ETHICS & MORALITY Moral philosophy is the area of philosophy

concerned with theories of ethics, with how we

ought to live our lives.
Ethics and Morality
Process:
by definition: field of study
 HUMAN REASON
“Ethics is the practical and philosophical science
of the morality of human acts or human conduct.” Sources:
the quality of right and wrong in human acts  Ethical Theories
 Philosophical Writings
by usage:
Christian Ethics/Morality is a branch of
Immoral: Unethical:
Christian theology that defines concepts of right
Adultery…. Eating while talking…. and wrong behavior from a Christian perspective.

Process:
Amoral means…  Faith & Reason
“having no moral sense,” or being indifferent to Sources:
right and wrong…
 SCRIPTURES:
An amoral person is someone who… o 10 Commandments (Old
Testament)
“a person characterized by emotional instability,
o 2 Commandments of Love & 8
lack of sound judgment, perverse and impulsive
(often criminal) behavior, inability to learn from Beatitudes (New Testament)
experience, amoral and asocial feelings, and  MAGISTERIUM (Teaching Authority of the
other serious personality defects.” Church)
 SOCIAL TEACHINGS OF THE CHURCH
 knows what the ethical rules are, at least
he can repeat them parrotlike, but they are
void of meaning to him.”
MORALITY AND HUMAN EXISTENCE
 “No sense of conscience, guilt, or
remorse is present.” Why is it that I am always morally liable?

Example: The Human Person is the only Moral Being

1. Reasons…
A man of 30 is discovered to have enticed boys 2. a being of action
and men to his apartment to have sex with them.  A person acts and knows his acts.
In 15 of these encounters he killed them, had sex  Because he knows his acts, he
with their corpses, ate their flesh, and knows that he is responsible for his
dismembered their bodies, keeping some body actions.
parts in the freezer and disposing others in a vat 3. Intellect
of acid.  It enables a person to think,
When caught, he admitted to all of these actions. analyze and reflect.
Though obviously bizarre and perverted, he was  His intellect enables him to know
nevertheless considered to be legally sane – that what is right or wrong and good or
is, as being able to distinguish right from wrong. bad actions.
4. Freewill
Nonmoral  It is the capacity to make choices
and decisions.
 “out of the realm of morality altogether”
 It equips a person with the power to
 Ex: inanimate objects, fields of study,
choose either good or bad and right
feelings
or wrong actions.
THE CONCRETE BASIS OF MORALITY o The Christian moral life is simply the call to
become loving persons in imitation of Jesus
Morality is real or concrete. It becomes
Christ.
real perhaps, through the following:
o The Key to the moral life, then, is the human
1. When one encounters a moral experience. person.

2. A moral experience could ensure when

THE DIGNITY OF THE HUMAN PERSON
one encounters a moral problem; and
 The dignity of the human person is rooted
3. A person encounters a moral problem in his creation in the image and likeness of
when the problem injuncts him a moral God (article 1);
obligation.  it is fulfilled in his vocation to divine
beatitude (article 2).
 It is essential to a human being freely to
THE RELEVANCE OF MORALITY direct himself to this fulfilment (article 3).
 By his deliberate actions (article 4),
Human Being as Co-existent  the human person does, or does not,
 conform to the good promised by God and
attested by moral conscience (article 5).
SOCIETY

 Structures: Christian Moral life is the following of Christ:

+ in all our daily free actions, values and attitude,
• Government + empowered by Christ’s liberating and
• Economy * Mutual Benefit transforming presence,
• Education  * Unity and + through the grace of his Spirit,
Harmony + within the Christian community.
• Church
• Health  It is simply responding to the Gospel call to
• Defense become loving persons, in the fullness of life –
People with – others – in – community before God, in
imitation of Jesus Christ.
But  Society at present

