Republic of the Philippines

CENTRAL BICOL STATE UNIVERSITY OF AGRICULTURE

Calabanga | Pasacao | Pili | Sipocot

GEC 4- Ethics

Philosophical Foundations
of Ethics cnt.
 Amoral vs. Nonmoral
Amoral means having no moral sense or being Nonmoral means out of the
indifferent to right and wrong. realm of morality altogether.
Examples:
✓ an infant/babies, unlearned in what is right
Examples:
and wrong, is amoral ✓ Inanimate objects like guns,
✓ someone who lacks the mental ability to cars
understand right or wrong due to illness ✓ Mathematics, Astronomy and
Physics
Amoral can be used to describe any person, or his
or her actions, who is aware of what is right and
wrong but does wrong anyway and responds
indifferently about it.
Sources: Padilla (2019, 3-4); Merriam-Webster (2020)
 Source: Brewer (2020)

Source: Brewer (2020)

 The study of ethics concerns
questions of moral right and wrong,
duty and obligation, and moral
responsibility.

Source: Padilla (2019)

 Euthanasia
- describes the situation where the person who
is asking for assistance to die has someone
else take the action that leads to their
unnatural death (like injecting a lethal drug)
- is when the attending medical or nurse
practitioner, takes an action with the singular
intention of causing a patient’s death.
Generally, this is in the form of a lethal
injection.
- is generally in the form of a lethal injection

Sources: Kamouni (2020); Maxim Institute (2021)

 Assisted Suicide
- is when the person is prescribed drugs
that they must take themselves in
order to die.
- is when a suicide is intentionally
aided by the attending medical or
nurse practitioner and the person self-
administers the medication. That is,
the medical practitioner will prescribe
a lethal drug which the patient will
usually take orally.
Source: The Arc (2021); Maxim Institute (2021)
The line between assisted suicide and euthanasia is very thin.
If a doctor places lethal drugs in a person’s hands it is assisted
suicide, but on his tongue it is euthanasia.

If the doctor sets up a lethal syringe-driver and pushes it

himself it is euthanasia, but if the patient applies pressure or
flicks the switch it is assisted suicide (The Economist, 2018).

Source: The Economist (2018)

Sources: Brenan (2022)
Sources: UHope Foundation (2016)
 The Material and Formal Object of Ethics
1. The material object of a science is the matter with which the science
deals. In the case of Ethics, the material object consists of human acts.
Human Act vs. Act of Man
Human Act
✓ is the one that proceeds from the deliberate free will of man.
✓ an act that deliberately and knowingly performed by one having the use of reason.
✓ both intellect and free will are in play.
✓ an act proper to man as man.

Act of Man
✓ is one that is not dependent upon intellect and free will.
✓ is done by human person but it is not proper to him as a person because it does not
stem from those faculties which are peculiar to man: intellect and will.
✓ Ex. Somnambulism or sleepwalking
Source: Padilla (2004, pp. 14-15; 2019, p. 5)
 Human Act vs. Act of Man cnt.
For an act to be considered a human act, it must possess the following
essential attributes:

1. It must be performed by a conscious agent who is aware of what he is

doing and of its consequences.
2. It must be performed by an agent who is acting freely, that is, by his own
volition and powers.
3. It must be performed by an agent who decides wilfully to perform the
act.

Human acts must, therefore, be knowing, free, and wilful. The lack of any of
these attributes renders an act defective and less voluntary.
Source: Padilla (2019, p. 5)
 The Material and Formal Object of Ethics cnt.

2. The formal object of a science is the precise

aspect under which that science deals with its
subject matter. In the case of ethics, the formal
object is the moral rectitude of man’s human acts
in relation to man’s natural end.

Source: Padilla (2019, p. 5)

 The Material and Formal Object of Ethics cnt.
3. Ethical Conclusions. In order to reach its conclusions,
ethics draws upon the following sources:

a. Human reason (its primary source)

b. Experience (contemporary and historical)
b.1. Personal experience
b.2. Experience of others

Source: Padilla (2019, p. 5)

 Morality and Etiquette
Etiquette refers to any special code of behaviour or courtesy.

It is a commonplace to judge people’s manners as good or bad and the conduct hat reflects
them as right and wrong. Thus, the supervisor was wrong to use vulgar language at the
meeting, it is bad to slurp your soup, it is good to wear dark cloths to a funeral, it is right to
show respect to our elderly relatives. Good, bad right and wrong simply mean socially
appropriate or inappropriate. In these contexts, such words express judgements about
manners, no ethics, about matters of taste, not morality.

