FRAMEWORKS AND PRINCIPLES BEHIND MORAL FRAMEWORKS

Lesson 1: The Meaning of Ethical Frameworks

ETHICAL FRAMEWORKS

An Ethical Framework is a set of codes that an individual uses to guide his or her
behavior. It is just another term for moral standards. It is used to determine the moral
object of an action. An ethical framework guides an individual in answering these two
(2) questions:

1. What do I ought to do?

2. Why do I ought to do so?

The various dominant mental frames may be classified to follows:

1. Virtue or character ethics of Aristotle

2. Natural Law or commandment ethics of St. Tomas and others

3. Deontological and Duty framework of Immanuel Kant

4. Utilitarianist, Teleological and consequentialist approach

5. Love and Justice Framework

➤ Virtue or Character Ethics of Aristotle

Virtue ethics ask, who is the ethical person? For Aristotle, the ethical person is
virtuous, one who has developed good character or has developed virtues. One attains
virtues when he/she actualizes his/her potentials or possibilities the highest of which is
happiness. Happiness is the joy of self-realization, self-fulfillment, the experience of having
actualized one's potentials.

➤ Natural Law or Commandment Ethics of St. Thomas

For St. Thomas, what is right is what follows the natural law, the rule which says, "do
good and avoid evil." In knowing the good as distinguished from evil, one is guided by the
Ten Commandments which summed up as loving God and one's fellowmen.

➤ Deontological and Duty Framework for Immanuel Kant

Kant's framework is deon or duty or deontological framework. Deontological centers

on "the rights of individuals and the intentions associated with particular behavior... equal
respect... given to all persons." The "deontological approach is based on universal principles
such as honesty, fairness, justice and respect for persons and property." It is based on the
categorical imnerative, that is, one must act such that his/her avoid evil." In knowing the
good as distinguished from evil, one is guided by the Ten Commandments which summed
up as loving God and one's fellowmen.

➤ Deontological and Duty Framework for Immanuel Kant

Kant's framework is deon or duty or deontological framework. Deontological centers

on "the rights of individuals and the intentions associated with particular behavior... equal
respect... given to all persons." The "deontological approach is based on universal principles
such as honesty, fairness, justice and respect for persons and property." It is based on the
categorical imperative, that is, one must act such that his/her maxim of all is a duty, an
obligation of every man or woman. Acting out of duty (deon) is acting out of good will or
intentions. Treating man as an end, not means to an end is acting with good will or
întentions.

➤ Utilitarianist, Teleological and Consequentialist Framework

The utilitarianist teleological approach focuses on consequences. "The decision

maker is concerned with the utility of decision. What really counts is the net balance of good
consequences over bad." The rightness of an action depends on the said net balance of
good consequences.

➤ Love and Justice Framework

What is ethical is that which is just and that which is loving. Justice giving what is due
to others (justice) while is giving even more than what is due to others.

Lesson 2: Aristotle’s Virtue Ethics

Virtue or Character Ethics

The following excerpts clarifies what virtue ethics is:

An ethical act is the action that a virtuous person would do in the same
circumstances. Virtue ethics is person-based rather than action-based. It looks at the
virtue or moral character of the person carrying out an action, rather than at ethical
duties and rules or the consequences of particular actions.

Virtue ethics does not only deal with the rightness or wrongness of individual
actions. It provides guidance as to the sort of characteristics and behaviors a good
person will seek to achieve. In that way, virtue ethics is concerned with the whole of a
person's life, rather than particular episodes or actions. A good person is someone
who lives virtuously who possesses and lives the virtues.

Virtue ethics uses the following as a framework for ethical decision making. This is how it is
done:
  In the Virtue framework, we try to identify the character traits (either positive or
negative) that might motivate us in a given situation. We are concerned with what
kind of person we should be and what our actions indicate about our character. We
define ethical behavior as whatever a virtuous person would do in the situation, and
we seek to develop similar virtues. Obviously, this framework is useful in situations
that ask what sort of person one should be. As a way of making sense of the world, it
allows for a wide range of behaviors to be called ethical, as there might be many
different types of good character and many paths to developing it. Consequently, it
takes into account all parts of human experience and their role in ethical deliberation,
as it believes that all of one's experiences, emotions, and thoughts can influence the
development of one's character.

Stated similarly, virtue ethics is "the ethics of behavior" which "focuses on the character of
the persons involved in the decision or action. If the person in question has good character,
and genuine motivation and intentions, he or she is behaving ethically." The rightness or
wrongness of one's action, or the goodness or badness of one's personality depends on his
character, motivations and intentions.

Virtue ethics, "is an ethics whose goal is to determine what i essential to being a well-
functioning or flourishing human person. Virtue ethics stresses an ideal for humans
or persons. As an ethics of ideals or excellences, it is an optimistic and positive type
of ethics."

Basic Types of Virtue (Excellence)

Aristotle gave two types of virtue. These are 1) intellectual virtues and 2) moral
virtues.

Intellectual virtues refer to excellence of the mind while moral virtues refer to a
person's dispositions to act well. Intellectual virtues include ability to
understand, reason and judge well while moral virtues dispose a person to act
well.

