c Ex.
Honesty is to be preferred than cheating
ETHICS GEC200
Overview and Orientation
MORALITY - Right and wrong of human actions.
Concept of ethics/morality
Introduction
- The world is rapidly changing in terms of its
society, economics, politics, environment,
and technology
- Human life becomes complex while trying
to cope up with these local and global
transformation, way of life and norms.
- Moral problems/dilemmas are inevitable as
one tries to develop himself to the fullest
- Along the way, man must maintain a moral
judgement, decision, and action for right and
good living in the society.
- Ethics and moral standard with right reason
will lead people to the right path of life.
- From the Greek word “ethos”, meaning
custom, habits, behaviors, and characters.
- Moral philosophy means, set values and
rules of human conduct.
- For science, it is systematic
Division
ethics, comparative ethics, and normative ethics
Morality
Four ethical Isms- various ways of making a moral
judgement
Subjectivism- moral judgement is based on feelings
Moral judgement is based on feelings, emotions,
or attitude, this is based on positive and negative
feeling about issues. Moral judgement does not
contain factual thrust about goodness or badness.
Ex. Lie is either bad or good. Depending on the
person’s feelings and attitude.
Moral realism
Ethics and People
Ethics is about the “other”
- It shows concern to people rather one’s own
desire and self-interest
- It cares for the interest of people’s wellbeing
and God as the ultimate good.
- It shows a selfless love for people.
Moral Standards
- First, actions may seriously injure or
benefits human beings.
Ex. Charitable acts vs. rape, murder, violence,
stealing
- Second, Validity of moral standard rest of
the adequacy of reasons to support and
justify them, not on the decision of majority
and authority. It has moral courage and
moral law adhering conventionally accepted
standard.
- Third, moral standards are to be preferred
than other values including self-interest.
through by cheating you can pass the test.
Week 1: Basic Concepts
Part 1: Difference between Moral and Non-moral
Standards
Defining Ethics or Moral Philosophy
 Ethics or moral philosophy is a branch of
philosophy that deals with questions and
standards of what is right and what is wrong.
 It discusses the different systems of moral
values or principles that determine what is
acceptable and unacceptable behaviors.
 It involves ideals, moral obligations, and
prohibitions that people have to observe,
follow, and respect.
Ethics as a Value System
 Ethics came from the Latin word ethos
(ñeoc) which means character or moral
nature
 The character or moral nature of a person is
greatly affected by his or her personal
principles and experiences and by the belief
or value systems of his or her surroundings.
 Moral Standards - Non-moral
Standards
Non-moral Standards
 Refer to the rules that affect the choices of a
person but are not linked to moral or ethical
considerations.
 Similar with Ethics, people use value
judgment in dealing with these aspects.
Consequently, they can also affect the way a
person develops her moral principles and
guidelines, but they do not necessarily have
moral implications.
List of Non-moral standards
 Aesthetics (e.g., art, fashion standards)
 Laws
 Rules in games/technical valuation
 Personal experiences and principles
 Etiquette
 Recipe/Formula
 Religion
 Traditions/Norms
Example
The way we value beauty is different from the way
we value ethics.
Aesthetics deals with "sense" or "feeling"
Moral Standards
 refer to the rules or set of guidelines that
affect the choices of a person and his or her
belief system and decision-making process
in problems and situations that beg the
question of what is morally right and wrong.
Characteristic of Moral Standards
1. Concern with the welfare of beings.
2. Reliance on reasoning and not on authority:
3. Overriding or hegemonic.
4. Impartial, fair, and just; and
5. Special emotions and vocabulary.
1. Concern with the Welfare of Beings
Moral Standards
 Non-Moral Standards deal with matters that
can seriously injure or benefit the welfare of
beings such as in war, child abuse, rape,
fraud, murder, and theft.
VS
Non-moral Standards
 May talk about what is right and wrong but
their concerns do not necessarily affect one's
life or well-being.
2. Reliance on Reasoning and Not on Authority
Moral Standards
 Non-Moral Standards rely on reasoning and
not on authoritative individuals or bodies to
support and justify their cause; cannot.be
changed nor nullified by the decisions of any
authoritative body
VS
Non-moral Standards
 in the context of law* and religion*, they do
not need to be based on a valid and sound
reasoning
Laws and religious beliefs are not moral standards.
 Laws can be generated by authoritative
entities like the government or a monarch,
hence what is legally correct may not mean
that it is also ethically or morally correct
because a law can be created with bias and
prejudice against a group of people and with
advantages for the privileged.
 Religious beliefs are based on rules set by a
higher being that followers must observe.
Like legal concerns, what might be
considered as right or good in the context of
a religious doctrine might not be ethically or
morally right.
Example
Moral Standards
 During the holocaust between 1945 & 1946,
it was legally enforced that all Jews must be
turned over to the Nazi armies. They were
sent to concentration camps wherein
millions of them died. Years after, the
persecutors and Nazi leaders who
participated in the genocide faced trials from
their crimes against humanity.
3. Overriding or Hegemonic
Moral Standards
 Moral standards are overriding or
hegemonic. They take precedence over other
standards and considerations like non-moral
standards and self-interest.
