MODULE 1 – LESSON 1: THE STUDY OF PHILOSOPHY
AND ETHICS
Philosophy
- taken from two Greek words, philos and sophia
which literally mean love of wisdom.
- It seeks to find out the true meaning of life and
the importance of it, the desire to understand
the existence of everything.
*Philosophical methods may be used in the study of any
subject or the pursuit of any vocation.
*Philosophical training enhances one’s problem-solving
capacities, one’s abilities to understand and express
ideas, and one’s persuasive powers.
MAIN DIVISIONS OF PHILOSOPHY
1) Speculative Philosophy - the division of
Philosophy that is primarily good for
contemplative understanding. It provides
knowledge of a subject or area for the sake of
knowledge.
2) Practical Philosophy - the division of philosophy
that is good for real life application. It provides
knowledge to be used or applied in concrete
actions or situations.
BRANCHES OF SPECULATIVE PHILOSOPHY
1) Epistemology - deals with the theory of
knowledge – its sources, kinds, and reliability. It
is concerned with the definition, sources kinds,
and criteria of knowledge possible, and the
degree to which each is certain.
2) Metaphysics - deals with the nature of
existence. It is customarily divided into
Ontology and Metaphysics proper.
Ontology - deals with the question of how many
fundamentally distinct sorts of entities compose the
universe
Metaphysics Proper - describes the most general traits
of reality.
3) Cosmology - the scientific study of the universe
on the largest scales of space and time,
particularly the propounding of theories
concerning its origin, nature, structure, and
evolution.
4) Anthropology - the study of man and his
destiny. It reflects upon man in order to
understand him in his entirety, grasping the
fundamental principles of his existence in the
world and his behavior.
5) Aesthetics - a philosophical inquiry about
beauty in all of its forms. It also deals with the
question of whether such qualities are
objectively present in the things they appear to
qualify, or exist only in the mind of the
individual.
6) Theodicy – deals with the study of Supreme
Being, defined as both omnipotent and good in
the light of evil in the world.
Rational Philosophy - primarily concern with the
principles of living things, especially that of man,
focusing mainly on the relevance of the soul and self-
knowledge which arises from common sense and
natural reason.
Social Philosophy - deals with the study of the nature of
society, relation between the individual, and social
interaction that takes place in the given community.
Political Philosophy - deals with the study of the
ultimate foundation of the state, the nature of
legitimate authority, the form of government, and the
perfect form of society.
BRANCHES OF PRACTICAL PHILOSOPHY
1) Logic - the formal and systematic study of the
principles of valid inference and correct
reasoning. It is commonly known as the art and
science of correct thinking.
2) Ethics – deals with the concepts and principles
or morality.
- a normative science of the conduct of human
being living in societies; a science which judges
the conduct to be right or wrong, to be good or
bad.
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN ETHICS AND MORALITY
 Etymologically, there is no difference between
ethics and morality, because both Ethics and Morality
comes from the Latin word mos or moris, which means
custom. However, there is a slight difference between
ethics and morality. Ethics provides man with
theoretical knowledge of the morality of human act
while morality actualizes the theory. Morality is nothing
else but doing of ethics.
DIVISION OF ETHICS
1) General Ethics
- presents truths about human acts, and from these
truths deduce the general principles of morality.
General ethics is applied to individual in relation to
himself, to God and to his fellow man.
2) Special Ethics
- This one is applied ethics. It applies to the principles of
general ethics in different departments of human
activity, individual and social. It includes man’s relation
to the family, to the state and to the world.
IMPORTANCE OF ETHICS
 Ethics means living in proper way and it is in the
development of a good moral character and
virtues that man finds perfection and
understands his purpose of existence.
 The Greek triumvirate, the Christian teachings
and majority of Oriental Philosophers affirmed
that the ultimate purpose of human existences
is not acquisition of material possession, power
and prestige but in the development of moral
qualities that make men unique and supreme
from all creation.
 Confucius laid great emphasis on the cultivation
of character, the purity of heart and conduct.
He extorted to the people a good character
first, which is a priceless jewel and which is the
best of all virtues.
RELATIONSHIP OF ETHICS TO OTHER SCIENCES
1) Ethics and Logic
- Logic is the science and art of correct reasoning. Ethics
is the science of good and proper living. But good living
presupposes correct thinking and reasoning. Doing
follows thinking.
2) Ethics and Psychology
- Psychology is the scientific study of behavior and
cognitive mental process. Both involve the study of
man, human nature, and human behavior.
3) Ethics and Sociology
- Sociology is the scientific study of society and culture
while Ethics is concerned with the moral order, which
also includes social order.
- Society exists because of the observance of moral laws
that makes sociology dependent on ethics. Both are
complimentary, norms and cultures of the people which
are the basis of ethical standards of a particular society.
4) Ethics and Economics
- Economics is the proper allocation and efficient use of
available resources for the maximum satisfaction of
human needs.
- His means of livelihood therefore must be morally
acceptable. He must observe justice and fairness with
his fellow being.
5) Ethics and Education
- Education liberates men from ignorance not only from
ethical standards but also from laws that are
implemented by the society. Education is concerned
with the total human development.
6) Ethics and Law
- Laws imposed by the society must be fair, just, and
humane. It must be for the welfare of the majority of
the people and not offensive to morality. There is a
difference between what is moral and what is legal.
- The legal covers only the external acts of man; the
moral governs even the internal acts of man, such as
the volitional and intentional activities of the will and
mind.
7) Ethics and Art
- Man’s artistic creation must have a noble purpose,
which should not be offensive to morality. A piece of art
should reflect beauty and must inspire every person
who sees it.

8) Ethics and Political Science
- Political Science is the study of state and government.
Politics covers the administration and management of
our government.
- Politics is also concerned with the material needs of
man while ethics is primarily concern with the spiritual
needs of man, these two are inseparable.
- Politics is not bad at all, if it used properly; the
politicians must set aside their personal interest and
rather promote the general welfare of the citizens.
MODULE 1 – LESSON 2: INTRODUCTION OF BASIC
CONCEPTS AND KEY ELEMENTS OF ETHICS
Looking closely, human actions ought to be
understood clearly in a very strict sense because it has
something to do with human movements that are ruled
by one’s freedom. Freedom figures closely into action
and inclination. Freedom here, means not only the
ability to act free from outside influences or
independence from the impediments to one’s wishes. It
is the willful act and decision that gives form and shape
to the actions and inclinations of the human person.
The human person himself/herself is significant only in
considering the result in matters of to poiein or gawa.
THE KEY ELEMENTS OF ETHICS
1) Character - an evaluation of an individual's
stable moral qualities. The concept of character
can imply a variety of attributes including the
existence or lack of virtues.
2) Moral Character - refers to the assemblage of
qualities that distinguish one individual from
another.
- Although on a cultural level, the set of moral behaviors
to which a social group adheres can be said to unite and
define it culturally as distinct from others.
3) Moral Courage - a result of morally developed
will. It is the capacity to initiate and sustain
your resolve whenever you are certain of doing
the good.
4) Gawa and Gawi
Gawa - refers to the free action that is oriented towards
a particular end. For example, a worker uses his/her
free imagination and will to bring about services and
products that contribute to the well-being of society.
- As governed by free decisions making, the creative
workers embrace all the information he/she can gather
to effectively realize his/her purpose.
Gawi -refers to the free kind of work. However, instead
of focusing on a particular end like a product or
fulfillment.
- refers to the kind of acts that human beings are used
to accomplishing. It does not only refer to particular
acts of a person. A person’s habitual action or kagawian
reveals truth about himself/herself.
5) Reason - sets the course for making ethical and
impartial decions especially in moral situations
although it is not the sole determining factor in
coming up with such decision.
6) Feelings - provides the individual with an initial
reckoning of a situation, but they should not be
the sole basis for one’s motives and actions.
7) Freedom - the willful act and decision that
gives form and shape to the actions and
inclinations of the individuals.
- Freedom is oriented towards the wherefore, the what
for, and the whom for, of the doings of the individuals.
8) Good Acts and Evil Acts
Good Acts - A morally good act requires the goodness of
the object, of the intention of the agent, and of the
circumstances together.
Evil Acts - an act that corrupts the action even if the
object is good in itself.
APPROACHES TO NORMATIVE ETHICS
1) Consequentialism - At the heart of
consequentialist theories is the idea that the
moral action is the one that produces the best
consequences.
 2) Deontology - According to deontological
theories, morality is primarily a function of
duties or obligations, regardless of the
consequences of acting in accordance with
those duties.
3) Virtue Ethics - It gives primacy of importance
not to rules, but to particular habits of character
such as the virtue of courage and other types of
virtue that the person is personally inclined to
perform.
Moral Standards - refers to the norms which we have
about the types of actions which we believe to be
morally acceptable and morally unacceptable.
Specifically, it involves sets of recognized and
permanently acceptable character or norms commonly
used as primary measure of quality, value, and extent.
Non-moral Standards - refer to rules that we have
about the types of actions that are unrelated to moral
or ethical considerations. These refers to the people
customary, and habitual ways of doing things. These
customary ways are accumulated and become
repetitive patterns of expected behavior, which tend to
become permanent traditions.
DERIVATION OF MORAL STANDARDS
 The foundations of evolving moral systems rest
on a complex cybernetic process that sustains
and preserves the human species.
 This is a dynamic process that drives the
creation of moral and ethical standards,
namely: emotion, and rules.
 Every human action inspires a corresponding
reaction whether subtle in nature or violent.
Some people are more emotionally reactive
than others.
 Emotions can get out of control if not regulated
by laws, customs, moral codes, professional
codes and even the rules of etiquette.
 Rules are considered as an essential stabilizing
force that enhance the survivability of
individuals, families and nations.
