Ethics

• Science- systematic study or a system of

scientific conclusion clearly demonstrated,
derived from clearly established principles.
• Morality – Quality of right or wrong in human
acts
• Human Acts – Acts done with knowledge and
consent
• Ethics is the practical science of the morality
of human actions
• Ethics is the scientific inquiry into the
principles of morality
• Ethics is the science of human acts with
reference to right and wrong
• Ethics is the study of human conduct from the
standpoint of morality
• Ethics is the study of the rectitude of human
conduct
• Ethics is the science which lays down principles of
right living
• Ethics is the practical science that guides in our
actions that we may live rightly and well
• Ethics is a normative and practical science, based
on reason, which studies human conduct and
provides norm for its natural integrity and
honesty.
• According to socrates, Ethics is the
investigation of life
• ETHICS
– Came from the greek word “ETHOS” which means
character
– study of human conducts and the special aspect
of human conduct, which is the formal object of
the study – the morality of human acts
• Get ½ sheet of paper list atleast 10 school
policies (CBSUA) that you know.
• Moral and non-moral conducts

– Define moral and non moral standards

– Give examples of moral and non-moral
standards
Moral and Non-Moral Standards
• Moral Standards
– The norms about the kinds of actions
believed to be morally right and wrong
– Moral standards come from:
• Family
• Friends
• School
• T.V.
• Music
• Non-Moral Standards
– Non- moral standards are standards
contrasted with standards we hold about
things.
– E.g.
• Standards of etiquette by which we judge
manners as good or bad.
• Standards we call the law by which we judge
legal right and wrong.
• Standards of aesthetics – good or bad art.
• The athletic standards – how well a game is
being played
 Characteristics of moral
standards
• Involved with serious injuries or
benefits.
• Not established by law or legislative.
• Should be preferred to other interests.
– if a person has a moral obligation to do
something, then he or she is supposed to
do it even if this conflicts with other
nonmoral values or self-interest.
• Based on impartial considerations:
– Does not evaluate the interest of a particular
individual or group
– “universal” standpoint in which everyone’s
interests are impartially counted as equal
• Associated with special emotions and a
special vocabulary
– Eg. If you act contrary to a moral standard,
you will normally feel guilty, ashamed,
remorseful.
– You characterize yourself as ‘immoral’ or
‘wrong’
– Feel bad about yourself
– Experience loss of self-esteem
 Moral Dillemas
• A dilemma is a situation where a
person is forced to choose between
two or more conflicting options,
neither of which is acceptable.
– E.g.
• Sino ba ang pipiliin ko siya o siya?
Considering na both of them has the
characteristics that you want.
• When dilemmas involve human
actions which have moral
implications, they are called ethical or
moral dilemmas.
• Therefore Moral Dillemas, are
situations where persons, who are
called “moral agents” in ethics, are
forced to choose between two or more
conflicting options, neither of which
resolves the situation in a morally
acceptable manner. .
– Eg.
• Lindsay is a deeply religious person; hence, she
considers killing humans absolutely wrong.
Unfortunately, it is found out that Lindsay is
having an ectopic pregnancy. As is well known, an
ectopic pregnancy is a type of pregnancy that
occurs outside the uterus, most commonly in the
fallopian tubes. In other words, in ectopic
pregnancy, the fetus does not develop in the
uterus. Now, if this happens, the development of
the fetus will definitely endanger the mother.
Thus, if Lindsay continues with her pregnancy,
then there is a big possibility that she will die.
According to experts, the best way to save
Lindsay’s life is to abort the fetus, which
necessarily implies killing the fetus. If we do not
abort the fetus, then Lindsay, as well as the fetus,
will die.
 Types of Moral Dillemas
• Epistemic moral dilemmas
– involve situations wherein two or more
moral requirements conflict with each
other and that the moral agent hardly
knows which of the conflicting moral
requirements takes precedence over the
other.
– the moral agent here does not know
which option is morally right or wrong
• Example
– Padigdi ako sa eskwelahan nindo and ang promise
ko dai ako malalate pero kabangaan kang padigdi
ko nagirumduman ko na nawalat si cellphone ko (I
expect na may emergency call na tatawag sa akin).
So anong gagawin ko? Should I proceed to school
para masunod si promise ko saido or should I get
my phone and came to your class late.
• Ontological moral dilemmas, on the other
hand, involve situations wherein two or more
moral requirements conflict with each other,
yet neither of these conflicting moral
requirements overrides each other.
– Eg
• Tatlo kayo and nakasakay kayo sa barko tapos suddenly
may nangyari sa barko na nagcause kang paglubog and
sa sobrang taranta ng tao yung iba di nakakuha ng life
vest tapos nakakuha ka ng dalawa, isa para sayo tapos
yung isa may pwede kang pagbigyan, sino ang bibigyan
mo yung taong mahal mo na pinaasa ka at gwapo or sa
taong mahal ka na mabait, maeffort pero di gwapo.
• Self-imposed moral dilemma is caused by the
moral agent’s wrongdoings.
– E.g.
• President Duterte in the issue of the West Philippine
Sea, when he ran for the position of President, he
promise and became firm in claiming the West
Philippine but when he became the President, the
firmness statement of P. Duterte about the WPS
became wind that disappear because according to him
na di natin kaya ang China.
• World-imposed moral dilemma means that
certain events in the world place the agent in
a situation of moral conflict

