ETHICS

Topic
Ethics Origin & Other
Meaning Sciences

Fundamen Essential
Importanc elements
e tal of human
concepts
acts
Modifiers
of human
acts
• Is there a right and wrong way of living?
• Is there a pattern, a model, an ideal of the good life?
• If so, where can one find it?
• What is the good life for man?
 Ethics

Examine: Investigate:
• Actions • Meaning
• Problems • Purpose of
•Experience human life
•Aspirations
• Destiny
“The unexamined life is “Ethics is the supreme science”
not worth living.” “The apex in the hierarchy of
- Socrates human values.”
- Plato
“Ultimately concerned with the
attainment of life’s greatest
good and goal - HAPPINESS.”
- Plato
ORIGIN AND MEANING
• Ethos (Greek) – The fundamental character and spirit of
a culture and custom.
• Custom is mos, pl. mores (Latin)
• Mores is the equivalent of Ethos
• From Mores, we derive the terms amoral and morality
• Ethics is also called Moral philosophy
What is Ethics?
• The scientific inquiry into the principles of
morality.

• A branch of Philosophy dealing with actions

and values relating to human conduct.
(rightness or wrongness of actions, goodness and
badness of motives and ends of such actions.)
ETHICS & OTHER SCIENCES
Ethics Logic

• Right living • Right thinking

“To think right, is to do right.”

Ethics Psychology

• Human act • Human behavior

Study of man
Ethics Sociology

• Moral order • Human relations

in society.

• Proper conduct.
• Observing moral laws
& principles.
Ethics Law

• Established by constituted
• Morality
authorities.

• Rule of conduct are interpretations

& products of natural moral law.
 Ethics Education

• Develop man’s moral, intellectual, physical attributes.

• Develop man’s powers (Intelligence, reason, will).

• Whole human person

THE IMPORTANCE OF
THE STUDY OF ETHICS
1. Helps every student to know the meaning and internalize
ethical or moral principles.
2. Students should understand and uphold moral standards.
3. Seeks to inculcate among men the true values of living a
good life.
4. Guide students to commit in right living and pursue the
development of good moral character.
ETHICS AND FUNDAMENTAL
CONCEPTS
Morality

• The quality of goodness or badness in a human act.

 Humans pass judgment on the morality of human actions.

“What he did was wrong.” “What he did was right.”
“His behavior was rude.” “She is not morally justified in
doing such an act.”
Human acts

• An act which proceeds from the deliberate free will of man.

 Human acts are proper to man because She/he is a

rational being and responsible for his/her acts.
Reason

• The power to evaluate various ethical theories.

• The faculty to judge the moral value of the actions &

theories.

“The good life is the life of reason.”

eason

How do we know when reason is right?

Right

• That which squares with the norms of morality

(morally good).

• The moral power to do, omit, hold or exact something.

• Limited by duty (the moral necessity to do or omit

something.)
Right

• Three components: Subject, Term, Title.

• Subject – The one possessing the right.

• Term – The one bound to respect the right.
• Title – The reason why this person has a right to these
things.
Right

Generally considered what is just.

Natural rights are deduced from natural law. Natural

law imposes obligations on man who must have
moral power to fulfill them and prevent others from
interfering with this fulfillment.
Right versus Might

• All human beings have moral obligations.

• Rights are our moral safeguards against abuse of might.

• Rights concerning external matters due in justice imply

the right to use might in their defense or recovery.
Conscience

• The sense of what is right or wrong in one’s conduct or

motives impelling one toward right action.
Conscience

• The intellect as the ability to form judgments about right

and wrong of individual acts.

• The process of reasoning that the intellect goes through

to reach such judgment.
Conscience

• The judgment itself, which is the conclusion of this

reasoning process.
ESSENTIAL ELEMENTS OF
HUMAN ACTS
1. Knowledge
2. Freedom
3. Voluntariness
Knowledge

• A human act proceeds from the deliberate

will.

• Every human act requires deliberation.

• Deliberation – Advertence or knowledge in

intellect of what an act is about and what
this means.
Will

• Blind faculty

• It cannot choose unless it sees to choose and

the light, the power to see, is afforded by the
intellectual knowledge.
eedom

An act determined (elicited or commanded)

by the will.

The ability of man to act in accordance with

his/her will, not bound by restrictions or
compulsions so that he/she can choose from
the alternatives that are available to satisfy
his/her preference and initiate an action to
accomplish his desired goal.
Voluntariness

• A human act must be voluntary (will-act).

• The formal essential quality of the human act.

• An act becomes a will-act if there is knowledge

and freedom.
THE MODIFIERS OF HUMAN
ACTS
1. Ignorance
2. Concupiscence (Passion)
3. Fear
4. Violence
5. Habit
Ignorance

• The absence of intellectual knowledge in man.

young freshman who committed ten consecutive absences
a month, not knowing that his action is a violation of the
iversity rules.

Ignorance of law is ignorance of existence of a duty, rule

or regulation.
A motorist who knows the speed limit when driving, but,
unknowingly, violates it because of an inaccurate
speedometer.

Ignorance of fact is ignorance of the nature or circumstances

of an act as forbidden.
Will Ignorance excuse a person from
the unforseen consequences?

Ignorance neither lessens nor destroys

the responsibility.
Concupiscence (Passion)

• Affects the voluntariness of an action.

A man kills another due to intense anger.

The consequences of concupiscence neither lessens

nor destroy the responsibility.
ear

The shrinking back of the mind from danger.

The agitation of the mind brought about by the

apprehension of impending evil, which may or
may not exist.
A girl did not tell the truth because she was afraid
to be embarrassed in front of her barkadas.

The consequences of fear neither lessens nor destroy

the responsibility.
Violence

An external force applied by a free cause.

It cannot reach the will directly. It may force bodily

action, but, the will is not controlled by the body.
bit

A disposition according to which is disposed as either

well or ill-disposed, and either in itself or with reference
to something else (Thomas Aquinas).
Habit

• They are destroyed either by disuse or by contrary acts.

• A quality difficult to change.

• Good moral habits are virtues; Morally evil habits are

vices.
References:
Adrales, Venancio B. Introductory text to Philosophy.
Makati: Best Books, Inc., 1987.
Angeles, Peter A. Dictionary of Philosophy. New York:
Harper and Row, Publishers, 1981
Avey, Alber E. Handbook in History of Philosophy. New
York: Barns and Noble, Inc., 1968
Black, Max. Critical Thinking. 2nd ed. New York: Prentice-
Hall, 1955
Beck, Lewis W. Eighteenth Century Philosophy. New York:
The Free Press, 1966.