 ILLNESSES Problems?
+ Numerous pressures
 Corruption + Temptations
 Poverty
 Unemployment  Strangely enough, we find it difficult to
 Underemployment consistently “do good and avoid evil.”
 Terrorism
 High crime rate How do we experience ourselves as persons?
 Prostitution
 Human rights violations a. Persons are conscious being
o Persons are aware of themselves in their
 outgoing acts. We possess this self-
Who’s to blame? awareness through our knowing and free
  The Structures? - change them willing. Thus we “image” in a small way
  the creator’s infinite knowing and loving.
The People running the structures?
- problem on moral uprightness b. Persons are embodied Spirit
- problem on the value system o This stresses the unity between our body
The Moral Agent: Human Person and soul. Our bodies are an essential part
of our being human, not merely an
 instrument we use according to our
whims.
o Our body is a temple of the Holy Spirit.
Our relationship with God and others are
expressed through our bodies.

c. Persons are historical

o We are pilgrims on – the – way, who
gradually, through time, become our full
selves. In exercising our freedom we
decide for ourselves and form ourselves;
in this sense we are our own cause.
o We also develop as persons in discernible
stages.

1. Persons are unique, yet fundamentally

equal
o Despite of differences we will realize, that
as persons, in some basic way, we are all
equal.
o All men are endowed with rational soul
and created in the image of God: have
the same nature and origin and being
redeemed by Christ, they enjoy the same
divine calling and destiny.

What is authentic human freedom?

it is a shared capacity with others in the
community for choosing what is the good, in order
to become our true selves.
• Freedom from
Whatever opposes our true self – becoming with
others in community
• Freedom for
Growing as full persons before God and our
fellow human persons, in authentic love.

How is human freedom experienced?

