Ethics-right conduct of a man; doesn’t tell you what to
do but what we OUGHT to do.
Ethics as man’s tool towards the development of a good
life (by having set of principles).
Socrates, one of the greatest Greek philosophers had
concluded that ethics should be regarded as the most
important study a college or university has to offer.
Kant who also concluded as one of the greatest
logicians of the times, maintained that everything
accomplished in science is for an ethical objective which
he termed it as the “primacy or practical reason”
Definition of Ethics:
 Can be defined as the science of morality of
human acts and the acts of man.
 Is a science because it is a systematic body of
knowledge(may sinusundan na principles or
guidelines) meant to guide men in their pursuit
of the good and happy life.
 Can be defined as the science of morality of
human acts and acts of man.
Morality -The quality of goodness and badness
(gaano kabuti yung specific na action)
(pang individual or pangkalahatan? Or is it for long term
or short term?)
-measures the quality of goodness and badness of
human acts and the acts of man
Human Acts -actions of an individual with his full
knowledge, full willingness, and full deliberation (long
term gain)
Full knowledge - nangangalap ng info about sa gagawin
na action
Full willingess - walang nakainfluence sa paggawa ng
certain action
Full deliberation - napagisipang mabuti, look at the
goodness or badness of a certain action or knowledge
- if an individual do a certain thing, knowledge,
willingness and deliberation should be present to say
that this action or conduct is solely the individual’s
decision or responsible
Acts of Man - w/o knowledge, willingness, and
deliberation (short term gain)
- alam nya yung ginagawa nya pero di napagisipan or
wala syang enough data
- there is always an external factor that influences the
individual to do certain action
- it has limited deliberation
Relativism –concept of the quality of goodness and
badness must be relative to that person;
-relative to the norms of one’s culture.
Skepticism -everything has to be doubted; to be
doubtful.
- trying to avoid being trapped
Etymology of Ethics:
 The word ethics is derived from the Greek word
ethos, meaning a way of doing things.
 Therefore it is understood that from the
etymology of the word ethics this would mean
the study of human customs or way of doing
things
Moral Philosophy or Ethics:
 Involves the systemizing, defending, and
recommending the concepts of right and wrong
conduct.
 Systemizing - there’s level ; consistency of
concept of good and right conduct
- different set of behavior depending on the
group of people
 Defending pursue the good thing to do
-having a basis on what is a good thing or what
is a bad thing
-capable of acting
 Recommending - what should you do or ought
to do
-you cannot tell a person what to do but simply
recommend
Areas of study in Ethics:
 Meta-ethics is concerned with theoretical
meaning and reference or moral propositions,
and how their truth values can be determined.
(5 W’s and 1 H) (information)
 Normative ethics is concerned with the
practical means of determining moral course of
action. (decision making) (action plans)
 Applied ethics is concerned what a person is
obligated or permitted to do in a special
situation or a particular domain of action.
Importance of Ethics:
 Satisfies basic human needs (trust, respect)
 Creates credibility
firm set of principles that an individual follows
 Unites people and leaders
 Improves decision-making
 Brings long term gains
 Secures the society
Ethics and Rules
Ethics is related to rules
*Ethics → right cinduct → set of principles→set of
rules
Set of principles - if you follow the rules you’re doing
good but if not iy is a bad thing
Ethics id equiped with rules, if we follow this rules
we will have a good life
Importance and meaning of Rules:
1. Rules are instructions that tells you what to and
not allowed to do
2. Rules is a statement telling people what they
should do in order to achieve success or a
benefit of some kind
3. Rules are statement that describe the way
things usually happen in particular situation
4. Rules tell you the normal state of affairs
5. Rules influence or restrict actions in a way that
is not good for a person
6. Rules tells us something that true or should
happen and then the authority has official
decided that it is true.
Laws control the lesser man. Right conduct controls
the greater one. -Mark Twain
Morality and Moral Dilemma:
Norm -standards or accepted behavior in the society
Morality -moral behavior of goodness or badness
Norm of Morality - what is the accepted moral
behavior
Human Acts -the standard of right and wrong in human
acts.
 Knowledge
 Willingness
 Deliberation
- if we talk about the norm of morality these three
should be the standard right and wrong in a certain
human act.
Voluntariness and Responsibility -The reason why
certain acts are morally right and why certain actions
are wrong.
Has something to do with the level of voluntariness
 Perfect voluntariness -individual has full
knowledge and full consent of a certain action
(ex. jaywalking)
-full knowledge will determine the level of
responsibility , will determine the level of
punishment
 Imperfect voluntariness -the person has partial
or knowledge or consent at all. (ex. cutting class
because of the influence of your classmates)
”ignorance of the law excuses no one”
- level of punishment is determined to the level
of voluntariness
 Direct voluntary act -going to do an action na
ginusto mong gawin ;na ikaw ang gumawa ng
desisyon (ex. case of Christine dacera)
- the person tends to do something for his own
sake(ginusto mo, no external factor na
nagencourage)
 Indirect voluntary act -this are your actions
which are not intended because of your loss of
consciousness.
