` ETHICS

Introduction to Philosophy

 What is philosophy

 It is the highest form of human knowledge.

 It is considered as the scientia scientiarium (the science of all science)
 Compendium of all learnings.
 Ask the simplest form “Where did the word come from?”
 “What is the beginning of the beginning of the world”
 It comes from two greek words, philein which means to love and sophia which means wisdom
 Etymologically means love of wisdom
 It is as search for meaning.
 good tool in understanding the human person.
 means towards the attainmet of happiness.
 Are all philosophers pilosopo?
 When a pilosopo does philosophy in order to ridicule . A pilosopo reasons out in order to obtain
wisdom, that is a positive philosophy.

 The great Philosopher

 Socrates
 My wisdom consists in accepting that I knew nothing. According to socrates.
 “What makes the human person unknowledgeable is the fact that he know nothing and yet he did
not know that he knew nothing.”
 He claims that he know everything and yet ending up with knowing nothing. A Sophist
 He claims that he does not know anything and yet, ending up with knowing everything. A
philosopher.
 It can help us clarify our thoughts.
 It digs the root causes of the peoples problem and discovers new solutions and remedies to
human ills.
 It give us a clear understanding of the human person and the reason for his existence.

 The Historical Background of Philosophy

 Began when the human person became aware of the things around him. Philosophy.
 Curiosity.
 Seaport of Miletus - the birthplace of philosophy.
 Rich Melisians(residents of the seaport town of miletus), Ionians -considered as the first
philosophers.
 The Beginning of Philosophy
 Anaximander of miletus

 Agreed to his teacher (Thales) that there are a single basic stuff out which everything came from.
 He disagreed with him, If everything come from water, then where could this water came from.

 Anaximenes

 Made an attempt to reconcile the idea of Thales and Anaximander.

 Ask if everything comes from apeiron, how did we know it?
 Everything comes from air.
 Just our soul, being air, holds us together, so do breath and air encompasses the whole world.

 Parmenides of Elea

 His philosophy focused on the problem of the one and the many.
 There is no change. Change is only an illusion. We are just being deceived. He claimed.

 Heraclitus of Ephesus

 He also focused on the problem of the one and the many.

 He believes that all things are in the state of flux.
 Everything is in constant flux, everything is in a constant motion or change, the only thing that
change is itself.
 Everything that passes through fire changes.
 Fire, then fire is the URSTOFF

 Empedocles of Sicily

 The origin of everything are water, air, fire, and earth.

 Try to put an end to the discussion as regard where did everything come from. Acknowledging
idea of everyone.

 Pythagoras of Samos

 Everything can be numbered.

 He was the one who invented the term philosophy.

 Leucipus and Democtritus of Abdera

 Everything that exists is made up of atoms.

 If god exists, then he too must be made of atoms.
 Four Periods of Philosophy

 Ancient Period
 Where did everything come from?
 Focused on the origin of the cosmos. Ancient philosophy. Considered to be Cosmocentric.

 Medieval Period
 Where did everything come from?
 The beginning of the universe must be coming from an infinite being which they called theos
or god.
 Does this god really exist? Is there really a god?
 Medieval philosophy is considered as Theocentric.

 Modern Period
 Believe that god truly exist. But only in mind.
 How do we know what is in our mind is real?
 Is knowledge possible?
 Is man really capable of acquiring knowledge?
 Modern philosophy is considered as Ideocentric.

 Contemporary Period
 Rising political repression.
 They focused their attention on the dignity of the human person.
 Is there a human dignity?
 Contemporary philosophy is considered as Anthropocentric and Homocentric.

 The Problem of Philosophy

 The rise of modern science brought the human person to set aside reasoning.
 Philosophy does not have a proper object. People believe it.
 Contemporary philosophy has become ineccessible.

