Pamantasan ng Cabuyao

College of Education, Arts, and Sciences

Katapatan Homes Subd. Brgy. Banay-banay, City of Cabuyao

COURSE CODE: ETH 101

COURSE DESCRIPTION: ETHICS

This course, following the framework set by the CHED Memorandum no. 20, Series 2013, otherwise known as
the “General Education Curriculum: Holistic Understandings, Intellectual and Civic Competencies”, deals with the
“principles of ethical behavior in modern society at the level of the person, society, and in interaction with the
environment and other shared resources.” This course guides the students to be both reflective and critical in their
approach to the question and application of morality, “what is a good act?” To help the students think critically and
ethically, this course provides both the normative theories of ethics and a moral reasoning model. Representatives of both
Western and Eastern traditions and paradigms in moral thinking will also be given to afford the students a broader but also
more profound view of dealing with ethical questions and problems. Also, this course presents discussions on the relation
and application of ethics to religion, environment, global justice, politics, and the millennial generation to afford the
students a deeper appreciation and understanding of the relevance of ethical thinking in the contemporary situation.

LEARNING TOPIC: ARISTOTLE’S VIRTUE ETHICS

ASSIGNED DISCUSSANT:
Borromeo, Kayla
Bulan, Maria Donabel
Galang, Camille P.
Gulinao, Marc Justin
Habla, Mariel O.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES:
1. Understand what Eudaimonia means and how it relates to ethics.
2. Differentiate the parts of the soul according to how they individually function;
3. Value and express the role of virtue in crafting an ethical life; and
4. Recognize the contrast between philosophical knowledge and practical wisdom.

DISCUSSION:
ETHICS
Comes from a Greek word “Ethos”, which refers to a practice, habit, or characteristic generated from a person’s
character. To live ethically means to consistently practice virtue, which translates into having a virtuous or
outstanding character.
 Pamantasan ng Cabuyao
College of Education, Arts, and Sciences
Katapatan Homes Subd. Brgy. Banay-banay, City of Cabuyao

VIRTUE ETHICS
It is an approach to ethics that treats the concept of moral virtue as central, it emphasizes an individual's
character rather than following a set of rules.
"Morality is not a matter of knowing the good but actually doing or practicing the good habitually." -Aristotle

WHO IS ARISTOTLE?

 Greek philosopher and polymath during the Classical period in Ancient Greece (384 BC – 322 BC).
 Went to Athens to join the academy and became a student of Plato for twenty years.
 Most virtue ethics theories take their inspiration from Aristotle.
 Wrote the book Nicomachean Ethics.

NICOMACHEAN ETHICS

A philosophical inquiry into the nature of good life for human being. A book that building and cultivating one’s
character in hope of achieving life’s ultimate goal which is happiness or flourishing (Eudaimonia), it is dedicated
to his son Nicomachus.

1) Aristotle’s Telos - Telos means ‘purpose’, ‘intent’, ‘end’, or ‘goal’. It is the goal or purpose of a thing,
its function or potential.
2) Happiness and Virtues - He believes that humans’ ultimate goal is self- realization.

THREE NATURES OF MAN ACCORDING TO ARISTOTLE:

 The vegetable or physical

 Animal or emotional
 Rational or mental

He observed that a wise person seeks an end that is self-sufficient and attainable over one’s life which is
happiness which everyone wants.
He considered happiness as “Summum Bonum” which means the greatest good of all human life.
Happiness is man’s ultimate goal as it is an end itself.

EUDAIMONIA

According to Aristotle, eudaimonia, or happiness, is the main benefit for humans.

The self-sufficient, ultimate, and attainable objective of human life is happiness. Happiness, the primary goal of
human existence, can be attained through properly using one's moral and intellectual faculties.
‘’ Eudaimonia is an activity of the soul in according with virtue.’’ – Aristotle.

