John Peter S.

Dado, LPT
 01 02
b) analyze the kinds of
a) discuss ethics and moral;
valuation

04 05
c) identify the ethical aspect of d) Determine issues,
human life and the scope of decision, judgment,
thinking; dilemma, and
reasoning.
 ACTIVITY 1.1
Directions: The story in the introduction
is an example of people doing
evil things. Based on your
experience and beliefs why do
you think people do bad
things?
 Ethics generally speaking 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 should or could act and the wrong
ways of acting. It is about what is
acceptable and unacceptable in human
behaviour. It may involve obligations
that we are encouraged to meet.
 Ethics as a subject to study is about determining the grounds for the values
with particular and special significance to human life.
 Our first point of clarification is to
recognize that there are instances when
we make value judgments that are not
considered to be part of ethics.
 For instance, I could say that this new
movie I had just seen was a “good” one
because I enjoyed it, or a song I had
just heard on the radio was a “bad” one
because it had an unpleasant tone, but
these are not part of the discussion of
ethics.
 These are valuations that fall under the
domain of aesthetics. The word
“aesthetics” is derived from the Greek
word aesthesis (“sense or feeling”) and
refers to the judgment of personal
approval or disapproval that we make
about what we see, hear, smell, or taste.
In fact, we often use the word “taste” to
refer to the personal aesthetic
preferences that we have on these
matters, such as “his taste in music” or
“her taste in clothes.”
 Similarly, we have a sense of approval or
disapproval concerning actions which can
be considered relatively trivial in nature.
 Thus, for instance, I may think that it is
“right” to knock politely on someone’s
door, while it is “wrong” to barge into
one’s office.
 These and other similar example belong to
the category of etiquette, which 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 derived from the Greek word
techne the English word of
“technique” and “technical” which
are 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 example
show.
 Recognizing the characteristics of aesthetic
and technical valuation allows us to have a
rough guide as to what belongs to a
discussion of ethics.
 They involve valuations that we make in
sphere of human actions, characterized by
certain gravity and concern the human well-
being or human life itself.
 Therefore, matters that concern human well-
being such as poverty, inequality, or sexual
identity are often included in discussion of
ethics.
 One complication that can be noted is
that the distinction between what
belongs to ethics and what does not is
not always so clearly defined.
 Are clothes always just a matter of taste
or would provocative clothing call for
some kind of moral judgment?
 Can we say that a man who verbally
abuses his girlfriend is simply showing
bad manners or does this behavior
deserve stronger moral condemnation?
 The term “morals” may be used to
refer specific beliefs or attitudes
that people have or to describe acts
that people perform.
 Thus, it is sometimes said that an
individual’s personal conduct is
referred to as his morals, and if he
falls short of behaving properly, this
can be described as immoral.
 Ethics – can be spoken of as
the discipline of studying and
understanding ideal human
behaviour and ideal ways of
thinking.
 It is acknowledged as an
intellectual discipline
belonging to philosophy.
 With regard to acceptable and
unacceptable ways of behaving in a
given field we have “professional
ethics” (e.g. legal ethics for the
proper comportment of lawyers and
other people in the legal
profession; medical ethics for
doctors and nurse; media ethics for
writers and reporters).
 Philosophy is commonly thought of today
as a particular discipline in a curriculum,
perhaps as a subject that one could take,
or course in which one could get a degree.
 The word philosophy 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 to English as “wisdom”).
Braches:
 Metaphysics – wonders as to what
constitutes the whole of reality.
 Epistemology – asks what our basis
for determining what we know is.
 Axiology – study of value and is
divided into:
* Aesthetics – value of beauty.
* Ethics – value of human
actions.
 Descriptive study of Ethics –
reports how people, particularly
groups, make their moral
valuations without making any
judgment either for or against
these valuations.
 Work of a social scientist:
historian, sociologist or an
anthropologist.
 , ,

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.
 , ,

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.

, ,

Moral Judgment – when an

observer makes an assessment on
the actions or behaviour of
someone.
 Example: A friend of mine

chooses to steal from a store,

and I make an assessment that
it is wrong.
 , ,

Moral Dilemma – when beyond the matter of

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 evils.
 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 food.
“The ability to reflect on moral
issues in the abstract and in
historical narratives within
particular traditions. Ethical
reasoning is the ability to identify,
assess, and develop ethical
arguments from a variety of
ethical positions.”
It may be useful to think of an
ethical reasoning course as one that
integrates ethical questions into the
intellectual work required in the
course. Ethical questions concern
judgments of right and wrong, good
and bad, as well as matters of
justice, fairness, virtue, and social
responsibility.
Ethical actions are based on conscientious reasoning of facts based on
moral principles and standards.
Directions: Your teacher prepared an online quiz for you. Go to the link
below to answer the quiz. Make sure to review your answers
before submitting it. Submit a screenshot of the result of your
quiz.