In the context of Aristotle, virtue is an attained, actualized or self- realized potential or

possibility. It can serve as a moral framework. When one has the potential or possibility of
becoming a musician, he tries to train and study to become a musician following a
musician's virtue as a framework.

Aristotle (384-323 BC) posited an ethical system that may be termed "self
realizationism." In Aristotle's view, when a person acts in accordance with his nature and
realizes his full potential, he will do good and be content. At birth, a baby is not a person, but
a potential person. To become a "real" person, the child's inherent potential must be
realized. Unhappiness and frustration are caused by the unrealized potential of a person,
leading to failed goals and a poor life. Aristotle said, "Nature does nothing in vain."
Therefore, it is imperative for people to act in accordance with their nature and develop their
latent talents in order to be content and complete. Happiness was held to be the ultimate
goal. All other things, such as civic life or wealth, are merely means to the end. Self-
realization, the awareness of one's nature and the development of one's talents, is the surest
path to happiness.

The material world is in state of actualizing, realizing what it is potential for. Everything has
its potency for something, its nature. Nature unfolds naturally, it has no obligation to be so. It
has no intellect and will. But a person has an obligation to be what he/she is meant or in
potency to be. It his/her obligation to develop his/her talent and virtues. The highest good or
end, tells, of a person is the fullness of his/her self-development of actualization. The
concomitant result of this development or actualization of his/her potentials is what Aristotle
termed as happiness or the experience of happiness. In short, virtue means excellence and
virtue ethics is excellence

Virtue as a Mean

For Aristotle, virtue is the Golden Mean between two extremes. The virtue of
courage is a mean between two extremes of deficiency and extreme, namely,
cowardice and foolhardiness, respectively. Too little courage is cowardice and too
much courage is foolhardiness (MacKinnon, et al 2015)

Virtue Ethics in Other Traditions

Confucius emphasized two virtues, jen (or ren) and li Jen means humaneness,
human-heartedness and compassion. Li means propriety, manners or culture.
Hinduism emphasizes five basic moral virtues: non-violence, truthfulness, honesty,
chastity, freedom from greed. It also emphasizes mental virtues: calmness, self-
control, self-settledness, forbearance, faith and complete concentration, hunger for
spiritual liberation. (George, V. 2008)

Buddhism also has its intellectual and moral virtues. From the eight- fold path
are the intellectual virtues of right understanding and right mindfulness and the moral
virtues of right speech, right action and right livelihood.

Jesus Christ preached the virtues of love, mercy and compassion, hunger for
justice, patience, kindness, gentleness, self-control. St. Thomas Aquinas taught the
theological virtues faith, hope and love. Christian tradition teaches four cardinal moral
virtues, namely: prudence, justice, temperance and fortitude.

St. Thomas being an eclectic philosopher, integrated into his own philosophy
anything that is good conceived by his predecessors like Aristotle. But he enriched
their thoughts with his own insights or learning. The attainment of the highest good,
which is happiness, includes its diffusion. "Bonum difusivum est." Goodness as
goodness necessarily diffuses itself. A person's virtue diffuses itself in a right action.
Goodness shares itself, like a light that shines before all men.

One more point regarding various potentials of man which when actualized becomes
virtues is Hans George Gadamer's re-interpretation of Aristotle definition of man as a "homo
logos," a speaking animal. In other words, in the light Aristotle's wisdom, the virtue of being
man is being a speaking animal, meaning, his attainment of a meaningful, refined, and
civilized language. Gutter language is vice; beautiful, meaningful and refined language is
virtue. One who has a virtue of a refined language speaks rightfully.

The virtuous person did not inherit his/her virtues. Neither were these virtues simply
passed on to him automatically. His being a person of virtue

Lesson 3 St. Thomas' Natural Law Ethics

Meaning of Natural law and Other Laws

Based on the phrase "natural law ethics," what is ethical is what the natural law says.
What is natural law? Natural law is the "ordinance of Divine Wisdom, which is made known
to us by reason and which requires the observance of the moral order." It may also be
defined to be "The eternal law as far as it made known by human reason." By the eternal law
we mean all that God necessarily decrees from eternity. That part of the eternal law which
reason reveals as directive of human acts, we call the natural law....

Eternal law is what God wills for creation. We are part of God's creation and so we
are part of Gods eternal law. We may not be able to understand the eternal law fully given
our limitations. However, by reason we have a grasp or a sense of the eternal law. This is
natural law.

