C1: INTRODUCTION: KEY CONCPTS IN
ETHICS
ETHICS: Its Definition and Importance
Moral
o Relating to principles of right and wrong in
behavior.
o Conforming to a standard of right behavior.
Ethics “Ethos” (Greek) - Character
o Help give direction to societies and people
who think they cannot flourish without
some form of morality.
Morality
o Breaking down in society today.
o Primarily concerned with the question of
right and wrong, the ability to distinguish
between the two, and the justification of
the distinction.
Ethics: The Philosophy of Life (Montemayor
1994)
o Ethics is the philosophy of life, and it
delves into the deepest whys and
wherefore of human existence, men’s
actions, problems, and destiny.
o to live well and happy, we must know what
we are living for.
o Ethics that investigates the meaning and
purpose of human life.
o the unexamined life is not worth living for
man (Socrates).
o Ethics as the supreme science, the highest
in the hierarchy of human values, as it is
concerned with the attainment of life’s
greatest Good and Goal – Happiness
(Plato).
Definition of Ethics (Montemayor, 1994)
1. Ethics is the practical science of the
morality of human actions.
2. Ethics is the science of human acts with
reference to right and wrong.
3. 3. Ethics is the scientific inquiry into the
principles of morality.
4. Ethics is the study of the rectitude of
human conduct.
5. Ethics is the human conduct from the
standpoint of morality.
6. Ethics is the science which lays down the
principles of right living.
7. Ethics is the practical science that guides
us in our actions that we may live rightly
and well.
8. Ethics is normative and practical science,
based on reason, which studies human
conduct and provides norm for its natural
integrity and honesty.
9. According to Socrates, ethics is the
investigation of life.
Ethics – human conduct
Science - systematic study or a system of
scientific conclusions clearly demonstrated,
derived from clearly established principles, and
duly coordinated.
Morality – the quality of human acts as right,
wrong, or indifferent, moral immoral or amoral.
Human acts –acts done with knowledge,
freedom and free will or consent.
Importance of Ethics
1. Ethics means right living and good moral
character and it is in good moral character
that man finds his true worth and
perfection.
All the great teachers of the ages maintain
that the supreme purpose of human living
lies in the development of the moral
qualities which lift man far above brute
creation.
2. Education is the harmonious development
of the whole man-of all ma’s faculties: the
moral, intellectual, and physical powers in
man.
Rules And Its Importance to Social Beings
Ethics: Principles of Ethical Behavior in Modern
Society (De Guzman, 2017)
Rules
o explicit or understood regulations or
principles governing conduct within a
specific activity or sphere.
o what is or is not allowed.
o foundation for any healthy society.
Benefits social being in various manners:
1. Rules protect social beings by regulating
behaviors.
-build boundaries that limits behavior,
imposes consequences.
2. Rules help to guarantee each person
certain right and freedom.
-form frameworks for society; constitution
3. Rules produce a sense of justice among
social beings.
-keep the strong from dominating the
weak; prevent exploitation and domination
4. Rules are essential for a healthy economic
system.
-ensure product safety, employee’s safety,
and product quality.
society could not soundly function without rules
and regulations. Rules are necessary to protect
the greater good.
Moral Standards versus Non-moral standards
o different societies have different moral
beliefs and that our beliefs are deeply
influenced by our own culture and context.
For this reason, some values do have moral
implications, while others don’t.
o different cultures have different moral
standards. What is a matter of moral
indifference, that is, a matter of taste
(hence, non-moral value) in one culture
may be a matter of moral significance in
another.
Non-moral standards
o if such standards are non-moral (that is, a
matter of taste), then we don’t have the
right to impose them on others.
o we judge what is good or bad and right or
wrong in a non-moral way.
o non-moral standards are matters of taste
or preference.
o Violation of said standards also does not
pose any threat to human well-being.
Moral Standards
o But if such standards are moral ones, such
as not killing or harming people, then we
may have the right to force others to act
accordingly.
o norms that individuals or groups have
about the kinds of actions believed to be
morally right or wrong.
 o promote “the good”, that is, the welfare
and well-being of humans as well as
animals and the environment.
o what humans ought to do in terms of rights
and obligations.
o the sum of combined norms and values.
Norms - general rules about our actions or
behaviors.
Values - enduring beliefs or statements about
what is good and desirable or not.