 We experience freedom most naturally in

our free choices to act or not to act, to do
or not to do something.
 We accept responsibilities for these acts.
 Beside our individual free acts, there is the
freedom of our very self-formed gradually
by our free acts. Often called “fundamental
freedom” or option, it is not primarily a
psychological term, but rather refers to our
“moral being” as a human person.
Determinants of Moral
Human Act
Human Act
 Human acts, that is, acts that are freely
chosen in consequence of a judgment of
conscience, can be morally evaluated.
They are either good or evil. CCC #
1749
The Moral Question:
1. How do we determine whether the Human Act
is good or bad?
A sample case:
Ms. XYZ who got herself pregnant decided to
undergo abortion. Although, she knows well that
abortion is a criminal act in the Philippines. She
reasoned, she cannot push through with the
pregnancy because of the stigma of being an
unwed mother and she still wants to continue with
her studies.
2. Was her action moral? Why or why not?
3. Were her reasons in doing the act good? Why
or why not?
4. Are the reasons enough to make the act
(abortion) right? Why or or why not?
Object of the Act
 abortion- terminate pregnancy and expel
the embryo or fetus from the womb
disabling him or her of the ability to survive
Circumstances:
1. Abortion is illegal in the Philippines
2. Victim (one killed) is the defenseless person
still in the process of human development
3. Highly endangered the life of Ms. XYZ
because abortion is always a dangerous
procedure
End (intention)
1. protect reputation from social stigma of being
an unwed mother
2. become free from parental responsibilities to
be able to continue with studies and possibly
3. To be free from any responsibility and
continue to do what she wants and ‘enjoy’ life
Based on the given example,
5. What do we mean by Object of the Act?
6. What is meant by Circumstances of the Act?
7. What is End of the Act?
The Three Determinants
In order to judge the goodness or badness of any
particular human act, three elements must be
weighed from which every act derives its morality.
They are:
1. the object of the act,
2. the circumstances surrounding the act,
and
3. the purpose that the one performing the
act has in mind.
The Object of the Act
 The object of a human act is that which
the one acting sets out to do. It is that
which the action of its very nature tends to
produce.
 For example, the object of a suicide's act
is to take his or her life; the purpose may
be to escape evils that person is unwilling
to bear.
 The object of an act is the thing done. In
reality, it is not distinct from the act itself;
for we cannot act without doing
something, and the something done is the
object of the act; say, of going, eating,
praising, etc.
 The act or object may be viewed as
containing a further specification -e. g.,
going to church, praising God, eating
meat.
 Now, an act thus specified may, when
considered in itself, be good, bad, or
indifferent; thus, to praise God is good in
itself, to blaspheme is bad in itself, and to
eat meat is in itself an indifferent act.
 But that an individual act may be good, its
object, whether considered in itself or as
further specified, must be free from all
defect; it must be good, or at least
indifferent.
 Moreover, the object is not merely the act
considered in its physical makeup.
 It is the act viewed in its moral nature,
i.e., the act considered in its
relationship to the moral law.
  It answers to the question: Does it
conform or is it contrary to the standard of
right conduct?
The Circumstances of the Act
 The circumstances of a human act are
accidental modifications that affect its
morality.
 Circumstances are capable of changing:
o a. an ordinary indifferent act into
a sinful one, such as unnecessary
servile work on Sunday;
o b. an ordinarily venially sinful act
into a mortal sin, such as taking
even a small amount of urgently
needed money from a very poor
man;
o c. an ordinarily mortally sinful act
into a venial sin, such as
blaspheming when only half aware
of what one is doing
o d. a sinful action into a doubly
sinful, such as unjustly striking a
person consecrated to God.
 The circumstances, include the
consequences.
 They contribute to increasing or
diminishing the moral goodness or evil of
human acts. They can also increase or
diminish the agent’s responsibility.
 Circumstances do not change the
goodness or the evilness of an action.
The End of the Act
 The end or purpose of a human act is the
intention that prompts one to perform such
an act.
 Example: A person reveals some hidden
failing of another in order to injure that
person's reputation.
The Principles:
1. A human action is morally good only if all
three elements, namely object,
circumstances, and purpose, are
substantially good.
2. An action becomes morally bad if even
one of these three elements is bad.
3. If an essential part of an action is evil, we
cannot avoid that evil part unless we
refrain from the whole action.
4. If one does an action in spite of the
substantially evil element in it, one is
performing a sinful action.
Pope John Paul II on Human Act
1. If acts are intrinsically evil, a good
intention or particular circumstances can
diminish their evil but they cannot remove
it. (81) Evil acts are always evil.
2. The morality of the human act depends
primarily and fundamentally on the ‘object’
rationally chosen by the deliberate will.
3. We cannot do an evil act for a good
purpose. Choosing the good action is the
important thing.
 Cases for Analysis:
Determine the three determinants of the
Human Act: The Object, the Circumstances
and the End. Then, give a moral conclusion
whether the act is good or bad.
Remember: The three determinants must be
good in order for the human act to be good.
(For questions 8 and 9)
EXAMPLES:
 Maria Anna is a beauty. She had won
several beauty contests. She also has a
good heart for the poor or the least
fortunate ones. She had been wanting to
raise money to donate and help a local
orphanage or a home for orphans and
abandoned children. Then, a prominent
men’s magazine publisher offered her
P200,000.00 for her to pose sexy or semi-
nude to the magazine. She thought this
was the opportunity to get the money she
needs for the orphanage. She did pose
for the magazine and gave all the money
she earned to the orphanage. What are
the determinants of the human act? Was
her action moral? Why or why not?
 Juan Mario is the treasurer of their
university’s student government. He has
access to the students’ activity fund. He
got very anxious and worried when the
week before final examination came . His
father, who is working abroad, had not
sent the money yet to pay for his tuition.
On his own he decided to get some
 amount of money from the students’
activity fund and pay his tuition. He
reasoned, anyway, he will return the
money when his father’s money comes.
What are the determinants of the human
act? Did Juan Mario do a moral act? Why
or why not?
 Lori is an accomplished pianist and she
credits her mom for her success. Lori's
mom has worked an extra job since Lori
was young in order to provide for musical
training for Lori. Now, as a senior, Lori has
a good chance of winning a full musical
scholarship to college. The one question
remains her government class. A "C" in
the course will not look good on Lori's
transcripts. During a key test, Lori realizes
she has studied the wrong material. Lori
has never cheated before, but she can't
blow that scholarship now. Besides, she
reasons, she will never take another
government class again. She nudges the
foot of her boyfriend sitting in the row
across from her. He moves his arm so that
Lori can see his paper. Quickly she copies
the answers to the first ten problems of the
fifty-question test.
Moral Object
To cheat or not to cheat.
Intention
"I am doing this to pass the test.“
Circumstances
I am copying from my boyfriend.
Addendum:
Concept and Nature of
Human Acts
Human Acts
 “actus humanus”
 Acts are termed human when they are
proper to man as man; when, on the
contrary, they are elicited by man, but not
proper to him as a rational agent, they are
called acts of man.
 …any thought, word, deed, desire or
omission - comes from a person acting
with full knowledge and the exercise of
his/her freewill…
Constituent Principles of Human Acts:
A. Knowledge: The will can decide for
something and seek it only if it is first
known.
B. Freedom: Consent of freewill is required,
which implies freedom from any
external or internal compulsion.
C. Voluntariness: It is determined by the
will of the agent. Sometimes, this
is also known as the intention of the
agent.
Acts of Man
 …performed without intervention of
intellect and freewill - indeliberate,
involuntary, not free, not under one’s
control, and beyond the mind and the
will...