Dilemma - a situation where a person is forced to
choose between two or more conflicting options,
neither of which is acceptable. As we can see, the key
here is that the person has choices to make that will all
have results she does not want.
Ethical Dilemma - a decision-making problem between
two possible moral imperatives, neither of which is
unambiguously acceptable or preferable.
In ethical dilemma, the complexity arises out of the
situational conflict in which obeying would result in
transgressing another.
- There are three identified conditions that must be
present for situations to be considered moral dilemmas:
1. First, the person or the agent of a moral action
is obliged to make a decision about which
course of action is best. Here, the moral agent
must choose the best option and act
accordingly.
2. Second, there must be different courses of
action to choose from. Hence, as already
pointed out above, there must be two or more
conflicting options to choose from for moral
dilemmas to occur.
3. Third, no matter what course of action is taken,
some moral principles are always compromised.
TYPES OF MORAL DILEMMA
1) Epistemic Dilemmas: Self-imposed and world-
imposed dilemmas
Epistemic Dilemma - involve situations wherein two or
more moral requirements conflicted with each other
and that the moral agent hardly knows which of the
conflicting moral requirements takes precedence over
the other. In other words, under the epistemic dilemma,
the moral agent in this situation does not know which
option is morally right or wrong.
Self-imposed Dilemma - caused by the moral agent’s
wrong doings.
2) Obligation Dilemmas and Prohibition
Dilemmas
Obligation Dilemma - pertains to a particular situations
in which there are more than one feasible actions is
obligatory.
3) Single Agent and Multi-person Dilemmas
Single Agent Dilemma - The moral agent is compelled
to act on two or more equally the same moral options
but he/she cannot choose both.
SOURCES OF MORALITY
1) The Object - the aim or goal of a certain action
acquired. To make an act morally good, it’s
object or aim must conform to the law of God
or the conscience of the doer of the action must
attest it.
2) The Intention of the Agent - refers to the
means of attaining the object.
3) The Circumstances - pertains to the types of
environment, situation, or condition prevailing
when the action is done.
MODULE 2 – LESSON 1: CULTURE IN MORAL BEHAVIOR
The beginning of human civilization is a proper
reference point in treating the interesting subject of
culture. A human beings adaptation to their society,
conformity to the culture of their time, and their
education have work alongside each other putting their
present status.
Culture
 derived from the Latin word cultura or cultus
which means care or cultivation. Culture is
analogous to caring for an infant. Because an
infant has prolonged dependency, he/she has to
be taken care by people around him/her.
 has been defined as all modes of thought,
behavior, and production that are handed down
from one generation to the next by means of
communicative interaction rather than by
genetic transmission.
 Culture as cultivation implies that every human
being is a potential member of his/her own
social group. He/She is endowed with certain
innately useful qualities. However, he/she
cannot develop these inborn talents without
the help of other people.
 It is an indelible manifestation of human
existence that shows how far a human being
has gone in the course of time and how much
he/she has learned.
 The growth of culture anywhere at any given
time is a result of an individual’s reaction to the
several stimuli that motivates his/her way of
thinking and challenge his/her mode of living.
Without him/her culture will be at a standstill.
ORIGIN OF CULTURE
 Anthropologists believe that culture is a product
of human evolution. Humans devised a
common way of classifying experiences and
transmitting them symbolically.
 Since these experiences were learned and
transmitted, the developed distinctly,
independent from biological evolutions. Hence,
a person may transmit beliefs, values, norms or
way of life to another person even if they are
not related by blood.
 This view of culture argues that people from
different places develop distinct cultures.
However, elements of a culture can be
transmitted from one society to another.
 Being dynamic, culture can be taught and
learned, making it potentially rapid form of
adaptation to changes in the human
environment.
ELEMENTS OF CULTURE
1) Material Culture - includes the physical objects
a society produces. These are tools, pieces of
furniture, clothing, automobiles, and computer
systems, to name a few. Awareness of these
kinds of objects created and how people use
them brings about greater understanding of
culture of society.
2) Non-material Culture - consist of elements
termed norms, values, belief, and language
shared by the members of a society. Non-
material culture is considered as the carriers of
culture.
ELEMENTS OF NON-MATERIAL CULTURE
1) Language - most defining characteristics of the
human being is the ability to develop and use
highly complex systems of symbols like
language.
- A symbol, as sociologist says, is the very foundation of
culture. The essence of culture is the sharing of
meanings among members of the society. Unless one
shares the language of culture, one cannot participate
in it. Languages influences people’s way of perceiving,
behaving and feeling, thus, tends to define and shape
the world around them. It is through language that
ideas, values, beliefs and knowledge are transmitted,
expressed and shared.
2) Beliefs - are ideas that people hold about any
part of the total reality surrounding them. It
shows how people see reality. The subject of
human beliefs may be infinite and may include
ideas concerning the individual, other people,
and any aspects of the biological, physical,
social, and supernatural world, be it primitive or
scientific.
3) Values - are the shared ideas about desirable
goals. These are person’s ideas about worth and
desirability or an abstract of what is important
and worthwhile. Values make up human
judgments of what is moral and immoral, good
and bad, right or wrong, beautiful and ugly, and
so on.
4) Norms - are shared rules of conduct that specify
how people should ought to think and act.
Norms is simply defined as specific rules of
behavior.
TYPES OF NORMS
1) Mores - are norms associated with strong ideas
of right and wrong. Mores are standard of
conduct that are highly respected and valued by
the group and their fulfillment is felt to be
necessary and vital to group welfare. They are
considered essential to group’s existence and
accordingly, the group demands that they be
followed without question. They represent
obligatory behavior because their infractions
result in punishments, formal or informal.
2) Folkways - are norms that simply the
customary, normal and habitual ways a group
does things. These customary ways are
accumulated and become repetitive patterns of
behavior, which tends to become permanent
traditions.
3) Laws - are often referred to as formal norms.
They are rules that are enforced and sanctioned
by the authority of the government.
CHARACTERISTICS OF CULTURE
 Culture is learned
 Culture is shared
 Culture is cumulative
 Culture is dynamic
 Culture is diverse
FUNCTIONS OF CULTURE
The importance of culture cannot be
overemphasized. Although human beings possess
instinct, they generally rely on their culture in order to
survive. Next to this, are some functions of culture.
 Culture helps people adapt to the demand of
the surrounding physical environment.
 Culture compensates for many human physical
limitations.
 Culture provides ways and means to regulate
human collective existence.
 Culture prescribes behavioral patter insides
ways and means to regulate human.
Culture Relativism - the notion that each culture should
be evaluated according to its own merits and standards
rather than from the standpoint or bases of a different
culture. In other words, norms, values, and beliefs
should be judged only from the viewpoint of the culture
where they belong. The goal is to promote
understanding of cultural practices that are not typically
part of one’s own culture. Using this perspective, it
leads to the view that no particular culture is superior
than another culture when compared to systems of
morality, law, politics, and so on. It is a concept that
cultural norms and values derive their meaning within a
specific social context.
MODES OF ACQUIRING CULTURE
1) Imitation - human action by which one tends to
duplicate more or less exactly the behavior of
others.
2) Indoctrination - takes the form of formal
teaching or training which may happen
anywhere. The formal teaching takes into
account the cultural components of society
where the learning individuals lives.
3) Conditioning - Through norms prevailing in
one’s social and cultural milieu and through the
process of conditioning, the individual acquires
certain patterns of beliefs, values, and
behaviors.
4) Acculturation - a process by which societies
with different cultures are modified through
fairly close and long continued contact
5) Amalgamation- the intermarriage of persons
coming from different cultural groups resulting
in some kind of biological fusion.
MODULE 2 – LESSON 2: DEVELOPING VIRTUE AS HABIT
Ethics is a matter of living well through the
habitual practice of virtue which essentially translates
into having a virtuous or excellent character.
A virtuous character is the result of proper
combination of practical wisdom (phronesis), and
habituation in the pursuit of the mean (mesotes).
Being ethical is all about being excellent in
human being, which is being excellent in fulfilling one’s
essence as a rational being that has cultivated an
excellent character and capable of making the most
prudent decisions in all circumstances.
Through the constant interaction of thought
and action as prompted by various situations that calls
for one’s decision, a person comes to know
himself/herself as a certain type of character or
personality.
Being a certain way or having a particular
personality or character implies a certain understanding
of the good.
Personality or character is an approach or a way
of reckoning the different situations that one faces in
his/her life - a way of navigating one’s way towards
his/her flourishing as a human persons.
Character is not merely a theoretical construct
but a product of action in the world – a constant doing
or way of being that is made apparent by the possession
and actualization of particular virtues or vices.
Moral Character - an evaluation of an individual's stable
moral qualities. The concept of character can imply a
variety of attributes. A moral character includes the
existence or lack of virtues such as empathy, courage,
fortitude, honesty, and loyalty, or of good behaviors or
habits. It primarily refers to the assemblage of qualities
that distinguish one individual from another. Although
on a cultural level, the set of moral behaviors to which a
social group adheres can be said to unite and define it
culturally as distinct from others.
- Psychologist Lawrence Pervin defines moral character
as a disposition to express behavior in consistent
patterns of functions across a range of situations.
Normative ethics involve moral standards that
exhibit right and wrong conduct. It is a test of proper
behavior and determining what is right and wrong.
Plato believed that the soul is divided into three parts
of desire, namely:
 Rational
 Appetitive
 Spirited
In order to have moral character, we must
understand what contributes to our overall good and
have our spirited and appetitive desires educated
properly, so that they can agree with the guidance
provided by the rational part of the soul.
Aristotle tells us that there are good people in the
world. These are those who exhibit excellences –
excellences of thought and excellences of character.
