Prepared & presented by Befekadu Dhaba

Address:
• Cell Phone #091161 2854
• e-mail: dbefeaau@yahoo.com or
bulidiqa2018@gmail.com

March2019
Addis Ababa,
Ethiopia
Chapter One: Understanding Civics & Ethics
 1.1 Defining Civics, Ethics, Morality & amorality

• The term civics comes from the Latin word “Civitas’,

which implies citizen.
• As a branch of social science, civics deals with right
& responsibilities of citizens.
• It is also concerned with the intensive study &
analysis of political institutions such as law making
or Legislative, Executives bodies, & political
institutions in the country.
• The purpose of gov’t, the nature of law, & the way
private behavior affects the public order & the
political system is also the concern of civics.
 1.1.1.Ethics

• The term ethics comes from the Greece word ‘Ethos’.

• The branch of philosophy that is concerned with the study & analysis
of what is good & what is bad, what is right & what is wrong’.

• It also attempts to arrive at an understanding of the nature of human

values, of how we ought to live, what constitutes the right conduct &
good life for human beings & what is the good reason for acting in
one way or the other.

• The study of standard of conduct & moral judgment: the systems of

morals of a particular person, religion, group, etc

• Deals with morality & morals. Morality in turn refers to peoples

belief about right & wrong, good & bad, punishment & decent.
 1.1.2.Morality

• Morality pertains directly to the situation of action on moral

basis.
• It incorporates the basic principles & standards of measuring
& differentiating b/n right & wrong or good & bad behavior.
• Sets out norms & customary rules to judge the actions,
intensions of individuals & groups in the society.
• The concept in morality helps an individual to determine
whether his/her actions are right or wrong.
• So morality pertains to the specific codes & principles that
human beings use to guide their actions by employing those
codes as a yardstick or standard to measure & evaluate their
actions as right or wrong.
• There are two approaches that morality cans be studied:
Ethical relatives & ethical universalism
 Amoral" Or "Immoral"?

Amorality is a state in which the concept of right & wrong is

invalid. Ex. deciding which scent you like best is an amoral
decision.
Amoral means:
(1) neither moral nor immoral, or
(2) lacking moral sensibility.
• While immoral & amoral might share a little common
ground, there is a clear distinction: immoral things are bad, &
amoral things are either neutral from a moral perspective
or simply removed from moral considerations.
• Immoral means contrary to established moral principles.
Immoral actions are corrupt, unethical, sinful, or just
wrong.
• Not adhering to moral principles (i.e., deliberately
breaking the rules of right and wrong).
 Amoral & unmoral cont..
• Amoral implies ‘not concerned with morality’
• Unmoral, means unrelated to moral
considerations.
• The line b/n amoral & unmoral is blurry as
well, but unmoral things are even further
removed from moral concerns than amoral
things, which merely ignore morality.
 Immoral actions or events cont..

Those areas of interest where moral categories do apply are to

be evil, sinful, or wrong according to some code or theory of
ethics.

a. Telling a lie is an immoral action.

b. An immoral action then can be defined as a violation of

a rule or code of ethics.

c. Strictly speaking, on the one hand, an action could be

considered immoral on the basis of one rule, code,
or theory &, on the other hand, be considered moral
or even non-moral on another rule, code, or theory.
 Amoral actions or events:
Those areas of interest exhibiting indifference & not abiding by the
moral rules or codes of society.

a. Note that an amoral action by one person could be considered

non-moral by a specific society, depending upon the moral
code of the society.

b. If I tell a lie without concern for the moral rules of society & it
is a "white" lie & "white" lies are permissible in that society,
then I am actually acting amorally.

c. The "white" lie told in a society where such actions are against
the moral code would be considered an immoral action &
would
be called "wrong.“
 1.2.The Origin & Dev’pt of Civics & ethical education
Citizenship education -was started by the Greece & the
Romans, during the ancient time.
As the church lost dominance over the state during Renaissance,
the impact of religion in public education also decline in many
countries.
• Renaissance in Italy (14 & 15the century))
• Enlightenment in Europe (17-18th centuries)
• The impact of English Revolution (1688)
• The American War of independence (1776), &
 The origin & dev’pt of civics & ethical education cont..
• The French Revolution (1789) had paramount significance for
the growth of the subject of civic education at the int. level.
Powerful concepts like equality, fraternity, justice that inspired
millions were the legacies of this rev.
In Ethiopian context- civic education start to take shape under
regimes institutions.
• During Hailesellasie regime, it was in early days offered in
religious institutions, & later on as moral education in
academic institutions
• Under the Military regime, it was offered as a subject, matter
highly overtone with Socialist ideology.
• Under the incumbent EPRDF regime, civic education is
widely offered to students of the country starting from lower
level to the tertiary levels (university).
 1.3 The purpose of civics & ethical education

