SOCSCI 1100

MRS. MARIA CELIA M. FERNANDO

5 METHODS OF PHILOSOPHIZING
METHOD: PROPONENT/S: DESCRIPTION/S:
Teach students to think for
1.) SOCRATIC METHOD Socrates themselves.

Socrates (470-399 BC) was a

Greek philosopher who sought
to get to the foundations of his
students' and colleagues' views
by asking continual questions
until a contradiction was
exposed, thus proving the
fallacy of the initial assumption.
This became known as the
Socratic Method, and may be
Socrates' most enduring
contribution to philosophy.

The Socratic method (also

known as method of Elenchus,
elenctic method, or Socratic
debate) is a form of cooperative
argumentative dialogue
between individuals, based on
asking and answering questions
to stimulate critical thinking and
to draw out ideas and
underlying presuppositions.

2.) DIALECTICAL METHOD Plato and Socrates

PLATO
- Born 428/427 BCE,
Athens, Greece
- Died 348/347, Athens
- Ancient Greek any systematic reasoning,
Philosopher exposition or argument that
- Student Of Socrates juxtaposes opposed or
(C. 470–399 BCE) contradictory ideas and usually
- Teacher Of Aristotle seeks to resolve their conflict: a
(384–322 BCE) method of examining and
- Founder of the discussing opposing ideas in
Academy order to find the truth.
- best known as the
author of
philosophical works
of unparalleled
influence.

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 a systematic process of being
3.) CARTESIAN METHOD of René Descartes skeptical about (or doubting)
doubt “I think, therefore I am.” the truth of one's beliefs, which
has become a characteristic
method in philosophy.
To overcome skepticism be an
ultra-sceptic in method.
Anything that is not certain must
be rejected.
Anything that is capable of
being doubted at all must also
be rejected.
What is left will offer certain
foundations upon which to build
our knowledge.

the main objective of which is

4.) PHENOMENOLOGICAL the direct investigation and
METHOD description of phenomena as
consciously experienced,
without theories about their
causal explanation and as free
as possible from unexamined
preconceptions and
presuppositions.

the direct investigation and

description of phenomena as
consciously experienced,
without theories about their
causal explanation and as free
as possible from unexamined
preconceptions and
presuppositions.
a philosophy professing to be
5.) SPECULATIVE METHOD OR founded upon intuitive or a priori
THE METHOD OF insight and
ABSTRACTION especially insight into the nature
of the Absolute or Divine
a philosophy professing to be
founded upon intuitive or a priori
insight and especially insight
into the nature of the Absolute
or Divine broadly

a philosophy of the
transcendent or one lacking
empirical base.

theoretical as opposed to
demonstrative philosophy

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 ETHICS
WHY STUDY ETHICS?
Studying ethics will improve one’s ability to engage in difficult moral dialogue with people
who have different perspectives from his/her own. It will help a person live consistently with his/her
values and think reflectively about those values as one learns more about the world and his/ her
place in it.
Practical reasons to study ethics. Studies show that people who study ethics have a
significant advantage in the workplace — one of many career-oriented reasons to consider
making the study of ethics a part of your collegiate life.

What is ETHICS?
• Ethics is a branch of philosophy
• It is also called moral philosophy
• Ethics, or moral philosophy, asks basic questions about the good life, about what is better
and worse, about whether there is any objective right and wrong, and how we know it if
there is.
• Ethics is a vital aspect of human life and plays a critical role in shaping our behavior,
relationships, and society. By reflecting on our moral values and principles and applying
them in our daily lives, we can cultivate a more compassionate and just world for all.
• Ethics is based on well-founded standards of what is morally good and bad and morally
right and wrong for the society.
• Ethics stablish the rules that individuals need to follow for the survival of the society. There
ethics are subjective and communal.

An ethical behavior is an action that is following the rules of what is considered correct in a society.
A moral behavior is driven by the desire to be good.

ETHICAL PERSPECTIVES
UTILITARIAN ETHICS focuses on the greatest good for the
greatest number of people.
emphasizes that certain actions,
DEONTOLOGICAL ETHICS
regardless of their outcomes, are inherently
right or wrong.
VIRTUE ETHICS highlights the importance of developing
virtuous character traits and acting in
accordance with
those traits.