Excellence of character, then, is a state concerned with
choice, lying in a mean relative to us, this being
determined by reason and in the way in which the man
of practical wisdom would determine it.
 We have been informed that Ethics is a branch of
Philosophy concerned about actions, the action either
human act or act of man. Ethics and values have a
common role; they even interplay with each other.
Ethics without values is hollow and shallow and
therefore weak. While values without ethics is
paralytics.
Values - are beliefs or ideals shared by the member of a
culture about what is good or desirable and what is not.
It strongly influences the behavior of an individual and
serve as board in all situation.
Root of Filipino Values - there are three known origins
of the Filipino values: (1) lifestyles (2) human nature and
(3) cultural inclination
THE PATTERNS OF FILIPINO VALUES
1) Exogenous Pattern - also identified as legal or
formal. The word itself would help us deduce its
root to the time when Filipinos began to form a
link with cultures.
2) Indigenous Pattern - considered traditional or
non-formal pattern of Filipino values.
Indigenous values are acquired in the
subconscious mind.
FILIPINO VALUES
1) Bayanihan - Filipino community spirit of
cooperation in which a group of individuals
extends a helping hand without expecting any
remuneration.
2) Family Closeness - Filipino trait of prioritizing
the family above other things and maintaining
the close connections and cooperations among
its members.
3) Hospitality - Filipino trait of being receptive and
generous to guests and to anybody that enters
into their homes.
4) Compassion - Filipino trait of being kind and
emphatic to others even if the person is a not
known to them or a stranger.
5) Regionalism - Filipino trait of giving his province
mates preferential treatment as well as priority
over natives of other provinces.
6) Friendliness - Filipino quality of being friendly
and can easily get together with others in a
sincere, loyal, and kind ways.
7) Politeness - Filipino quality of being courteous
to anybody, most especially to the elders, and it
is usually associated with the used of Po and
Opo.
Filipino Values and Non-Filipino Culture
While it is true that Filipinos have their own sense
of values and valuing system, it is also an accepted fact
that these distinct values came from the universal
human needs and wants. For instance, everyone in the
world has a want to own a car. However, how serious
the Filipinos are on this want may be different from that
of the Americans.
BIPOLAR FILIPINO VALUES
1) Hiya or Shame - gives the Filipinos a picture of
refinement, culture and education. It avoids
harshness or crudeness. This value limits the
Filipinos to desire so much and it gives them
peace of mind.
2) Ningas Cogon or Procrastination - Its positive
aspects rely on the fact that a person with such
a value is definitely simple. It has a negative
effect because a man with that value refuses to
take responsibility, and a man who does not
take responsibilities seems to be far from
improvements.
3) Bahala Na or Resignation - has a positive effect
because it is a demonstration of dependence to
God. Bahala na is a expression of humility; it is
the opposite of arrogance. However, it also has
a negative effect because it legitimizes laziness.
4) Mañana Habit - Having positive values allow
things to move on their pattern. They assure
peace of mind in the person. They are like
allowing wound to heal on its own. However,
they also have a negative part. It keeps
problems to a heap until solving them becomes
impossible.
5) Utang na loob or Indebtedness - a recognition
of a favor. It is a way of paying back something
or a way of repayment. It is also negative; the
success of one is like a debt to someone. This is
 one weakness of the Filipinos that many times it
results to prejudices during elections.
MODULE 2 – LESSON 3: MORAL DEVELOPMENT
The notions of morality development have been
developed over centuries, the earliest came from
philosophers like Confucius, Aristotle, and Rousseau,
who all took a more humanist perspective and focused
on the development of the conscience and sense of
virtue.
Moral Development - focuses on the emergence,
change, and understanding of morality from infancy
through adulthood.
Morality develops across a lifetime and is
influenced by an individual's experiences and their
behavior when faced with moral issues through
different periods of physical and cognitive development.
Morality in itself is often a synonym for rightness or
goodness. It refers to a certain code of conduct that is
derived from one's culture, religion or personal
philosophy that guides one's actions, behaviors and
thoughts. In the modern day, empirical research has
explored morality through a moral psychology lens by
theorists like Sigmund Freud and its relation to cognitive
development by theorists like Jean Piaget, Lawrence
Kohlberg, and B. F. Skinner.
LEVELS OF MORAL REASONING
1) Pre-conventional - where a child’s sense of
morality is externally controlled. Children
accept and believe the rules of authority
figures, such as parents and teachers.
STAGES OF PRE-CONVENTIONAL LEVEL OF MORAL
REASONING
 Stage 1: Obedience/Punishment Orientation
- focuses on the child’s desire to obey rules and avoid
being punished. For example, an action is perceived as
morally wrong because the perpetrator is punished; the
worse the punishment for the act is, the more bad the
act is perceived to be.
 Stage 2: Instrumental Orientation
- expresses the what’s in it for me? position, in which
right behavior is defined by whatever the individual
believes to be in their best interest. Stage two reasoning
shows a limited interest in the needs of others, only to
the point where it might further the individual’s own
interests.
2) Conventional - where a child’s sense of morality
is tied to personal and societal relationships.
Children continue to accept the rules of
authority figures, but this is now due to their
belief that this is necessary to ensure positive
relationships and societal order.
STAGES OF CONVENTIONAL LEVEL OF MORAL
REASONING
 Stage 1: Good Boy / Good Girl Orientation
- In this stage, children want the approval of others and
act in ways to avoid disapproval. Emphasis is placed on
good behavior and people being nice to others.
 Stage 2: Law and Order Orientation
- In this stage, the child blindly accepts rules and
convention because of their importance in maintaining
a functioning society. Rules are seen as being the same
for everyone, and obeying rules by doing what one is
supposed to do is seen as valuable and important.
3) Post-conventional - where a person’s sense of
morality is defined in terms of more abstract
principles and values. People now believe that
some laws are unjust and should be changed or
eliminated.
STAGES OF POST-CONVENTIONAL LEVEL OF MORAL
REASONING
1) Stage 1: Social Contract Orientation
- In this stage, the world is viewed as holding different
opinions, rights, and values. Such perspectives should
be mutually respected as unique to each person or
community. Laws are regarded as social contracts
rather than rigid edicts.
2) Stage 2: Universal Ethical Orientation
- In this stage, moral reasoning is based on abstract
reasoning using universal ethical principles. Generally,
the chosen principles are abstract rather than concrete
and focus on ideas such as equality, dignity, or respect.
Conscience - refers to the inner sense or consciousness
of the moral goodness or blameworthiness of one’s own
conduct, intentions, or character together with a feeling
of obligation to do right or to be good.

Conscience-Based Moral Decision - In this way, the

individual acts because it is morally right to do so and
not because he or she wants to avoid punishment, it is
in their best interest, it is expected, it is legal, or it is
previously agreed upon. In this type of decision, laws
are valid only insofar as they are grounded in justice,
and a commitment to justice carries with it, and an
obligation to disobey unjust laws.

MODULE 3 – LESSON 1: THE HUMAN ACTS
Human acts - are actions that proceed from the deliberate
free will of man. In a broader perspective, it refers to any
activity performed by man freely and knowingly. Moral
philosophy, however, treats of the term human acts not in its
broader but in its stricter meaning. Moral philosophy,
therefore, understands human act as actions that are proper
only to man. These actions are those which man does not
share with the brutes, because human acts are rational and
willed acts.
Acts of man - are man’s actions which man shares with the
brutes. These are actions that proceed without man’s
deliberate free will such as the beating of the heart,
palpitating, salivating, breathing, winkling of an eye, etc. All
these activities do not need man’s freedom and will.
ELEMENTS OF HUMAN ACTS
1) Knowledge - A human act is an act done with
knowledge. Doing an act with knowledge makes the
act deliberate. This means that the one who
performs the act has intellectual knowledge of the
act. Further, in performing an act with knowledge,
the one who performs the act has awareness of the
means to employ as he performs an act and the
agent has also the awareness of the end to achieve
in his action.
2) Freedom - A human act is an act done with freedom.
An act done with freedom means that the agent
does an act under the control of his will. This
suggests that the agent performs an act with
freedom, his will is not affected or influenced by any
constraint either within himself or outside himself. In
simple terms, it means that the one who do the act
is not forced to do or not to do a particular action.
And because of this, a human act is purely and solely
determined by the will.
3) Voluntariness - Of the three constituents of human
acts, this requires the presence of the two other
constituents, namely: knowledge, and freedom. This
means that the voluntary act is synonymous with
human act. It requires the presence of knowledge
and freedom in the agent because for the agent to
will an act, he/she must have knowledge of what the
act is and he/she must also have freedom to perform
or not to perform the act. Thus, a voluntary act is a
willful act.
CLASSIFICATION OF HUMAN ACT
1) Human Act in relation to the Will
- actions which are started, performed, and completed by the
will either by the will alone or through other faculties which
are under the control of the will.
2) Human Act in relation to Reason
- actions that are either in agreement or in disagreement with
reason.
KINDS OF HUMAN ACTS IN RELATION TO THE WILL
1) Elicited Acts - actions which are started in the will,
performed by the will, and are completed by the will
as a sole agent without bodily involvement.
CLASSIFICATION OF ELICITED ACTS
 Wish - the primordial desire, like, or inclination
of the will to a thing conceived by the will as
good and known by the intellect. Embedded in
the inclination of the will is its wish to act. This
where all human acts start the wish to act.
 Intention - the purposive tendency of the will
towards a thing regarded as realizable, whether
the thing is actually done or not. This means
that through intentions, the will is assured that
the object of its inclination is attainable.
  Consent - a definite decision as to what means
should be used. This means that the will and
intellect are in a process of picking or choosing
rightly the should-be-used means.
