ETHICS enforcement of a legal code by authority
 The word ethos means = Character
 This is a branch of philosophy that
studies morality or the rightness or
wrongness of human conduct = Ethics
 The word “philia” means = to love
 The word “sophia” means = wisdom
5. The word philosophy means love of
wisdom and:
a. It is an attempt to arrive at a rational
conception of the reality as a whole.
b. It enquires into the nature of the universe
in which we live
c. The nature of the human soul and its
destiny, and the nature of God, and their
relation to other.
d. all of the above
 A branch of Philosophy concerned with
the nature and scope of knowledge =
Epistemology
 This branch of philosophy is also known
as moral philosophy = Ethics
 A branch of philosophy concerned with
explaining the fundamental nature of
being and the world = Metaphysics
 A branch of Philosophy that study
concept such as liberty, justice,
property, rights, law, and the
= Political Philosophy
REASON AND IMPARTIALITY AS
REQUIREMENTS FOR ETHICS
 Reason = the basis or motive for an
action, decision, or conviction. As
equality, it refers to the capacity for
logical, rational, and analytic thought.
 Impartiality
= involves the idea that each individual’s
interests and point of view are equally
important.
= called evenhandedness or
fairmindedness
= principle of justice holding that
decisions ought to be based on
objective criteria, rather than on the
basis of bias, prejudice, or preferring the
benefit to one person over another
THE 7 – STEP MORAL REASONING
MODEL
Scott B. Rae offers a model which can be
used to insure that all needed bases are
covered. He admits that the model is not a
formula that will automatically generate the
right answer to an ethical problem but a
guideline.
1. Gather the facts
= The simplest way of clarifying an ethical
dilemma is to make sure the facts are clear.
Ask: Do you have all the facts that are
necessary to make a good decision? What
do we know? What do we need to know?
2. Determine the ethical issues
= Ethical interests are stated in terms of
legitimate competing interests or goods.
The competing interests are what creates
the dilemma.
3. Determine what values/principles have
a bearing on the case
= The right of the patient to give informed
consent – chemotherapy is a very invasive
treatment. This is recognized by law, the
person has a right to control what happens
to their body.
4. List the alternatives
= Attempt to convince the family of the
seriousness of the treatment and why she
needs to know.
issue will be resolved here as all
alternatives except one are eliminated.
6. Consider the consequences
= If principles have not yielded a clear
decision consider the consequences of your
alternatives. Take the alternatives and work
out the positive and negative consequences
of each.
7. Make a decision
= We have had to think through our ideas of
respect for family and culture
= How far should we go in respecting this
cultural approach, is the patients best
interest compromised, is her dignity as an
individual respected? Rae suggests, Here it
seems the alternative that involves asking
the patient if she wants to know the details
of her situation satisfies most of the virtues
and values at stake and produces the best
balance of consequences too.

