GOVERNOR MARIANO E.

VILLAFUERTE COMMUNITY COLLEGE

Brgy. Sta. Cruz, Tinambac, Camarines Sur

1ST SEMESTER
ETHICS WITH PEACE EDUCATION
MODULE 2

MODULE 2
KEY CONCEPT IN ETHICS
I. Learning Outcomes
At the end of the sessions, you should be able to:
a. Explain and ethics and morality
b. Define the key concepts of ethics
c. Explain how only humans can be ethical

II. Discussion
THE IMPORTANCE OF RULES TO SOCIAL BEING

Rules refer to explicit or understood regulations or principles governing conduct within a specific
activity or sphere. Rules tell us what is or is not allowed in a particular context or situation. In many ways,
rules serve as a foundation for any healthy society. Without rules, society would likely fall into anarchy.

Rules benefit social beings in various manners:

a. Rules protect social beings by regulating behavior.
b. Rules help to guarantee each person certain rights and freedom.
c. Rules produce a sense of justice among social beings.
d. Rules are essential for a healthy economic system.

In short, society could not soundly function without rules and regulations. Rules are necessary to
protect the greater good. Even the freest societies ought to have rules in order to avoid exploitations and
tyranny while upholding the common welfare.

MORAL VS. NON-MORAL STANDARDS

Moral standards are norms that individuals or groups have about the kinds of actions believed to
be morally right or wrong, as well as the values placed on what we believed to be morally good or morally
bad. Moral standards normally promote “the good”, that is, the welfare and well-being of humans as well as
animals and the environment.

Moral standards, therefore, prescribe what humans ought to do in terms of rights and obligations.
According to some scholars, moral standards are the sum of combined norms and values. In other words,
norms plus values equal moral standards. On the one hand, norms are understood as general rules about
our actions or behaviors. For example, we may say “We are always under the obligation to fulfill our
promises” or “It is always believed that killing innocent people is absolutely wrong”. On the other hand,
values are understood as enduring beliefs or statements about what is good and desirable or not. For
example, we may say “Helping the poor is good” or “Cheating during exams is bad”.

According to many scholars, moral standards have the following characteristics, namely:
1. Moral standards deal with matters we think can seriously injure or benefit humans, animals, and
the environment, such as child abuse, rape, and murder;
2. Moral standards are not established or changed by the decisions of authoritative individuals or
bodies. Indeed, moral standards rest on the adequacy of the reasons that are taken to support
and justify them. For sure, we don’t need a law to back up our moral conviction that killing
innocent people is absolutely wrong;
3. Moral standards are overriding, that is, they take precedence over other standards and
considerations, especially of self-interest;
4. Moral standards are based on impartial considerations. Hence, moral standards are fair and
just; and

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 5. Moral standards are associated with special emotions (such as guilt and shame) and vocabulary
(such as right, wrong, good, and bad).

Non-moral standards refer to standards by which we judge what is good or bad and right or wrong
in a non-moral way. Examples of non-moral standards are standards of etiquette by which we judge
manners as good or bad, standards we call the law by which we judge something as legal or illegal, and
standards of aesthetics by which we judge art as good or rubbish. Hence, we should not confuse morality
with etiquette, law, aesthetics, or even with religion.

As we can see, non-moral standards are matters of taste or preference. Hence, a scrupulous
observance of these types of standards does not make one a moral person. Violation of said standards
also does not pose any threat to human well-being. Finally, as a way of distinguishing moral standards from
non-moral ones, if a moral standard says “Do not harm innocent people” or “Don’t steal”, a non-moral
standard says “Don’t text while driving” or “Don’t talk while the mouth is full”.

DILEMMA OR MORAL DILEMMA

The term 'dilemma' refers to a situation in which a tough choice has to be made between two or
more options, especially more or less equally undesirable ones. Not all dilemmas are moral dilemmas.
Also called 'ethical dilemmas,' moral dilemmas are situations in which a difficult choice has to be made
between two courses of action, either of which entails transgressing a moral principle. At the very least, a
moral dilemma involves conflicts between moral requirements.

What is common to moral dilemmas is conflict. In each ethical dilemma, an agent regards himself as
having moral reasons to do each of two actions, but doing both actions seems to be ethically not possible.