 Election - the active commitment of the agent to
follow what means the intellect has finally opted
as the right pick, so much so that the will shows
acceptance of the choice of the intellect in order
to achieve the desired good.
 Use - after the mind has selected the means to
carry out the intention, this time the mind uses
the means.
 Fruition - the actual attainment of the desired
good. This means that the will is enjoying
because it possesses satisfaction since it
achieved what it willed.
2) Commanded Acts - those which are begun in the
will, performed by the will, but completed through
bodily involvement which is under the control of the
will.
CLASSIFICATION OF COMMANDED ACTS
 Internal Act - actions done by man by way of his
internal mental powers under the command of the
will. Examples of this could be the act of
remembering, the act of nerving oneself to meet an
issue, and the act of deliberate use of the
imagination in visualizing a science.
 External Act - actions that are affected by bodily
powers of man under the command of will.
Examples of this could be that of deliberate writing,
walking, eating, spitting.
 Mixed Act - actions that include the use of bodily
and mental powers. Examples of this could be that of
painting, where the artist uses the power of his
intellect through imagination and the power of his
hands in sketching the contents of his imagination.
KINDS OF HUMAN ACTS IN RELATION TO REASON
1) Good Acts - actions done by man in harmony with
the dictates of right reason.
2) Evil Acts - actions done by man in contradiction to
the dictates of right reason.
3) Indifferent Acts - actions that neither good nor evil.
Indifferent acts bear no positive relation to the
dictates of right reason. For clarity’s sake, it exists
only in theory and not in the actual situation. The
reason is that in the concrete advertence of actions,
actions are only either good or bad.
Morality of the Human Act - refer to the goodness or
badness of an act. These are what they call morally good and
morally evil. When an act is done in accordance with the law
of God and human reason, which is attested to by the
conscience, the act is morally good.
MODULE 3 – LESSON 2: REASON AND IMPARTIALITY
Reason - the sufficient ground of explanation and logical
defense. It also reflects the power of comprehending,
inferring, or thinking especially in orderly rational ways.
Impartiality - a principle of justice holding that decisions
should be based on objective criteria, rather than on the basis
of bias, prejudice, or preferring the benefit to one person
over another for improper reasons.
The Moral Act - Human beings are complex beings. Unlike
other organism that are simply driven by survival instincts,
human beings experience the world in a variety of ways
through a variety of perceptive capacities. Apart from our
rational capacity which allows us to reckon reality with
imaginative and calculative lenses, our feelings also play a
crucial part in determining the way we navigate through
various situations that we experience. Being human, we have
the capacity to reflexively examine a situation before
proceeding to act with respect to how we feel. In other
words, although feelings provide us with an initial reckoning
of a situation, they should not be the sole basis for our
motives and actions. A person who is in a state of rage
towards a perceived enemy or competitor is likely unable to
process the possible consequences of his/her actions done
impulsively. Feelings seek immediate fulfillment, and it is our
reason that tempers these compulsions. Feelings without
reasons are blind. Reason sets the course for ethical and
impartial decisions especially in moral situations although it is
not the sole determining factor in coming up with such
decisions. Reason and feelings must constructively
complement each other whenever we are making choices.
When feeling anger and jealousy, and shame are out of
control, reason puts these emotions in their proper places.
SEVEN STEPS OF MORAL REASONING
1) Stop and Think
 Before making any decision. It is best to take a moment
to think about the situation itself, your place in it, and other
surrounding factors which merit consideration such as the
people involved and the potential effects of your decision on
them.
2) Clarify Goals
It is also necessary to clarify your short-term and long-
term aims. One often decides on the basis of what he/she
wants to accomplish. Sometimes, in the heat of the moments,
short-term wants eclipse long-term goals.
3) Determine Facts
Make sure you gather enough information before you
make a choice. An intelligent choice is one that is supported
by verified facts. You must first make sure that that what you
know is enough to merit action.
4) Develop Options
Once you are clear in terms of your goals and facts, try to
come up with alternative options to exhaust all possible
courses of actions. Most of the time, the pressure of a
situation may make you feel you have less options than you
think.
5) Consider Consequences
Filter your choices and separate the ethical from the
unethical choices bearing in mind both your motives and the
potential consequences of your action. Think of long-term
consequences and act in accordance with the principles of
justice and fairness.
6) Choose
Make a decision. If the choice is hard to make, try
consulting others who may have knowledge or experience of
your situation. Find people with virtuous character and
compare your reasoning with their moral analysis.
7) Monitor and Modify
Monitor what happens after your decision and have
enough humility to modify your actions or behavior as
necessary. Pride may get in the way of admitting that you
might have not thought out a decision will be enough.
Moral Character Traits - those dispositions of character for
which it is appropriate to hold agents morally responsible. A
trait for which the agent is deserving of a positive reactive
attitude, such as praise or gratitude, is a virtue. They are not
just dispositions to engage in certain outward behaviors; they
can also be dispositions to have certain emotions or
affections. In order for a moral character trait to be a virtue, it
must not only be in accord with the relevant moral norms,
but the disposition must also be informed by proper
reasoning about the matter at hand.
Moral Disposition – person’s ability to behave in certain ways
in certain sorts of circumstances in accordance to the
appropriate virtues.
MODULE 3 – LESSON 3: BIOETHICS
At the turn of the 20th century personalists theorist
emerged as a reaction to perceived depersonalization caused
by the advent of science, technology, and totalistic systems in
philosophy. It posits the value of personhood as a center of
life, experience, decisions, and actions.
Bioethics - refers to the discipline dealing with the ethical
implications of biological research and its application in order
to preserve the sanctity of life.
Health - refers to the state of the body, which enables it to
perform every function, which can reasonably expected of it,
to accommodate itself to each ordinary tasks.
Personal Health Responsibility - Taking charge of one’s own
health is an essential step in disease prevention as well as
protocols for healing and recovery from disease. It involves
active participation in one’s own health and healing plan
through education and lifestyle changes. One needs to be
sensitive about the importance of good health. A simple
everyday exercise, avoiding alcohol and tobacco and illegal
drugs, proper hygiene, enough rest like 8-hour sleep, eating in
proper time and a balance diet are few things that we can do
for our body. People should think more on prevention not on
cure. Diseases may be avoided if everyone is conscious about
what they do, since most diseases are acquired as a product
of unhealthy lifestyle. Part of personal responsibility to health
is to know their family history, this is one way to determine
hereditary illnesses which can be avoided in the future. In our
country, several measures have been enacted to instill health
awareness and impose personal responsibility towards
health. Like the anti-smoking campaign, discouragement to
take medicines without medical prescription, and
encouragement to seek medical assistance and services from
licensed physician. Abusing one’s body violates God’s
commandments. It is a common belief that our body comes
from God – we are tasked to take care of it and not to destroy
it. It is owned by God and it is for our love one and
fellowmen.

CRIMES AGAINST HUMAN LIFE
1) Suicide - literally derived from Latin word suicide
combining the pronoun for self and a verb for to kill. Thus,
suicide in essence, is an act of human being intentionally
causing his or her own death.
OTHER METHODS OF SUICIDE
 Blunt Force Trauma
 Exsanguinations
 Internal Drowning
 Electrocution
 Immolation
 Intentional Starvation
2) Sterilization - refers to the procedure performed to stop
fertility permanently, in either male or female. It is
considered as the most reliable and most commonly used
type of contraception. Sterilization is done either to the male
or female through operation. Operation on women is
commonly called tubal ligation as the procedure aims to
occlude or ligate the fallopian tubes. Male sterilization on the
other hand, is achieved by the operation of vasectomy;
cutting or legating, on both sides the vas deferens, which
transport sperm from the testicles to the penis.
3) Euthanasia - usually refers to the act of quickening death
for a merciful motive. Euthanasia, however, is different from
suicide because death is not a certain in suicide; while the
opposite is true for euthanasia.
TYPES OF EUTHANASIA
1. Passive Euthanasia - refers to the rights of the patients to
refuse life support, medicines, and medical procedures. It is
said that it is more widely accepted because there is no law
that forces an individual to receive involuntary life support.
2. Active Euthanasia - is more controversial and as such
remains illegal worldwide. It simply pertains to the voluntary
agreement between the physician and the dying patient to
pursue acts that eventually lead to death.
4) Drug Addiction - the state of periodic and chronic
intoxication detrimental to the individual and to the society,
produced by the repeated consumption of a drug. The Bible
teaches that Christians should take care of their bodies and
use them to serve God. One’s body and life belong to God,
and we are only entrusted to use it in order to accomplished
His will like stewards. It is intrinsically evil to do things that
will harm our health.
5) Alcoholism - an act of drinking alcoholic drinks at a level
that interferes with physical health, mental health, and social,
family, or job responsibilities. The Bible does not prohibit the
drinking of alcoholic beverages. What it does condemn is
drinking excessively which can be associated with gluttony.
Alcoholism will always be regarded as immoral if it is a habit.
6) Abortion - refers to the termination of a pregnancy by the
removal or expulsion from the uterus or embryo resulting in
or causing its death.
TYPES OF ABORTION
1. Spontaneous Abortion - often the body’s way of
preventing the birth of a defective child, although
sometimes they are due to maternal health
problems.
2. Induced Abortion - results from the planned
interruption of a pregnancy. It prevents a conception
from becoming a live birth.
3. Therapeutic Abortion - refers to abortions thought
necessary because of fetal anomalies or to protect
the health of the mother when a birth might be life
threatening or physically damaging.
4. Elective or Voluntary Abortion - refers to the
interruption of a pregnancy before viability at the
woman’s request for reasons other than fetal
anomalies or maternal risks.
