Caiga, Jerwin P.

ICET-2202

Reflection Paper: Theories of Morality

What comes to our minds when we hear the word "ethics"? Is it just knowing what is

right or what is wrong? But when and how can we say that a given activity has occurred? Is the

specific act correct or incorrect? That's when moral theories come in handy. It assist us in

determining if an activity or deed is right or evil. Before the moral theories, there are lots of

lessons and different concepts discussed in the subject Ethics. Every lesson, I am eager to learn

and I expect to learn so much more during the discussions. There are some of my favorite topics

that are discussed especially in the moral theories. My understanding of ethics was only a small

portion of it. There is a wealth of material available on ethics, including the definition, history,

ideas, and steps for applying ethics in real life. Furthermore, how the crucial theory will affect

my future life.

As a student, I find ethics interesting. Ethics has many classifications like normative and

meta ethics. I have discovered that Normative ethics questions the good and bad actions while

Meta ethics focuses on morality of ethucal claims. Given that ethics is widely studied, it also

began from long time ago where various philosophers of different countries and religion

contributed to their own theories. This makes ethics very much interesting. Of all the topics

under ethics, moral theories or the thoeries of morality has caught my attention. There are several

of them that I would like to reflect on.

In the moral theories, the philosopers has their own ideas. Even though they belong to the

same philosophical movement or discuss the same themes, each philosopher is a unique
personality whose views are unusually original and different from those of other philosophers.

There are the theories and works of the great philosophers that we studied like Thomas Aquinas,

Aristotle, and Immanuel Kant which are very important to discuss during our lessons because it

helps better understand their views on morality that could teach us about it.

Moral theories and ethics as a whole act as a guide that we can follow in the process of

deciding whether our action is morally right or morally wrong in various situations in our life.

The role of a person's character and the qualities that can be utilized to judge ethical action is

emphasized in virtue ethics. In this topic, we discussed about the characterization of right or

wrong in accordance to making a good person. The philosophical works of Greek philosophers

Plato and Aristotle inspired the study on virtue. This theory is made up of normative

philosophies that emphasize being over doing. Next theory in line is the divine comman theory

where it states that an act is morally permissible if and only if God approves it. I have laerned

from this theory that the decision to whether an act is right or wrong comes from God only. I also

learned about the moral subjectivism. It is a theory where what you do determines what is right

and wrong. This theory implies that an individual just believes (or 'feels') what is right and

wrong.is solely dependent on your own evaluation and judgment. In addition there is the cultural

relativism. The specific collection of circumstances determines what is right and wrong. The

appropriate culture's values and rules happen to be at the time. It is said that cultural relativism is

a morality theory based on the idea that questions of tradition and ethics are culturally unique

rather than universal in nature. Each culture develops its own moral code that is distinct from all

others. In contrast there is the Ethical Egoism where I learned that self-interest determines what

is right or wrong. This theory dictates that it is immoral to act opposite to one’s self interest. An

exciting part of the moral theories for me is the Utilitarianism. In our history of the philosophy,
this theory has been viewed aa one of the greatest moral theory which has been very influential

and powerful because the decision whether an act is right or wrong depends on the consequence

of the action. Utilitarianism generalizes actions and recreates a rule's implications. It is morally

correct if the effects are ultimately favorable. There are lots more to begin with but these are

some that caught my attention. These theories has been a guide to decision making and to decide

whether an act is morally right or wrong.

As we end the chapter, there are a few realizations and essential points that I learned. We

have been educated and instilled with what is right and bad since existence. Most of us develop

ethics; the difference is in our values and viewpoints, which make it difficult for us to attain.

Furthermore, the only issue is how people are taught ethics. We do not determine what is right or

what is wrong by ourselves since we existed. We are taught of what is right and what is wrong. It

also depends on the theories that the people around us made us believe or apply in our daily

lives.