Characteristics:
1. Moral standards involve serious wrongs or
significant benefits.
2. Moral standards ought to be preferred
other values.
3. Moral standards are not established by
authority figure.
4. Moral standards have the trait of
universalizability.
5. Moral standards are based on impartial
consideration.
6. Moral standards are associated with
special emotions and vocabulary.
Universalizability – should be applied to all; any
moral judgment must be equally applicable to
every relevantly identical situation.
Impartial – free from bias; equal treatment;
equality.
Dilemma and Moral Dilemma
Dilemma
o situation in which a tough decision has to
be made between two or more options,
especially more or less equally
undesirable ones.
*Not all dilemmas are moral dilemmas
Moral Dilemma (Ethical Dilemma)
o difficult choice must be made between two
courses of action, either of which entails
transgressing a moral principle.
o Conflicts between moral requirements.
o having moral reasons to do each of two
actions, but doing both actions seems to be
ethically not possible.
Key features:
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.
c. neither of the conflicting moral requirements
is overridden.
Three levels:
1. Personal Dilemma
Resolved on the personal level.
2. Organizational Dilemma
Cases encountered and resolved by social
organizations. In business, medical fields,
and public sector/
3. Structural Dilemma
Cases involving network of institutions
and operative theoretical paradigms. May
be larger in scope and extent than
organizational dilemmas.
Only Human beings can be Ethical
1. Only human beings are rational,
autonomous, and self-conscious.
2. Only human beings can act morally and
immorally.
3. Only human beings are part of the moral
community.
C2: THE AGENT
Culture in Moral Behavior
Culture
o An actual part of our social life as well as
our personality.
o Practices, beliefs, and perceptions of a
given society.
o Cumulative deposit of knowledge,
experience, beliefs, values, attitudes,
meanings, hierarchies, religions, notion of
time, toles, spatial relations, concepts of
the universe and material objects and
possessions.
o Consists of patterns, explicit and implicit,
of and for behavior acquired and
transmitted by symbols, constituting the
distinctive achievements of human
groups.
o Sum total of the learned behavior.
Tradition of that people and are
transmitted from generation to generation.
o Broadest sense is cultivated behavior,
social learning.
o Symbolic communication.
o Includes all the things individuals learn
while growing up among particular
groups.
Culture’s Role in Moral Behavior
o culture is a ‘way of life’ of a group of
people, and includes moral values and
behaviors, along with knowledge, beliefs,
symbols. They are passed along by
communication and imitation from one
generation to the next.
o Culture is learned as children grow up in
society and discover how their parents and
others around them interpret the world.
Transmitters of culture:
Respective parents, Teachers, Novels, Films,
television
*It is hard to grow up in a particular culture
without being impacted by how it views morality
or what is ethically right or wrong.
Social Learning - process by which individuals
acquire knowledge from others to which they
belong as a normal part of childhood.
Enculturation or socialization - process by
which infants and children socially learn the
culture including morality, of those around
them.
Moral Standards as Social Convention and the
Social Conditioning Theory
We can learn from morality culturally or through
socialization.
Social Convention
o The things we regard as moral laws (moral
standards or rules) some purports are
nothing but just social conventions.
o those things agreed upon by people like
through their authorities.
o the usual or customary ways through
which things are done within a group.
*Since it is observed that morality is something
that is handed down to us primarily by education
or socialization, either through parents and
elders or though teachers, some believe that
moral standards are merely a human invention.
The philosopher C.S. Lewis offers two reasons
for saying that morality belongs to the same
class as mathematics:
1. The differences between the moral ideas of
one time or another country and those of
another are not very great.
2. There is a moral standard or rule by which
we measure both moralities, and that
standard is real.
Cultural Relativism in Ethics
Cultural Relativism
o Most famous and dominant form of moral
relativism.
o Defines moral as what is socially approved
by the majority in a particular culture.
o Goes wrong in drawing a conclusion about
an issue from the mere fact that people
disagree about it.
Moral Relativism
o Believes that no act is good or bad
objectively.
o Different moral principles apply to
different persons or group of individuals.
*An act is ethical in a culture that approves of it,
but immoral in one that disapproves of it.
Cultural relativists claim the following:
1. Different societies have different moral
codes.
2. The moral code of a society determines
what is right or wrong within that society.
3. There are no moral truths that hold for all
people at all times.
4. The moral code of our own society has no
special status; it is but one among many.