5. Legal Abortion and Illegal Abortion
A legal abortion is a procedure performed by a licensed
physician intended to terminate a suspected or known
intrauterine pregnancy. An Illegal abortion is induced by
someone who is not a physician, or self-induced.
7) Selling Organs for Transplants - refers to exchanging
organs for money or other valuable considerations which
leads to commoditization of the human bodies and
exploitation of the poor for the benefit of the rich.
MODULE 4 – LESSON 1: ARISTOTLE’S THOUGHTS
ARISTOTLE’S SHORT BIOGRAPHY
Aristotle was born in the Greek colony of Stagira in
Macedonia. Nicomachus, his father was a student of natural
history and an eminent physician, who served under Amytas
II, King of Macedonia, father to Philip the Great.
Aristotle studied in Plato’s Academy and is
unanimously considered to be Plato’s greatest student. He
provided philosophical basis of science which proved
dominant for 18 centuries.
In 342 B.C., he returned to Macedon as tutor and
then adviser to King Philip II of Macedon's son Alexander,
who became Alexander the Great. Later he became a public
teacher in Athens, using a garden he owned where he
founded his own school called the Lyceum.
His collected lectures cover most of the knowledge of the
time in science, and some other fields such as Logic and
Ethics, and include much of Aristotle's own work in Zoology
and Anatomy.
Aristotle considers that morality is not merely a
matter of knowing the good but actually doing or practicing
the good habitually.
For Aristotle, we can only fully actualize our
potential as human beings once we understand what being
human essentially aims to and do the necessary things to
fulfill that in the most excellent way possible.
According to Aristotle, Ethics is grounded in the
formation of one’s character - a way of being and living in
harmony with the human person’s proper end (telos).
THE CONCEPT OF ETHICS
Aristotle assumes that any activity, practical or
theoretical, aims towards some ends or good. acquired. For
Aristotle, Ethics is a matter of living well through the habitual
practice of virtue which essentially translates into having a
virtuous or excellent character. Aristotle is not simply
interested in finding out the different ends or purposes for
human life. He wants to find out what our chief end is. He is
interested in finding out what all our lives essentially and
ultimately aim to. Aristotle names the chief good for the
human person as happiness or eudaimonia, which is an
activity of the soul that purposively attempts to choose the
mean between two extremes in the realm of morality. For
Aristotle, happiness is the self-sufficient, final, and attainable
goal of human life. It is self-sufficient because to have it
makes human life complete. For Aristotle, our chief god is not
something we merely possess but something that we
continually actualize. According to him, Eudaimonia is an
activity of the soul in accordance with virtue. He postulates
that happiness is an activity of the soul. Aristotle teaches us
that character is the most essential component of Ethics. A
virtuous character is the result of the proper combination of
practical wisdom and habituation in the pursuit of the mean.
THE CONCEPT OF SOUL
For him, the soul is the part of the human being that
emanates the body. It is the life principle in man. It is
composed of both rational and irrational elements. The
rational part of the soul is divided into two parts - the
speculative which is responsible for knowledge, and the
practical which is responsible for choice and action. The
speculative part is concerned with pure thought and is
essentially the base of contemplation, while the practical
intellect is in charge of action and the practical determination
of the proper means to attain a specific end.
THE CONCEPT OF VIRTUE
The Greek word for virtue is arête which means
excellence. By excellence, the Greeks thought of how a thing
fulfills its functions in accordance with its nature.
Virtue - a state or character which makes a person good and
capable of fulfilling his/her end (telos) as a human person. For
Aristotle, virtue is a state of one’s character that is the result
of choice. This choice is governed by prudence or practical
wisdom (phronesis).
Phronesis - is the human person’s instrument in dealing with
moral choices. It is a kind of knowledge that deals with
practical matters and not just with ideas or concepts.
- the intellectual virtue responsible for bringing the
human person closer to his/her chief good in the
realm of morality.
-
Aristotle believed that there are two kinds of virtues –
moral and intellectual. Moral virtues has to do with
excellence in the performance of decisions relating to moral
and practical activity. On the other hand, the intellectual
virtues have something to do with one’s capacity to harness
reason’s contemplative capacity for arriving at knowledge.
Aristotle emphasizes the role of practice and habit in the
formation of moral virtue. No person is born morally virtuous.
However, all persons have the latent potentiality to be so, if
only they habitually do excellent deeds.
MODULE 4 – LESSON 2: ST. THOMAS AQUINAS’ THOUGHTS
ST THOMAS AQUINAS SHORT BIOGRAPHY
He was a scholastic philosopher and theologian, born
in the Castle of Roccasecca, near Aquino, Italy. He studied
with the Benedictines of Monte Cassino, and at the University
of Naples. Against the bitter opposition of his family, he
entered the Dominican Order of mendicant friars. His
brothers kidnapped him and kept him a prisoner in the
paternal castle for over a year; in the end he made his way to
Cologne to become a pupil of Albertus Magnus. In 1252 he
went to Paris, and taught there, until in 1258 he was
summoned by the pope to teach successively in Anagni,
Orvieto, Rome, and Viterbo. He died at Fossanuova on his
way to defend the papal cause at the Council of Lyon, and
was canonized in 1323. His prolific writings display great
intellectual power, and he came to exercise enormous
intellectual authority throughout the Church. In his
philosophical writings he tried to combine and reconcile
Aristotle's scientific rationalism with Christian doctrines of
faith and revelation. His best-known works are two huge
encyclopedic syntheses. The Summa contra Gentiles that
deals chiefly with the principles of natural religion. His
Summa Theologiae that contains his mature thought in
systematic form, and includes the famous five ways or proofs
of the existence of God. Thomism now represents the general
teaching of the Catholic Church. St. Thomas Aquinas begins
from the standpoint of faith. His perspective presupposes the
existence of a God who is the author (source) and the goal
(end) of all eternity. For Aquinas, God reveals His goodwill as
the eternal law reflected in the order of reality. Relating with
the law as governing all is relating with God himself whose
will emanates to govern all that is. Human freedom for St
Thomas Aquinas, is an imprint of the Divine will in the very
being of the human person. This sharing of human reason in
the eternal will or divine will is for him/her the natural law.
Conscience - For Aquinas, the conscience refers to the proper
Aquinas describes law as a certain rule and measure of acts
functioning of reason in moving the human person towards
whereby man is induced to act or is restrained from acting.
an end goal that is fitting of his/her dignity. According to him,
Because the rule and measure of human actions is reason,
there are different kinds of conscience that may lead into
law has an essential relation to reason; in the first place to
wrong doing, namely: the certain, the perplexed, the
divine reason; in the second place to human reason, when it
doubtful, and the erroneous.
acts correctly. Law is directed by its nature to the good, and
especially to the universal or common good. It is addressed
not primarily to private persons but to the whole people
meeting in common. The application of the law to those to
whom it is applied, and the communication of this law to
them -is essential to the nature of the law.
FOUR MAIN KINDS OF LAW
1) Natural Law - the law inscribed by God into the
heart and mind of every man which help them
discern what is good from what is not. It is based on
first principle, that good is to be done and promoted,
and evil is to be avoided. All other precepts of the
natural law are based on this. For Aquinas, the
natural law impinges on the very freedom of the
human being who can know his/her options and
voluntarily will to take actions.
2) Eternal Law - is identical to the mind of God as seen
by God Himself. It can be called law because God
stands to the universe which He creates as a ruler
does to a community which He rules.
3) Divine Law - derived from eternal law as it appears
historically to humans, especially through revelation,
it appears to human beings as divine commands.
Divine law is divided into the Old Law and the New
Law. The Old Law and the New Law roughly
corresponds to the Old Testaments and the New
Testaments of the Bible. When he speaks of the Old
Law, St. Thomas Aquinas is thinking mainly of the
Ten Commandments. When he speaks of the New
Law, the teachings of Jesus Christ. The Old Law
commands conduct externally and it reaches
humans through their capacity for fear. This law
promised earthly rewards. The New Law commands
internal conduct, it reaches humans by the example
of divine love. This law promises heavenly rewards.
4) Human Law - what we commonly call positive law,
the laws actually enacted and put in force in our
human communities. Aquinas thinks of human laws
as laws, devised by human reason, adapted to
particular geographical, historical, and social
circumstances. Human law is directed to the
common good. The promotion of virtue is necessary
for the common good, and human laws are
instruments in the promotion of virtue.
 Correct Conscience - It judges what is really good as
good and what is really evil as evil
 Certain Conscience - It has a subjective assurance of
the lawfulness of unlawfulness of an act. This implies
that the person is sure of his decision.
 Perplexed Conscience - This type of erroneous
conscience unable to grasped something clearly and
fears sin in whatever choice it makes.
 Doubtful Conscience - a state of mind when it
cannot decide with certainty whether an action or
 behavior is good or bad leaving you unsure of what
to do or not having any peace of mind after
performing a certain action.
 Erroneous Conscience - It judges incorrectly that is
what is good is evil and what is evil is good. It is a
result of long-time persistence in doing, that the self
is no longer concerned whether what he/she does is
good or not bad.
THE RELATIONAL AND PERFECTION OF LOVE
The human person is not only bound to find full
maximum capacity of one’s own being in a search for self-
actualization. But by thoroughly relating with other human
persons and all of creation. St Thomas Aquinas holds that the
true destiny of man lies in a gratuitous perfection that is
beyond the human person yet relates with him/her
thoroughly in freedom, and therefore, in fullness of love. The
highest perfection of man for St Thomas Aquinas is in his/her
wanting to be with God. In other words, the ethical man is
not the perfect man but one who wants to be saved by
cooperating in freedom with what is attainable for him/her.
