ETHICS

What is ETHICS?- derived from the Greek word “ethos”, which

means “way of living”
Ethics-is a discipline concerned with what is morally good and
bad, and morally right and wrong.
Ethics- is a branch of philosophy that is concerned with
human conduct, more specifically the behavior of individuals
in society.
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Ethics is what guides us to tell the truth, keep our promises,
or help someone in need. There is a framework of ethics
underlying our lives on a daily basis, helping us make decisions
that create positive impacts and steering us away from unjust
outcomes.
• What are the importance of ethics in society?
• Ethics make a society peaceful, harmonious and a better
place to live by guiding the behavior of people. Ethics act as
a self-governing system to keep human self-interest and the
good of society at equilibrium because the eyes of the law
are not always available.
• Ethics examines the rational justification for our oral judgment, it
studies what is morally right or wrong, just or unjust.
• Ethics is about character, the sum of qualities that defines a person.
These qualities involves a person’s intellect thoughts, ideas, motives,
intentions, emotions, love and hates. So , we need to be ethical,
because, it defines who we are individually and as a society.
• Moreover, ethics consist of the rules of behavior. It certainly defines
how a person should behave in specific situation
• “Being ethical is doing what the law requires.” “Ethics consists of the
standards of behavior our society accepts.
Role of ethics in our society:

•Survival of society: No society can survive without an

ethical code of conduct of what is acceptable and what is
not. It is even more important where laws do not reach.
For example, taking care of older parents.

•Making life easy: Ethics help an individual take

decisions in most facets of life without having to scrutinize
the good and bad of everything. For example, an
individual does not have to learn on his own to not steal
etc.
Functioning of organizations: Each organization evolves its own ethical
code reflective of its values, to guide the conduct of its members. For
example, civil services have their own code of conduct, while Army has
its own.
Evaluating own morality: Ethics help a person to look at his own life
critically and to evaluate the morality of his actions/choices/decisions.
For example, everyone following lane discipline will help you see the
wrong in your actions if you break lanes.

Ethics makes a society peaceful, harmonious and a better place to live by

guiding the behavior of people. Ethics act as a self-governing system to
keep human self-interest and the good of society at equilibrium because
the eyes of the law are not always available.
• Often the term “ethics” and “morality” are confused and used as
synonyms, however, there are certain differences between these.
• Ethics is about character, while “moral” means custom. In other words,
moral behavior responds to a set of customs established by a group of
individual, while ethical behavior is defined by the character of an
individual.
Morality - refers to a group’s cultural and religious beliefs which determine
what is right and what is wrong.
Examples of Morals
1. Tell the truth- one of the maxims of morality is honesty, telling the truth
at any time, however, telling the truth is not always the right thing to do.
2. Do not cheat- in our daily conduct, we must be honest to ourselves and
to other people. Cheating is the opposite of honest behavior.
3. Respect our lives and the lives of others
In Christianity, one of the ten commandments of God’s law is
“you shall not kill” this means we must respect how lives of other
people, as well as ours. It should be noted that there are cases, as in
euthanasia in which this principle generates conducts.
4. Be generous – generosity is a moral value that refers to the ability
of human beings to share what they have, not only material
possessions but also immaterial aspects such as joy and optimism.
5. Be Loyal – Loyalty is one of the most beautiful virtues of human
beings, since it involves being faithful, honest, and noble
• 6. Altruism - is the unselfish concern for other people, doing things
simply out of desire to help, not because you feel obligated to out of
duty, loyalty, or religious reasons. It involves acting out of concern for
the well being of other people.
• 7. Do not do to others what we would not like them to do to us –
this is a phrase we heard from children in our homes, at school,
among other places which summarizes moral principles.
• 8. Do not envy – the bible says about jealousy In friendships, envy is a
poison to a relationship, according to Proverbs 14-30, so treat your
friends with love.
• Examples of Ethics
1. Charity – is a virtue that involves benevolence towards other
individuals.
2. Respect others- is the courtesy that one has towards other people.
3. Compassion –feeling or showing sympathy and concern for others.
4. Equality – means that people are treated in a way that all can
achieve the same results regardless of the particular factors that
condition each individuals.
5. Integrity – an honest person is a person whose behavior is both
ethical and moral who does what he says, and does not try to take
advantage of others.
 6. Responsibility – the state or fact of having a duty to
deal with something or of having control over someone.
7. Be Loving –loving those around him or he makes a
person confident. Someone who is totally obsessed
with money cannot truly love another person. It is
impossible to be both a lover and a materialist.
8. Fairness – when everyone is treated equally and no
one is left out.
The Overview of this course:
Module on ethics. This module will not tell you what is right and
what is wrong. It will help you in determining it for yourself. More
specifically, it will present you with conceptual and analytic tools that will
hopefully guide you in your ethical thinking.
The Commission on Higher Education (CHED) had mandated that
ethics be a general education course required for all college students. As
stated in Memorandum Order no. 20 of 2013, “The fundamental purpose of
higher education…is not only to develop knowledgeable and competent
graduates in a particular field, but also well-rounded individuals who
appreciate knowledge in a general sense.
“A MAN WITHOUT ETHICS
IS A WILD BEAST LOOSED
UPON THIS WORLD”
The End
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