The key features of a moral dilemma are these:

a) the agent is required to do each of two (or more) actions;
b) the agent can do each of the actions, but the agent cannot do both (or all) of the actions.

In a moral dilemma, the agent thus seems condemned to moral failure; no matter what he does, he
will do something wrong, or fail to do something that he ought to do.

THE THREE LEVELS OF MORAL DILEMMA

We can classify moral dilemmas according to levels:

a. Personal Dilemmas. Those experienced and resolved on the personal level.

Jean-Paul Sartre’s example:

“… a student whose brother had been killed in the German offensive of 1940. The student
wanted to avenge his brother and to fight forces that he regarded as evil. But the student's
mother was living with him, and he was her one consolation in life … Sartre describes him as
being torn between two kinds of morality: … personal devotion to his mother [and] …
attempting to contribute to the defeat of an unjust aggressor.”

Other examples: making conflicting promises; choosing between the life of a child who is about
to be delivered and the child’s mother

b. Organizational Dilemmas. Ethical cases encountered and resolved by social organizations;

include moral dilemmas in business, medical field, and public sector.

Examples:
 withdrawing life support from a dying patient (human life should not be deliberately
shortened vs. unpreventable pain should not be tolerated)
 whether or not to favor family, friends, or campaign contributors over other constituents;
favoring the agenda of one’s political party over a policy one believes to be good for the
community; accepting gifts if it is legally permitted but creates the appearance of impropriety

c. Structural Dilemmas. These structural moral dilemmas pertain to cases involving network of
institutions and operative theoretical paradigms. As they usually encompass multi-sectoral

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 institutions and organizations, they may be larger in scope and extent than organizational
dilemmas.

An example is the prices of medicine in the Philippines which are higher compared to other
countries in Asia and in countries of similar economic status. Factors affecting medicine prices
include the cost of research, presence of competition in the market, government regulations,
and patent protection. The institutions concerned may want to lower the costs of medicine,
thereby benefiting the Filipino public, but such a move may ruin the interests or legal rights of
the involved researchers, inventors or discoverers, and pharmaceutical companies which own
the patent of the medicines or healthcare technologies.

‘ONLY HUMAN BEINGS CAN BE ETHICAL’

Another basic tenet in ethics is the belief that only human beings can be truly ethical. Most
philosophers hold that unlike animals, human beings possess some traits that make it possible for them to
be moral:

a. Only human beings are rational, autonomous, and self-conscious.

b. Only human beings can act morally and immorally.
c. Only human beings are part of the moral community.

FREEDOM AS A FOUNDATION OF MORALITY

 Morality is a question of choice and is about choosing ethical codes, values, or standards to guide us
in our daily lives. Philosophically, choosing is impossible without freedom.
 Animals cannot be truly ethical for they are not really autonomous or free. Likewise, a beneficial robot
cannot be said to be moral, for it has no freedom or choice but to work according to its built-in
program.
 Morality requires and allows choice. In daily lives, people make the choice to give to charities, donate
time and money to schools, mentor children, open businesses, or protest against animal cruelty.
 Practically, the sum of our choices defines our specific ‘morality.’

MINIMUM REQUIREMENT FOR MORALITY: REASON AND IMPARTIALITY

James Rachels (1941-2003) holds that moral judgments must be backed by sound reasoning and
that morality requires the impartial consideration of all parties involved.

Reason entails that human feelings may be important in ethical decisions, but they ought to be
guided by sound reasoning. It helps us to evaluate whether our feelings and intuitions about moral cases
are correct and defensible.

Impartiality involves the idea that each individual’s interests and point of view are equally
important. Also called evenhandedness or fair-mindedness, it is a principle of justice stating that decisions
ought to 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

III. Reference/s:
 Jens Micah De Guzman, et al.:ETHICS: PRINCIPLES OF ETHICAL BEHAVIOR
IN MODERN SOCIETY
 https://philonotes.com/index.php/2018/06/08/moral-standards/#:~:text=Hence%2C%20moral
%20standards%20are%20fair,%2C%20good%2C%20and%20bad).&text=Non%2Dmoral
%20standards%20refer%20to,in%20a%20non%2Dmoral%20way.
 https://myinfobasket.com/what-is-moral-dilemmas/
 https://myinfobasket.com/key-concepts-in-ethics-a-slideshow-presentation/

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