– Eg
• The Philippines implement one-child policy which
means that each family should have only one son or
daughter, suddenly twin yung naging anak mo so
youwill just chose kung sino ang bubuhayin or else both
of them will be dead. So you pick Ben that Jack.
 Freedom
• Definition
– Freedom in the sense of free will is a multi-way power
to do any one of a number of things, leaving it up to
us which one of a range of options by way of action
we perform.
– means more than just ‘free to do whatever I want’
– does mean the right to do as one pleases—to think,
believe, speak, worship (or not worship), move about,
gather, and generally act as you choose—but only
until your choices start to infringe on another person’s
freedom.
 Four Freedoms
• The first is freedom of speech and expression—
everywhere in the world.
• The second is freedom of every person to worship God in
his own way—everywhere in the world.
• The third is freedom from want—which, translated into
world terms, means economic understandings which will
secure to every nation a healthy peacetime life for its
inhabitants—everywhere in the world.
• The fourth is freedom from fear—which, translated into
world terms, means a world-wide reduction of armaments
to such a point and in such a thorough fashion that no
nation will be in a position to commit an act of physical
aggression against any neighbor—anywhere in the world.
 Types of Freedom
1. Negative liberty: freedom from constraint in the
form of tangible action against the person or her
property or (much more commonly) the threat
or fear of such. Because fellow human beings
can threaten violence, anarchy poses dangers to
negative liberty.
2. Positive liberty: the freedom to do something.
You are not free to travel, for example, unless
you can afford a fare. Positive liberty is a matter
of degree, since human beings are simply not
able to do everything we want.
3. Individuality: the freedom to develop and express
a unique personality and life-story in both the
public and private spheres. Individuality may
require a degree of negative and positive liberty,
but it also faces threats not yet mentioned.
4. Freedom from manipulation: I am treated as a
means to someone else’s ends when the other
person sways, threatens, or pays me to do what
he wants. I am treated as an end when the other
person tries to decide with me what we should
do.
5. Freedom to make the world (or to live in a
world that we make). Society is an artifact. We
are born into the society of our ancestors,
with all its flaws.
6. Equanimity: freedom from the dread, doubt,
disquiet, and sorrow that are consequences of
being vulnerable and mortal creatures who
care about other fragile living things.
• Equanimity means a good inner life, marked
by something like happiness, satisfaction, or
peace.
Moral Acts
• Human being are complex being.
– Experience the world in a variety of ways through
a variety of perceptive capacities
• Human being are rational being
– We do not simply know the world and the others;
we also feel their existence
– Feelings seeks immediate fulfilment
– Feeling without reason are blind.
– Reason sets the course for making ethical and
impartial decisions
– Reason and feelings must constructively
complement each other whenever we are making
choices.
• Moral Situations
– Reason can sometimes be blinded in
implementing and following its own strict rules
that it becomes incapable of empathy for the
others.
– What is good for one may not be good to others.
– Our decision have consequences and these have
effect on others.
• Steps in making decisions of moral import
1. Stop and think
2. Clarify goals
3. Determine facts
4. Develop Options
5. Consider consequences
6. Choose
7. Monitor and modify
Culture
 Moral Agent
• Moral Agent
– Refers to a person who can discern right from wrong
and therefore, can make moral judgement
• Moral Responsibility
– Status of morally deserving praise, blame, reward, or
punishment for an act or omission performed or
neglected in accordance with one’s moral obligation
• Moral Agency
– Individual’s ability to make moral judgements based
on some notion of right or wrong
 Culture and Behavior
• Culture
– Set of learned behaviors, attitudes and beliefs that
characterized a society or group of people.
– Includes people’s values and assumptions embedded
in their way of life
– Can also demonstrates the way a group thinks, their
practices or behavioral patterns, or their view to the
world.
– Cultural Norms
• Are norms that your culture use to that can neither right nor
wrong
 Culture affects behavior
• Culture provides on how someone
should react or behave
• Cultural differences are evident in the
varying ways in which people conduct
their everyday activities, as people
“perform” their culture in their
behavioral routines
 Cultural Relativism
• View that moral or ethical systems, which
vary from culture to culture, are equally
valid and no one system is really “better”
than the other.
• Any opinion on morality or ethics is
subject to the cultural perspective of
each person
 Cultural Relativism
• Schafer explains that Cultural relativism
stresses the different social contexts give rise
to different norms and values. Thus, we must
examine practices such as polygamy,
bullfighting, and monarchy within a particular
contexts of culture in which they are found.
 Cultural Relativism
• Rachel explains the following claims made by the
cultural relativist
1. Different societies have different moral codes
2. There is no objective standard that can be used to
judge one societal code better than the other.
3. The moral code of our own society has no special
status; it is merely one among many
4. There is no universal truth in ehtics, that is, there are
no moral truths that hold for all people.
5. The moral code of a society determines what is right
and wrong
6. It is mere arrogance for us to try to judge the
conduct of other people.
 Categories of Cultural Relativism
• Absolute relativism
– Everything that happens within a culture must and
should not be questioned by the outsiders