The principle of the double effect It includes:

An act that is good, but that has an evil side  Spontaneous biological and sensual
effect, may only be done under the following processes
conditions:
 All acts performed without the use of
1. The act itself must be good or at least reason
morally neutral
 First reactions of anger and sympathy
2. The evil effect must not be directly willed,
 Forced acts (against one’s personal
but only foreseen and tolerated
decision and will)
3. The good effect must not be the result of
the evil effect.
4. The good desired must equal or outweigh
the evil permitted
The Human Person:
Philosophical View
“There is no meaning to life except the meaning
man gives his life by the unfolding of his powers,
by living productively.” (Erich Fromm)
Everything on this earth is made for a reason.
 “Living well” is the ideal purpose of every
person existing in this world.
 Socrates reminds us that “an unexamined
life is not worth living”
 As a traveler in this life, we should have a
strong foundation of ourselves, we should
be clear about where to go and what to
do, and exert great effort to get closer –
step by step – to our destination.
Living and Existing
 The two terms are identical and co-
extensive. If man exists, then he also
lives.
 Living – biological sense
 Existing – basis of experience\
 This presupposes an idea that not all living
things are existing in the real sense of the
word
To exist
 To stand as different from others. Man can
always decide what is best for his own
self. He is capable of adding essence and
meaning to his life toward a realization of
his dreams and a fulfilment of his destiny.
Existence
 “existence comes before essence”
1. That there is no pre given essence to
which man must conform in order to
qualify as a human being.
2. That man exist first just like what John
Locke called a “tabula rasa” or
“nothingness”. He is condemned to be
free.
3. He makes his own essence, his personal
project. Sartre said, “ Man is nothing else
but what he makes of himself”. What he is,
and what he will be depends entirely upon
his self. His destiny is his to shape.
Subjectivity
 Being for itself (pour-soi). It is called
“authentic existence” or the being of the
humans.
Important points:
a) That human person is an individual being.
It respects the uniqueness of every
individual person. He may be with others
but he can be different from others.
b) He is a passionate individual. He makes
his personal decisions not on objective
standards and objective values but on his
passion and will.
 The emphasis therefore is “not on ideas
but on the thinker who has ideas”.
Freedom
 It is a concept of an individual; it is the
activity of the subject himself.
 The importance of Choice and
commitment
 Man then, has the freedom to make
choices in every moment of his life.
Choices are unique to humans and they
are inescapable.
 There is no choice without a decision, no
decision without a desire, or desire without
a need, no need without existence.”
 “even the refusal to choose is a choice”.
 For Soren Kierkegaard, it is “only faith that
is criterion less choice.”
“Man is condemned to be Free”
 This implies that every freedom of choice
entails a concurrent responsibility.
 It means taking ownership of one’s own
thoughts, feelings and actions and
refraining from casting blame or
judgement on self or others.
Commitment
 It means to be focused in our direction and
determination to achieve the objectives of
our actions. The absence of commitment
means an escape from ones
responsibility.
Man is Free
 The presumption that man is free is
present in many situations in human life.
 First: It is there in our automatic judgments
of the actions of other people. If someone
 gives us a gift, we presume that the
person chose to give us that gift. If a
criminal robs a bank, we presume that he
freely chose to act that way.
 Second: This presumption of freedom is
present when we actively struggle against
anyone who tries to limit our actions.
 We fight for the right to make our own
decisions about our lives.
 All of this fighting for freedom presumes
that each human being is free that he has
the power to determine his own life.
 What is the basis of this assurance that
man has the power to control his own life?
 What in human experience testifies to the
existence of human freedom?
 Let us reflect on human experience and to
clarify how freedom is found there.
The Sense of Openness
Consciousness of Choosing
 We all have an experience of the
“openness” Of human life.
 We all face the possibility that anything
can happen each day.
 Each day can bring either success or
failure.
 Something or someone may come into my
life today and change it.
 The way I will live my own particular path
of life is open. My life (attitude, style and
etc. are not fixed and determined.
 I am not forced to live my life today the
way I lived it yesterday.
 Such an experience of the openness of
life, that anything can happen, reveals the
possibility of freedom to us.
 The way is open for me to make my life
somewhat different.
Responsibility
 One of the basic experience of human life
is the sense that human beings are
responsible for their lives, for everything
that they do.
Rewards and Punishments
 When I observe other people, I assume
that they are responsible for their actions.
 In such a sense of the responsibility of
other people the freedom of these people
are implied.
 By considering them to be responsible, I
am assuming that they have power over
their actions, that what they do depends
on their free decisions.
 In my own life I experience the challenge
of each moment and each situation.
 How will I respond to this present
situation? What will I say or do?
 This challenge reveals my own
responsibility, that something is expected
of me at every moment.
 This basic experience of feeling
responsible is present even if I decide to
say nothing or do nothing.
 Thus the challenge of responsibility
reveals to me that I can possibly respond
in many different ways to any situation. It
is up to me to decide what will I do.
 It also reveals that I must choose what will
I do.
 In this way, the experience of my human
responsibility reveals clearly the presence
of my human freedom.
 One other obvious argument for the
existence of human freedom is the
immediate experience of making
decisions, of choosing.
 In many situation each day I experience
myself confronted with number of choices
and I experience myself picking one of
these alternatives.
 There is the experience of actually
determining which of those options is to be
chosen.
 One is chosen and the other is rejected. In
this experience we are conscious of our
freedom in this process that is made up of
possible options and the choice that is
made.
 Thus, in human life, there is the
experience that sometimes we choose our
activities and at other times we do not
choose. We exercise our power of free
choice in some situations and in others we
do not.
 In human social existence we praise
certain people and we condemn others;
we reward certain people and we punish
others.
 This praise and condemnation, this
rewards and punishments, are given
because we judge that the persons
involved deserved them.
 This presumes that, human beings are
free that they are responsible for their
behavior.
 Their actions represents the free choices
of individuals who are determining their
own lives.
 Human beings deserve rewards and
punishment, its praise and condemnation,
based on a simple presumption that mans
action are freely chosen.

