Introduction
behavior for people.
Ethics- Ethics is the philosophical study of
what it means to live a good life, to act
correctly, and to fulfill one's duty and
obligation to do good.
Morality on the other hand is about the rules
that govern the promotion of human
goodness so that individuals and the society
may flourish (Pojman, 2005). Morality then
speaks of norms (Pojman, 2005) or rules of
human conduct.
Norm - rule or standard of behavior shared
by members of a social group.
Boone (2017), explains why it is important
for us to act ethically with these points:
❑ Acting ethically is a requirement for life.
❑ Acting ethically is a requirement for
society.
❑ Acting ethically has a religious purpose.
❑ Acting ethically is for the benefit of oneself.
❑ We act ethically because humans are
basically good.
Applied ethics attempts to bring ethical theory
into real-life situations and is often used in
creating public policy.
Types of Applied Ethics
❑ Bioethics - It concerns with ethical issues
about life, biomedical research, medicines,
health care, and the medical profession.
❑ Business Ethics - It examines moral
principles concerning the business
environment, which involves issues about
corporate practices, policies, business
behaviors, and the conducts and
relationships of individuals in the
organizations.
❑ Environmental Ethics - It deals with moral
issues concerning nature, ecosystem, and its
nonhuman contents.
❑ Social Ethics - It deals with what is right for
a society to do and how it should act. Its
focus is on what may be deemed as proper
Moral standards provide a structure on how
you are going to live your life and how you
relate with others in harmony as it outlines
the values that you share with others to
promote goodness to everyone, or the
common good.
Moral - It is an adjective describing human
act as either ethical right or wrong.
Moral standards - Are norms that serves as
the frameworks for determining what ought to
be done. Non-compliance causes guilt.
Teleological- The act is wrong depending on
the consequences of the ct.
Deontological- right or wrong depends on
the sense of duty.
Culture - Total way of life. Ralph Linton.
Cultural Relativism - the idea that a
person’s beliefs, values, and practices should
be understood based on that person’s own
culture, rather than be judge against the
criteria of another.
Moral dilemmas can be defined as situations
in which individuals are confronted with a
choice between two or more actions, each of
which has moral implications, and where
choosing one action means forgoing another.
Levels of Moral Dilemmas:
❑ Micro-level Dilemmas (Individual or
Personal Dilemmas)
❑ Meso-level Dilemmas (Organizational
Dilemmas)
❑ Macro-level Dilemmas (Structural
Dilemmas)
CHAPTER 1: THE ETHICAL DIMENSION
OF HUMAN EXISTENCE
In August 2007, Cris Anthony
Mendez, a student at the University of the
Philippines, died as a result of suspected
fraternity hazing.
VALUE
 Ethics - is about matters such as the
good thing that we should pursue
and the bad thing that we should
avoid; the right ways in which we
could or should act and the wrong
ways of acting.
 Ethics as a subject for us to study is
about determining the grounds for
the values with particular and
special significance to human life.
CLARIFICATIONS AND TERMINOLOGY
Recognizing the notions of good and
bad, and right and wrong, are the primary
concern of ethics. In order to start, it would be
useful to clarify the following points:
1. KINDS OF VALUATION
1.1 Aesthetic: derived from the
Greek word aisthesis ("sense" or "feeling")
-this refers to the judgments of personal
approval or disapproval that we make
about what we see, hear, smell, or taste.
1.2 Etiquette: is concerned with
right and wrong actions, but those which
might be considered not quite grave
enough to belong to a discussion on
ethics. - we have a sense of approval or
disapproval concerning certain actions
which can be considered relatively more
trivial in nature.
1.3 Technique/Technical: derived
from the Greek word "techne" - often used
to refer to a proper way (or right way) of
doing things, but a technical valuation (or
right and wrong technique of doing things)
may not necessarily be an ethical one as
these examples show.
2. ETHICS AND MORALS
"MORALS"
May be used to refer to specific
beliefs or attitudes that people have or
to describe acts that people perform.
We also have terms such as "moral
judgment or "moral reasoning, " which
suggest a more rational aspect.
"ETHICS"
Can be spoken of as the
discipline of studying and
understanding ideal human behavior
and ideal ways of thinking. Thus,
ethics is acknowledged as an
intellectual discipline belonging to
"philosophy”. Example: Professional
Ethics
"PHILOSOPHY"
It is rooted in the Greek words
that translate to "love of wisdom"
(philia is the noun often translated
into English as some form of
"friendship" or "love", while sophia
is the noun often translated into
English as "wisdom").
The different branches or areas
of philosophy correspond to some of
these questions, generally stated as
follows:
A. Metaphysics: wonders as to
what constitutes the whole of
reality.
B. Epistemology: asks what is
our basis for determining what
we know.
C. Oxiology: refers broadly to the
study of value and is often
divided into aesthetics, which
concerns itself with the value of
beauty, and ethics, which
concerns itself with the value of
human actions.
