Professional Documents
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ETHICS – MIDTERM REVIEWER
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ETHICS – MIDTERM REVIEWER
good action and performs for the sake of makers, must follow in the practice of
performing good action, not for other the profession.
reason.
Relation of Ethics with Other Sciences
For instance, a person may perform a
generous act but intends other people to Ethical science is particularly concerned with the
see his action. study of man and human conduct and is,
However, to a virtuous person, what is therefore, especially related to all those sciences
significant is the performance of good dealing with the study of human nature and
action and not the reaction of other human living.
people towards the action.
Virtue enables its possessor to 1. Ethics and Logic.
determine the end and practical wisdom Logic is the science of right
guides our character to move towards thinking.
the end. Ethics is the science of right
Because even if we know that our end living.
must be the good, if we are not able to But right living presupposes
prepare the way towards it we cannot be right thinking. Doing follows
virtuous. thinking. To think right often
That’s why Aristotle says, “It is means to do right, as knowledge
impossible to be good in the full sense of right leads to the doing of
of the word without practical wisdom or right.
to be a man of practical wisdom without
moral excellence or virtue” (Ostwald, 2. Ethics and Psychology
1962). Psychology is not interested in
Practical wisdom is not only a guide to the morality of human behavior,
our character but it is united with it. unlike ethics.
Psychology - studies how man
DIFFERENT APPLIED FIELDS IN ETHICS
behaves; ethics studies how
1. Bioethics/Biomedical Ethics - man ought to behave. The word
concerned with the rightness or “ought” to be emphasized to
wrongness of procedures that are show the difference:
performed in the practice of medicine Ethics - concerned with moral
and the provision of health care obligation while psychology is
systems. not.
2. Environmental Ethics - it covers
acceptable or unacceptable actions 3. Ethics is related to Sociology
affecting the environment (De Castro & Ethics - deals with the moral order
De Villa, 2012). As what one of the which includes the social order.
green movements’ slogans is saying, Whatever does violence to the
“harm to the environment will bring harm social order does violence also to
to the people.” the natural and the moral order.
3. Business Ethics - concerned with what Society - depends on ethics for its
is acceptable and unacceptable underlying principles: Sociology
business code of conducts are affecting deals with human relations in a
the business enterprises. And when society, but human relations are
speaking of the business enterprise, it based on proper order and proper
includes both the owner or investor and order comes only with proper
or the consumer. observance of moral laws and
4. Legal Ethics - norms of conduct or principles which regulate the actions
standards that law practitioners, such as of men in a community.
judges, lawyers, notary public, law
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motives to cover up our true (and perhaps Laws are “promulgated” – that they are made
unconscious) motives. known to the people who are bound to observe
them.
THREE FORMS OF CRITICAL REASONING:
Laws are passed by “one who has charge of
1. Reasoning by analogy - explains one thing society” – because they can only be valid if
by comparing it to something else that is they are only be valid if they are the legitimate
similar, although also different. In a good exercise of authority. Accordingly, only those
analogy, the similarity outweighs the who have the power and responsibility to govern
dissimilarity and is clarifying. have the power to enact the law.
For instance, animals are like and Laws are necessary to man. They regulate
unlike humans, as humans are also human activity. Without laws, there will be
animals. anarchy and chaos, because each one will act
2. Deductive reasoning - Reasoning from the according to his wishes without regard for the
big argument to a small argument. common good. Without laws, Man will not realize
his ultimate purpose in life.
For instance, if every person has human
rights, and you are a person, then you CLASSIFICATION OF LAW
have human rights like every person. 1. Eternal Law
3. Inductive reasoning – Reasoning from the
Are those promulgated, or made known
small argument to a big argument. It involves
to us, by special command of God/
providing evidence to support a hypothesis.
Instituted by the will of God.
THREE FORMS OF CRITICAL REASONING: Is the design of God, as a Supreme
Creator, to direct all created things to
Principles- are rationally established grounds their respective proper ends.
by which one justifies and maintains moral God’s eternal plan and providence for
decisions and judgments. the universe. Example: The Decalogue
SOURCES OF AUTHORITY of Moses- Ten Commandments
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not obeying elders is against natural law, as it is These laws are intended to preserve
a direction towards a constant and unchanging peace and harmony within a society and
end. to direct each member of that society to
work towards the common good.
PROPERTIES OF THE NATURAL LAW
Examples of Positive Law are:
1. It is universal- it is true wherever human
1. The Laws of the State - embodied in
nature manifest itself.
the Constitution. Example: Everyone
2. It is obligatory- it is imperative because it is a must pay his due taxes, obey traffic
duty that ought to be fulfilled. rules.
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The divinity called God or Supreme It is a concept that cultural norms and
Being commands and one is obliged to values derive their meaning within a
obey her/his Creator. specific social context.
Many people are influenced by their
religious upbringing, leading to a strong This is also based on the idea that there
inclination to use it to justify moral is no absolute standard of good or evil,
values. However, the diversity of therefore every decision and judgment
religions in society can lead to of what is right and wrong is individually
conflicting ethical standards, such as decided in each society.
food restrictions. The concept of cultural relativism also
CULTURE means that any opinion on ethics is
subject to the perspective of each
Exposure to diverse societies and person within their particular culture.
cultures exposes us to diverse ways of
thinking and valuing, leading to cultural Overall, there is no right or wrong
relativism. This perspective suggests ethical system. In a holistic
that ethically acceptable actions are understanding of the term cultural
dependent on one's culture, which is relativism, it tries to promote the
appealing as it aligns with reality. understanding of cultural practices that
are unfamiliar to other cultures such as
Second, by taking one’s culture as the eating insects, genocides or genital
standard, we are provided for the basis cutting.
of our valuations.
Third, this teaches us to be tolerant of
others from different cultures, as we THERE ARE TWO DIFFERENT CATEGORIES
realize that we are in no position to OF CULTURAL RELATIVISM:
judge whether the ethical thought or Absolute: Everything that happens within a
practice of another culture is acceptable culture must and should not be questioned by
or unacceptable. outsiders. The extreme example of absolute
cultural relativism would be the Nazi party’s point
Our culture's moral code is neither
of view justifying the Holocaust.
superior nor inferior, but it provides us
with appropriate and applicable Critical: Creates questions about cultural
standards. practices in terms of who is accepting them and
why. Critical cultural relativism also recognizes
CULTURAL RELATIVISM - is the ability to
power relationships.
understand a culture on its own terms and not to
make judgments using the standards of one’s SENSES OF THE SELF
own culture.
It is sometimes thought that one
The goal of this is promote should not rely on any external
understanding of cultural authority to tell oneself what the
practices that are not typically standards of moral valuation are, but
part of one’s own culture. should instead turn inwards.
Using the perspective of cultural In this section, we will look into three
relativism leads to the view that theories about ethics that center on
no one culture is superior than the self: subjectivism, psychological
another culture when compared egoism and ethical egoism.
to systems of morality, law,
politics, etc. SUBJECTIVISM
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