• Critical Relativism
– Creates questions about cultural practices in
terms of who accepting them and why.
 Ethnocentrism
• Summer defined ethnocentrism as “the
view of things in which one’s own group
is the center of everything, and others
are scaled and rated with reference to it”
• The belief of one’s values are natural and
correct and, therefore, any values that
differ are considered wrong.
 In short….

• Ethnocentrism can hinder

cultural competency
because it refuses to see
the perspective of other
culture
 Is ethnocentrism good or bad?

• Ethnocentrism creates or leads to

discrimination against people
that are different, but, on the
other hand ethnocentrism also
creates loyalty to one’s own
culture.
 ASIAN AND FILIPINO
UNDERSTANDING OF MORAL
VALUES
 Asian Shame
• This concept of shame is what undergirds
Asian societies, families and thus individuals.
• Asian shame is intricately tied to fear of
rejection and loss of both familial and cultural
community support.
• “Maintaining dignity and avoiding
embarrassment is at the heart of maintaining
face”
 Cultural shame finds its expression in
losing one’s face!
• Like Westerner concerned and threatened when
their self-respect is compromised, Asian is also
concerned about “losing face”
• Face for Asian is equated with honor
• Losing Face is equated with shame, disrespect,
and humiliation.
• Losing face is the worst thing that could happen
to an Asian person.
• “Face is more important than truth or justice”
• Losing face for Chinese culture is about more
than being embarrassed.
– When you lose face it means that your ability to
function as a part of the social order has been
damaged.
• Western Culture are guilt-based while Asian
Culture is shame-based.
 Kwang-Kou (2012) Where one can
“lose face”
1. Behavior against Morality
– If anybody disrespect the law that is recognized
by the public this can result to a person’s losing
face. But if he or she respect the law with
manners and integrity, he or she will gain face.
2. Incompetent behavior
– When anybody cannot perform an important
task although he or she can do it, this may also
result to one’s losing face.
 Kwang-Kou (2012) Where one can
“lose face”
3. Bad Habits
– Doing bad habits like not being hygienic, being
argumentative over small amount of money,
using foul language and etc may also lead to
one’s losing face.
4. Privacy being disclosed
– Anybody could result to losing face if an event
such as exposure of body, invasion of privacy, or
when evil thoughts or plan in one’s mind are
guessed by others came to him or her.
 “Hiya”
• Filipino concept of hiya, which means shame
or embarrassed, are sometimes interpreted as
losing face.
• A person who is not accepted or rejected by
society or by certain individuals suffer
personal humiliation.
• Hiya is one of the Filipino values that regulates
social behavior of Filipinos
 “Hiya”
• Hiya also controlling element in Philippine Society
• Hiya also the Filipino reaction to anything which
is an affront to one’s honor, dignity, or pride.
• Hiya is defined as the uncomfortable feeling that
accompanies awareness of being in a socially
unacceptable position, or performing a social