3. DESCRIPTIVE AND NORMATIVE
3.1 Descriptive Study of Ethics:
 Reports how people, particularly
groups, make their moral valuations
without making any judgment either for
or against these valuations.
3.2 Normative Study of Ethics:
It is often done in philosophy or
moral theology, engages the question
like "What could or should be
considered as the right way of acting?"
4. ISSUE, DECISION, JUDGEMENT,
AND DILEMMA
4.1 Moral Issue: a situation that calls
for moral valuation.
Example: Imagine a situation
wherein a person cannot afford a
certain item, but then the possibility
presents itself for her to steal it. This is
a matter of ethics (and not just law) in
so far as it involves the question of
respect for one's property.
4.2 Moral Decision: when one is
placed in a situation and confronted by
the choice of what act to perform.
Example: I choose not to take
something I did not pay for.
4.3 Moral Judgment: when a person
is an observer who makes an
assessment on the actions or behavior
of someone.
Example: A friend of mine
chooses to steal from a store, and I
make an assessment that it is wrong.
4.4 Moral Dilemma: choosing right
over wrong, or good over bad, and
considering instead the more
complicated situation wherein one is
torn between choosing one of two
goods or choosing between the lesser
of two evil.
Example: A mother may be
conflicted between wanting to feed her
hungry child, but then recognizing that
it would be wrong for her to steal.
REASONING
Ethical reasoning is the ability to
identify, assess, and develop ethical
arguments from a variety of ethical positions.
Ethical reasoning helps determine and
differentiate between right thinking, decisions,
and actions and those that are wrong, or
harmful to others and to ourselves.
Plato (427-347 BCE), "The Greek Thinker"
 was credited as one of the pioneers of
philosophy.
 started a school in Athens, known as
the Academy and is believed to be the
first institution of higher learning in the
Western world.
 "The Apology of Socrates" was written
by Plato where Socrates makes the
claim that it is the greatest good for a
person to spend time thinking about
and discussing with others these
questions on goodness and virtue.
SOURCES OF AUTHORITY
1. Law
- is supposed as one's guide to
ethical behavior. This cannot
tell us what to pursue, only
what to avoid. Example: In the
Philippines, Filipinos are
constrained to obey the laws
of the land as stated in the
country's criminal and civil
codes.
2. Religion
- the divinity called God, Allah,
or Supreme Being commands
and one is obliged to obey
his/her Creator (Divine
Command Theory)
- taking religion as a basis of
ethics has the advantage of
providing us with not only a
set of commands but also a
supreme authority that can
inspire and compel our
obedience in a way that
nothing else can
 This problem was first
elucidated in the
 history of thought by
Plato in his dialogue
titled "Euthyphro”.
3. Culture
- our exposure to different
societies and their cultures makes us
aware that there are ways of thinking
and valuing that are different from our
own, that there is in fact a wide
diversity in how different people
believe it is proper to act.
Therefore, what is ethically
acceptable or unacceptable is relative
to, or that is to say, dependent on
one's culture. This position is referred
to as "cultural relativism".
SENSES OF THE SELF
1. Subjectivism:
- the idea that our moral
opinions are based on our
feelings and nothing more. On
this view, there is no such
thing as "objective" right or
wrong.
A number of clichés familiar to
us would echo this idea:
 "No one can tell me what
is right or wrong"
 "No one knows my
situation better than
myself"
2. Egoism?
- Egoism: A doctrine that
individual self-interest is the
valid end of all actions and all
forms of egoism require
explication of "self-interest”.
2 types of Egoism:
2.1 Psychological Egoism
A theory that describes
the underlying dynamic behind
all human actions. It does not
direct one to act in any
particular way, instead, it points
out that there is already an
underlying basis for how one
acts.
Example: An act of
generosity, someone makes
use of her free Saturday helping
build houses for Gawad
Kalinga? The psychological
egoist would maintain that
underlying such apparently
other-directed behavior is a self-
serving desire, even if one does
not acknowledge it or is even
conscious of it.
This theory has a couple
of strong points:
 Simplicity: When an idea is
marked by this, it has a unique
appeal to it a theory that
conveniently identifies a single
basis that will somehow account for
all actions is a good example of
this.
 Plausibility: It is plausible that self-
interest is behind a person's
actions. It is clearly the motivation
behind many of the actions one
performs which are obviously self-
serving. It is not only plausible, but
also irrefutable.
2.2 Ethical Egoism
Differs from
psychological egoism in that it
does not suppose all our
actions are already inevitably
self-serving. Instead, it
prescribes that we should make
our own ends, our own
interests, as the single
overriding condemn. We may
act in a way that is beneficial to
others, but we should do that
only if it ultimately benefits us.
This theory
acknowledges that one should
consider herself as the prionty
and not allow any other
condemn, such as the welfare
of other people, to detract from
this pursuit.