5. Compare the alternatives with the

virtues/principles

= This step eliminates alternatives as they

are weighed by the moral principles which
have a bearing on the case. Potentially the
 FRAMEWORKS AND PRINCIPLES
BEHIND OUR MORAL DISPOSITION
 Framework = Basic structure underlying
a system or concept. It refers to a set of
assumptions, concepts, values, and
practices that constitutes way of viewing
reality.
3 GENERAL SUBJECT AREAS IN THE
STUDY OF MORALITY: Meta-ethics,
Normative ethics, Applied ethics
1. Meta-ethics
= It is a branch of ethics that studies the
nature of morality. It talk about the meaning,
reference, and truth values of moral
judgement. Also, explains what goodness
and wickedness mean and how we know
about them.
= Field of philosophy focus in reality &
universe itself EX: God v.s Big Bang Theory
 Meta–Ethical Theories
Cognitivism = moral judgments convey
propositions that is truth bearers
a. Moral Realism = it claims that
existence of facts
= independent, depends upon to
your perception & thoughts
b. Ethical Subjectivism = dependent,
depends upon discussion or
judgment through group of people.
= holds the truth
Non-Cognitivism = denies that moral
judgments are either true or false.
= denies moral judgments & ethical
sentences do not convey authentic
propositions
Emotivism = the most popular form of non-
cognitivist theory. It submits that moral
judgments are mere expressions of our
emotions and feelings.
A. Moral Universalism = moral facts and
principles apply to everybody in all places
B. Moral Relativism = submits that
different moral facts and principles apply to
different persons or group of individuals
A. Moral Empiricism = a meta-ethical
stance which states that moral facts are
known through observation & experience
B. Moral Rationalism = contends that
moral facts and principles are knowable, a
priori, that is, by reason alone & without
reference to experience
C. Moral Intuitionism = submits that moral
truths are knowable by institution, that is, by
immediate instinctive knowledge without
reference to any evidence
2. Normative Ethics
= a branch of ethics that studies how man
ought to act. It examines ethical norms,
those guidelines about what is right,
worthwhile, virtuous, or just.
3 KINDS OF NORAMTIVE ETHICAL
THEORIES:
1) Deontology
= it is an ethical system that bases morality
on independent moral rules and duties
= coming from Greek word “Deon” means
duty.
= Duty based-focusing on the result
A. The Golden Rule
B. Religion (The Ten Commandments)
2) Teleology
= refers to moral system that determines
the moral value of actions by their
outcomes or results
= From the Greek word “telos” means
end. *Aristotle
3) Virtue Ethics = places emphasis on
developing good habits of character,
like kindness & generosity, and
avoiding bad character traits, or
vices, such as greed or hatred.
3. Applied Ethics = Philosophically
examines specific, controversial moral
issues.
VARIOUS SUBFIELDS OF APPLIED
ETHICAL ISSUES:
 Bioethics = concerns ethical issues
pertaining to life, biomedical researches,
medicines. As such deals with some
controversies like those surrogate
mothering.
 Environmental Ethics = deals with
moral issues concerning nature,
ecosystem
 Business Ethics = examines moral
principles concerning business
environment
 Sexual Ethics = studies moral issues
about sexuality & human sexual
behavior.
 Social Ethics = deals with what is right
for a society to do and how it should act
as a whole.
Virtue
= is a moral characteristics that individual Happiness - Aristotle considers this as the
needs to live well summum bonum- the greatest good of all
human life
= an excellence of moral or intellectual
Aristotle - For this philosopher, when
= Virtues are the freely chosen character
someone acts in line with his nature or end
traits that people in others. People praises
(“telos”) and thus realizes his full potential,
them because: (1) They are difficult to
he does moral and will be happy (Self-
develop. (2) They are corrective of natural
realizationism)
deficiencies. (3) They are beneficial both to
self and society. - He believes that the essence or
essential nature of beings, including
Virtue is a good habit bearing on activity or
humans, lay not at their cause (or
a good faculty habit (Thomas Aquinas)
beginning) but at their end (“telos”)
2 KINDS OF VIRTUES (by Aristotle):
Morality – obligations with duties
1. Virtue of Intellect – concern the
Reason - is the basis or motive for an
rational part of the soul, are methods
action, decision or conviction.
by which people arrive at truth.
- Intellectual virtues are the - it refers to the capacity for logical, rational,
excellence of thinking and and analytic thought; for consciously
use of reason making sense of things
2. Moral Virtue – state of character
Thomas Aquinas’ Ethics
manifested in choice & action,
resting in the golden mean, resolved - Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274) – the

by the prescription that a wise “Angelic Doctor & the Prince of

person would determine Scholastics”