The so-called rules of etiquette that we learned at home and school are prescriptions for
socially acceptable behaviour. If we want to fit in, get along with others, and be thought
well of by them, we should observe common rules of etiquette.

Source: Padilla (2019, p. 5)

 Morality and Etiquette cnt.
Rules of etiquette are generally nonmoral assertions: Give the groom
your congratulations, but the bride best wishes; Push your chair
back into place upon leaving a dinner table.

But what is considered a bad taste can also be a moral question. The
male boss who refers to subordinates as honey, doll, darling or
sweetie pie shows bad manners. If such epithets diminish the worth
of female employees or perpetuate sexism, then they also raise moral
issues concerning equal treatment and denial of dignity to human
beings.
Source: Padilla (2019, pp. 5-6)
 Morality and Law

Law, the discipline and profession concerned

with the customs, practices, and rules of
conduct of a community that are recognized
as binding by the community. Enforcement
of the body of rules is through a controlling
authority.
Source: Britannica (2023)
 Morality and Law cnt.
Four (4) Kinds of Law

1.Statutes
✓ are laws enacted by legislative bodies (congress)
✓ prohibits touching people without their consent
✓ Ordinances: laws enacted by local governing bodies like
city/municipal councils
✓ comprise a large part of the law and are what many of us mean
when we speak of laws

Source: Padilla (2019, p. 6)

 Morality and Law cnt.
Four (4) Kinds of Law cnt.
2. Regulations. Limited in their knowledge, legislators often set up boards or
agencies, whose functions include issuing detailed regulations of certain kinds
of conduct: administrative regulations.

Ex. State legislatures establish license boards to formulate regulations for the
licencing of physicians and nurses.

As long as these regulations do not exceed the board’s statutory powers and do
not conflict with other kinds of law, they are legally binding.

Source: Padilla (2019, p. 7)

 Morality and Law cnt.
Four (4) Kinds of Law cnt.
3. Common Law refers to the laws applied in the English-speaking world
before there were any statues. Courts frequently wrote opinions explaining the
bases of their decisions in specific cases, including the legal principles they
deemed appropriate. Each of these opinions became a precedent for later
decisions in similar cases. Over the years, a massive body of legal principles
accumulated is collectively referred to as common law. Like administrative
regulations, common law valid if it harmonizes with statutory law and with
still another kind, constitutional law.

Source: Padilla (2019, p. 7)

 Morality and Law cnt.
Four (4) Kinds of Law cnt.

4. Constitutional Law. The Philippine Constitution

enshrines the observance of the principle of powers and the
system of checks and balances among the legislative, the
executive and the judicially departments. Constitutional law
defines the relationship of these three entities within a state.

Source: Padilla (2019, p. 7)

References:
Brenan, B. M. (2022, January 11). Record-High 47% in U.S. think abortion is morally acceptable. Gallup.com.
https://news.gallup.com/poll/350756/record-high-think-abortion-morally-acceptable.aspx

Brewer, R. L. (2020, September 14). A Moral vs. Amoral vs. Immoral (Grammar Rules). Writer’s Digest. https://www.writersdigest.com/write-better-
fiction/a-moral-vs-amoral-vs-immoral-grammar-rules

Kamouni, S. (2020, December 1). What is euthanasia and is it legal in the UK?. . . The Sun. https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/1768769/what-euthanasia-uk-
legal-law/

Padilla, R. (2019). Ethics. Books Atbp. Publishing Corp.

Padilla, R. (2004). Business Ethics (1st ed.). Rex Bookstore, Inc.

Merriam-Webster. (2020b). Unmoral vs. Immoral vs. Nonmoral vs. Amoral. In Merriam-Webster. https://www.merriam-webster.com/grammar/using-
unmoral-immoral-nonmoral-amoral#:~:text=The%20dictionary%20definition%20of%20amoral,due%20to%20illness%20might%20be

Recent Job Circular. (2020, April 30). Basic principles of office etiquette everyone should follow in their workplace. https://recentjobcircular.com/basic-
principles-of-office-etiquette/

The Arc. (2021, May 3). Physician-Assisted Suicide Position Statement | The Arc. The Arc. https://thearc.org/position-statements/physician-assisted-
suicide/

UHope Foundation. (2016, July 9). https://www.facebook.com/Uhopefoundation/photos/a.189180004817956/198903117178978/?type=3

Thank you!