Thomas's ethics are based on the concept of first principles of
action. Thomas defined the four cardinal virtues as prudence,
temperance, justice, and fortitude. For him, the cardinal
virtues are natural and revealed in nature, and they are
binding on everyone. Thomas also greatly influenced Catholic
understandings of mortal and venial sin. Thomas viewed
theology, as a science, the raw material data of which
consists of written scriptures and the tradition of the Catholic
Church. According to him, faith and reason, while distinct but
related, are the two primary tools for processing the data of
theology. St. Thomas believed both were necessary for one to
obtain true knowledge of God. Thomas believed that the
existence of God is neither obvious nor unprovable. In the
Summa Theologica, he considered in great detail five reasons
for the existence of God. These are widely known as the
quinque viae, or the Five Ways. Concerning the nature of God,
Thomas felt the best approach, commonly called the via
negativa, is to consider what God is not. This led him to
propose five statements about the divine qualities:
 God is simple, without composition of parts, such as
body and soul, or matter and form.
 God is perfect, lacking nothing. That is, God is
distinguished from other beings on account of God's
complete actuality.
 God is infinite. That is, The unity of God is such that
God's essence is the same as God's existence. This
infinity is to be distinguished from infinity of size and
infinity of number.
 God is immutable, incapable of change on the levels
of God's essence and character.
 God is one, without diversification within God's self.
The unity of God is such that God's essence is the
same as God's existence.
MODULE 4 – LESSON 3: IMMANUEL KANT AND RIGHTS
THEORISTS
IMMANUEL KANT’S SHORT BIOGRAPHY
Kant was born in 1724 in Konigsberg, the capital of
Prusia at that time, now the city of Kaliningrad in Russia. He
was the fourth of eleven children. He was baptized
Emmanuel, but he changed his name to Immanuel after
learning Hebrew. His father, Johann George Kant, was a
German harness-maker from Memel while his mother, Regina
Dorothea Reuter, was a native of Nuremberg. During his
youth, Kant was a solid, albeit unspectacular student. He was
reared in a pietist household that stressed intense religious
devotion, personal humility, and a literal interpretation of the
Bible. Kant received a stern education – strict, punitive, and
disciplinary – that preferred Latin and religious instruction
over mathematics and science. He was the last influential
philosopher of the classic period of the theory of knowledge.
One of his most prominent works is the Critique of Pure
Reason, an investigation into the structure of reason. It
suggests that traditional metaphysics can be reformed
through epistemology, as we can face metaphysical problems
fruitfully by understanding the sources and limits of
knowledge. One of his most influential work is his treatise on
gravitation, in which he argued that attractive forces could act
at a distance without the necessity of a transmitting medium.
He also suggested correctly that the Milky Way was a lens-
shaped collection of stars and that tidal friction slows Earth's
rotation. Less wisely, he was convinced that the planets were
populated, with the most superior intellects on planets most
distant from the Sun. Kant introduced the principles of
Categorical Imperative into Ethics in order to distinguish the
overriding objective force of moral injunctions from the
hypothetical imperatives of other prescriptions. He
formulated the principle as act so that you can will the
principle of your action to become a universal law or act so
that you treat humanity as an end, never merely a means.
According to Immanuel Kant, Man is a rational being. Every
action of man must be in accordance with laws of reason that
makes man a moral agent. It is the duty of man to live a moral
life. Kant fully established the independence of his ethics
from religion via the recognition of reason as the foundation,
goodwill as the source, and duty as the motivation of what
obliges the human person. According to Immanuel Kant, the
moral authority is imminent in every man, that is the origin of
ethical obligations for man is his/her own goodwill.

THE SUBSTANCE OF RIGHTS
TWO IDENTIFIED SUBSTANCES OF RIGHTS:
1) Subject - refers to the person endowed with the
right to do. While the Object refer to something on
which the subject has the moral right.
2) Object - refers to something on which the subject
has the moral right.
THE ORIGIN OF RIGHTS
The right originates not from the person holding
it. Man has right because law provides him this. Law
provides man the power to do, to express, to act, to
receive etc. Without law man has no right. Law extends
and limits the right of man. It is always the law that
matters and not the man who is trusted by law to
perform his right so as they say No one is above the law.
Now, what is this law that gives man the power to do? It
can be a natural law and the human law that is Civil and
Ecclesiastical. Civil law, the laws enacted by Congress;
Ecclesiastical, the laws that governs the Church.
7) Alienable Rights - are transferrable or
renounceable rights. Positive rights and
Negative rights fall under this classification of
rights.
8) Inalienable Rights - are powers that cannot be
transferred or renounced. Example are religious
rights or rights to life.
9) Perfect Rights - are mandatory or enforceable
by law. As illustration, anyone has the right to
collect payment of debt. The rights of anybody
to help the poor, or victims of calamities.
10) Imperfect Rights - are different from the perfect
ones. They are not judicial or not enforceable by
law. Example is the right to give a tip to the
hotel ushers.
11) Properties of Rights - Rights have three
properties, namely; limitation, collision, and
inviolability. Law provides rights; it is also law
that limits rights. Rights are limited to avoid
violation of other’s right and this limitation
must be properly observed.

TYPES OF RIGHTS

1) Natural Rights - also called basic human rights

that includes; right to life, to freedom, to obtain
properties, to education. Those are the rights
endorsed by man in his/her birth.
2) Acquired Rights - rights obtained by individuals
after fulfilling some requirements as prescribed
by law.
3) Public Rights - refers to the rights given to the
people by the ecclesiastical laws and civil laws.
4) Private Rights - refers to the rights of the
person provided by the law of the firms,
institution or organizations formulated under
the civil law particularly the constitution of the
country.
5) Positive Rights - These are not confined to a
person. As an example anybody has the right to
own or not to own a property.
6) Negative Rights - are power of the persons to
refuse to perform negative acts such as;
stealing, intoxication, drinking, killing, and so
on.

MODULE 5 – LESSON 1: UTILITARIANISM
JEREMY BENTHAM’S SHORT BIOGRAPHY
He was born in Spitalfields, London, into a wealthy
family that supported the stories. He was reportedly a
child prodigy. He was found as a toddler sitting at his
father's desk reading a multi-volume history of England,
and he began to study Latin at the age of three. He
attended Westminster School. He took his Bachelor's
and Master's degree and the Queen’s College in Oxford.
He became deeply frustrated with the complexity of the
English legal code, which he termed the Demon of
Chicane. He was an English jurist, philosopher, and legal
and social reformer. He became a leading theorist in
Anglo-American philosophy of law. Bentham is also a
political radical whose ideas influenced the
development of welfarism. He is best known for his
advocacy of utilitarianism and animal rights, and the
idea of the panopticon. His position included arguments
in favor of individual and economic freedom, usury, the
separation of church and state, freedom of expression,
equal rights for women, the right to divorce, and the
decriminalizing of homosexual acts. He argued for the
abolition of slavery and the death penalty and for the
abolition of physical punishment, including that of
children. Although strongly in favor of the extension of
individual legal rights, he opposed the idea of natural
law and natural rights. He was made an honorary citizen
of the French Republic in 1792, and published copiously
on penal and social reform, economics, and politics. He
also founded the University College in London, where
his clothed skeleton is preserved on public view.
JOHN STUART MILL’S SHORT BIOGRAPHY
Mill was born on Rodney Street in the Pentonville area
of London. He is the eldest son of the Scottish
philosopher, historian and economist James Mill, and
Harriet Burrow. He was educated by his father, with the
advice and assistance of Jeremy Bentham and Francis
Place. He was given an extremely rigorous upbringing,
and was deliberately shielded from association with
children of his own age other than his siblings. Mill was
a British philosopher and civil servant. He is an
influential contributor to social theory, political theory,
and political economy. His conception of liberty justified
the freedom of the individual in opposition to unlimited
state control. He was a proponent of utilitarianism, an
ethical theory developed by Jeremy Bentham, although
his conception of it was very different with that of
Jeremy Bentham. Hoping to remedy the problems
found in an inductive approach to science, such as
confirmation bias, he clearly set forth the premises of
falsification as the key component in the scientific
method. Mill argues that despotism is an acceptable
form of government for those societies that are
backward as long as the despot has the best interests of
the people at heart, because of the barriers to
spontaneous progress. He believed that the struggle
between liberty and authority is the most conspicuous
feature in the portions of history. For him, liberty in
antiquity was a contest between subjects or some
classes of subjects, and the government. Mill defined
social liberty as protection from the tyranny of political
rulers. He introduces a number of different tyrannies,
including social tyranny, and also the tyranny of the
majority. Social liberty for Mill was to put limits on the
ruler’s power so that he would not be able to use his
power on his own wishes and make every kind of
decision which could harm society. In other words,
people should have the right to have a say in the
government’s decisions. He argued that social liberty
was the nature and limits of the power which can be
legitimately exercised by society over the individual. It
was attempted in two ways:
 By obtaining recognition of certain immunities
called political liberties or rights.
 By establishment of a system of constitutional
checks.
