ETHICS IN THE MODERN SOCIETY

MODULE FOR PRELIM

CHAPTER 1 THE ETHICAL DIMENSION OF HUMAN EXISTENCE

INTRODUCTION
Ethics is the rational reflection on what is right, what is wrong, what is just, what is unjust, what
is good & what is bad in terms of human behavior.
Some ethical principles are:
1) Truthfulness
2) Honesty
3) Loyalty
4) Respect
5) Fairness
6) Integrity
ORIGIN OF ETHICS
The word Ethics is derived from Latin word ‘Ethicus’ & the Greek word ‘Ethikos’. Ethics are an
arrangement of decent principles & a branch of attitude which defines what is good for
individuals & society.
There are many well-known figures in the history of ethics, Greek philosophers like:
 Plato
 Aristotle,
modern influences include such people as:
 Immanuel Kant,
 Jeremy Bentham,
 John Stuart Mill,
 D.W.Ross,
 C.L.Stevenson,
 Alasdair MacIntyre
 John Rawls
MEANING OF ETHICS
Ethics refers to the evaluation of moral values, principles & standards of human conduct & its
application in daily life to determine acceptable human behavior.
EVOLUTION OF ETHICS
 ETHICS IN THE MODERN SOCIETY
The evolution of ethics constructs a conceptual bridge between biology & human behavior. In
theory, a cybernetic process is at the heart of developing ethical systems.
Ethics merge with science in cybernetic ethics. This presents a persuasive theory describing
how ethics can be linked to science & mathematics.
Evolutionary ethics belongs to a branch of evolutionary science & not philosophy. Evolutionary
ethics has no logical connection to the formal ethics of philosophy.
TYPES OF ETHICS
(1) META-ETHICS • Meta-ethics is the branch of ethics that seeks to understand the nature of
ethical properties, statements, attitudes and judgments.
• A meta-ethical question is abstract and relates to a wide range of more specific practical
questions.
(2) DESCRIPTIVE ETHICS is a form of empirical research into the attitudes of individuals or
groups of people. ...
(3) NORMATIVE ETHICS • Normative ethics is the study of ethical action.
• Normative ethics is distinct from meta-ethics and descriptive ethics.
(4) APPLIED ETHICS • Applied ethics is the actual application of ethical theory for the purpose
of choosing an ethical action in a given issue.

EVALUATION:
Answer the following questions:
1. What is Ethics? Why is it important to study ethics?

2. Who is Plato what was his contribution to Ethics?

3. Who was Immanuel Kant?

 ETHICS IN THE MODERN SOCIETY

4 POINTS OF CLARIFICATIONS:
1. Kinds of Valuation: (Value Judgments)
Aesthetics – refers to the judgments of personal approval or disapproval that we make about
what we sense.
Etiquette – is concerned with right and wrong actions.
Technical - referred as the proper way of doing things.
How will you categorize clothing in regards to valuation?
2. Ethics and Morals: (Cognates)
Morals – may be used to refer to specific beliefs or attitude that people have or to describe acts
that people perform.
- It is sometimes referred as the individual’s personal conduct.
- It can be described immoral if the person falls short of behaving properly.
Ethics – are the discipline of studying and understanding ideal human behavior and ideal ways
of thinking.
- Is acknowledged as an intellectual discipline belonging to philosophy.
3. Descriptive and Normative: (Study)
Descriptive – reports how people, particularly groups, make their moral valuations without
making any judgment either for or against these valuations.
Normative – is often done in philosophy or moral theology, engages the question: What could or
should be considered as the right way of acting?
- Prescribes what we ought to maintain as our standards or bases for moral
valuation.
4. Issue, Decision, Judgment, and Dilemma: (Situation)

Moral Issue – refer to those particular situations that are often the source of considerable and
inconclusive debate.
Moral Decision – refer to actions performed when confronted with a situation.
Moral Judgment – refer to the observer who makes an assessment on the actions or behavior
of someone.
Moral Dilemma – refer to choosing right over wrong or good over bad. A person is torn between
choosing one of the two goods or between the lesser of the two evils.
Reasoning is associated with the acts of thinking and cognition, and involves using one's
intellect. Using reason, or reasoning, can also be described more plainly as
providing good, or the best, reasons. Why do people reason out? Fear of
punishment or desire for reward can provide him a reason for acting in a certain
way.
 ETHICS IN THE MODERN SOCIETY
 Principles-are rationally established grounds by which one justifies and maintains her moral
decisions and judgments.
 Moral Theory -is a systematic attempt to establish the validity of maintaining certain moral
principles.
 Frame work- a theory of interconnected ideas, and at the same time, a structure through
which we can evaluate our reasons for valuing a certain decision or judgment.

SOURCES OF AUTHORITY

Law- refers to the different rules and regulations that are posited or put forward by an authority
figure that require compliance. Law is enforced by way of a system of sanctions administered
through persons and institutions.

Religion- (divine command theory) one is obliged to obey his creator. It is not simply
prohibitive, but it also provides ideals to pursue.
Problems:
1. Presence of a multiplicity of religions.
2. Connection between ethics and Divine. (How to define holiness?)

Culture- (cultural relativism) what is ethically acceptable or unacceptable is relative to or that is

to say dependent on one’s culture.
Consideration:
1. It conforms on what we experience, which is the reality of the
differences in how cultures make their ethical valuation.
2. By taking one’s culture as the standard, we are provided a basis for
our valuations.
3. It teaches us to be tolerant of others from different cultures.

Problems:
1. Argument of cultural relativism is premised on the reality of difference.
2. We realize that we are in no position to render any kind of judgment on
the practices of another culture.
3. We realize that we are in no position to render judgment on the
practices of even our own culture.
4. We can maintain only by following the presumption of culture as a
single, clearly-defined substance or as something fixed and already
determined.

Is my culture Filipino? What if I identify more with smaller subset within if for example, I am
an Igorot? Is this then my culture? Why not go further and define my culture as being a
Kankana-ey rather than an Ibaloi? Is this then my culture? The point here is the question:

What am I supposed to take as my culture?

 ETHICS IN THE MODERN SOCIETY
In an increasingly globalized world, the notion of a static and well-defined culture gives way
to greater flexibility and integration. One result of this is to call in to question an idea like cultural
relativism, which only makes sense if one could imagine a clear-cut notion of what can be
defined as my culture.

We can conclude this criticism of cultural relativism by pointing out how it is a problem in our
study of ethics because it tends to deprive us of our use of critical though.
EVALUATION:

Answer the following questions:

1. Differentiate descriptive and normative valuation?

2. What are the 3 sources of authority? Give examples in the Philippine setting.

3. Why is it important for an individual to know his culture?