RE

TRUE or FALSE
18. The Bible is what we need to know about how
to live the Christian life.
19. Moral theology addresses the different
methods of moral discernment, the definitions of
right and wrong, good and evil, sin and virtue, etc.
20. We have all freedom for growing as full
persons before God and our fellow human
persons, in authentic love.
21. Acts are termed human when they are proper
to man as man.
22. The will can decide for something and seek it
only if it is first known.
23. Consent of freewill is not required, which
implies freedom from any external or internal
compulsion.
24. the Human person is the only moral being
because he knows his acts, he knows that he is
responsible for his actions.
25. morality becomes real or concrete when one
encounters a moral experience.
ESSAY
I. Christian Moral life is the following of
Christ. Discuss, how can we effectively
follow or model Christ to become a moral
person?
Answer:
Our purpose in life is to know God, to serve God, and
to love God; you do this by doing your best to learn
what His
The important thing in doing all of this is to
concentrate on God, and what He is asking you
to do, and far less on yourself. Remember, there
is salvation only for the truly humble. And what
is humility? The truth.
Where to start? First of all by realising that you,
on your own, can do little, you need God for
that.
1. Prayer. Continuous prayer
2. Sacraments. Weekly, or biweekly, at
the outside, confession plus at least
weekly Mass with a good Holy
Communion IF you are in a state of
grace.
3. Regular performance of the Spiritual
and Corporal Works of
Mercy, remembering that Christ has
specifically commanded that we will
not make it into heaven except on our
good performance of the Corporal
Works of Mercy.
II. Relate the principles behind the
application of the three determinants of
the human action. How can we distinguish
the morality of the human act?
Answer:
To know whether an individual human act is morally
good, we must consider it with reference to these
three things which, because they determine the moral
character of acts, are called the determinants of
morality: 1st. The object of the act; 2d. The end, or
purpose; 3d. Its circumstances. 
The Principles:
1. A human action is morally good only if all
three elements, namely object,
circumstances, and purpose, are
substantially good.
2. An action becomes morally bad if even
one of these three elements is bad.
3. If an essential part of an action is evil, we
cannot avoid that evil part unless we
refrain from the whole action.
4. If one does an action in spite of the
substantially evil element in it, one is
performing a sinful action.
SPECIAL INDUSTRIES

