CHAPTER ONE

ETHICS: Its Meaning , Nature

and Scope
OBJECTIVES
1. Defineand explain the nature and scope of ethics as a
philosophical discipline;
2. Articulate the importance of studying ethics;
3. Discussand distinguish the different norms or standards
pertaining to right and wrong/good or bad;
4. Describe the moral dimension of human existence; and
5. Identify the various characteristics of moral principles.
 Ethics
 Greek word = “ethos”
Meaning Customary
behavior
 Ethics = word/Theory
 Ethics outlines theories of
right and wrong and good or
bad actions
 Ethics is the systematic
study of the rightness and
wrongness of human actions
 The science of “morals”
Morality
 Latin Word = “mos” or
“mores” Meaning customary
behavior
 Morality = flesh/action
 Morality is the doing or
practice of ethics
 Morality is the rightness or
wrongness of human actions
 Morality is the practice of
ethics
ETHICS : A PHILOSOPHY OF ACTION

*It does not necessarily follow that knowledge

leads or results to practical action.
*The learning of ethics does not actually
guarantee morality on the person’s concrete
and practical conduct and behavior.
* ethics and morality truly need and
complement each other
ETHICS : A PRACTICAL
DISCIPLINE
*Ethics should be taken not just as an academic
study, but as fundamentally, a “way of life.”
*Ethics “should be shown as a discipline which has
an intimate connection with the daily lives of man….
*Knowing what is right without actually changing the
way we behave morally is nothing but useless
knowledge
ETHICS : IMPORTANCE OF STUDYING
ETHICS
*It is said, “without moral perception, man is only an animal.
Without morality, man as a rational [and free] being is a
failure” (Agapay 1991:3).
*If one does have a sense of morality , of what is right and
wrong in relation to their conduct and behavior, people and
society in general would naturally and expectedly deteriorate
and collapsed.
* Every corporations and organizations there is always that
code of ethics.
THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN ETHICS
AND LAW
*Legality is not identical with morality. What is
legal is not always moral and also, what is
moral is not always legal.
* laws are only concerned with “public” actions
*Ethics goes beyond the concern and
parameters of law, for it includes private
actions and the human motivations and
intentions of its actions
THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN ETHICS
AND LAW
*Laws, more often than not, are decided by a
majority vote.
*Morality is not all about how many people
say that something is good or bad, right or
wrong. It is much deeper than that.
What is right is right even though no one is
doing it.
Wrong is wrong even if everybody is doing
it.
*Ethics serves as the very foundation of
our laws.
THE DISTINCTION BETWEEN ETHICS
AND RELIGION
*Ethics as a philosophical discipline, as
mentioned, solely relies on natural reason,
logic and experience, especially in the
justification and validation of certain theories
and principles concerning good and bad.
*Religion, on the other hand, relies primarily
and mainly on supernatural reason, that is
divine revelation or divine authority.
SO, WHAT IS ETHICS?
*Philosophically, Ethics is defined as the
practical science of the morality of human act
or conduct and of the good life.
* As a science, Ethics is a body of knowledge
systematically arranged and presented in
such manner that it arrives at its conclusions
coherently and logically.
MATERIAL AND FORMAL OBJECTS
OF ETHICS
*the material object of ethics is human conduct or
the human act
- Human conduct refers to the act that is done by a
human person which he/she is conscious of, which
proceeds from one’s deliberation and freewill, and
thus, for which one is held morally responsible.
*FORMAL OBJECT OF ETHICS is the morality or
the moral rectitude of human act or human conduct.
- Ethics deals with the human person’s right
conduct, whether his/her actions conform to right
reason which is the immediate norm of morality.
NORM
*A norm is here understood as a rule, standard,
or measure. Specifically, it is something by
which an act or conduct is measured as good or
bad, right or wrong, moral or immoral.
*Richard Gula defines norm as “the criteria of
judgment about the sorts of person we ought
to be and the sorts of actions we ought to
perform” (as cited in Agapay 2008:77).
*by norm of morality, we mean the standard of
right and wrong in human actions.
TYPES OF NORMS
1. Technical Norm – “This refers mainly to man’s needs
which come from his bodily space-time limitations. This norm
has to do with survival, health and well- being.
It is concerned with problems of effecting change, of
transforming the natural world, the problems of coping with
natural forces….
This norm is concerned with the techniques of [how certain
things pertaining to survival, among others, should be done
or not done]
every community prescribes certain proper ways of working
and doing things. For example, there are the ‘right’ way of
preparing the field for planting rice, the ‘correct’ way of
constructing the roof of a house, house hold chores, how to
assemble things etc.
TYPES OF NORMS
2. Societal Norm – “This norm has something to do
with the need for group cohesion and for
strengthening the bonds that keep the community
together.
example, certain manners or attire, certain ways of
speaking or of conducting oneself, certain rituals and
ceremonies are considered ‘proper’ and ‘fitting,’
‘appropriate’ or ‘recommended,’ because they
maintain and strengthen the bonds that keep the
community together.
Other ways of behavior are prescribed or frowned
upon because they are unmindful of or destructive of
social relations.”
TYPES OF NORMS
2. Societal Norm
