ETHICS

Preliminary notion
Ethics is the practical science of
the morality of human conduct.
 Definition

A) Science
• A science is a relatively complete and systematically arranged body of connected data together
with the causes or reasons by which these data are known to be true.
B) Practical
• If a data of a science directly imply rules or directions for thought or action, the science is
called practical.
• If the data of science enrich the mind without implying rules or directions, the science is called
speculative.
 Definition

C) Human Conduct
• By human conduct we mean only such human activity as deliberate and free. A deliberate and
free act, an act performed with advertence and motive, an act determined by the free will is
called Human acts. Acts performed by human beings without advertence, or without the
exercise of free choice, are called Acts of man.
D) Morality
• Human conduct is free, knowing, deliberate human activity. Such activity is either in
agreement or disagreement with the dictates of reason. Now the relation of human activity
with the dictates of reason is called morality.
 Definition

D) Morality
• Ethics studies human activity to determine what it must be to stand in harmony with the
dictates of reason. Hence, Ethics deals with the morality of human conduct.
E) Etymological Meaning
• Derived from the Greek word ethos, which means “a characteristic way of acting,”
custom, usage and character. The Latin word mos, mores is equivalent of the Greek
ethos. Hence, we understand why Ethics is sometimes called Moral science or Moral
Philosophy.
 Ethics and Morals
Ethics
• Ethics can be spoken of as the discipline of
studying and understanding the ideal of human
behavior and ideal ways of thinking. It could be
acceptable or unacceptable behavior or describe as
ethical or unethical. This term is mostly used on
ways of behaving in a given field, this is popularly
known as “professional ethics” (Bulaong, et al,
2017).
• Ex: A policeman arresting a man bribing him, the
action is considered as ethical. But if the policeman
accepts the bribe and sets the man free, his action is
considered as unethical.
Morals
• According to Bulaong, et al. (2017), the word morals
may be used to refer to specific beliefs or attitudes
that people have to describe acts that people
perform. An Individual’s conduct is referred to as his
morals, and if he falls short behaving properly, it is
immoral.
• Ex: When a man returned a lost wallet to the owner,
his action is considered moral. But when a man kept
the lost wallet and has no intention to return it to the
owner, his action is considered as immoral.
 On Value

• Ethics is about what is good or bad actions, right or wrong, acceptable or unacceptable. It
is doing what is good and avoiding what is bad. In Ethics, we put value on our actions.
• Value denotes the degree of importance of some thing or action, with the aim of
determining what actions are best to do or what way is best to live, or to describe the
significance of different actions. Values can be defined as broad preferences concerning
appropriate courses of actions or outcomes. As such, values reflect a person's sense of right
and wrong or what "ought" to be. "Equal rights for all", "Excellence deserves admiration",
and "People should be treated with respect and dignity" are representatives of values.
 On Value

Ex:
• An elected official helps the poor to battle the pandemic that we are experiencing. We say that
the value of his action is good. But an elected official takes advantage of the situation by
placing his relatives to be the first recipient of the government’s social amelioration is valued to
be as bad.
• Here we can see that the primary concern of ethics is good and bad or right and wrong.
But we must be able to clarify that not all that is valued to be good and bad are
part of ethics.
 On Value

a) Aesthetics
• Comes from the Greek word Aesthesis, which means sense or feeling. Judgments are
based on the SENSES (see, hear, smell or taste). It is leaning towards our taste or
preference.
• The valuation of its goodness or badness is more on personal aesthetic preference and it
is not the case in ethics.
 On Value

b) Etiquette
• Doing what is proper in specific situations.
• Etiquette is indeed concerned with what is right and wrong actions but to a certain
degree, it is not enough to be in parallel with ethics.
• We may be displeased when somebody interrupts us when we are speaking
(etiquette), and it will be much of greater offense when this man starts to curse us
and utter libelous words towards us (ethics).
 On Value

c) Technique
• The technique is another thing that has the notion of good and bad or right and wrong but is not
part of ethics.
• Comes from the Greek word Techne, which means proper way of doing things.
• Ex: Cooking of bacon. There is a technique when we cook bacon. The proper way to cook it is
by not putting oil in the pan. The bacon will produce its oil and when we put oil the bacon will
shrink. But it only makes sense in cooking and it does not have any connection of whatever in
ethics. Hence, it is not part of ethics.
 On Value

• Aesthetics, etiquette, and technique are NOT part of ethics. Therefore, problems raised on aesthetics,
etiquette and technique cannot be considered as ethical problems.
• Many ethicists believe that matters concerns the life or matters concerns about man’s well-being are
considered part of ethics. Issues like the death penalty, corruption in the government, and the
inequality are part of ethics, thus they are considered to be ethical problems.
• This discussion clarifies that not all kinds of valuation belong to ethics. You must be able to remember that ethics is
not dependent on taste to be able to classify what is good and bad action. Ethics does not value good or bad actions
based on its acceptability and unacceptability in the community. Lastly, ethics does not classify good and bad actions
based on technique or the proper way of doing things.
ETHICS
Preliminary notion
 Source of Authority

a) Law
• Law guides every country in this world. It prohibits things that should not be done. It
does not allow bad actions. Law can easily claim that actions like stealing or murder
are unethical because it is prohibited by law. An action is considered good if It is not
prohibited by law.
• “What is legal is not necessarily moral.”
 Source of Authority

b) Religion
• It talks about what is pleasing and not pleasing in the eyes of God. It tells us that if it is pleasing in the
eyes of God then it is good and if it is not pleasing then it is bad. Religion greatly contributes to
molding their faithful to be good. We members of particular religions are guided by God’s
commandment, to be specific it is the Ten Commandments. This commandment gives us the guiding
principle on how to be a good person. It simply tells us that to become a good person we must avoid
the following do not kill, steal, lie, and commit adultery. When we look closer, we will realize that
most of our laws are patterned on the precepts of God’s Ten Commandments. Now for us believers, we
can see that religion has a strong case to be the source of authority in ethics
 Source of Authority

c) Culture
• Culture sets standards in our community. It tells the community what we should do and not to
do. Philippine culture for example sees that it is moral for a man and woman to live together
after they get married. It seems that culture could be a source of authority in ethics. But with
the great number of different cultures in this world, there will be different standards.
• Due to the multiplicity of culture, which culture is the standard in ethics? We must bear in mind that
the standards of ethics must be universal. It must be acceptable for you and me even we have a
different culture. That is why culture cannot be the source of authority in ethics.
 Source of Authority

WHAT IS THE SOURCE OF AUTHORITY IN ETHICS?

• The source of authority in ethics should be common to all. It must be universal.
 Source of Authority

d) Reason
• Reason is the source of authority in ethics.
• Ex: Have you ever ask yourself: Why I am not stealing goods? Our initial answer would be: “I do not steal because I am afraid I can
get punish and I don’t like to be punished.” But this reason is to shallow. So man realizes that we must be able to give a good reason
that will be acceptable to all something that would make sense. A better answer is that stealing is wrong because it violates the
principle of fairness and the respect of other’s property.

• This principle becomes the ground of our judgment that justifies our decisions. This
moral principle is established in moral theory. This theory is a system of ideas which is
used to evaluate our valuing of actions and concludes decision on a certain action.