The first ethical theory that we will consider is the Divine Command Theory

 This theory explores fundamental questions that relate to divine reality

 Theists or those who believe in God’s existence tend to avoid this arbitrariness by arguing that God commands it because it is
morally right.
 By this account, advocates of DCT avoid having to accept that inflicting suffering could be a morally right action. However,
two new problems arise. HORNS
 (1) If God commands an action because it is morally right, then morality no longer depends on God as DCT maintains. By
this account, God is no longer the foundation of ethics.
 Furthermore, (2) it appears that God has become subject to an external moral law implying that God is no longer sovereign.
Thus, DCT adherents face a dilemma: morality either rests on arbitrary foundations or God is no longer the source of ethics
and subject to an external moral law. Both undermine God’s attributes of omnipotence (all-powerful) and omniscience (all-
knowing).
Virtue Ethics
 It is an ethical theory which emphasizes that morality can be established by the moral character of the person.
 In other words, an action is moral because it is simply a virtuous act (kagandahang asal) independent of duty or consequence.
 What virtue ethics, then, promotes is the formation of the moral character of the person.
 Usually, this formation of moral character happens within the family and through education.
 Aristotle (385 B.C.E-325 B.C.E) The Greek philosopher Aristotle was born in 385 B.C.E in Stagira, a Greek colony in
Macedonia. His father was a physician to the Macedonian king and the Macedonian elite.
 Aristotle studied under Plato in the school called the Academy and later became the tutor of Alexander the Great.
 Like his teacher, Aristotle founded a school known as the Lyceum.
 He wrote different works which focused on metaphysics, ethics, physics, biology, logic, astronomy, and politics
 The Nicomachean Ethics which is named after his son Nicomachus.
Telos
 In the beginning of Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics, he states, “Every art and every investigation, and likewise every
practical pursuit or undertaking, seems to aim at some good: hence it has been well said that the Good is that at which all
things aim.”
 In fact, τέλος (telos) is a Greek word which means end or purpose.
 Aristotle explains that there are two kinds of good that we aim in life.
 First is the instrumental good. In instrumental good, our actions are means-to-an-end.
 The second kind of good is the intrinsic good. The intrinsic good is an end-in-itself. This good that Aristotle explains is a
good that is final, self-sufficient and experientable. This is what Aristotle calls as Eudaimonia or Happiness.
Eudaimonia
 For Aristotle, this is Eudaimonia or Happiness. This end leads us to our purpose in life. It leads us towards our telos.
 Nutritive nature of the human person shows the need for us to eat and be healthy. Second, the appetitive nature of the human
person tells us that any animal has the tendency for passion. Third, the rational nature distinguishes us from other animals.
 It states that reason helps us access what is right and how life must be lived.
 To Aristotle, our reason helps us realize that self-realization can be obtained if we live morally. Aristotle proposes that when
we do something well, we feel happy. When we do things that are appropriate for a rational animal, we become happy.
 Thus, Aristotle proposes that happiness, then, is equal to goodness.
 Arete
 The Greek word Arete literally means virtue. Arete gives us a sense of human flourishing.
 Virtue is the proper utilization of the rational nature of the human person. Thus, reason can lead us to know these virtues.
 Virtues, through the aid of rational activity, leads us toward doing things in an excellent manner. To be virtuous, we live
excellently. To excel in these virtues, we must make them our habits.