(Ginusto mo yung isang bagay pero yung result
hindi)
Will indirect voluntary act be still considered as
voluntary if indirect? Yes.
“Causa causae est etiam cuasa causati.” -Latin for The
cause is also the cause of the thing caused.
(kung ano ang simula sya din ang dulo)
Moral Dilemma -exist when an individual is presented
with two or more actions.
-there are moral lessons for each action
-you can only choose one
The people who experiences Moral dilemma are:
1. the people involve are close to him
2. Conflict between self belief’s and other people’s
belief
- exist when an individual is having difficulty in handling
a certain action because there are set of principles
involve
Three levels of Moral Dilemma:
1. Individual Moral Dilemma -personal dilemmas
experience by an individual
2. Organizational Moral Dilemma -encountered in
a workplace where there are other people
involved.
3. Systemic types of dilemma -occur in the
ordinary conditions of life
Dealing with Moral Dilemmas:
 Be reasonable, not emotional.
 Choose greater good or lesser evil
Foundation of Ethics:
 Teleology -it serves a purpose
- you may be held accountable for what you’ve
done but you may also be excused because the
result of your action is good
(example: Robin Hood)
 Utilitarianism -the greatest good for the
greatest number
-the basis of your right conduct will depend
whether your action will do good for a lot of
people
-there should be a real happiness in it
 Individual -selfishness (own pleasure)
- prioritize your own pleasure and
happiness
- you base your action on what will
make you happy
 Social-benefit for greater number of
people
 Deontology -it is the individual’s duty as rational
beings to perform good acts
-something to do with duty or responsibility
- if you do your duty or responsibility you’re
doing the right thing regardless of the result.
The Moral Agent
-has something to do with a person who is connected to
the morality; executing the norm of morality
-a person who is capable of acting with reference to
right or wrong (presence of human act)
- a person is called human agent because the three
aspect of human act is present
-is special because we have the ability to avoid harm
that we might do to others and the environment
- since we are responsible to our own action we can also
rectify.
-we also have responsibility to do the right thing(itama
yung mga maling nagawa)
-if we fail our responsibility we should rectify
Moral Agency -is the ability to make moral judgments
based on some notion of right or wrong and to be held
accountable for these actions (Immanuel Kant)
-moral capabilities of an individual to make moral
judgements
-the person can have the choices to do what is right and
what is wrong
Moral Judgement- has something to do with
understanding and having knowledge to what is right
and what is wrong.
Who are capable of being moral agents?
 ONLY RATIONAL BEINGS
-people who can rationalize what they say, do
and their knowledge
Factors that could affect the moral agent:
 Rational being
 Determinism/Free will
 Law
 Culture
 Provider of moral behavior
 Universal values
Do we have real control of our actions? YES
 Determinism (a person will be held accountable
because he controlled his past, his present and
can control the future; kayang ipanghawakan
yung kaganapan or action; planning; mas malaki
ang responsibildad ng isang individual kase mas
malakas yung power mo over your action) and
 Free Will (problem between
responsibility/accountability over his actions;
control of action and present mind; don’t have a
control about the outcome; hanggang saan
aabutin yung free will na meron ka?; we can
only control the cause but not the result)
 If an individual is an moral agent then he/she
has control over his/her actions
“We have no choice but to believe that we choose
freely when we make a choice, but not to control the
effects of our actions -Immanuel Kant”
-because there are other people involve and different
environment because you are dealing with other moral
agents
Moral agency and Legal doctrine (law):
 guilty mind
 A person is legally responsible for what he does
as long as he should know what he is doing and
his choices are deliberate however;(Human act)
(pag nagkamali there would be consequences
 for as long as you know what you are doing)
 Some theorist follow the strict liability
-determine the degree of punishment (ex. a
minor and an adult murdered someone, minor
will be sent in rehab while the adult will be sent
to the prison)
Moral agency and Moral consideration:
 Kant believed that MORALITY is a
transaction of rational parties(moral
agents), other animals are excluded from
moral consideration
- (intellectual,financial,social)
 Utilitarianism -the real object of moral
action is the avoidance of suffering
(gumagawa tayo ng tama kase gusto naten
mapabuti yung buhay naten and mas malaki
yung tendency na maiwasan natin yung
suffering
What are the cultures that influence the person’s
moral behavior?
 Culture
-latin word cultus=care
care not only for the ritual but these ritual are
good and beneficial to human beings
 Material culture -concrete and tangible things
(tools, clothes, artifacts and relics)
 Non-material culture -intangible things
(knowledge, laws, teachings, values)
Who are the providers of moral behavior in a culture?