 The Necessity of the Study of Philosophy

 Philosophy is the only means that is capable of providing a common ground between believers
and non-believers.
 Definition of Philosophy

 A human, consequently, a social activity which consists in man a perennial and a disinterested
search for the intelligible structure of the totality if being.
 Philosophy is a social activity. Man is a social being.
 Philosophy is a perennial search. A never ending search for truth.
 Philosophy is a disinterested search. does not provide practical solutions to problem.
 Philosophy is a search for the intelligible structure. Using reason in order to acquire truth.
 Philosophy deals with the totality of being. Deals with whole of creation, anything and
everything under and beyond the sun.

 Branches of Philosophy

 Three major divisions

 Philosophy of thought
 Philosophy of reality
 Philosophy of morality

 Philosophy of Thought

 Epistemology - study of knowledge

 Logic - the science and art of distinguishing correct from the incorrect form the incorrect
reasoning.

 Philosophy of Reality

 Metaphysics - study of the origin of things.

 Cosmology- study of god.
 Philosophy of psychology- study of man as composed of body and soul.
 Social philosophy- study of the society.
 Political philosophy- study of the state and the social organization

 Philosophy of Morality

 Ethics- study of right living.

 Aesthetics- study of the meaning of beauty.
 Philosophy of person- study about the dignity of man, truth freedom, justice, love, death and his
relationships.
 Introduction to Ethics

 Ethics makes any profession more fruitful.

 Plato considered ethics as a supreme philosophy.

 The difficulty in Philosophy

 Philosophy is difficult only to those who do not aspire for knowledge.

 Philosophy is more focused on the speculative rather than on the practical.
 Philosophy - old course in the Philippine academic.
 What is concrete is proper and what is abstract is ofentimes neglected.

 The Concept of Good Life

 People are always searching for a good life.
 Good life became a problem when man started thinking.
 Eastern people - questions on goodness and beauty were never a problem.
 In the west - beautiful was not anymore to be considered beautiful when compared with others.
 When man becomes civilized, the more he actually uncivilized.

 The Implication of Civilization

 Civilization has made man think in a spatio - temporal dimension.
 Goodness and beauty are always connected with their daily activities.
 Goodness becomes casual and material.
 Man is an animal and yet not an animal.
 Mas is the only creature who is capable of asking.

 Man as a person of Goodness and Truth

 John Locke
 Considered the human as a thinking and intelligent being that has reason and reflection and
can consider itself at itself.
 Man will always search for good.

 Immanuel Kant
 Considered the human as an autonomous self - regulating, who is capable of making moral
decisions by and for himself.
 He believe that man can decide on his own acts.
  Viktor Frankl
 Human being is able to live and even to die for the sake of his ideals and values.
 Man is a being who is always in search for meaning.

 Erich Fromm
 believed that conscience enables the person to know what ought.
 Conscience became the reason why the human person is aware of the goals of life.

 St. Thomas Aquinas

 believed that what constitutes the human person as a moral subject is his conscience.
 Man discovers the moral law because of his conscience.
 Man conscience is also responsible for making human person aware of the welfare and dignity
of the other persons.

 Moral - If an action to be done has consequences that will make our life easy
 Immoral - if an action could inflict us pain or suffering

 Confucius, Plato, and Aristotle held that philosophers must be the rulers of all people

 Definition of Ethics

 Ethics, or moral philosophy, is the attempt to achieve a systematic understanding

 Kinds of action

 Actus Humanus - Actions that are done by human person based on his knowledge and full consen
of thw will
 Actus Hominis - actions that are done in the absence of either knowledge or will or both
knowledge and will.

THE FOUNDATIONS OF MORALITY

 Dilemma - comes from the Greek words dis (diV) which means twice, and lemma (lemma)
which means assumptions or premise.
 Cultural Relativism - It is the view that ethical systems and belief vary from one culture to
another.
 No one can say that these laws by which we can judge whether such laws are true and the
others are wrong. (Moral relativism).
 Ethical relativism is open to serious doubt and does not seem to be correct in all cases.

THE FILIPINO MORALITY

 It is the view that one particular ethnic group’s system of beliefs and values is morally
superior to all others - Ethnocentrism
 It is the view that God’s system of beliefs and values is morally superior to all others. -
Theocentrism