- Italian philosopher & theologian who
Theological Virtues – According to
ranks among the most important
Aquinas, these virtues are concerned
thinkers of the medieval time period.
directly with God and provide us with true
- He believes that all actions are
knowledge and desire of God and of his
directed towards ends and that
will.
happiness is the final end
 - He declares that ultimate happiness i (Human positive law is the laws made by
s not attainable in this life, for happin the state)
ess in the present life remains
imperfect.
4. Divine Law
TYPES OF LAWS
= The revealed truths such as the Ten
4 KINDS OF LAW:
Commandments & The Sermon on The
1. Eternal Law Mounts that supplement & corrects human
fallibility & frailty.
= Divine reason & wisdom comprise an
eternal law (Divine positive law is the part of eternal
law revealed through the scriptures)
= A law governing the whole creation, a
law not made but eternally existing &
therefore unknowable to humans entirely,
By the virtue of a faculty of moral insight or
yet the source of all true law on earth.
conscience that Thomas called synderesis,
(Eternal law comes from God and is he enumerates 3 SETS OF NATURAL
unchanging) INCLINATIONS:

2. Natural Law (1) To survive. (2) To reproduce and

educate offspring. (3) To know the truth
= The practical reflection or sharing in
about God and live peacefully in society.
“eternal reason” that provides humans with
objective, changeless, universal rules or FEATURES OF HUMAN ACTIONS:
general principles of action for ethical &
1. Species = species of an action refers to
political life.
its kind. Also called the object of the action.
(Natural law is eternal law that can be
2. Accidents = simply refers to the
known to humans)
circumstances surrounding the action.
3. Human Law
3. End = end starts for the agent’s intention.
= True law that is derived from natural An act might be unjust through its intention.
law. A rule of state that is at odds with
2 KINDS OF INFUSED VIRTUES (by
natural law is no law at all.
Aquinas):
1. Infused
2. Acquired
 Aquinas differentiates between
acquired & infused habits. The
autonomous will of a person plays a
major role in acquired habits as
they involve consistent deliberate
effort to do an act time and time
again and despite obstructions.
 Infused virtues – are independent
of this process as they are directly
instilled by God in our faculties.
KANT AND RIGHTS THEORY
Kantian Ethics
- Kant categorically rejects the ethical
judgments are based on feelings. For
him, Feelings even serve as
obstructions to our discernment of
right and wrong. His ethical theory
instead bases moral judgment on
reason alone.
- Reason – is what deems an action
ethical or otherwise.
Good Will
- only thing that is good in all
circumstances. ‘It is impossible to
conceive anything at all in the world,
or even out of it, which can be taken
as good without qualification, except
a good will.’
- Kant believes that one of the
functions and capacities of our
reason is to produce a will which is
good not as a means to some further
end, but good in itself.
- Kant does not agree with many
ethicist that happiness is the
summum bonum or the highest
good. Happiness – can be
corrupting and may be worthless or
even positively evil when not
combined with a good will.
Maxim - a general rule or principle which
serves as a guide to action
The Notion of Duty
- Distinction between “I want” & “I
ought”
- Moral actions are not spontaneous, if
I see someone in need of help, I may
be inclined to look other way, but I
will recognize that my duty is to help.
- Considering only those actions that
are seemingly good according to
Kant are actions that seem good by
duty, that are good to my common
sense of duty & for that they are
right.

THE NATURE OF IMPERATIVES
- Imperatives are commands
- For Kant, there exist 2:
1. Hypothetical Imperatives
- If you want you ought. The ought or the
duty is conditioned by your desires, wants,
& goals.
- Our goals are grounded in Self-interest
2. Categorical Imperatives
- The general form of DO (Unconditioned)
- For Kant there is only one imperative
command & it is the Moral Law
- Divided in 2 FORMULATIONS:
Universalizability
- First formulation
- Act as if the maxim of your action
were to secure through your will a
universal law of nature.
- Meaning act as if in your will you
were defining a maximum rule for all
to follow.
End-In-Itself
- Second formulation
- Act so that you treat humanity,
whether in your own person or that of
another, always as an end never as
a mean.
- See if your actions are using others
or affecting others
Moral Act – involves being contrary to
somebody’s feelings, natural inclinations, &
wishes (for Kant)
 In law, Immanuel Kant proposed
The Principle of Right
- The Principle of Rights Theory – is
the notion that in order for a society
to be efficacious, government must
approach the making and
enforcement of laws with the right
intentions in respect to the end goals
of the society that it governs.
-Teaches that it us not merely the
outcome of actions that is significant
but also the reasoning behind them
Rights Based Ethics – there are some
rights, both positive & negative, that all
human:
-Natural Rights = moral
-Conventional Rights = created by
humans & reflect society’s values