5. It is arrogant for us to judge other cultures.
We should always be tolerant of them.
*Morality differs in every society as concepts of
right and wrong vary from culture to culture.
Culture relativism: an analysis
1. Valuable lessons from ethical relativism
o Moral relativism does encourage
tolerance, as it is necessary for people of
different cultural origins to co-exist and
lice peacefully in a society.
o It teaches as to be open minded and not
judgmental, that some of our beliefs and
practices are mere conventional and thus
not absolutely and exclusively correct.
2. The theory’s ethical faults
o Cultural relativism discourages
analytical thinking and independent
decision-making in ethics as it requires
unsuspecting compliance and
subscription to social norms.
o Cultural Relativism is inconsistent in
promoting tolerance while teaching that
no culture is morally superior or more
progressive than others.
o Practicable only if people do not belong to
more than one institution.
3. Rachels’ evaluation of cultural relativism
Philosophy professor James Rachels
(1941-2003) made a compelling
assessment of Cultural Relativism.
The cultural differences argument
o Different cultures have different moral
codes. Therefore, there is no objective
“truth” in morality.
o Right or wrong are only matters of opinion,
and opinions vary from culture to culture.
Rachels explained that cultural relativists’
approach is to argue from facts about the
differences between cultural outlooks to a
conclusion about the status of morality.
Thus, we are invited to accept reasoning like
these:
Case 1:
Greeks – believed it was wrong to eat dead.
Callatians (an Indian tribe) - Believed it was right
to eat dead.
Case 2:
Eskimos – see nothing wrong with infanticide.
Others – believe it is immoral.
Therefore, eating dead and infanticide are
neither objectively wrong. It is merely a matter
of opinion, which varies from culture to culture.
The Disagreements among Cultures
Since the difference in customs may be because
of some other aspects of social life, then it’s
wrong to conclude that there is a disagreement
about values and morality just because customs
differ.
The Bad Consequences of Cultural Relativism
Corollaries of Cultural Relativism (Rachels,
1999)
1. We could no longer say that the customs of
other societies are morally inferior to our
own.
2. We could decide whether actions are right
or wrong just by consulting standards of
our society.
3. The idea of moral progress is called to
doubt.
Asian and Filipino understanding of moral
behavior
Culture has an impact on morality thus, people
from different cultures have different sets of
ethics.
Filipino Moral Character: Strength and
Weakness
Filipino cultural morality, especially that which
concerns social ethics, centers on ideally having
a ‘smooth interpersonal relationship’ (SIR) with
others.
Six Basic Filipino Values
1. Pakikisama – having and maintaining good
public relation.
2. Hiya – lowliness, shame, or
embarrassment, and inhibition of shyness.
3. Amor propio – high degree of sensitivity;
intolerant to criticism; have an easily
wounded pride.
4. Utang na loob – fundamental aspects of
upholding group harmony and
relationships that demand the balancing of
obligation and depts.
 5. Filipino hospitality – innate ability and trait
of Filipinos to be courteous and
entertaining to their guest.
6. Respects for Elders – Filipinos are
respectful and have unique ways of
expressing it.
Universal Values
Values generally shared by cultures. It is a
strong proof that cultural relativism is wrong.
1. Truth telling – without it there would be no
reason to pay attention to what anyone
communicates with anyone.
2. Valuing or respecting life – necessitates the
prohibition of murder.
Developing Virtue as A Habit
Character “Charakter” (Greek)
o Was initially used as a mark impressed
upon a coin.
o A distinct mark or qualities by which one
thing was distinguished from others.
Two distinct human excellences (Aristotle)
1. Excellences of Thought
2. Excellences of Character
Excellences of Character
o Often translated as oral virtues or moral
excellences.
o ‘virtue’ or excellence of moral character,
the blend of qualities that make a person
the sort of ethically admirable individual
that he/she is.
Moral Character
o The existence or lack of virtues (integrity,
courage, fortitude, honesty, and loyalty)
o Means that you’re a good person and a
good citizen with a sound moral compass.
o Moral Vices – if one lacks virtue.
*The agent is morally responsible for having the
moral character trait itself or for the outcome of
that trait. Hence, a certain moral character trait
is a trait for which the agent is morally
responsible.