OBJECTIVES OF ETHICS?
• to help us decide what is good or bad, better or worse, either in some general way or with
regard to particular ethical issues. This is generally called normative ethics.
• to establish principles and moral standards of behavior.
• equip human with intellectual capacities for responsible moral judgment

ETHICS-RELATED CONCEPTS
Metaethical inquiry asks questions about the
METAETHICS nature of ethics, including the meaning of
ethical terms and judgments.

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 Questions about the relation between
philosophical
ethics and religion
problem in the decision-making process
between two possible options, neither of which
is absolutely acceptable from an ethical
perspective.

ETHICAL DILEMMAS AND MORAL QUANDARIES

ETHICS AND ETHICAL REASONING

THREE (3) FOUNDATION OF ETHICS
1. virtue ethics
2. consequentialist ethics
3. deontological or duty-based ethics.

MORAL FOUNDATION THEORY

Moral Foundations Theory was created by a group of social and cultural psychologists to
understand why morality varies so much across cultures yet still shows so many similarities and
recurrent themes.
In brief, the theory proposes that several innate and universally available psychological
systems are the foundations of “intuitive ethics.” Each culture then constructs virtues, narratives,
and institutions on top of these foundations, thereby creating the unique moralities we see around
the world, and conflicting within nations too.
argues that there are five basic moral foundations:
(1) harm/care,
(2) fairness/reciprocity,
(3) ingroup/loyalty,
(4) authority/respect, and
(5) purity/sanctity.

FIVE BASIC MORAL FOUNDATIONS

1. Care/Harm This foundation is related to our long evolution as mammals
with attachment systems and an ability to feel (And dislike)
the pain of others. It underlies virtues of kindness, gentleness,
and nurturance.

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 2. Fairness/Cheating This foundation is related to the evolutionary process of
reciprocal altruism. It generates ideas of justice, rights, and
autonomy. [Note: In our original conception, Fairness included
concerns about equality, which are more strongly endorsed by
political liberals. However, as we reformulated the theory in 2011
based on new data, we emphasize proportionality, which is
endorsed by everyone, but is more strongly endorsed by
conservatives]

3. Loyalty/Betrayal This foundation is related to our long history as tribal creatures

able to form shifting
coalitions. It underlies virtues of patriotism and self-sacrifice
for the group. It is active anytime people feel that it’s “One
for all, and all for one.”

4. Authority/Subversion This foundation was shaped by our long primate history of

hierarchical social interactions. It underlies virtues of
leadership and followership, including deference to
legitimate authority and respect for traditions.

5. Sanctity/Degradation This foundation was shaped by the psychology of disgust and

contamination. It underlies religious notions of striving to live
in an elevated, less carnal, more noble way. It underlies the
widespread idea that the body is a temple which can be
desecrated by immoral activities and contaminants (an idea
not unique to religious traditions).

THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN NORMATIVE CLAIMS AND DESCRIPTIVE CLAIMS.

• Normative claims make value judgments
• Descriptive claims do not make value judgments

UNDERSTANDING ETHICS-RELATED KEY TERMS (MORAL THEORIES)

1. INTUITIONISM Ethical intuitionism is the idea that true,
objective information about morality is
accessible to people just through intuition

Ethical intuitionism also holds that there can

exist no complete scientific or empirical
deconstruction of moral goodness, as it is
fundamental and non-natural.

2. EMOTIVISM the view that moral judgments do not function

as statements of fact but rather as expressions
of the speaker’s or writer’s feelings.

Emotivism is a theory that claims that moral

language or judgement are neither true nor
false; express our emotions; try to influence
others to agree with us.

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 “When an Emotivists says lying is bad, they're giving the
instruction "don't tell lies", while an Emotivists who says lying
is good is giving the instruction "do tell lies" – and we can
see that there is a clear disagreement between them.”