unacceptable action
• Hiya may even operate when a person is
absolutely right and the other person is wrong.
 Cultural Factors that influence Moral
Decision by Asians
• Honor
– Shame and Honor are inextricably tied together
– “Saving face” is seen as bringing honor to oneself and
one’s culture, the hiding one’s true feelings also
carries a degree of honor
– Anger, disappointment, sadness, and issues related to
shame such as poor grades, relational difficulties,
bankcruptcy, sexual issues and addictions remain
hidden in secrecy and shame.
– One can conclude that saving face is important not
only to cover one’s personal weakness, but also create
harmony especially with the family
 Cultural Factors that influence Moral
Decision by Asians
• Family
– Parents and older relatives act as the first teachers
of values and socially acceptable practices to the
younger generations.
– In China, Vietnam, Korea, and Taiwan practices
Confucianism, the family unit is one of the most
central institutions
– The family contains most important relationship
for individuals and forms the foundation of all
social organization.
 Cultural Factors that influence Moral
Decision by Asians
• Religion
– Determine the level of interaction among its followers
and the frame of mind with which to view the world
– In some countries, religious extremist strongly
discriminate against women and young girls
– Certain religious interpretations linked to ancestral
traditions can be the source of violence committed
against the children
• Child Marriage
• Female Circumsission
• Religion
– Must allows the children to learn morals, and
answers questions regarding life and death,
relationships between people and their place in
the world, and notion about good and evil
– Religious Authorities can play an important role in
improving the application of the Rights of the
Child
• Hierarchy
– The place of birth, education, civil and financial
status of new acquaintance is important.
– Respect the elderly and consider them as the
source of wisdom
– Elderly people are given the utmost respect by
greeting first, assisting them when they need it,
and or waiting for them to sit first before they do
so.
• Cooperation
– Most Asians stress group harmony
– Importance of personal orientation than task
orientation
– The needs of the group are considered over those of
the individuals
– Boasting and loud behavior that attract attention to
oneself are discourage
– Respect for collective interest and being helpful to
others are part of the cooperative spirit among Asian
Filipino Understanding of Moral Values
• Split-level Christianity
– The coexistence within the same person of two or
more thought and behavior systems which are
inconsistent with each other
– A split level person or Christian will engage in
behaviors that are inconsistent with each other or
with one’s belief
– Eg.
• A politician going to church and attend mass on Sundays
and also gives donations to the church but he or she also
engaged in corruption
 Activity

• Give examples of the split-level of

Christianity you noticed in your
family, friends or other
organization in your community.
 THE MORAL AGENT:
DEVELOPING VIRTUE AS A
HABIT