THE SOUL

The soul is a component of the human person that gives life to the body; the two are interdependent. Both
irrational and rational aspects make up the soul. The soul is composed of both rational and irrational elements.
 Pamantasan ng Cabuyao
College of Education, Arts, and Sciences
Katapatan Homes Subd. Brgy. Banay-banay, City of Cabuyao

RATIONAL PART

This is the part responsible for reason (logos). Its virtues include theoretical wisdom (sophia), understanding
(sunesis), and practical wisdom (phronesis).

IRRATIONAL PART

Aristotle says that part of the soul is not relevant in discussing happiness or virtue. In turn is composed of two
subparts, the vegetative and the desiring or appetitive parts.

THE SOUL ACCORDING TO THE NICOMACHEAN ETHICS:

 Speculative
- It is responsible for knowledge; concerned with pure thought and the base of contemplation.
 Practical
- Responsible for choice and action; charge of action and practical determination of the proper means to
attain a specific end.
 Vegetative
- In charge of the nutrition and growth of human beings; take care of all involuntary functions of the body
from breathing to digestion.
 Appetitive
- Share the rational element of the soul; cannot reason itself but influenced by it like passion such as
desire for wealth are different to control.

VIRTUE
Came from a Greek word “Arête” which means excellence. It is the defined in general as a quality of being
morally good, or their overall morality. Result of proper combination of practical wisdom (Phronesis) and
habituation (ethos) in the pursuit of the mean (mesotes). Aristotle says that they are two kinds of virtue:

 Moral Virtue - Got from name (Ethike) by alteration of the term habit (ethos). A virtue concerned with
the practical life (as liberality or gentleness) or with the vegetative and appetitive (as temperance or self
- control) .
 Intellectual Virtue - To do with one’s capacity to harness reason’s contemplative capacity for arriving at
knowledge.

MORAL EXEMPLARS:
Like other role models, it affects people in three key ways: they act as behavioral models that provide examples
of how one could behave, they show what is possible, and they aspire. Aristotle says that moral virtue states of
character enable a person to fulfill his proper function as a human being.
THE GOLDEN MEAN
The virtuous person is able to arrive at a decision or perform an action that may be considered as an
intermediate between efficiency and excess, which he calls the mean or mesotes.
MEAN
To be morally virtuous, one must be able to respond to situations not just with the correct feeling or action but
in the proper degree, at the right time, towards the right people and for the right reasons.
 Pamantasan ng Cabuyao
College of Education, Arts, and Sciences
Katapatan Homes Subd. Brgy. Banay-banay, City of Cabuyao

CONTEMPLATION
- Is an act that can be loved for its own sake because it has no other aim than to reveal the most
fundamental truth of existence.
- “No person may be considered happier than a person who has a time and the leisurely disposition for
contemplation”.
PHILOSOPHICAL KNOWLEDGE
the knowledge that gain after contemplation or out of thinking things thoroughly.
THE SOUL:
According to Aristotle, the soul is a component of the human person that gives life to the body; the two are
interdependent. Both irrational and rational aspects make up the soul.
PRACTICAL VIRTUES
such as courage and the temperance need specific conditions to be attained, while philosophy is something a
person can do anytime by himself/herself anytime.

REFERENCES:

 Abalos, D. (2022, Feb. 15). “Virtue Ethics Aristotle 2207”.

https://www.slideshare.net/DaevidAbalos1/virtue-ethics-aristotle-2207

 FeedTheMind (2021, April 24). “Contemplation and Philosophical Knowledge |Ftm Tv”.
https://youtu.be/70Djp2RnCBs

 CrashCourse (2016, Dec 6). “Aristotle & Virtue Theory: Crash Course Philosophy #38”.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PrvtOWEXDIQ

 Tecson, J. (2021, August 23). “LM – Ethics101 Ethics”.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1UeRzkzWBseIj8bDIt0UyXwvqoWlhAPVR/view?usp=drive_web&authuser=4