The Circular relations of acts and character
o There are some acts that build character
and moral character itself.
o A person’s actions determine his/her
moral character, but moral character itself
generates acts that help in developing
either virtue or vice.
o For Aristotle, the function of human being
consists in activities which manifest the
best states of his rational aspects, that is,
the virtues.
Moral Characters as dispositions
o dispositions are particular kinds or
characteristics that objects can possess.
o Among human beings, moral character
traits-either virtue or vices are also
considered as dispositions.
Virtue – moral character which a person is
deserving of a positive reactive attitude (praise,
gratitude)
Vice – moral character trait for which the agent
is deserving of a negative reactive attitude
(resentment, blame)
Six Stages of Moral Development
Lawrence Kohlberg – American psychologies
best known for his theory of stages of moral
development.
C3: THE HUMAN ACT
Ethics deals with the study of man and
particularly with his actions.
Human acts
o The free voluntary acts of man
o The acts with knowledge and consent
o Acts which are proper to man as man;
because, of all animals, he alone has
o knowledge and freedom of will.
o Acts which, we are conscious are under
our control and for which we are
responsible.
o are those which man is master, which he
has the power of doing or doing as he
pleases.
*Acts therefore, in order to be truly human, must
be done willfully, knowingly and freely. Only
human acts have moral significance.
Human acts are either elicited or commanded
acts.
Elicited acts (Paul Glenn)
Performed by the will and are not bodily
externalized.
1. Wish – tendency of the will towards
something whether this be realizable or
not.
2. Intention – tendency of the will towards
attainable but without necessarily
committing oneself to attain it.
3. Consent – acceptance of the will of those
needed to carry out the intention.
4. Election – selection of the will of those
means effective enough to carry out the
intention.
5. Use – command of the will to make sure of
those means elected to carry out the
intention.
6. Fruition – enjoyment of the will derives
from the attainment of the thing he had
desired.
Commanded acts
o Done either by man’s mental or bodily
powers under the command of the will.
o Either internal or external actions
Internal (thoughts and emotions): conscious
reasoning, recalling something, encouraging
oneself, controlling aroused emotions etc.
External (actions): walking, eating, dancing,
laughing, listening reading etc.
Combination: listening, studying, reading,
driving a car, writing a letter, playing chess.
Acts of man
o The biological or physiological functions or
processes which occur in man’s body,
such as the circulation of the blood, the
growth of hair and nails, the opening and
closing of the valves of the hear, breathing,
etc.,
o are instinctive and are not within the
control of man.
*A moral act depends on whether or not there is
consent by the will.
Human acts include thought, speech, action.
All human acts are subjected to morality
because man by nature acts towards to an end.
One’s life has a purpose.
C4: THE ACT
The Human Act as knowingly Done
Acts as knowingly Done
o Another essential attribute for human act is
knowledge. It means that you should be sure
that you know what you are doing.
o Man cannot choose or act unless he knows
which is a better good. When a person
chooses to act according to what he knows,
he acts freely.
Modifier of knowledge: Ignorance
“Ignorance of the law excuses no one”
one should not act in the state of ignorance and
the one who has done wrong may not claim
ignorance as a defense.
Ignorance
absence of knowledge which a person ought to
possess.
In the realm of morals, every one of age and
reason is expected to know at least the general
norms of good behavior.
Vincible Ignorance
Can easily be reminded through ordinary
diligences and reasonable efforts.
Invincible ignorance
the type which a person without being aware of
it, or having awareness of it, lacks the means to
rectify it.
Principles:
1. Invincible ignorance renders an
involuntary, A person cannot be held
morally liable if he is not aware of his state
of ignorance.
2. Vincible ignorance does not destroy but
lessens the voluntariness and the
corresponding accountability over the act.
A person who becomes aware of the state
of ignorance he is in has the moral
obligation to rectify it by exercising
reasonable diligence in seeking the needed
information. To act with vincible ignorance
is to act imprudently.
3. Affected ignorance though it decreases
voluntariness, increases the
accountability over the resultant act.
Insofar as affected ignorance interferes
with the intellect, it decreases
voluntariness. But insofar as it willed to
persist, it increases accountability.
Certainly, refusing to rectify ignorance
implies malice. And the malice is greater
when ignorance is used as an excuse for
not doing the right thing.
Reason and Impartiality
Moral judgment must be backed by good
reasons.
Morality requires the impartial consideration of
each individual’s interests.
