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GE 8: ETHICS
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A Introduction
MODULE 1
Morality it must be noted, is present only in humanity.
Meaning man can only be moral if he is fully aware of
his actions. Brutes have no morality for they are not
guided by reason hence they are not responsible for
their actions and are not classified as human acts.
Rationale
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freedoms
Intended Learning Outcomes
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1. To understand moral standards in relation to
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C human acts
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Activity
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Discussion
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1 Crafted by Mrs. Leah T. Orizal
MODULE 1
Let us be guided based on these principles:
c) man has free will. Being capable of action man can employ his bodily activities to A
perform actions. With man’s intellect he can discern the good or evilness of R
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his actions and at the same time equate the repercussions of his actions once asked to
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justify them. Free will is present and inherent in men unless they are idiots
and with R
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that they have the freedom of choice whether to perform or not the action at hand.
2. Man is the highest form of Animal – endowed with intellect, man can decide what’s
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for him although their desires are the same with brutes such as hunger, thirst, pain and
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sensual needs; man moves based on reason while their lower counterparts have only I
instinct. Sentient beings like animals rely on instinct which are natural biological drives,
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while men can decide whether an act is moral or not.
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3. Man is a rational animal – Ratio is the Latin term for reason that means man has the
power to discern things based on his previous knowledge of things. Unlike brutes, man
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the power of abstraction – this is his ability to correlate ideas previously based on his
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as well as his understanding of the situation at hand, thereby giving him a logical or
correct E
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decision.
4. The intellect and the will – they are correlative with each other because the intellect is
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the agent of knowing while the will is the agent of choice. From intellect – knowledge is
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stored this will then guide the will to decide which is basically “good”. They co-exist and
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from their partnership “virtue” is born.
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A voluntary act is under the control of the intellect and the will and must be answerable for
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Crafted by Mrs. Leah T. Orizal
MODULE 1
their actions. As mentioned in the previous module, only human acts are valid in ethics
and at the same time possess moral significance. There are four types of voluntary
acts and they are:
1. Perfect voluntariness – when a person acts with full knowledge and complete
freedom –we are fully aware of what we are doing
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freedom – we are made to perform acts we did not like
liking or not – this may be positive or negative. The former is by making him to do R
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something while the other is to prevent or stop him from doing things.
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4. Conditional voluntariness - it is the situation when the person was forced by
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“protection”. But what modifiers may cloud the intellect and the will that may either reduce
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or increase accountability:
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Modifiers of Human Acts:
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1. Ignorance – this simply means absence of knowledge. A doer’s responsibility for his E
actions may be increased or decreased due to this. A person may have committed an
act S
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for he is unaware of it. There are three types of ignorance and they are:
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∙ Vincible ignorance that can easily be corrected such as calling a person with a N
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wrong name or entering the wrong classroom. On the other hand,
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wrong food to the customer or a killer that claimed the life of a wrong victim.
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Crafted by Mrs. Leah T. Orizal
MODULE 1
2. Passions – Psychic responses that may adhere or abhor them to either desirable or
emotions. There are also two passions such as antecedent and consequent passions
M wherein the former are passions that occur before the stimulus such as accidentally A
meeting a special someone; while the other came after a stimulus we ourselves
caused for R
example, meeting a special someone that we are already aware of his arrival. O
one. Actions whether done with fear or out of fear may affect one’s action. Acts done
with
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fear are voluntary while acts done out of fear are two different things. If one moves with
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fear this means he has to decide and yet is afraid he might err an example is an amateur
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singer performing in front of a large crowd or driving a vehicle with limited know-how in
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driving. Actions out of fear are situations that needed immediate decisions such as
jumping A
out of a plane about to crash land or run away from a violent situation. R
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something. Physical threats such as torture, starvation or mutilation are examples of C
violence but was free will impaired? No, the free will is still there for they can still resist V
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making their moral integrity intact, in short, there is still a choice.
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5. Habits – readiness to perform habitual acts. Habits are done mechanically that
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is no longer necessary may either be good or bad. It is second-nature to the doer and L
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doing it is instinctt.
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Exercise
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1THE INTELLECT AND THE WILL.______________ they are correlative with each
other because the intellect is the agent A
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of knowing while the will is the agent of choice.
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MODULE 1
4 IGNORANCE_________________ is the doer’s attempt to escape responsibility
such as a suspect denying his complicity in a crime he has done.
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acts are present.
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Reflection
Essay
1. Select one of the modifiers of human acts and
create an illustration where the modifiers of human MA
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MODULE 1