• To develop ideal citizens-to acquaint students with

all qualities of an ideal citizens.
• These include believe in equality of opportunity for
all people; puts the general welfare above once own
welfare; realize the necessary connection of education
with democracy & so forth.
• Strengthen national character & patriotism-
citizens should be prepared to scarify everything for
their motherland. Proud of their identity, cultural
heritage & uphold the values of the society.
 The purpose of civics & ethical education cont…

• To create competent & responsible citizen who

effectively participate in the social, cultural,
economic, env’ntal & political affairs or
domains of the country.
• Promote the dev’pt of democratic outlook &
strengthening democracy.
• Strengthening national, regional & int.
integration
 Similarities & difference of Civic & Ethics

• As the field of study, civic & ethics are separate

bodies of knowledge.
• Civic is about citizen & related with state-society
r/ns while ethics is a normative concept related
with right & wrong.
• Civics deals with the reciprocal roles & privileges
that state & citizens have with respect to the
economic domain, cultural domain, social domain,
dev’ptal domain & env’ntal domain of the society.
• In sum, Civics & Ethics deals with the reciprocal
r/nship of right & duties established among
citizens,& b/n citizens & the state.
 1.4 Citizen: Rights & responsibilities

• In ancient Greece, citizen means a person who lives

in a town or city.
• The term citizen is understood as a person or
individual who is born in of a given state or
naturalized therein, & who owes allegiance to such a
state & is entitled to reciprocal protection from it.
• Is an individual who is legally recognized as a
member of a state.
• A person who has rights & privileges in a country &
who is also expected to render services & overcome
duties expected from him/her.
 The definition of Citizen cont..

• Citizenship-simply implies full membership

of citizens in a particular state; it is the actual
legal status of membership to the state.
• This legal status usually arises from exercising
full right & discharging the corresponding
duties in the state, which people that are not
citizens are not entitled to exercise & expected
to fulfill & to which they are not citizen of, or
full members to, the state.
 The definition of Citizen cont..
• Nationals & citizens have slight difference in that a
national is a person who is citizen by birth in the country
referred.
• But citizen could be a person who is either naturalized or
born in the country referred. Thus we can say a national is
a citizen born in a specific country but a citizen may not
be a national.
• On the other hand, there is also a difference b/n citizen &
nationality.
• Nationality is commonly referred to a person’s ethnic
origin. But citizenship denotes the tie or r/n of
individuality & is used to show how membership in a
certain nation is established.
 1.4 .1.Rights & Responsibilities of Citizens
Rights
• Getting protection that is to get his/her life &
property protected by the state
• Getting the necessary social services that is having
access to health, education, water, electricity, housing
& other facilities
• Right to work in his/her own country (facilitate the
working situations)
• Right to elect & be elected .
 Responsibilities

• Take part in the political, economic & social activities

• Respect the rights of other people
• Protect the country from any kind of threat or attack
• Bear duties in times of advertise
• Respect the laws & rules that govern the country
• Preserve historic & cultural heritages of the country
• Pay taxes
• Accept & appreciate the views, beliefs & arguments
of other people (open mindedness)
• Be good citizen free from addiction of any kind
• Follow up what the gov’t is doing or intends to do
 1.5. Competence of Good Citizens

They are civic knowledge, civic skill & civic attitude

A) Civic knowledge-implies general information & awareness
about the social, cultural, political, env’ntal, historical &
economic conditions & realities of the past & the present &
also the challenges & prospects ahead of the country.

B) Civic skills-involve skills of decision making,

communication, conflict resolution, compromise, persuasion,
creativity, etc
 Competence of Good Citizens cont..
C) Civic attitude or orientation-will develop once
citizens acquired civic knowledge-community service,
altruistic qualities.
•Political & cultural tolerance is critical to build up
democratic system
•Open mindedness/civic mindedness (dialogue)-
citizens readiness to scarify their individual interest &
value for the sake of promoting collective interest.
•Loyalty-allegiance, keeping promise, keeping r/nship
secret.