Which one is the primary regulator for educational

Which assertion primarily addressed this situation.
institution?
Auditor obtains list of cash on hand accounts and
a. CHED conduct a cash count on selected funds?
b. BOI
c. PCNC a. Existence
d. DOH b. Completeness
Which is not one of the primary regulators for not c. Rights and Obligation
for profit institutions? d. Valuation

a. DTI Which is least likely addressed by the Auditor?

b. BIR Auditor inquire about supplier agreement on FOB
c. PCNC and checks timely of transfer of ownership in
d. SEC inventory in transit.
Which entity is least likely to be fined the tax
a. Rights and obligation
exemptions and privileges for certain regulations?
b. Existence
a. DTI c. Completeness
b. Philippine Constitution
d. Valuation
c. Tax Code of the Philippines
d. Board of Investment (BOI) Identify which assertion is least likely addressed.
Which of the following institutions is considered Auditor asked around the nature of credit balances
highly regulated? of the receivables and requested for sales invoice on
or before the cutoff period.
a. Hospitals
b. Schools a. Rights and Obligations
c. Non-profit organization b. Existence
d. Stock corporation
c. Completeness
Which of the following institution does not require d. Valuation
secondary licenses on its operations?
Which assertion is least likely addressed by the
a. Hospitals
auditor? Auditor confirms the amounts and terms of
b. Schools
collaterals and restrictions.
c. Electricity companies
d. Retailers a. Rights and Obligations
Which is not typical tax paid by hospitals? b. Existence
c. Completeness
a. VAT
b. Real Property Taxes
d. Valuation
c. Income Taxes Which assertion is least likely addressed by the
d. Donor’s tax
auditor? Auditor reviews board minutes,
Which assertion is least likely addressed by this agreements, bank confirmation replies and other
situation. Auditor who recalculates depreciation documents to verify authorization of long term debts
based on the average life of the asset? and to identify the existence of long term life of
a. Valuation credits or similar obligation.
b. Occurrence
c. Completeness
a. Rights and Obligation
d. Presentation and disclosure b. Completeness
c. Presentation and disclosure
d. Valuation
Auditor conducts ocular inspections of property.
Which assertion is least likely addressed by this
situation.

a. Valuation
b. Completeness
c. Existence
d. Rights and obligation

Auditor conducts analytical review of selected

expenses. Which assertion is least likely addressed
by the auditor?

a. Valuation
b. Completeness
c. Occurrence
d. Rights and obligations

Disclosed transactions had happen

- occurrence

All transactions are recorded in correct reporting

period

- completeness

All information disclosed is in the correct amount

and reflect their proper values

- Valuation

All transactions are recorded in the correct accounts

in the general ledger

- Presentation and disclosure

Information included in the fs has been appropriately

presented and is comprehensible

- Understandability

Auditor obtains copy of all properties and trace this

to the

- Completeness

In the school, auditor trace all cash collections of the

school to its subsequent recording in the book in the
fiscal year end

- cutoff