 10(?) – Virtue Ethics and Applied Ethics
Virtue Ethics
• Virtue Ethics as a moral system, places emphasis on developing
good habits of character, like kindness and generosity, and
avoiding bad character traits, or vices, such as greed or hatred
• Virtue ethics is a broad term for theories that emphasize the role of
character and virtue in moral philosophy rather than either doing
one’s duty or acting in order to bring about good consequences.
• A virtue ethicist is likely to give you this kind of moral advice: “Act as
a virtuous person would act in your situation.”
• Socrates and Plato's Moral Philosophy
o In the dialogue "Gorgias" written by Plato, Socrates indicates
that pleasure and pain fail to provide an objective standard
for determining moral from immoral since they do not exist
apart from one another, while good and evil do.
o Everything in the material world is what it is by virtue of its
resemblance to, or participation in, this universal form or
Idea.
o For Plato, those who comprehend the Good will always do
good actions. Bad actions are performed out of not knowing
the Good. To know the Good, nonetheless, requires an
austere and intellectually meticulous way of life.
• Aristotle’s Ethics
o Three general descriptions, which are interrelated, can be
used to depict Aristotle’s ethics.
▪ Self Realizationism
▪ Eudaimonistic
▪ Aretaic
 Act Oriented Ethics
 Virtue Ethics
o A ‘Telos’ is an end or purpose. Aristotle believes that the
essence or essential nature of beings, including humans, lay
not at their cause (or beginning) but at their end (‘telos’
o Happiness and Virtue
▪ Aristotle believes that the ultimate human goal is self-
realization. This entails achieving one’s natural
purpose by functioning or living consistently with
human nature. Accomplishing it, produces
happiness; whereas inability to realize it leads to
sadness, frustration, and ultimately to poor life.
▪ Aristotle identifies three natures of man: the
vegetable or physical, animal or emotional, and
rational or mental. As previously explained, the thing
that distinguishes humans from all other creatures is
the rational nature or the ability to reason.
▪ Ethics, for Aristotle, is the inquiry into the human
good. This is to say that the purpose of studying
ethics is to make ourselves good, though Aristotle
assumes that we already want to become good. This
human good is ‘eudaimonia’ or happiness
▪ Aristotle also considers happiness as the summum
bonum – the greatest good of all human life
o Virtue as Habit
▪ Aristotle's idea of happiness should also be
understood in the sense of human flourishing. This
flourishing is attained by the habitual practice of
moral and intellectual excellences or 'virtues’
o Aristotle said your Character is developed through
Habituation
▪ Moral virtue is an expression of character, formed by
habits reflecting repeated choices.
o Moral virtue is the golden mean between the two less
desirables extreme.
Deficiency Golden Mean Excess
Cowardice Courage Tactless Rashness
Stinginess Generosity Prodigality
Extreme frugality Temperance Gluttony
o Phronesis And Practice
▪ Phronesis or Practical wisdom is a grasp of
appropriate way to respond, to feel and act in a
particular situation
• Thomas Aquinas' Ethics
o 5 Aquinas' Laws
▪ Eternal Law - Rational plan of God by which all
creation is ordered
▪ Human Law - The aspect of the Eternal law which is
accessible to human reason
▪ Natural Law - Refers to positive laws, more exact and
forceful provisions
 ▪ Divine Law - Serves to complement the other types of
law
▪ Natural inclinations - (1) To survive (2) To reproduce
and educate offspring (3) To love
o 3 Aspects
▪ Species - What kind of an action it is. There are 3
types. Good, Bad and Indifferent Neutral.
▪ Accident - Simply refers to the circumstances
surrounding the action.
▪ End - Stands for the agent’s intention.
o Aquinas ethical theory states that for an action to be moral,
the kinds it must belong to must not be bad, the
circumstances must be appropriate, and the intention must
be virtuous.
o Happiness, Moral Virtues and Theological Virtues
▪ A habit is a "hard to eradicate" quality
▪ 2 types of Habits:
 Acquired - The autonomous will of the person
plays a huge role in acquired habits
 Infused- Directly instilled by God in our
faculties.
▪ 2 Types of Infused Virtues
 Moral - Activities that are less virtuous and
inferior to the final end. To this kind belongs
Prudence, Fortitude, Temperance and Justice
 Theological- Are concerned directly with
God. The virtues of Faith, Hope and Love
serve to attune us to our final end
o Analysis of Thomistic Ethics
▪ He is more of Deontologist or Kantian than
Utilitarianism
▪ Aquinas is looking for middle ground
▪ Thomas Aquinas is a Realist (Realism)
▪ “Do good, avoid evil, pursue knowledge, and live at
peace with our neighbors”
Applied Ethics
• For a subject to be considered as an applied ethical issue, not only
must it be a matter of moral judgment, but also it has to be
controversial. That is, there must be considerable groups of people
both for and against the issue.
• Applied ethical issues nowadays are classified into various subfields.
o Bioethics
▪ This concerns ethical issues pertaining to life,
biomedical, researches, medicines, health care, and
medical profession.
o Environmental Ethics
▪ It deals with moral issues concerning nature,
ecosystem and its nonhuman contents. This includes
issues such as animal rights, animal experimentation,
endangered species preservation, pollution control,
and sustainable development.
o Business Ethics
▪ It examines moral principles concerning business
environment which involves issues about corporate
practices, policies, business behaviors, and the
conducts and relationships of individuals in the
organizations.
o Sexual Ethics
▪ It studies moral issues about sexuality and human
sexual behavior.
o Social Ethics
▪ It deals with what is right for a society to do and how
it should act as a whole. Its focus is on what may be
deemed as proper behavior for people as a whole
Generalization
• Virtue Ethics as a moral system, places emphasis on developing
good habits of character, like kindness and generosity, and
avoiding bad character traits, or vices, such as greed or hatred.
o Virtue-based theories give importance to moral education
which molds individuals to habitually act in a virtuous
manner. Focusing on the character of the agent, virtue
ethics describes right actions as those chosen and
performed by a suitably virtuous person.
• Applied Ethics philosophically examines specific, controversial moral
issues. Using philosophical methods, this area of concern in Ethics
attempts to determine the ethically correct course of action in
specific realms of human action.
---END OF MODULE 10(?)---
MODULE 11 – New Challenges to Ethics and the Role of Religion in Ethics

Globalization and Pluralism: New Challenges in Ethics

• Pluralism
o Generally, pluralism is a philosophical theory that there is
more than one basic substance or principle.
o In epistemology, pluralism is the position that there is not one
consistent means of approaching truths about the world, but
rather many
• Moral Pluralism
o Moral Pluralism is an idea that there can be conflicting moral
views that are each worthy of respect. There are values that
are equally correct and fundamental, yet they conflict with
each other.
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