THE CONCEPT OF UTILITARIANISM
Utilitarianism is the idea that the moral worth
of an action is determined solely by its usefulness in
maximizing utility and minimizing negative utility as
summed among all sentient beings. It is thus a form of
consequentialism, meaning that the moral worth of an
action is determined by its outcome. It was described by
Jeremy Bentham as the greatest happiness or greatest
felicity principle. Utility, the good to be maximized, has
been defined by various thinkers as happiness or
pleasure, although preference Utilitarian defines it as
the satisfaction of preferences. It may be described as a
life stance, with happiness or pleasure being of ultimate
importance. Utilitarianism can be characterized as a
quantitative and reductionist approach to ethics. It can
be contrasted with deontological ethics which do not
regard the consequences of an act as a determinant of
its moral worth, and virtue ethics which focuses on
character. Bentham's utilitarianism is primarily
absolutist, even though it is much free than theories
such as those put forward by Immanuel Kant. This
means that all acts require a definite rules and codes as
to what the person must do in each situation to benefit
the most people. While, Mill's rule utilitarianism is much
more relative in that he encourages people to do acts
that are pleasurable to themselves as long as they are
what he calls a higher pleasure. An act utilitarianism
states that when faced with a choice, we must first
consider the likely consequences of potential actions
and, from that, choose to do what we believe will
generate the most pleasure. The rule utilitarian, on the
other hand, begins by looking at potential rules of
action. The distinction between act and rule
utilitarianism is therefore based on a difference about
the proper object of consequentialist calculation -
specific to a case or generalized to rules. It has been
argued that rule utilitarianism collapses into act
utilitarianism, because for any given rule, in the case
where breaking the rule produces more utility, the rule
can be sophisticated by the addition of a sub-rule that
handles cases like the exception. This process holds for
all cases of exceptions, and so the rules have as many
sub-rules as there are exceptional cases, which in the
end, makes an agent seek out whatever outcome
produces the maximum utility.
MODULE 5 – LESSON 2: JUSTICE AND FAIRNESS
Justice - defined as a maintenance or administration of
what is just especially by the impartial adjustment of
conflicting claims or the assignment of merited rewards
or punishments. it is also an action in compliance with
the conditions prescribed by law.
TYPES OF JUSTICE
1) Commutative Justice - It is a type of justice that
controls and harmonizes the exercise of rights
between men to his fellow man. It covers
private persons as well as juridical persons to
render each other according to the principle of
reciprocity. Commutative justice calls for
fundamental fairness in all agreements and
exchanges between individuals or private social
groups. It demands respect for the equal human
dignity of all persons in economic transactions,
contracts, or promises.
2) Distributive Justice - a type of justice that
regulates the exercise of rights between the
individual and the community. The objective
end of this form of justice is the private or
particular good of each member of the
community.
3) Legal Justice - a type of justice that regulates
the exercise of rights between the community
 and the authority charged with the general
welfare of the community. The objective
purpose of legal justice is the common good.
Legal justice and distributive justice
compliments each other. In the measure in
which the individual devotes his powers and
resources to the common welfare, the
community must show its concerns for his
particular welfare.
4) Social Justice - a type of justice that
presupposes commutative justice as a
condition. But it goes beyond the requirements
of commutative justice. Its objective purpose is
the common good. The model of social justice is
the solidly united family where the common
interest prevails and where it is self-evident that
the weaker members have just claim on the
stronger ones and on the solidarity of all. In
terms of the political stability of a given
territory, the state has the duty to safeguard
every member of the community, life,
sustenance, and the opportunity of work. On
the individual level, social justice imposes the
obligation to assist those in need so that they
too are able to live in the manner worthy of
their dignity as a person.
Common Good - In philosophy economics, and political
science, it refers to either what is shared and beneficial
for all members of a given entity. One understanding of
the common good rooted in Aristotle's philosophy
remains in common usage today, referring to what one
contemporary scholar calls the good proper to, and
attainable only by the community, yet individually
shared by its members and the state. In contemporary
economic theory, a common good is any good which is
rivalrous yet non-excludable, while the common good
arises in the subfield of welfare economics refers to the
outcome of a social welfare function. John Rawl defines
the common good as certain general conditions that are
given equally to everyone's advantage.
Social Choice Theory - It aims to understand processes
by which the common good may or may not be realized
in societies through the study of collective decision
rules.
Public Choice Theory - applies micro-economic
methodology to the study of political science in order to
explain how private interests affect political activities
and outcomes.
JOHN RAWL’S THEORY OF JUSTICE
He argues for a principled reconciliation of
liberty and equality, applied to the basic structure of a
well-ordered society, which will specify exactly such
general conditions. Rawls claims that the parties in the
original position would adopt two governing principles,
which would then regulate the assignment of rights and
duties and regulate the distribution of social and
economic advantages across society. The First Principle
of Justice states that each person is to have an equal
right to the most extensive basic liberty compatible with
a similar liberty for others. The Second Principle of
Justice provides that social and economic inequalities
are to be arranged such that:
 they are to be of the greatest benefit to the
least-advantaged members of society,
consistent with the just savings principle
 offices and positions must be open to everyone
under conditions of fair equality of opportunity.
IN NON-WESTERN MORAL AND POLITICAL THOUGHTS
The idea of a common good plays a role in
Confucian political philosophy, which stresses the
importance of the subordination of individual interests
to group or collective interests, or the mutual
dependence between the flourishing of the individual
and the flourishing of the group.
ESSENTIAL ELEMENTS OF COMMON GOOD
 Respect for the person
 The social well-being and development of the
group
 Peace and security
Egalitarian Concept - a trend of thought in political
philosophy. An egalitarian favors equality of some sort:
People should get the same, or be treated the same, or
be treated as equals, in some respect. Egalitarian
doctrines tend to rest on a background idea that all
human persons are equal in fundamental worth or
moral status. So far as the Western European and
Anglo-American philosophical tradition is concerned,
one significant source of this thought is the Christian
notion that God loves all human souls equally. In
modern democratic societies, the term egalitarian is
often used to refer to a position that favors, for any of a
wide array of reasons, a greater degree of equality of
income and wealth across persons that currently exists.
MODULE 5 – LESSON 3: THE ORDER OF RELIGION IN ETHICS
Religion - a social-cultural system of designated behaviors
and practices that relates humanity to supernatural,
transcendental, or spiritual elements. Different religions
contain various elements ranging from the divine, sacred
things, faith, supernatural beings or some sort of ultimacy
and transcendence that will provide norms and power for the
rest of life. The study of religion encompasses a wide variety
of academic disciplines including theology, comparative
religion, and social scientific studies. Theories of religion offer
various explanations for the origins and workings of religion,
including the ontological foundations of religious being and
belief. In most Ethics courses, including this one, there is
heavy emphasis on the traditions of the West to train
students to think about the ethical way of existence.
However, there is another tradition of thinking about the
good that is worth considering for a fuller understanding of
how people orient their lives to the good. These traditions
come from the great civilizations of the East particularly from
India and China. It would be profitable to study these
traditions because they are closer to Asian moral sensibilities
and have shaped them. These Asian traditions share some
general characteristics.
There are six identified common themes which can be drawn
from the great Asian spiritual and intellectual traditions.
1) First Theme - One can immediately notice that
religious thought is intertwined with philosophical
and ethical thinking. There is no real separation of
beliefs about the transcendent and the cosmos,
including the traditional mythical belief.
2) Second Theme - The essential elements that binds
the intellectual traditions is love and compassion.
3) Third Theme - The correctedness of personal
cultivation and social responsibility.
4) Fourth Theme - Each of the great Asian traditions,
more or less, outlines a path to enlightenment.
5) Fifth Theme - These traditions give human beings a
path to awaraness of the true order of all things.
6) Sixth Theme - These great teachings offer paths of
harmony with oneself, with others, with nature, and
with the Transcendent.
Buddhism - One of the well-known religion of eastern and
central Asia growing out of the teaching of Siddharta
Gautama. The basic doctrines of early Buddhism, which
remain common to all Buddhism, include the four noble
truths:
 existence of suffering (dukhka)
 suffering is cause by craving and attachment
(trishna)
 there is a cessation of suffering
 suffering can be eliminated through the eightfold
path
THE EIGHTFOLD PATH
 Right Understanding (Samma ditthi)
 Right Thought (Samma sankappa)
 Right Speech (Samma vaca)
 Right Action (Samma kammanta)
 Right livelihood (Samma ajiva)
 Right effort (Samma vayoma)
 Right mindfulness (Samma sati)
 Right concentration (Samma saamadhi)
Experience is analyzed into five aggregates, namely: the
first, form (rupa), refers to material existence; the
following four, sensations (vedana), perceptions
(samjna), psychic constructs (samkara), and
consciousness (vijnana).
The central Buddhist teaching of non-self (anatman)
asserts that in the five aggregates no independently
existent, immutable self, or soul, can be found.
Buddhism accepts the pan-Indian presupposition of
samsara, or rebirth provided by one's previous physical
and mental actions. The release from this cycle of
rebirth and suffering is the total transcendence called
Nirvana.
 Confucians, everyday life was the arena of religion. One
side of Confucianism was the affirmation of accepted
Hinduism - the world’s oldest existing religion. It
values and norms of behavior in primary social
embraces many religious ideas. For this reason, it’s
institutions and basic human relationships. All human
sometimes referred to as a way of life or a family of
relationships involved a set of defined roles and mutual
religions, as opposed to a single, organized religion.
obligations. Confucius not only stressed social rituals,
Most forms of Hinduism are henotheistic, which means
but also humaneness (ren). Ren, sometimes translated
they worship a single deity, known as Brahman, but still
love or kindness, is not any one virtue, but the source of
recognize other gods and goddesses. Followers believe
all virtues. Confucius taught that humanity exists in an
there are multiple paths to reaching their god. Hindus
inter-relationship between heaven and earth. Heaven is
believe in the doctrines of samsara- the continuous
seen as the guiding force, giving direction to change and
cycle of life, death, and reincarnation, and karma - the
progress, while earth provides the natural context and
universal law of cause and effect. One of the key
seasonal changes.
thoughts of Hinduism is atman, or the belief in soul. This
philosophy holds that living creatures have a soul, and
they’re all part of the supreme soul. The goal is to
Christianity - a religion that is primarily based on the
achieve moksha, or salvation, which ends the cycle of
birth, life, death, resurrection and teaching of Jesus
rebirths to become part of the absolute soul. One
Christ. The beginning of the Christian religion and the
fundamental principle of the religion is the idea that
Christian church began with Jesus Christ and His
people’s actions and thoughts directly determine their
apostles. Christianity began in the 1st century AD after
current life and future lives. Hindus strive to achieve
Jesus died, as a small group of Jewish people in Judea,
dharma, which is a code of living that emphasizes good
but quickly spread throughout the Roman empire.
conduct and morality. The primary sacred texts, known
Despite early persecution of Christians, it become the
as the Vedas, were composed around 1500 B.C. The
largest of the world’s religions and, geographically, the
Vedas are made up of:
most widely diffused of all faiths. It has a constituency
 The Rig Veda of more than two billion believers. Its largest groups are
 The Samaveda the Roman Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox
 Yajurveda Church, and the Protestant Church. At its most basic,
 Atharvaveda Christianity is the faith tradition that focuses on the
figure of Jesus Christ. In this context, faith refers both to
Hindus believe that the Vedas transcend all time and the believers’ act of trust and to the content of their
don’t have a beginning or an end. The Upanishads, the faith. As a tradition, Christianity is more than a system
Bhagavad Gita, Puranas, Ramayana and Mahabharata of religious belief. It also has generated a culture, a set
are also considered important texts in Hinduism. of ideas and ways of life, practices, and artifacts that
have been handed down from generation to generation.