 A morally virtuous person, then, is someone who habitually determines what is good and does the right actions. How can we
know the good and right actions? Aristotle states that these virtuous actions can be known through Mesotes.
 Aristotle discussed two types of virtues: virtues of intellect and virtues of character. Virtues of intellect focus on the
theoretical knowledge of a human person. It is the excellence of rationality.
 Virtues of character are the moral virtues. They are an expression of character which are formed through habits. These moral
virtues are to be attained through Mesotes.
Mesotes
 Mesotes is the golden mean. It is the middle way of excess and defect. It is the golden mean between two less desirable
extremes. As mentioned, Mesotes helps us towards moral virtues.
Phronesis
 It is a Greek word which means practical wisdom.
 This concept is the moral knowledge that gears towards making appropriate actions in each situation to be in line with the
moral virtues. Phronesis helps us understand what should be done in any given situation.
 Aristotle proposed some actions that Phronesis will lead us to. These are (1) choose the lesser evil, (2) agere contra or act
against evil and (3) be prudent with beauty or pleasure.
Thomas Aquinas' Ethics
 Eternal Law is the rational plan of God by which all creation is ordered
 Human Law is the aspect of the Eternal law which is accessible to human reason
 Natural Law refers to positive laws, more exact and forceful provisions.
 Divine Law serves to complement the other types of law.
 A habit is a "hard to eradicate" quality
2 types of Habits
 Acquired - The autonomous will of the person plays a huge role in acquired habits.
 Infused- Directly instilled by God in our faculties.
2 Types of Infused Virtues
 Moral- Activities that are less virtuous and inferior to the final end. To this kind belongs Prudence, Fortitude, Temperance
and Justice
 Theological- Are concerned directly with God. The virtues of Faith, Hope and Love serve to attune us to our final end.
Deontology - Kantian Ethics
 Immanuel Kant is an avid defender of deontological theory. The German Enlightenment philosopher is regarded as among
the greatest and most influential of Western philosophers.
 His ethical theory instead bases moral judgments on reason alone. Reason, for him is what deems an action ethical or
otherwise.
 Good Will, Kant believes that when we wish to determine the moral status of an action, we would consult reason. An act
either accords with reason or it does not. If it accords with reason, we must do it, if not we must not do it.
 Kant does not agree with many ethicists that happiness is the summum bonum or the highest good.
 Therefore, it is only when we recognize that we ought to do an act because it is our duty, understand the nature of this
obligation, and act upon it that we are said to perform an authentically moral act.
There are two kinds of imperatives
 Imperative should be understood as a command of reason.
 Categorical imperatives specify actions we ought to take regardless of whether doing so would enable us to get anything we
want.
 Hypothetical imperatives identify actions we ought to take, but only if we have some particular goal. Kant means that the
commands depend upon the goals to be fulfilled. They are contingent and derivative.
 Kant provides various formulations of the categorical imperatives, the universalizability and end in itself formulations.
Formula of Universality and the Law of Nature
 “Act only on that maxim through which you can at the same time will that it should become a universal law”
The Second Formulation: The Formula of Humanity
 “Act in such a way that you treat humanity, whether in your own person or in the person of any other, never merely as a
means to an end, but always at the same time as an end”.
 A strength is that a lot of our moral experience and practice takes the form of following rules.
 Duty-Based Ethics are concerned with what people do, not the consequences of their action.