Reason
o Plays a vital role in ethics as moral truths
are truths of reason.
o Basis or motive for an action, decision or
conviction.
o Capacity for logical, rational, and analytic
thought.
Moral reasoning
o Our feelings may be irrational and may be
nothing but products of prejudice,
selfishness, or cultural conditioning.
o Our decisions must be guided as much as
possible by reason, the morally right thing
to do is always the thing best supported by
the arguments.
The conscientious moral agent
o Concerned impartially with the interests of
everyone affected by what he or she does.
o Carefully sifts facts and examines their
implication.
o Accepts principles of conduct only after
scrutinizing them to make sure they are
justified.
o Willing to “listen to reason” even when it
means revising prior convictions.
o Willing to act on the results of this
deliberation.
Impartiality
o Involves the idea that each individual’s
interests and point of view are equally
important.
o It is a principle of justice holding that
decisions ought to be based on objective
criteria.
The requirement of impartiality
o Each individual’s interests are equally
important, and no one should get special
treatment.
o If there is no good reason for treating
people differently, then discrimination is
unacceptably arbitrary.
The conception of morality
Morality – the effort to guide one’s conduct by
reason, to do what there are the best reasons for
doing while giving equal weight to the interests
of each individual affected by one’s decision.
Scott Rae Moral Choices
Making Ethical Decisions
Ethical Dilemma
o Conflict between two or more value or
virtue driven interests/
o You have to identify the parties in the
conflict, what their interests are, and what
virtues and values underlie those
interests.
Rae’s elements for making moral decisions:
1. Gather the facts
Make sure the facts are clear. In this light it
might become clear that the dilemma is not
ethical but about communication or
strategy.
 2. Determine the ethical issues
Ethical interests are stated in terms of
legitimate competing interests or goods.
The competing interests are what creates
the dilemma. Moral values and virtues
must support the competing interests in
order for an ethical dilemma to exist.
3. Determine what virtues/principles have a
bearing on the case
In an ethical dilemma certain values and
principles are central to the competing
positions. Identify these and determine if
some should be given more weight than
others.
4. List the alternatives
Creatively determine possible courses of
action for your dilemma. Generally, the
more you list the greater potential for
coming up with a really good one.
5. Compare the alternatives with the
virtues/principles
This eliminates alternatives as they are
weighed by the moral principles which
have a bearing on the case.
Here you must satisfy all the relevant
virtues and values so some of the
alternatives will be eliminated.
6. Consider the consequences
If principles have not yielded a clear
decision, consider the consequences of
your alternatives. Work out the positive
and negative consequences of each.
7. Make a decision
Ethical decisions rarely have pain-free
solutions, it might be you have to choose
the solution with the least number or
problems/painful consequences.
In resolving moral dilemmas, we are advised to
guide our emotions with reason, if not totally
suppress them.
The Human Act as Willfully Done
Acts as Willfully Done
One essential attribute of an act to be truly
human is the willingness to do the act: you like
doing it, you love doing it and your mind, your
heart, your soul, and your whole self is with.
Moral significance
Mean such act can be judged as:
o Moral or right - conforms to the norms of
morality.
o Immoral or wrong – does not conform to
the norms of morality.
o Amoral of indifferent – cannot be
determined as to whether it conforms or
not to the norms of morality.
Will
o Faculty of the mind which chooses, at the
moment of making decisions, the strongest
desire from among the various desires
present.
o The capacity to act decisively on one’s
desire.
o Important as one of the distinct part of
ethics because of its central role in
enabling a person to act deliberately.
Modifiers of the Will: Passions and Habits
As the moral significance of a human act is very
important, it good to know that there are
instances when the presence or absence of such
essential attribute can make a difference in the
determination of its moral distinction as to
whether moral immoral or amoral.
Passion or concupiscence
Either tendencies towards desirable objects or
away from undesirable or harmful things.The
former are called positive emotions, the latter
negative emotions.
Passion
Psychic responses, either antecedent or
antecedent.
1. Antecedent passions
Precede an act, it predisposed a person to act.
Principle: Antecedent passions do not always
destroy voluntariness, but they diminish
accountability for the resultant act. It weakens
the will power of a person without however,
completely obstructing his freedom. as passions
interfere with the freedom of the will one’s
accountability is diminished.
2. Consequent passions
intentionally aroused and kept. therefore, are
said to be voluntary in cause, the result of the
will playing the strings of emotions.