 White lies
Example
 People have a general moral duty to obey
the law and observe peace and harmony in
the society. However, there are times when a
law or a political proclamation becomes
seriously immoral and threatens the welfare
of a particular group or sector of the society
that calls for a moral noncooperation or civil
disobedience.
 An example of this is the rebellion against
slavery.
4. Impartial, Fair, and Just
Moral Standards
 Moral standards must be impartial, fair, and
just. They also have the trait of universality.
 There is no exemption to the moral
standards. If A is morally right for a certain
person P, then it is morally right for
anybody relevantly similar to P.
Example
 The Golden Rule
5. Special Emotions and Vocabulary
 Moral standards are associated with special
emotions (guilt, remorse, and shame) and
vocabulary (right; good, wrong, evil, moral,
amoral, and immoral).
 Unlike in non-moral standards like in
fashion, if one violates a particular rule like
in wearing a particular dress code, one will
not feel any form of guilt and shame. On the
other hand, if one violates a moral standard
like in the case of killing, one will feel guilt,
shame, and even fear after.
- Talking about moral standards also uses a
special set of vocabulary such as right,
wrong, good and evil. Aside from these
commonly used words there are also three
terms that are often used it ethics such as
moral, amoral, and immoral.
Moral- conforming to accepted standards of
morality
Amoral- not concerned about morality
Immoral- not conforming to accepted standards of
morality
Week 2: Part 2: Moral Dilemmas
Moral Dilemma
- The first level of moral dilemma starts with
the personal and individual interaction of
people with situations in their daily lives. In
this level, conflict arises when a person is
asked to choose between two important
values for him or her.
Example
- Choosing between one’s duty to his/her
family and one’s love for another person.
 Personal advocacies
 society
 education & experiences
 culture
 family & friends
 religion
Example
 - Brian is on a crew ship when a fire broke
and the ship must be abandoned. The
lifeboats are carrying more people than they
were designed to carry. The lifeboat he's in
is sitting dangerously low in the water and
can potentially sink if added with more
weight. There are still other people
swimming around them begging to be saved.
They are asking him to throw the rope so
that they can go up the lifeboat. However,
the boat will sink if more people will come
aboard. Now, should Brian throw the rope to
the people or keep the rope so that lifeboat
will not sink?
Three levels of MORAL DILEMMA
1. Individual
2. Organizational
3. Structure
In this dilemma, here are some of the conflicts that
plagued Brian throughout the decision-making
process.
1. If he will help those who are swimming,
their boat will sink and all of them will die.
2. If he did not throw the rope, then those who
are in the water will die.
3. He can sacrifice himself and help one
person, but he is not willing to sacrifice
himself either.
What is a moral dilemma?
- A moral dilemma is a situation that begs an
agent to choose between two alternatives
with equal weight, wherein both alternatives
are either good or both are evil, but the agent
cannot do both or all actions.
- In this situation, no matter what the agent
chooses, he or she will be left with a moral
failure but not choosing anything impose
greater harm or loss for the agent
Week 3: Part 3: Freedom as Foundation for Moral
Acts
We face different moral dilemmas and issues in our
everyday lives. When we listen to the news, we hear
about unending debates about topics like abortion,
freedom of expression, and war. Then, we start
asking who is right and who is wrong.
If you're experiencing this kind of dilemma, you
might be one of two things:
1. You have the freedom to engage in a
discussion about an issue.
2. But like most people, you resort to a
subjective and oftentimes biased
understanding of an issue.
Recall
- Ethics or moral philosophy is a branch of
philosophy that deals with questions and
standards of what is right and what is wrong.
- It discusses the different systems of moral
values or principles that determine what is
acceptable and unacceptable behaviors.
1. Descriptive Ethics
- what people actually believes to be right or
wrong
- compare different ethical principles used in
the past and present
2. Normative Ethics
- what people ought to do prescriptive ethics
discusses how people can decide on what is
morally correct
o Virtue Ethics
 Focuses on one's character &
benevolence
 Plato's four cardinal virtues:
prudence, justice,
temperance, and fortitude
o Deontology
 Duty ethics
 Deontological theories:
categorical imperative and
moral absolutism
o Consequentialism
 Focuses on the consequence
of an action.
 Consequentialist theories:
utilitarianism and hedonism
Thomas Beauchamp and James Childress
"The Four Principles"
1. Respect for Autonomy- the
acknowledgement that every person has the
right to make choices, to hold views, and to
act based on one's values and beliefs as long
as the person is conscious and has proper
understanding of the matter on-hand
2. Beneficence- the promotion of doing as
much goodness as possible refers to the acts
of kindness, compassion, and generosity.
3. Non-maleficence - the avoidance of any
unjustifiable and unnecessary harm
If the harm outweighs the benefits, then it is
unethical to do
4. Justice- the distribution of resources
equally and fairly
3. Meta Ethics
- questions the meaning of goodness, ethics,
and morality, including how people can
know what is true or false
4. Applied Ethics
- application of ethical theories in different
public and private matters like medicine,
business, etc.
- e.g., business ethics, biomedical ethics,
social ethics