Do the right thing.

Do it because it is the right thing to do.
Don’t do wrong things.
Avoid them because they are wrong.

Utilitarianism
 Consequentialism is an ethical theory which examines the consequences of an action to determine its rightness or wrongness.
 Utilitarianism is a teleological ethical system judges the rightness of an act in terms of an external goal or purpose.
 It comes from the Latin term "utilis" which means "useful“
 Utilitarian ethics argues that the right course of action is one that maximizes overall happiness. It is basically hedonistic as it
identifies happiness with pleasure.
 Utilitarianism is an ethical theory that determines the morality of an action depending on its effects. If an action produces the
greatest happiness to the greatest number, it is morally right. In other words, it must be what is most beneficial to the
majority.
Types of Utilitarianism
 Act Utilitarianism is seen as the most natural interpretation of the utilitarian ideal. If our aim is always to produce the best
results, it seems plausible to think that in each case of deciding what is the right thing to do, we should consider the available
options, predict their outcomes, and approve the action that will produce the best result. It follows, therefore, that whatever
means to attain the best result is inconsequential.
 Rule Utilitarianism believes that we can maximize utility only by setting up a moral code that contains rules. The correct
moral rules are those whose inclusion in our moral code will produce better results than other possible rules.

 Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832) Jeremy Bentham was born in London on February 15, 1748 and died on June 6, 1832. He was
a jurist and political reformer. Since his father was a wealthy man, at the age of 12, he was able to go to the University of
Oxford in 1760. It is in the said university that Bentham was inspired to have a legal career.
 Bentham is most closely associated with the foundational era of the modern utilitarian tradition.
 Pleasure. The Hedonist principle, that is, the maximization of pleasure and avoidance of pain, influenced Jeremy Bentham in
his works. For him, pleasure is the only source of value. We, human beings, are natural pleasure-seekers, Bentham tells us.
We do things to derive pleasure. When we experience pleasure, we become happy.
 This principle showed two types of hedonism: psychological and ethical.
 Psychological hedonism states that the causes of behavior are pain and pleasure. Pain and pleasure determine our actions.
 On the other hand, ethical hedonism tells us that the rightness and wrongness of an action depends on the amount of pleasure
or pain that it produces.
 Here, we can see that Bentham proposes the idea of pain and pleasure as the determinants of our actions whether behavioral
or ethical.
Utility Principle
 . Actions are evaluated depending on their utility either as usefulness or pleasure-producing or pain-avoiding types.
 John Stuart Mill was a naturalist, utilitarian and liberal.
 He accepted the principle that happiness is the experience of pain and pleasure with few revisions. A New Approach to
Utilitarianism Bentham’s work was often criticized as making human beings act like animals or at least treating human
beings as subject to scientific or mathematical experiment.
 His theory of utility, however, approaches the concept of happiness not from a quantitative or calculative approach but from a
qualitative one. His focus is not so much on consequences but on the means of utility.
More than a Pleasure-Seeker
 One of the criticisms of Bentham’s theory is that he had a limited view of human nature. Mill discusses that human beings
are not just pleasure-seekers. Human beings are more than this notion.
 Human beings have the tendency to seek and develop their higher faculties to become well developed human beings. Hence,
another end of the human person is to pursue spiritual perfection.
 It is, then, emphasized by Mill that character is necessary in the ethical decisions made by the human person. It must also be
out of respect for the humanity that this person respects the humanity of other people. We can conclude that human beings
are more than just a mere pleasure-seeker.
Altruistic Utilitarianism
 There is also a sense of altruism in Bentham’s ethical theory. Although utilitarianism is characterized generally by “egoism,”
that is, actions based on self-interest, Bentham, nevertheless, added the component of societal welfare.

 Contractarianism or the social contract theory argues for the validity and legitimacy of political authority and moral norms.
 There are two proponents of this ethical theory, namely, the modern English philosopher Thomas Hobbes and the French
philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau.
 In a society, we make these agreements because we think that they will make our lives better. We can say that there are two
types of contracts. One contract is obvious in the sense that all parties involved in the contract are aware of the terms and
conditions because they gave their consent in the formation of the contract. We call these explicit contracts.
 Implicit contracts are ones that we have never actually agreed to, but sort of find ourselves in.
 In a nutshell, Social Contract theory shows the relevance of government as well as laws.

 Globalization
 Globalization is a process of increased interdependence across nations.
 Globalization is a term used to describe the increasing connectedness and interdependence of world cultures and economies.
 Dr Alexis Abramson, an expert in what are known as ‘generational cohorts’, says we define generations because “when you
are born, it affects your attitudes, your perceptions, your values, your behaviours.”
 This means that each of them has their own characteristics.
The Silent Generation: Born 1928-1945 (78-95 years old)
Baby Boomers: Born 1946-1964 (59-77 years old)
Gen X: Born 1965-1980 (43-58 years old)
Millennials: Born 1981-1996 (27-42 years old)
Gen Z: Born 1997-2012 (11-26 years old)
Gen Alpha: Born early 2010s-2025 (0-about 10 years old)

THE ROLE OF RELIGION IN ETHICS

 Secularism is basically a non-theistic belief system or a worldview which does not acknowledge supernatural or divine views
of reality.
 Humanism is a system of thought which gives emphasis to the value of human beings and favors man’s thought over faith or
religious doctrine.
 It a term refers to Renaissance cultural and intellectual movement featuring the rediscovery of the arts and philosophies of
ancient Greeks and Romans.
 The word “humanist” is derived from the olden Italian term umanista which pertains to a teacher or scholar of classical Greek
and Latin literature.

 The relationship between religion and ethics is about the relationship between revelation and reason. Religion is based in
some measure on the idea that God (or some deity) reveals insights about life and its true meaning. These insights are
collected in texts (the Bible, the Torah, the Koran, etc.) and presented as “revelation.” Ethics, from a strictly humanistic
perspective, is based on the tenets of reason: Anything that is not rationally verifiable cannot be considered justifiable.
 What is the role of the religion in ethics? Most religions have an ethical component. Ethics, which is a major branch of
philosophy, encompasses right conduct and good life. It is significantly broader than the common conception of analyzing
right and wrong. The influential philosopher, Immanuel Kant defended the idea of God as a basic requirement of ethics