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GE ETH 1
Week 4: Values

Learning Outcomes:
1.Distinguish the notion of human acts whether or not it is subject
for the discussion in Ethics.

2. Clarify the terminologies and different valuations of human

acts.

Concept Digest

VALUES

Ethics is about matters such the good thing that we should pursue
and the bad thing that we should avoid. It is about what is
acceptable and unacceptable in human behavior. Ethics, as a
subject for us to study is about determining the grounds for the
values with particular and special significance to human life.

Recognizing the notions of good and bad, and right and wrong are
the primary concern of ethics.

CLARIFICATIONS AND TERMINOLOGY

Kinds of Valuation

First point of clarification: recognize that there are instances

when we make value judgments that are NOT considered to be part
of ethics.

Aesthetics- refers to the judgements of personal approval or

disapproval that we make about what we see, hear, smell, or
taste.
Example: An opinion about a song as bad because it had an
unpleasant tone.

Etiquette- refers to the actions which are trivial in nature.

Example: It is right to knock politely on someone's door, while
it is wrong to barge into one's office.

Technical- refers to a proper way or technique of doing things.

Example: When learning basketball, obeying a rule not to travel
is something that is only in a context of the game and not an
ethical prohibition.

Ethics and Morals

Second point of clarification: the use of the words "ethics" and

"morals".

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Morals- may be used to refer to specific beliefs or attitudes
that people have or to describe acts that people perform. It is
sometimes said that an individual’s personal conduct is referred
to as his morals, and if he falls short of behaving properly,
this can be described as “immoral”.

Ethics- the discipline of studying and understanding ideal human

behavior and ideal ways of thinking. It is acknowledged as an
intellectual discipline belonging to philosophy.

Philosophy is rooted in Greek words that translate to

“love of wisdom”.
Philia (noun) translated to English as “friendship”
or “love”.
Sophia (noun) translated to English as “wisdom”.

Descriptive and Normative

Third point of clarification: distinguish between a descriptive

and normative study of ethics.

Descriptive Study- study of ethics reports how people,

particularly groups, make their moral valuations without making
any judgment either for or against these valuations. Examples:
The work of social scientist: either historian (studying moral
standards over time) or sociologist (studying different moral
standards across cultures).

Descriptive view: Noting how filial piety and obedience are

pervasive characteristics

Normative Study- engages the question: what could or what should

be considered as the right wing or acting? It prescribes what we
ought to maintain as our standards or bases for moral valuation.

Normative view: Studying how Confucian ethics enjoins us to obey

our parents and to show filial piety.

Issue, Decision, Judgment, and Dilemma

Fourth point of clarification: distinguish a situation that calls

for moral valuation.

Moral issue- it involves the question of respect for one’s

property.
Example: A situation wherein a person cannot afford to buy a
certain item, but then the possibility presents itself for her to
steal it.

Moral decision- when one is placed in a situation and confronted

by the choice of what to act to perform.

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Example: I choose not to take something I did not pay for it.

Moral judgment- when a person is an observer who makes an

assessment on the actions or behavior of someone.
Example: A friend of mine chooses to steal from a store, and I
make an assessment that it is wrong.

Moral dilemma- the matter of choosing right over wrong, or good

over bad or when one is torn between choosing one of the two
goods or choosing between the lesser of two evils. Example:
You're hungry and you don’t money but you recognize that it would
be wrong to steal food.

REASONING

What reasons do we give to decide or to judge that a certain way

of acting is either right or wrong?

a. Fear of punishment
b. Reward

The fear of punishments and the promise of rewards can certainly

motivate us to act, but are not themselves determinant of the
rightness or wrongness of a certain way of acting or of the good
or the bad in particular pursuit.

Asking the question “why” could bring us to to another level of

thinking. Beyond rewards and punishments, it is possible for our
moral valuations to be based on principle.

Principles- rationally established grounds by which one justifies

and maintains her moral decisions and judgments based on a sense
of fair play or respect for the importance and validity of
testing.

Reasons may differ that is why we turn to theory.

Moral theory (also referred to as framework)- a systematic

attempt to establish the validity of maintaining certain moral
principles. Insofar as a theory is a system of thought or of
ideas, a structure through which we can evaluate our reasons for
valuing a certain decision or judgment.

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