Bad Points of Emotivism

• Emotivism says that moral statements just express our feelings.
• It became unpopular with philosophers because the theory that led the Emotivists to
think that moral statements were meaningless has fallen from favor.
• In practical terms, Emotivism falls down because it isn't very satisfying. Even (most)
philosophers think moral statements are more than just expressions of feeling.
• It's perfectly possible to imagine an ethical debate in which neither party has an
emotion to express.
• Non-philosophers also think there is more to ethics than just the expression of an attitude
or an attempt to influence behavior. They want a better explanation and foundation
for shared standards of morality than Emotivism can provide.

3. OBJECTIVISIM Objectivism holds that reality is an absolute—

that facts are facts, regardless of anyone’s
hopes, fears, or desires. There is a world
independent of our minds to which our
thinking must correspond if our ideas are to be
true and therefore of practical use in living our
lives, pursuing our values, and protecting our
rights.
We ought to desire things that are good—with
an emphasis on the goodness of the thing-in-
itself apart from our subjective responses
There must be objective reasons that ground
our subjective and emotional responses to
things
Objectivists hold that values have an objective
reality— that they are objects available for
knowledge
Subjectivism is the theory that perception (or
4. SUBJECTIVISM
consciousness) is reality, and that there is no
underlying, true reality that exists independent
of perception.
It does not claim that "all is illusion" or that
"there is no such thing as reality", merely that
the nature of reality is dependent on the
consciousness of the individual. In an extreme
form, it may hold that the nature and
existence of every object depends solely on
someone's subjective awareness of it.

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TYPES OF SUBJECTIVISM
1. Metaphysical Subjectivism is the idea (as described above) there is no
underlying, true reality that exists independent
of perception or consciousness.

2. Ethical Subjectivism (or Moral is the meta-ethical belief that ethical

Subjectivism) sentences reduce to factual statements about
the attitudes and/or conventions of individual
people, or that any ethical sentence implies
an attitude held by someone. It is therefore a
form of Moral Relativism in which the truth of
moral claims is relative to the attitudes of
individuals.

TWO BRANCHES OF ETHICS

METAETHICS NORMATIVE ETHICS
Focuses on determining the meaning and Attempts to determine which character traits
objectivity of moral concepts of good and are good and bad, which actions are right
bad, or right and wrong and wrong.

The study of the nature of ethics The study of ethical action.

Analyzes the meaning of moral language and Evaluates standards for the rightness or
metaphysics of moral facts. wrongness.
More philosophical in nature as it analyzes the
More practical in nature.
nature of ethics and morality.

ETHICS: DISCOVERING RIGHT AND WRONG

LOUIS J. POJMAN | FIFTH EDITION

ETHICS
Moral The term ETHICS comes from BOTH the
LATIN GREEK
“mores”: customs “ethos”: character

Each derives their meaning from the idea of custom.

Ethics Refers to the whole domain of

morality and moral philosophy
Both areas are connected by common concerns in
different ways through: Values, Virtues, Principles, and
Practices
Morality refers to • Certain Customs
• Certain Precepts
• Certain Practices of Peoples and Cultures

Positive or Descriptive Morality used to describe actual beliefs and customs of a culture

Moral Philosophy Refers to philosophical or theoretical reflection on morality

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 Your author terms these theories "Ethical Theories"

These theories come from moral philosophical reflections.

The systematic endeavor to understand moral concepts

and justify moral principles and theories.

Moral Philosophy analyzes concepts and terms like:

right/wrong, ought, and good/evil.

Seeks to establish principles of right behavior to serve as a

guide for individuals and groups
Investigates which values and virtues are important for a
worthwhile life in society

MORAL PRECEPTS CONCERN SOCIAL NORMS

• Morality has a normative aspect in that it has a distinct guiding function which is also shared
by religion, law and social etiquette.
• Morality functions differently in religion, law and social etiquette.

MORALITY
Morality is usually essential to the religion's practice.
1. Morality in RELIGION

The moral principles are grounded in revelation and

divine authority of that religious belief system.