Example – “knock first before you open the
door,” “one should not pick one’s nose in
public,” “it’s not right to talk that way in the
presence of visitors,” “one must not talk while
one’s mouth is full,” “one ought to follow the
rituals set forth by her fraternity when it
comes to accepting new members.” These
and other similar examples belong to the
category of etiquette or what is known as
“GMRC”
TYPES OF NORMS
3. Aesthetic Norm – “This refers to typical perceptual
forms regarding color, shape, space, movement, sound,
feeling and emotion, touch and texture, taste, scent and
odor…which are considered by the community as
‘ennobling,’ ‘cathartic,’ ‘heightening man’s existence,’ or
‘beautiful,’ because they represent a certain free play and
celebration of the human spirit.”
examples: “relegious music is good,” “the latest corona virus
movie is bad,” “the food of foodpanda is terrible,” “Leonardo
da Vinci’s painting is admirable,” “the color of my ethics
teacher’s hair is disgraceful,” “my female students’ styles of
dressing are obnoxious,” “Vice Ganda’s fashion sense is
simply outrageous,” “President Duterte’s manner of speaking
is utterly disgusting.”
TYPES OF NORMS
4. Ethical or Moral Norm – “The moral or ethical norm refers to some
ideal vision of [a human person], an ideal stage or perfection of [his/her
being], which serves as the ultimate goal and norm.
In This norm, the human person and its actions are judged to be right or
wrong, good or bad Because of this ideal vision of what a human person
should be,
a community has what is sometimes called the ‘non-negotiables,’ those
things which the community cherishes and considers of ultimate worth,
which give ultimate sense and direction to human existence. Therefore, all
the other norms technical, societal, aesthetic are to be subordinated to this
moral or ethical norm.”
it is important to be able to identify and differentiate the various types of
norms from one another. We can now pin point, with a certain degree of
accuracy and consistency, as to what particular kind of valuation we are
making in a given context. In this way, we would be able to render
meaningful, relevant, and most importantly, critical assessment on certain
moral issues and actions that we encounter.
CHARACTERISTICS OF MORAL
PRICIPLE
1.Reasonability – moral judgments must
be backed by good reasons or arguments.
something is right if it is “reasonable.” If it
does not appeal to reason and common
sense/experience, then it has to be viewed
with suspicion and reservation.
CHARACTERISTICS OF MORAL
PRICIPLE
2. Impartiality - This means that an ethical
or moral rule should be neutral when it
comes to the question as to who are its
recipients.
Moral standards are supposed to apply to
everyone regardless of one’s status and
situation in life.
To be impartial is to treat everyone alike, no
one gets special treatment or favoritism.
CHARACTERISTICS OF MORAL
PRICIPLE
3. Prescriptivity This refers to the practical,
or action- guiding nature of morality. This is
also the commanding aspect of morality.
Moral principles are generally put forth as
some kind of commands or imperatives.
Examples of this are : “Do not kill,” “Do no
harm to your fellowmen,” “Love your
neighbor,” “Do not steal,” “Tell the truth,”
CHARACTERISTICS OF MORAL
PRINCIPLE
4. Overridingness Moral standards must
have hegemony. This means that they should
reign supreme over all the other standards or
norms of valuation, whatever they may be.
They have predominant authority and
override other kinds of principles.
whenever there is a conflict between the moral
norm and any other norm, the moral must
prevail.
morality over legality; morality over
technicality; people over dogma.
CHARACTERISTICS OF MORAL
PRINCIPLE
5.Autonomous from Arbitrary Authority Moral
standards should stand on their own logic independent
of the arbitrariness of the majority.
We can always challenge on logical grounds the
tyranny of numbers and the tide of public opinion on
matters of right and wrong.
Something is right or wrong regardless of what the
majority decides or says. Moral rules only bow down
before the throne of “right reason” even if there are
undue pressures coming from the mob and public
opinion.
What is right is right even though no one is
doing it.
Wrong is wrong even if everybody is doing
it.
CHARACTERISTICS OF MORAL
PRINCIPLE
6. Publicity - This means that moral rules and principles
must be made public if they are to serve as clear
guidelines to our actions.
The obvious reason for this is that principles are made
and promulgated to render advice as well as assign
praise or blame to certain behaviors.
It would be self-defeating to just keep them from public
knowledge. For one cannot be made morally accountable
for something which one truly does not know.
If moral principles are indeed impartial and of primordial
value, then by all means, they have to be made public.
Keeping them in secret defeats the very purpose why
they are created. You do not hide something that you
really think is genuinely good and noble.
CHARACTERISTICS OF MORAL
PRINCIPLE
7. Practicability - Moral rules should not be
impossible to achieve or else they are not for
men but for angels.
They must be “workable,” and not “too
idealistic.”
Ethical standards must not be over what an
ordinary human being is capable of doing.
CHARACTERISTICS OF MORAL
PRINCIPLE
8. Universalizability – A moral rule or
principle must be applicable to everyone,
without exception, provided of course that
all people are in a relevantly similar
situation or context.
“If I judge that an act is right or wrong for a
certain person, then the act is right or
wrong for any other relevantly similar
person.
the Golden Rule: “Do unto others what you
want others to do unto to you,