Principle: Consequent passion does not lessen
voluntariness; it may even increase
accountability. This is because consequent
passions are direct results of the will which fully
consent to them instead of subordinating them
to its control.
Habit
o A lasting readiness and faculty, born of
frequently repeated acts, for acting in a
certain manner (Glenn)
o Acquired inclinations towards something
to be done.
o It is easy for one to acquire a habit and it is
also not easy to overcome or alter.
o It requires a strong-willed person to
correct a habit successfully within a
limited period of time.
o voluntary in cause because they are the
result of previously willed acts done
repeatedly as a matter of fact.
Principle: Action doe by force of habit is
voluntary in cause, unless a reasonable effort is
made to counteract the habitual inclination.
Therefore, for as long as the habit is not
corrected, evil actions done by force of habit are
voluntary and accountable. When a person
decides to fight his habit, and for as long as the
effort towards this purpose continues, actions
resulting from such habit may be regarded as
acts of man and not accountable.
Feelings and Moral Decision-Making
Feelings as instinctive response to moral
dilemmas
Ethics is also a matter of emotion; moral
judgments at their best should be emotional;
feelings are deemed as instinctive and trained
response to moral dilemmas. Ethical judgments
are highly emotional as people emotionally
express strong approval or disapproval of
different acts. Being good involves both thinking
and feeling.
Feelings as obstacles to making the right
decisions.
Feelings/Emotions can become obstacles or
impediments to becoming ethical. Especially
when feeling’s roles in ethics are misinterpreted
or exaggerated.
Ethical Subjectivism
o a meta-ethical theory, it holds that the
truth or falsity of ethical propositions is
dependent on the feelings, attitude, or
standards of a person or group of persons.
o denies that there is objectivity in morality.
o Moral judgments are not about objective
facts but are simply about our personal
feelings.
o subjectivists hold that there is no such
thing as objective right or real wrong.
Emotivism
o improved version of Subjectivism;
actually, the most popular form of non-
cognitivism, the meta-ethical theory that
claims that ethical sentences do not
convey authentic propositions.
o based on Logical Positivism that states that
all truth claims must be empirically
verifiable.
o denies moral truth and knowledge,
because of the absence of scientific or
empirical evidence.
o Moral judgments according to Emotivism
are not statements of fact but are mere
expressions of the emotions of the
speaker, especially since they are usually
feelings based.
Evaluating emotivism: Faults
1. It suggests that in ethical disputes, we can
only appeal to emotion, not reason. This
situation can bring about anarchy.
2. It is against deliberate discussions about
ethical differences.
3. It fails to distinguish moral judgements
from expressions of personal preferences.
4. Personal taste does not require to be
supported by reason. Moral statements
require backing by reasons. In the absence
of sensible rationale, they are merely
capricious and ignorable.
5. The theory reduced morality to mere
matters of feelings without reasons. The
fact is moral truths are truths of reasons.
Feelings can help in making the right decisions.
o There are situations in which our feelings
and likings are relevant to the rightness of
our decisions and actions.
o Christian Philosophy of love is basically a
string of liking, desire, or emotion. Moral
compasses are strongly influenced by the
fleeting forces of disgust, fondness, or fear.
o Feelings should not be removed in the
sphere of morality. There are times when
feelings are relevant to the rightness of
decisions and actions.
o Feelings and emotions involved in moral
thinking should be anchored on careful
deliberations. It ought to mesh with an
emotional instinctive reaction that
provides a motivation to act ethically and
correct injustices.
Six ways to control your emotions and make
better decisions
1. Pause and assess the situation
Give your brain enough time to evaluate
the current situation so you can make the
right choice.
2. Don’t always rely on your gut
Intuition more commonly known as “gut
feeling”, is one of our most basic instincts.
Avoid trusting this human sense when it
comes to games of chance.
3. Put it in writing
keeping notes about your day is a tried-
and-tested form of therapy. It’s free, it
gives you some alone time, and you can
review your thoughts later for more clarity.
4. Narrow your options
Narrowing your selection will not only
save you a lot of stress, science says you’ll
be happier with the choice
you’ve made, too!
5. Ask the majority
One of the best tricks to choosing the right
decision – especially if it involves big risks
– is to ask for a second opinion.
6. Avoid burnout
Get some rest. Not only will you feel
refreshed after waking up, your mind will
be clearer to pick a better option.