Morality also does all of these three:

2. Morality and LAW
• Laws are instituted to promote social and
individual well-being.
• Laws resolve conflicts of interest.
• Laws promote social harmony.
Ethics may judge that some laws are immoral without
denying that those same laws are valid laws.
Law and Morality Differ
Bad intentions (mens rea) are factored into the
legality of a criminal act.
But, no one can be punished for only thinking bad
thoughts according to the law.
According to the concept of 'Intent'
The enforcement of Law has physical (imprisonment)
and financial (fines) sanctions.
Only sanctions of conscience or reputation enforce
morality.

3. Morality and ETIQUETTE Etiquette determines what is polite social behavior.

Morality determines what is correct or right social

behavior.

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 Not obeying social custom in some cases can be
considered immoral.

RELIGION, LAW, & ETIQUETTE HAVE LIMITATIONS IN SOCIETY

• Religion - rests on Authority that some people question.
• Law - every social ill does not have a law and all rules cannot be enforced.
• Etiquette - does not go to the depth of what is existentially important.

TRAITS OF MORAL PRINCIPLES

Central to morality are moral principles which have these five traits:
This refers to the practice or action guiding nature of morality.
1. Prescriptivity
This trait of moral principles advises people and influences action.
Moral principles must apply to all who are in relatively the same
2. Universalizability
situation.
They must apply to all evaluative judgments.
They must be used consistently.
An authority that takes precedence over other considerations
3. Overridingness
including aesthetic, prudential and legal
concerns.
When principles conflict, one must override the other(s) for an
action to be morally justified.
Moral Principles must be known by all and must be made public.
4. Publicity
Keeping a moral principle secret would defeat the purpose of
having a moral principle.
Moral Principles must be workable to all in the general society.
5. Practicability
Rules must not be too much for
anyone person
Rules must take human limitation into consideration.
Difference in ethical standards occur over time and place.

ETHICAL ASSESSMENT
Generally, there are four domains which evaluate rules of right conduct
1. Action usually termed right or wrong.
RIGHT ACTS
'Right' can be an ambiguous term
Right can mean obligatory or permissible
Two (2) types of RIGHT ACTION
Obligatory Act Optional Act
An act you must do; you are required An act not obligatory or wrong
to do; you may not refrain from doing to do; not your duty to do or
it. not to do
WRONG ACTS
One has an obligation or duty to refrain from doing the action.
One ought not to do the action at all.
It is not an act that is permissible for one to do.
SUPEREROGATORY ACTS
These actions are within the range of permissible acts.

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 These are highly altruistic acts.
These are not required or obligatory acts.
They exceed what morality requires.
They go beyond 'the call of duty.'
DEONTOLOGICAL ACTIONS
'Deon' is from the Greek word 'Duty'
These theories emphasize the nature of an action.
They hold that there is something inherently good or right about certain
actions and wrong or bad about other actions.
2. Consequences Actions based on the foreseeable outcome of a course of decision
Teleological Ethical Theories
Theories that focus on consequences in determining what is moral/right
or immoral/wrong
'Telos' is Greek and means goal directed.
3. Character Character reflects actions that emphasize virtue.
Virtue empowers character to do good.
Most moral theories consider virtue important.
But virtue is not always central to all moral theories.
Moral actions take into account the intention or motivation of the actor
4. Motive
prior to the act itself.
The full assessment of an act considers intention or motive.
Motive and intent are relevant factors in any given action.

NEED FOR MORALITY

WHY DO WE NEED MORALITY?
There are many responses to this question.
Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679) stated: Humans create a 'social contract or covenant' to
create a standard of social morals to counteract our 'state of nature' as he saw humanity.
MORALITY
• Morality is the most important subject on earth.
• Without it, we cannot promote the good of humanity.
• Moral rules are not relative.
• They are not totally absolute; they can override one another.
PURPOSES OF MORALITY
• Morality is the force in humanity that can keep us within a human behavior that
advocates decency and respect.
• Morals are a set of rules that if everyone follows them, nearly everyone will flourish.
• These rules restrain our freedom in order to promote greater freedom and well-being for
us and for all in society.
• There are generally five purposes of morals that are related but not all identical.
THE GOAL OF MORALITY
• To create happy virtuous people
• To create and support flourishing communities based on order and justice
• To provide guidelines for people to achieve the above
• To promote the good of morality

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