 Family – notion of what is right &wrong; they’re
the ones who initiates who we are.
-formation/development of our values always
start in our home.
 School -notion of what is right & wrong in the
community/society; gmrc
 Church -bible
- guide in doing the right thing and avoiding
what is wrong
 Government -law, rules and regulation
 Workplace -fairness, respect
- set of principles followed by an individual
Cultural relativism
 the idea that a person’s beliefs, values,
practices should be understood based on the
person’s own culture rather than be judged
against the criteria of other culture
- (if you talk with another moral agent you
should have knowledge about their culture)
-what is right for other people may not be right
to you
Strength and Weaknesses of Cultural Relativism
Strengths:
 It’s a system which promotes cooperation
 It creates a society where equality is possible
 People can pursue a genuine interest
 Respect is encouraged in a system of cultural
relativism
 It preserves human culture
 It creates a society without judgment
Weaknesses:
 It creates a system that is fueled by personal
bias
(does not accept ideas from other people, kung
ano lang kinalakihan mo yun lang)
 It would create chaos
(walang makakapagdikta sa gagawin mo kase
yun yung kinalakihan mo)
-especially when there is conflicting idea from
two moral agents
 It could promote a lack of diversity
 It draws people away from one another
- divided by culture, most especially by
conflicting ideas
Universal Values
-a value is universal when it has the same value or
worth for all or almost all people.
Shalom Schwartz’s Universal Values:
 Power
(fame, privileged)
 Achievement
 Hedonism
(we would like to be happy and have pleasure)
 Stimulation
(would like to have excitement to their life,
would to have improvement or progress to
what they are doing)
(would like to do more or achieve more; we
would want to be stimulated because this is
what motivates us in doing things)
 Self-direction
(individual who have the ability to decide would
want to have their own rights, choices and
decisions; want to be independet and not
controlled by other people)
 Universalism
(concern to other people [pangkalahatan],
example: mga taong nakaexperience ng tragedy
we are being affected kahit di naten
nararanasan)
 Benevolence
(pagtulong sa taong malapit sa atin)
 Tradition
 Conformity
(we conform to new people ; example: gusto
mo makasama sa isang group ikaw magaadjust
para makasama sa group nila)
- conform to standards
 Security
Development of Moral Character
Moral Character is an evaluation of an individual’s
stable moral qualities
 Campbel & R Bond -heredity, childhood, role
models, society
 Business -social responsibilities
 Military -leadership development
 Aristotle -Eudamonia (pursue the happiness we
want to attain); virtuous character
 Confucious -develop by human kindness to self
and to other people.
Lawrence Kohlberg’s Moral Development
“Heinz steals the drugs”
-based on the cognitive development of an individual
-biased because Kohlberg only used male participants
 Heinz’s wife was dying from a particular type of
cancer. Doctor said a new drug might save her.
The drug had been discovered by a local
chemist, and he was able to make it for $200
per dose and sell it for $2,000. Heinz tried to
negotiate as he could only afford $1,0000 and
extend the remaining for credit, but the chemist
refused. The husband was desperate to save his
wife, so later that night he broke into the
pharmacy and stole the drug.
Level I -Preconventional Morality
(kids decision are based on other people)
 Stage I: Punishment-avoidance and obedience
(the person would not steal the drug because
 he/she want to avoid the punishment and also
because our parents taught us not to
steal[obedience])
 Stage II :Exchange of favors (nakadepende sa
consequences [example: kung masisigurado ng
chemist na mapapagaling gamot yung asawa
nya then nanakawin nya yung gamot])
Level II -Conventional Morality
(what the government says ,the law)
 Stage 3: Good boy/girl
(Example people’s reaction: No I would not
steal the drug because I’m a good boy/girl or
Yes I would steal the drug because I am a good
wife/husband)
 Stage 4: Law and order
(Ingested from the law that it is wrong to steal)
Level III -Post conventional Morality
(weigh own values and set of principles from the
government’s law)
 Stage 5: Social contract
(human values, weighing the two things [own
values and the dying wife])
(thinking about the chemist’s business and the
effect to the employees and the employer’s
family) or (Yes I would steal the drug because a
human life is more important than money)
 Stage 6 : (Highest level) Universal ethical
principle
- people find this difficult to attain especially to
average people
- Abstract decision to an individual
Carol Gilligan (Moral development of women)(focus on
caring for other)
- response to Lawrence Kohlberg’s theory
-based on the ego development of an individual
 Level I: Orientation to individual survival
- transition from being selfish we transform to
having responsibility
(responses: could have selfish reason for it’s own
sake or to people who need it)
 Level 2: Goodness as self-sacrifice
- notion has something to do with
responsibilities
- can sacrifice yourself, need and wants for the
people we love
 Level 3: The morality of nonviolence
- only few people reach this one
- when confronted with moral dilemma we avoid
every possible violence that might be the result of
our action.