Legal Rights
- Denote all the rights found within
existing legal codes
- Refers to rights according to law. It
exists under the rules of some
particular legal system
- Are liberties or protections
individuals have because some law
says they do
Moral Rights
- Exist prior to and independently from
their legal counterparts
- Personal rights
- Are not limited to the citizens of a
particular nation, at a particular time
JUSTICE AND FAIRNESS
 John Rawls (1921-2002) – the most
important American political
philosopher of the 20th century.
 Rawls rejects utilitarianism and offers
a number of arguments against such
as theory.
 Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832) &
Stuart Mill (1808-73) are considered
the main proponents of the moral
theory called Utilitarianism
 Utilitarianism
-derived from the Latin terms utilis
means “useful”
-states that what is useful is good, and that
the moral value of actions are determined
by the utility of its consequences.
-known as Consequentialist Theory
Consequentialist Theory – proposes that
actions, rules, policies should be ethically
measured and evaluated by their
consequences, not by the intentions or
motives of the agent.
BENTHAM’S UTILITARIANISM
 The Principle of Utility
-states that an action is right in so far as it
tends to produce the greatest happiness for
the greatest number.
-for Bentham, nothing else but pleasure is
intrinsically good
-Bentham created a detailed method, The
Hedonic Calculus to calculate the
quantitative worth of pleasures.
 evil. While pleasure & pain are significant
matters, they are only the basic minimum.

 Utilitarianism appears to be a direct

HEDONIC CALCULUS HAS 7 CRITERIA
negative reaction against Kantian
OR INGREDIENTS TO QUANTIFY THE
ethics
AMOUNT OF PLEASURES:
 While Kant proposes that an act is
1. Intensity
justified by the person’s motive to
2. Duration
perform his duty, Bentham & Mill
3. Certainty
counteract this by submitting that
4. Propinquity (or remoteness)
actions are evaluated through their
5. Fecundity (or fruitfulness)
consequences.
6. Purity
RAWLS’ “JUSTICE AS FAIRNESS”
7. Extent to which pleasures and pain
are shared among the greatest  He called his concept of social justice
number of people “Justice as Fairness” which consists