The Human Act As Freely Done
Human act as freely done is, freedom as
foundation of morality the modifier of
freedom, and the role of moral courage in
becoming ethical.
Act as Freely Done
Freedoms as a Foundation of Morality
morality is a question of choice. It is practically
choosing ethical codes, values or standards to
guide us in our daily lives. Philosophically,
choosing is impossible without freedom. It
requires and allows choice, which means, the
right to choose even differently from our fellows.
Everyone who wishes to function morally, and
rationally in a society has to make choices
virtually every minute of the day. Practically, the
sum of our choices can be said to define our
specific morality.
The Modifier of Freedom: Fear and Violence
Fear
o the mind of a person who is confronted by
an impending danger or harm himself or
loved ones.
o Distinction is made however between an
act done with fear and act done out or
because of fear. Certain actions which by
nature are dangerous or risky are done
with fear with varying degree of fear. In
these cases, fear is a normal response to
danger. Such actions are voluntary
because the doer is in full control of his
faculties and acts in spite of his fear.
o On the other hand, actions done because of
fear. Fear modifies the freedom of the doer,
inducing him to act in a certain
predetermined manner often without his
full consent.
o an instinct for self-preservation. We even
fear new experiences or situations such as
embarking on a long journey, being left
alone in a strange place, or being asked to
speak before a group of people.
Principles:
1. Acts done with fear are voluntary. A person
acting with of fear is acting in spite of his
fear and is in full control of himself.
2. Acts done out of fear, however great is
simply voluntary although is conditionally
involuntary.
3. Acts done because of intense fear or panic
are involuntary. Panic
completely obscures the mind. In this
mental state, a person is not expected to
think sensibly. Panic cause a person to
lose complete control of himself.
Intimidating or threatening a person with harm
is an unjust act. Legally speaking, actions done
out of fear are invalid acts.
Violence
any physical force exerted on a person by
another free agent for the purpose of compelling
said person to act against his will.
Principles:
1. External actions or commanded actions
performed by a person subjected to
violence to which reasonable resistance
has been offered are involuntary and are
not accountable.
2. Elicited acts or those done by the ill alone
are not subject to violence and are
therefore voluntary. The will insofar as it is
a spiritual faculty is not within the reach of
violence.
Moral Courage
“Will is the innermost essence, the kernel, or
every particular thing and also in the deliberate
conduct of man” -Arthur Schopenhauer
Examples: urging, craving, striving, wanting,
desiring
He believed that will is primary and uses
knowledge in order to find an object that will
satisfy its craving.
The Importance of Will and Moral Courage
Moral Courage
o doing the right thing even at the risk of
inconvenience, ridicule, loss of job or
security or social status, etc.
o requires that we rise above the apathy,
complacency, hatred, cynicism, and fear
mongering in our political systems,
socioeconomic divisions and
cultural/religious differences.
o demands us to make judgments about
what behavior or acts are supportive to our
ethical ideologies or highest ideals, and
which ones are destructive.
Will
ofaculty of the mind which chooses at
the moment of making decision, the
strongest desire from among the
various desires present. It does not
refer to any particular desire, but rather
to the capacity to act decisively on one’s
desires.
Moral courage and will require us to recognize
our responsibilities and be accountable to the
consequences of our own actions.
Developing Will and Moral Courage: Tips and
Suggestions
1. Develop and Practice Self-discipline
o Involves rejection of instant
gratification in favor of something
better
o Give up instant pleasures/satisfaction
o Develop self-control
o Stick to actions, thoughts and
behaviors which lead to moral
improvement and success
o Focus all energy on a moral goal and
persevere until it is accomplished.
2. Do mental strength training.
o Saying no to useless, harmful or
unnecessary deed and behaving
contrary to one’s (bad) fortify a person
mindset
3. Draw inspiration from people of great
courage.
4. Repeatedly do acts that exhibit moral
courage and will.
o Help someone
o Stand up against bullies
o Pick up liter
o Initiative to do chores/assignments
5. Avoid deeds that show lack of oral courage
and will.
o Involves acts that show
irresponsibility, cowardice, apathy,
rashness, imprudence, ill will and
wickedness.
Examples:
o Walking away from someone in need
o Taking more than of your fair share
o Laughing at someone’s misfortune
o Grabbing the spotlight from someone
who earned it.