Tabor Hill College-OAD INC

Brgy. San Jose, Talamban, Cebu City

Department of Philosophy
PHILO 3: Ethics

Lecturer: Fr. Kenneth Ekene Onwusaka, O.A.D. (M.A-Rel. Studies, M.A Philo, PhD-
Ongoing)
Schedule: Monday, 8:00-11:00am
Contact: kensakacm@yahoo.com, ekenekenneth91@gmail.com, 09322544650

Course Description

This course is an introductory philosophy that concentrates on concepts and issues, such as the
nature of value, duty, right and wrong, the good life, human rights, social justice, and
applications to selected problems of personal and social behavior. In ethics, we are engaged in
the study of a practical question, a question of values-the higher values of life, their worth and
goodness, the worth of the human actions. In ethics we study human behavior, from the point of
view of approval or disapproval. Ethics is a science, an art, and a branch of philosophy. Topics to
be discussed are outlined in the course content. Contemporary issues in ethics, such as liberty
and its limitations, civil disobedience, abortion, pornography, premarital sex, affirmative action,
capital punishment, terrorism and the morality of war, animal rights and environmental ethic are
applied ethics. Other ethical questions are: “When can one favor members of one’s family, or
one's community, over other, randomly chosen, human beings?” and “How do you decide when
to struggle against injustice and when to devote yourself to private projects of self-creation?” are
ethical questions.

Course Outcomes

The students are deemed to have successfully completed the course when they are able to:
(1) explain the meaning of ethics and why we study ethics,
(2) explain various positions of the different philosophers who enunciated their views;
(3) critically assess the different philosophical arguments proffered by various philosophers;
(4) demonstrate a deep philosophical view on the varying issues on ethics; and
(5) develop and present a research paper on an issue on the course.

Course Contents

Week 1 What is Philosophy? Etymology and Meaning of ethics, Why study ethics?
Importance of ethics today, How to study ethics, Metaethical issues,
Ethical relativism.

Week 2 The Nuts and Bolts in Ethics: Morality from a Christian Perspective, Moral
Philosophy vs Moral Theology (Reason Informed by Faith: Foundations
of Catholic Morality by Richard M. Gula, S.S, P.6-7).
Week 3 The Presuppositions of Morality: Comprehensive Understanding of
ethics: God, Freedom, and Afterlife.

Week 4 Morality of Human Action, Morality and Human act, Distinctions between human
act and act of man.

Week 5 Sources or Determinants of Morality: End, Means and Circumstance, Good

Actions and Evil actions.

Week 6 a. The Stages of Human Acts: 1. Intention; 2. Deliberation; 3. Decision.

Morality and Responsibility (Accountability).
b. Factors that affect the decision process: Ignorance, fear, concupiscence,
violence and freedom

week 7. Moral law and Civil Law: Divine law or Eternal law, Natural law and Positive
law.

Week 8. Teleological or Consequentialist Ethics: Utilitarianism (Jeremy Bentham, 1748-

1832).

Week 9. Deontological Ethics: Immanuel Kant 1724-1804). The Goodwill, the Function of
Reason, the goodwill and duty, categorical imperative.

Week 10. Virtue Ethics: Aristotle on Virtue and the Good life, Bernard Williams,

Week 8 Contemporary Issues in ethics and their Implications in today’s world: Liberty
and its limitations, civil disobedience, affirmative action, capital
punishment, terrorism and the morality of war, animal rights and environmental
ethic, ethics in health care, ethics in business, ethics in information technology,
ethics in politics, ethics of crisis management in covid-19 pandemic.
Term Paper.
Ethics of Crisis Management in Covid-19 Pandemic (Atun Grey), Civil Disobedience (Banares
Mark Ryan), Ethics in Health care (Cupido Caeser Ryan), Ethics in Business (Diaz Christian),
Ethics in Politics(Endoma Ronald), Ethics in Information Technology (Fraga Carlo), Affirmative
Action (Fremista Kim), Capital Punishment (Freo Jonas), Terrorism (Fresnido Larry), Morality
of war (Fresnido Nico), Animal Rights (Fuentes Aries), environmental ethic (Furio Judd Ryan),
Morality of war (Furio Wenzel), Ethics in Health Care (Grabador Vincent), Ethics in Business
(Purty Bijay), Ethics in Information Technology (Salebad Glephard), Ethics in Politics (Valles
Delvin), Ethics of Crisis Management in Covid-19 Pandemic (Regole Robert John).

Note: The final paper will be submitted at the end of the semester. It is a refinement of your
essays for the class. Please start with the rational of your study. Final paper will be minimum of
4 and maximum of 5 pages (Times new Roman, Font size 12, double spacing). Please cite your
references (use footnotes and Bibliography)! You may be required to submit on weekly bases.
Other assignments or exercises may be given during the class.
Academic Policies

Attendance. As an online course, the class can be held asynchronous. There would be scheduled
online meeting using Google Meet.

Class Participation. To actively participate, you will need to read the assigned selections for the
week. For your assigned topic for reporting, each take turns in facilitating the assigned topic.

Class Activities. Our class activities include textual analyses, intellectual discourse, essay
writing, and research work.

Academic Honesty. Copying of ideas in substance, forms and words, constitutes plagiarism or
intellectual dishonesty. In order to avoid this, students are required to acknowledge sources from
which they get their ideas by giving the complete bibliographical entry. Any student turning in
the required papers and written exams copied from fellow students or other sources is deemed to
have committed intellectual dishonesty and is given a failing grade for that requirement for
the first offense and a failing grade for the course for the second offense.
Grading System. Class Participation 25%; Essays 40%; Research Paper 35%;

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Abulad, Romualdo SVD, et al. General Ethics: Understanding Human Morality. Cebu City:
University of San Carlos Press, 2013.

Anscombe, G. E. M. “Modern Moral Philosophy.” Philosophy 33 (Jan.1958): 1-19.

Aristotle. The Nicomachean Ethics. Trans. J.A.K. Thomson. Revised with Notes and Appendices
by Hugh Tredennick. Introduction and Further Reading by Jonathan Barnes. London:
Penguin, 2004.

Aristotle. The Nicomachean Ethics. Trans. F. H. Peters. Tenth Edition. London: Kegan Paul,
1906.

Glenn, Msgr Paul. Ethics: A Class Manual in Moral Philosophy. London: B. Herder Book, 1965.

M. deTorre, Joseph. Christian Philosophy. Third Edition. Manila: Sinag-Tala Pub, 1980.

Peschke, Karl. H. Christian Ethics: Moral Theology in the Light of Vatican 11. Manila: Logos,
2016.

William, Barnes. Ethics and the Limits of Philosophy. London: Routledge Classics.