UU200

UNIT 1: ETHICS AND GOVERNANCE

ETHICS

 Noel Preston defines ethics as “the study of what is right, fair, just or good”
 Ethics “involves systematizing, defending, and recommending concepts of right and wrong
behavior”
 Continuous effort of studying our own moral beliefs and our moral conduct
 Virtues are simply defined as ethical values and vices are unethical values

Three major areas of ethics study:

Metaethics: investigates where our ethical principles come from, and what they mean. (Universal
truths, the will of God, the role of reason in ethical judgments)

Normative ethics: the study of ethical action. Involves articulating the good habits that we should
acquire, the duties that we should follow, or the consequences of our behavior on others

Applied ethics: deals with examining difficult moral issues using normative tools/analysis

ETHICAL INTERCONNECTEDNESS

 Our actions and behavior impact on those around us

 “No man is an island - we live in association with other people. As we need and depend on
other human beings, our actions and behavior will have an impact on those around us

ETHICAL DILEMMA

 “the need to choose from two or more morally acceptable courses of action, when one
choice prevents selecting the other
 the need to choose between equally unacceptable alternatives

ETHICS AND GOVERNANCE

Governance - to direct the course or determine the direction of travel / the process of making and
implementing decisions

Various forms of governance:

Global governance - collective efforts to identify and address worldwide problems that individual
States are unable to solve

Political governance (synonymous with ‘government’) - using power to make laws & policies for the
good/betterment of society
Corporate governance - processes or laws that affect the way a company or corporation is directed
and controlled

Personal / self-governance - using the capacities we have as human beings to gain an understanding
of what is right, fair and just; understanding the impact of our actions on others and on the
environment; and exercising self-discipline and self-restraint in the pursuit of our individual goals

What is the importance of studying ethics?

 encouraging or cultivating self-awareness

 giving you practice in identifying ethical issues in real-life situations
 making you more self-aware, self-disciplined and morally responsible for the decisions you
make in life; and provoking critical thought and reflection

UNIT 2: PHILSOPHY, RELIGION AND ETHICS

Theoretical framework for studying ethics - focus on the work of Greek philosophers like Socrates,
Plato and Aristotle

In order to better understand how ethical thought originated, we need to establish an important
connection between ethics and philosophy

Philosophy - “the art of wondering” / knowledge about knowledge / the search for knowledge or
wisdom

Different branches of philosophy:

Metaphysics is the study of existence. Questions about God and our purpose in life fall into this
category

Epistemology is the study of knowledge. Discussions about knowledge and the search for knowledge
belong to this branch of philosophy

Ethics is the study of morality. It considers what is right (good) and what is wrong (bad)

SOCRATES AND PLATO

Greek philosophers asked questions about what is right, fair and just. They believed that assessing a
person’s moral character was more important than evaluating particular actions

questions like: What sort of person should I be? What habits should I develop? What is the best sort
of person to be?

Two central concepts in Greek ethics are eudaimonia and arête

Eudaimonia is simply translated as “happiness”. It means living well, having a good soul or being the
right type of person
Arete means virtue. It is the quality of doing what is right and reaching for a high standard of moral
excellence. An example of a virtue is courage

The word used by Greeks to describe an unethical value is “vice”. Greed is an example

Socrates first ethics philosophers and is sometimes called “the father of ethics”

Socrates believed that every person had a role or function to play in society. Justice is achieved when
we each fulfill our role in society. Virtues like courage, wisdom, knowledge and justice

“There is only one goodness, it is knowledge, there is only one evil, it is negligence”