Confucianism - often characterized as a system of social

and ethical philosophy rather than a religion. In fact, it Globalization - the connection of different parts of the
was built on an ancient religious foundation to establish world resulting in the expansion of international
the social values, institutions, and transcendent ideals cultural, economic, and political activities. It is the
of traditional Chinese society. It is was called a civil movement and integration of goods and people among
religion because of its sense of religious identity and different countries. There are three main classifications
common moral understanding at the foundation of a of globalization, political, social, and economic.
society's central institutions. It is also called a diffused
religion because its institutions were not a separate
church, but those of society, family, school, and state;
Political Globalization - the amount of political co-
its priests were not separate liturgical specialists, but
operation that exists between different countries.
parents, teachers, and officials. Confucianism was part
of the Chinese social fabric and way of life; to
Social Globalization - the sharing of ideas and
information between and through different countries.
Economic Globalization - the inter-connectedness of
economies through trade and the exchange of
resources.
MODULE 6 – LESSON 1: BUSINESS ETHICS
The world of business is oftentimes seen as an amoral world.
It is viewed as a world solely driven by profit-motive and
business people are often portrayed as ruthless, self-
interested individual. One might thus wonder how business
and ethics can co-exist. One of the principal tasks of ethics is
to enforce the values of justice and fairness in situations
where there are grave abuses of power and a gross imbalance
in the allocation of resources between people that are meant
to share them.
Business Ethics - It negotiates a way of speaking the language
of business, translating the language of normativity into a
language that can be understood and accepted by those in
the business community.
BASIC NORMATIVE THEORIES IN BUSINESS ETHICS
1) The Stockholder Theory - states that businesses are
merely arrangements by which one group of people,
the stockholders, advance capital to another group,
the managers, to be used to realize specified ends
and for which the stockholders receive an ownership
interest in the venture. In this theory, it is the people
who invested money in the company that serve as
the main source of business decisions. The
stockholder theory holds that managers pursue their
bottom line by legal and non-deceptive means.
2) The Stakeholder Theory - holds that the
management’s fundamental obligation is not to
maximize the firm’s financial success but to ensure
its survival by balancing the conflicting claims of
multiple stakeholders. A stakeholder is defined as
any group or
individual that stands to benefit or suffer from
decisions made by a corporation. This obligation is
based on the principles of stakeholder management.
PRINCIPLES OF STAKEHOLDER MANAGEMENT
 Principle of Corporate Legitimacy - The corporation
should be managed for the benefit of its
stakeholders; its customers, suppliers, owners,
employees, and the local communities.
 Stakeholder Fiduciary Principle - Management bears
a fiduciary relationship to stakeholders and to the
corporation as an abstract entity. It must act in the
interest of stakeholders as their agent, and it must
act in the interest of the corporation to ensure
survival.
3) The Social Contract Theory - This normative theory
states that all businesses are ethically obligated to
enhance the welfare of the society by satisfying
customer and employee interests without violating
any of the general canons of justice. This theory
posits an implicit agreement between businesses
and society that the latter only tolerates the
existence and operation of the former under the
supposition that it can benefit from it. This theory is
formulated in the spirit of the traditional political
social contract theories crafted by Thomas Hobbes,
John Locke, and Jean Jacques Rousseau.
WAYS ON HOW BUSINESSES MAY ENHANCE THE WELFARE
OF SOCIETY
 Benefit consumer by increasing economic efficiency,
stabilizing levels of output and channels of
distribution and increasing liability resources.
 Benefit employees by increasing their income
potential, diffusing their personal liability, and
facilitating their income allocation. resources.
 Minimizing pollution and depletion of natural
resources, the destruction of personal
accountability, the misuse of political power, as well
as worker alienation, lack of control over working
conditions, and dehumanization.
THE STAGES OF ORGANIZATIONAL MORAL DEVELOPMENT
1. Stage 1. The Amoral Organization
- This type of organization is defined by a winning at any cost
attitude. Ethics is the least of its concerns. It is an enterprise
completely absorbed in productivity and profitability.
2. Stage 2. The Legalistic Corporation
- An organization in this state of moral development exhibits
a respect for laws, codes, and regulations. This firm is
concerned with following rules, placing a premium on the
legality of an action over the morality of it
 3. Stage 3. The Responsive Corporation
- This type of corporation begins to acquire values other than
profitability and legality. These firms have it in their interest
to do right, but it considers more as an expediency rather
than an end in itself.
4. Stage 4. The Emergent Ethical Organization
- This type of organization actively seeks greater balance
between profit and ethics. It recognizes the existence of a
social contract between business and society.
5. Stage 5. The Ethical Organization
- This type of organization is characterized by an organization-
wide acceptance of a common set of ethical values that
permeates the organization’s culture. These core values guide
the everyday behavior of an individual’s actions.
MODULE 6 – LESSON 2: ENVIRONMENTAL ETHICS
The rise of Environmental Ethics may be traced back to the
1950’ and 1960’s, a time when humanity palpably faced
nuclear annihilation during the Cold War era.
Environmental Ethics - part of what is traditionally called
environmental philosophy. It considers planet as community
and its ethical application includes the inanimate or non-
human entities of the community.
CATEGORIES OF ENVIRONMENTAL ETHICS
1) Libertarian Extension - generally a part of civil
liberty. It commits to include all members of the
community an equal rights from each other. These
community members include humans and the non-
human beings.
2) Ecologic Extension - refers to the way or means in
which plants, animals, and people are related to
each other and to their environment.
3) Conservation Ethics - refers to the conservation of
human kind and the environment to which they
belong. According to environmental ethics, the end
of man is survival, and environment is the means for
that end.
Deep Ecology - refers to the intrinsic value of the members of
global community including those non-humans. It is called
deep because it considers the inner value or usefulness of
something.
Humanist Theories - sets the criteria for moral status and
ethical worth. This adheres to the ecologic extensions that
every member of a global has worth and has a moral value.
Applied Theology - We are told; everything in the universe is
a creation of God. In the ladder of God’s creation man is on
top of it. Utilizing the environment for the needs of man
makes man accountable to God for what they did to their
environment.
Anthropocentrism - Human is the center of the universe.
Under the Anthropocentrism all the other entities in the
global community come to be for the existence of man
CURRENT ENVIRONMENTAL PROBLEMS
1) Pesticide - When you spray your room for
mosquitoes and bedbugs you contribute enough to
the destruction of the ozone layer. The same
contribution is given by the farmer after he sprayed
his field with herbicide or insecticide.
2) Global Warming - the sudden increase in world
temperature caused by increased amount of carbon
dioxide around the earth.
3) Acid Rain - a harmful acid contaminated rain causing
damage to the environment; so it is called acid rain.
It is usually caused by chemicals from cars or
factories carried by air into the sky.
4) Water Pollution - When these words come to view,
the picture forms in our minds are rivers, streams,
lakes and seas flooded with throw-away materials
particularly plastics. These are wastes seen by a
naked eye; they too kill aquatic life.
5) Chemical Spills - One of the most frightening effects
of chemical spills and toxic dumping is health of the
people. They cause birth defects, cancer, poisoning,
and worst death.
6) Euthropication - a result of intensive farming, a
heavy application of fertilizers with phosphate and
nitrogen. Water streams down into the rives and in
the rivers growth of algae accelerates consuming the
oxygen until all other lives are choked to death.
VARIOUS APPROACHES TO ENVIRONMENTAL ETHICS
1) Ethical Treatment of Animals - Peter Singer and Tom
Reagan advocates equal treatment for all sentient
beings, from animals to human beings. According to
them, if one wants to be ethical in one’s treatment
 of animals, one must continually come up with ways
of
lessening their suffering or view them as beings that
have inherent value.
2) Biocentrism - Paul Taylor extends moral
consideration from the sphere of sentience and puts
forward an argument for the moral protection of all
beings that may be considered as teleological
centers of life. For Taylor, a biocentric outlook
protects the rights of all living organism including
plants and microorganism, to seek out their good
and well-being. As a teleological centers of life, an
organisms exist for the sake of furthering its
existence by undergoing changes and processes that
improve its well-being.
3) Land Ethics - Aldo Leopold holds that a thing is right
when it tends to preserve the integrity, stability, and
beauty of the biotic community. It is wrong when it
tends otherwise. According to this view, the land
itself, or what Leopold calls the biotic community, is
considered as the locus of intrinsic value.
4) Sustainable Development