In general, utilitarianism determines the of 2 PRINCIPLES

moral value of an act by calculating the sum  Justice as Fairness: Political not

of pleasure it caused, and the amount of Metaphysical is an essay by John

pain generated. Rawls, published 1985. He describes his

conception of justice. It comprises 2
MILL’S UTILITARIANISM
MAIN PRINCIPLES OF LIBERTY AND
Mill differs fundamentally from Bentham on EQUALITY; The second is subdivided
2 CENTRAL ASPECTS: into Fair Equality of Opportunity and the
Difference Principle
1. Mill rejects the purely quantitative
 Rawls’ 2 PRINCIPLES:
treatment of the principle of utility
1. Rawls’ First Principle of Social Justice
2. He introduces secondary principles which
– often called The Liberty Principle,
set the tone for a contemporary variant from
concerns political institutions.
of the theory called Rule Utilitarianism
- Each person has the same and
In ethics, Mill purports that happiness &
indefeasible (permanent) claim to fully
unhappiness are the basis for good and
adequate scheme of equal basic liberties,
which scheme is compatible with the same
scheme of liberties for all.
Rawls’ “Liberty Principle”
-This means that everybody has the same
liberties, which can never be taken away.
-This first principle is very Kantian in that it
provides for basic and universal respect for
individuals as a minimum standard for all
just institutions.
2. Rawls’ “Second Principle”. Consisted
of “Fair Equality of Opportunity” and
The “Difference Principle”
-Social and economic inequalities are to
satisfy 2 CONDITIONS: (1) First, they are
to be attached to offices and positions open
to all under conditions of fair equality of
opportunity. & (2) Second, they are to be to
the greatest benefit of the least-advantaged
members of society (The Difference
Principle)
-The Second Principle recognizes that a
society could not avoid inequalities among
its people.
Thought Experiment – hypothetical
version of the social contract
Social Contract – the contract
encompassed that people would obey their
leader, typically a king, and he would
assure their rights.
The Thought Experiment was not a real
assembly of real people negotiating over a
contract. Instead, it was just an imagined
gathering held under strict conditions that
allowed persons to deliberate, only by
employing their reason and logic.
The individuals in this mental exercise had
to pick their justice principles under a “veil
of ignorance”. Meaning, these persons
would know nothing about their specific
positions in society even their own sex, age
4 PRIMARY GOODS:
1. Wealth and income
2. Rights and liberties
3. Opportunities for advancement
4. Self-respect
 Rawls’ “Justice as Fairness”
principles is an example of a social
justice concept called Distributive
Justice
 This concept basically concerns the
nature of a socially just allocation of
goods in a society.
 In social psychology, Distributive
Justice is defined as perceived fairness
of how rewards and costs are shared by
 Distributive Justice includes the e) Responsibility – Group members who
available quantities of goods, the have the most should share their
process by which goods are distributed, resources with those who have less.
and the subsequent allocation of the
ANALYSIS OF DISTRIBUTIVE JUSTICE
goods to society members.
 The concern of distributive justice is to
Norm - is the standard of behavior that is
compensate persons for misfortune.
required, desired, or designated as normal
 For Rawls, distributive justice demands
within a specific group.
that the lucky ought to allocate some or
COMMON TYPES OF DISTRIBUTIVE all of their gains due to luck to the
NORM unlucky.

a) Equity – Members’ outcomes should be VIEW OF DISTRIBUTIVE JUSTICE

based upon their inputs. An individual
1. Egalitarian
who has invested a large amount of
input should receive more from the - Egalitarianism is a set of closely related

group than someone who has socio-economic-political theories that

contributed very little. -Fairness without exemption promote the proposition

b) Equality - Regardless of their inputs, all that all society members ought to have

group members should be given an exactly equal amount of resources.

equal share of the rewards/costs. -Rawls’ ‘Justice as Fairness” principle is

-sameness often called “Rawlsian egalitarianism”.
c) Power - Those with more authority,
2. Capitalist
status, or control over the group should
receive more than those in lower =Laissez – faire capitalist distributive justice
positions. is when people, businesses, and
d) Need - Those in greatest need should corporations perform based on their
be provided with resources needed to individual self-interest for their own benefit.
meet those needs. These individuals
should be given more resources than
those who already possess them,
regardless of their input.
3. Socialist

- State socialist distributive justice is a

system where the government or a central
authority controls the production of goods
and services.

- Democratic socialism = a better version

of a socialist distributive justice also called
“welfare democracy. It has a system of
social insurance to help disadvantaged
persons.

STATE AND CITIZENS

RESPONSIBILITY:

 Taxation

- is a means by which the state and its

citizens accomplish their responsibilities to
each other.

- It is a means by which states or

governments finance their expenditure,
basically and ideally for constituents, by
imposing charges on them and corporate
entities.

 Inclusive Growth

- is economic growth that creates

opportunity for all segments of the
population and distributes the dividends of
increased prosperity both in monetary and
non-monetary terms, fairly across society.