St. Thomas Aquinas wrote:

There is in man an inclination to good, according to the nature of his reason, which
nature is proper to him; thus man has a natural inclination to know the truth about God, and
to live in society; and in this respect, whatever pertains to this inclination belongs to the
natural law; for instance to shun ignorance, to avoid offending those among whom one has
to live, and other such things regarding the above inclination. (Summa Theologiael-2
Question 94, Article 2)
whose prohibitions restrain us from evil... This law cannot be contradicted by any other law,
and is not liable to derogation or abrogation. Neither the senate.nor the people can give us
any dispensation for not obeying this universal law of justice. It needs no other expositor and
interpreter than our conscience. It is not one thing at Rome, and another at Athens; one
thing today and another tomorrow; but in all times and nations this must universal law must
forever reign, eternal and imperishable. It is the sovereign master and emperor of all beings.
God himself is its author, its promulgator and enforcer. And he who does not obey it flies
from himself, and does violence to the very nature of man. And so by doing he will endure
the severest penalties even if he avoid the other evils which are usually accounted
punishments. (Cicero, Republic, in Cicero's Tusculan Dispositions. Also Treatises on the
Nature of the God and on the Commonwealth. Bk 3 at 22 cited by MacKinnon, B. & A. Fiala
m 8th ed. (2015). Ethics Theory and Contemporary Issues, CT., USA: Cengage Learning)

Let us relate natural law to other kinds of law:

Rev. Charles Coppens, S.J. explains the various kinds of law according to St. Thomas:

A law decreed by Almighty God is a divine law, one established by man is a human law.
Those laws for human conduct which God, having once decreed creation, necessarily
enacts in accordance with that decree, constitute the natural law; those which God or man
freely enacts are positive laws. Now, between the natural law and positive laws, there are
these four points of difference: 1. The natural law, unlike positive laws, does not depend
upon the free will of God; its requirements flow from the intrinsic difference between right
and wrong, which is determined by the very essences of things. Hence, under this law,
certain acts are not evil primarily because they are forbidden, but they are forbidden
because in themselves they are evil. 2. Consequently, the natural law is the same at all
times, in all places, and for all persons, but this is not true of positive laws, which may be
changed with changing circumstances, or, if the law-giver so wills it, even without change of
circumstances. 3. The natural law emanates from God alone; but positive laws may be
enacted by men. 4. The natural law is promulgated through the light of reason, positive laws
require for their promulgation a sign external to man..

In summary, we have an eternal law, God's law for the whole creation, which
we cannot fully grasp given our limitation. But with our gift of reason we have a grasp
of that eternal law, that is natural law. Divine law is decreed by God while human law
is decreed by man.

Natural Law as a Universal Formula

As an ethical framework, the natural law or maxim may be applied as implicitly illustrated in
the following:

A universal formula which contains in brief an expression of the whole natural

law is this: "Keep the moral order, or "Observe right order in your actions." Some
writers state it simply as, "Do good and avoid evil." Now, the right order of human
acts consists evidently in their proper direction to man's last end, which is,
subjectively, his perfect beatitude and, objectively, God Himself. God must direct His
free creatures to their last end, hence He commands them to observe the moral order
and forbids them to depart from it..

So what is natural and ethical for a human person is to "keep the moral order, to
"observe right order," to "do good and avoid evil" to preserve his/ her being. Suicide and
murder work against preservation of human life, therefore, are a violation of the natural law.

St. Thomas Aquinas grounded the directedness of nature in God. All of creation is
directed toward their final end God, God Himself. To direct us to Himself, He gave the divine
law. The divine law given to us in the Ten Commandments of the Old Testament and the
new commandment of "love God..." and "love your neighbor..." by Jesus Christ in the New
Testament and in the we were St. Thomas synthesized faith and reason. He believed that
natural law is part of the divine law, that the "natural law shares in the eternal law." All of
creation is directed

Analogous to logical reasoning, it may be applied as follows: Premise Stealing is

immoral and an evil to avoided. Second Premise: The act of taking someone's property
without his consent is stealing. Conclusion: Therefore, the act of taking someone's property,
which I actually intend to do, is immoral and an evil to be avoided, which I should do avoid.
Law Defined

St. Thomas explained that the natural law is promulgated through the light of reason.
Positive laws require for their promulgation a sign external to man. Laws that are enacted
are called positive laws. St. Thomas defined law in general as "an ordinance of reason which
is for the common good, and has been promulgated by one having charge of the
community." For a law to be a law, it must have the four requisites, namely, a) ordinance
(order, command) of reason, b) for the common good, c) promulgation, and d) by one who
has charge of the community. Based on the definition, an unreasonable law is not law; a law
that favors one to the prejudice of another or does not equally protect all is not a law; a law
that is not promulgated or published or made known to all, is not a law; and a law that is
enacted by unauthorized persons is not a law.

A law must be a product of reason not purely of emotion. When the heart rules the
mind, we can be highly unreasonable. A law is promulgated for the common good because
we are meant to be social, we belong to a community. A law that favors the male gender at
the expense of the female gender cannot be a law. A law must be promulgated by one
whose primary task is to care for his/her people, the community. The primary task of our
lawmakers is to care for and protect their people by legislating laws for the common good.
The law must be made known or communicated to all people to ensure correct
understanding and compliance. A law that is promulgated does not take effect immediately.
In the Philippines, laws take effect after fifteen days following the completion of the
publication in the Official Gazette or a newspaper of general circulation unless it is otherwise
provided. (https://batasnatin.com/law-libraray/civil-law/persons-and-family/82- effectivity-of-
laws.html, Retrieved 6-18-19)