When a person is an observer making an
Lesson 3: assessment on the actions or behavior of someone,
Thinking of Ethics
This lesson is about appreciating how
clarifications on words we use is an important step
in our goal to think properly about ethics, which is
ultimately a matter of finding the best reasons for
making our determinations of good and bad, right
or wrongs
According to some, the term “morals” may
be used to refer a specific beliefs or attitudes that
people have or to describe acts that people
perform. We also have a term such as “moral
judgements” or “moral reasoning,” which suggests
a more rational dimension at work.
Ethics is acknowledged as an intellectual
discipline belonging to philosophy. In addition, we
also have a term professional ethics – legal ethics
for the proper comportment of lawyers and other
people in the legal profession, medical ethics for
doctors and nurses, and media ethics for writers
and reporters.
Descriptive study of ethics reports how
people, particularly groups, make their moral
valuations. This kind of study is often the work of
social scientist: either historian—studying different
moral standards over time, sociologist or an
anthropologist—studying different moral standards
across cultures.
Normative study of ethics is often done in
moral philosophy or moral theology, engages the
question: what could or should be considered as
right way of acting? In other words, a normative
discussion prescribes what we ought to maintain as
our standards or bases for moral valuation.
A situation that calls for moral valuation can
be called a moral issue.
When one is placed in a situation and
confronted by the choice of what act to perform, it is
called for a moral decision.
it is moral judgement.
The more complicated is that when a
person will decide between choosing one of two
goods and choosing between the lesser of two
evils—this is referred as moral dilemma.
Moral theory is a systematic attempt to
establish the validity of maintaining certain moral
principles. As a theory is a system of thought or
ideas, it can also be referred to as a framework. We
can use this term, “framework,” as 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 judgement.
In The Apology of Socrates written by
Plato, Socrates make the claim that it is the
greatest good for a person to spend time thinking
about and discussing with others these questions
on goodness and virtue, that this is indeed at the
heart of what it means to be truly human.
Lesson 4: Sources
of Authority
In this lesson, we will explore several
instances wherein it is supposed there is a higher
authority of one’s religion, and the authority of one’s
own culture.
LAW
Sometimes the law is one’s guide to ethical
behavior. In the Philippines, Filipinos are
constrained to obey the laws of the land as stated
in the country’s criminal and civil codes. The term
POSITIVE LAW refers to all the different rules and
regulations that are posited or put forward by an
authority figure which requires one’s compliance.
The law is enforced by a way of a system of
sanctions that are administered through various
persons and institutions, which all help in
compelling us to obey. Taking the law to be the
basis of ethics has the benefit of providing us with
an objective standard that is obligatory and
applicable to all. So, we would not be surprised if
we were to hear someone say, “Ethics? That
simple, just follow whatever the law says”
RELIGION
This verse is the first line of Chapter 11 of
the book of Deuteronomy. It expresses a claim that
many people of a religious sensibility find appealing
and immediately valid; the idea that one is obliged
to obey her God in all things. As a foundation for
ethical values, this is referred to as a DIVINE
COMMAND THEORY.
Taking religion to be the basis of ethics has
the advantage of providing us with not only a set of
commands but also a Supreme Authority that can
inspire and compel our obedience of a person, as
the implications of her/his actions, as good or bad.
Thus, we may not be surprised of someone say,
“Ethics? That’s simple. Just follow whatever your
religion says.”
CULTURE
Our exposure to different societies and their
cultures makes us aware that there are ways of
thinking and valuing that are different from our own,
the there is in fact a wide diversity in how different
people believe it is proper to act. There are
aesthetic differences (Japanese Art vs. Indian Art),
religious differences (Buddhism vs. Christianity),
differences on etiquette (conflicting behaviors
regarding dining practices)
Cultural Relativism it is what is ethically
acceptable or unacceptable is relative to, or that is
to say, dependent on one’s culture. For instance,
we will not be surprised when we hear someone
say, “Ethics? Just follow whatever your culture
says.”
LESSON 5:
SENSES OF THE
SELF
It is sometimes thought that we should not
rely on any external authority to tell oneself what
the standards of moral valuation are, but one
should instead turn inward. In this lesson, we will
look into these three theories about ethics that
center on the self: subjectivism, psychological
egoism and ethical egoism. While all the focus of
these theories is a sense of the self, they offer
radically different ways of thinking about that self
and that self’s relation to ethics. We will discuss
each of these three in turn.
SUBJECTIVISM
It is the recognition that the individual
thinking person (the subject) is at the heart of all
moral valuations. We are the one who is confronted
with the situation and is burdened with the need to
make radical claim that the individual is the sole
determinant of what is morally good or bad, right or
wrong.
PSYCHOLOGICAL EGOISM
A theory that tries to describes the
underlying dynamic behind all human actions as a
matter of a pursuit to of self-interests. As a
descriptive theory, it points out that there is a basis
for how one acts. The ego or self has its desires
and interests, and all our actions are geared toward
satisfying these interests.
ETHICAL EGOISM
It differs from psychological egoism in that it
does not suppose that all our actions are already
inevitably self-serving. Instead, ethical egoism
prescribes that we should make our own ends, our
own interest as our single overriding concern. We
may act in a way that is beneficial to others, but we
should do that only it is ultimately benefits us.
Actions are right ones in order as they would
ultimately result in what is best for our own selves.