I.

INTRODUCTION TO ETHICS
Theme 3. Ethics in relation with other fields of knowledge

• As Ethics is a science, which transmits a body of knowledge, it also relates to

other sciences and fields of knowledge that study the real world.

⇒ In particular, Ethics deals with human behaviour and for that reason it relates
in a special way to the fields of knowledge which also study human activity,
such as psychology, sociology, anthropology, law, economics, and so on.

⇒ Evidently, each of these branches of knowledge studies the human person and
their behaviour from different viewpoints; here we will briefly discuss the
connection between Ethics and these other sciences.

Ethics and Psychology

• Psychology: is a descriptive science that studies the human faculties and the
specific way in which they function (intellect, will, memory, imagination,
character types, temperaments, etc.); it explains facts about human acts, where
they come from and how they function.

• Ethics: studies human acts from the point of view of their moral value; it judges
the acts from the point of view of their goodness or badness; as such, it is a
science which aims at really guiding and directing human acts towards what is
good for the person; hence, it is a normative science.

• In certain cases, both fields of knowledge study the same acts: free acts, habits,
sentiments, feelings, affectivity, etc., but from different perspectives; Psychology
= types of feelings, what produces them, etc; Ethics = moral value of the same
feelings, how to guide them towards what is right and good.

• Both fields of knowledge can also be of assistance to one another.

⇒ Psychology to Ethics: every human act has a psychic aspect because it reveals
intentions and the feelings of the person and this can help to understand the
moral value of the act

o Every free, moral act is carried out by a specific person with their
psychological make-up that needs to be known.

o The ethical aspects of the act, such as the conscience, responsible freedom,
temperament, genetic conditionings, environment, etc. have a
psychological content that cannot be ignored by Ethics.
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 o Ethics also needs the information that Psychology can offer about the
aspects that increase or reduce or prevent the voluntary dimension of the
act.

⇒ So Ethics and Psychology can help one another, although there can also be
misunderstandings and problems in their relationship.

o Ethics should pay attention to what Psychology can say about man’s being
when judging his behaviour.

o Psychology, when analyzing different aspects of the person, cannot lose

sight of the unity and integrity of the person as such who seeks perfect
happiness in his or her free acts.

Ethics and Sociology

• Both have the same material object: human acts; however, they have different
formal objects; that is, they study human actions from different perspectives.

• Sociology: is a descriptive science which studies different phenomenae which take

place in man’s life in society; it describes, classifies and measures social facts
through empirical analysis in order to understand the social dimension of human
behaviour; for example, reasons for mothers to work outside the home,
environmental factors which can effect the child’s learning process, and so on.

⇒ At times it reaches conclusions that explain moral situations in society and that
help to understand what is going on there, but it doesn’t aim at establishing how
man ought to act in society.

⇒ It also studies social influences that can affect individual behaviour.

⇒ It often offers information that Ethics needs to consider and to act upon.

⇒ It needs Ethics so as to situate its conclusions in a broad vision and understanding

of the human person.

• Ethics aims at establishing how man ought to act in society; it needs sociology so
as to consider all human realities from the social context as man lives and
develops in a given social environment.

⇒ Man’s life in society gives rise to rights and duties that Ethics must stipulate
and explain.

• Fruitful interchange between the two sciences is possible and enriching for both

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Ethics and Law

• Both Law and Ethics are normative sciences that deal with the issues of human
conduct and duty, however they are different.

• Law: studies positive law established by men through the force of tradition and
customs, or through legislation; it deals with external deeds and facts that can be
legally organized, required by law, etc.

• Ethics: studies the natural moral norms which are written in the very nature (way
of being) of people, things, the world; man does not invent these norms, rather, he
discovers them; it studies internal acts of the will which can be required by one’s
own conscience and not by any external law.

⇒ There is no law established that requires people to support their parents in old
age; however, natural moral law as it presents itself to one’s conscience
indicates the child’s duty towards his or her parents in their old age, as the
child has received life, care and education from them.

• Ethics and Law are very much connected to one another and can relate to each
other in a complete and harmonic way.

⇒ Law is a form of normative knowledge that regulates men’s rights and duties;
if it does so in a way that respects true justice, Law can help in ensuring that
men’s social behaviour is ethically correct.

⇒ Although both sciences regulate human conduct, Ethics has the first place in
importance because it judges the morality of a man’s actions not only
according to positive law, but above all, according to the absolute truth about
good and evil.

⇒ Hence, Ethics is in the position to judge legal norms and their morality in
terms of absolute justice, goodness and truth; whereas, Law only judges
external conduct in relation with positive law.

⇒ So Ethics is a broader field of knowledge as it refers to the norms and

regulations promulgated by certain institutions, to all external conduct (not
only that regulated by law) and not only in its relation to current legislation.

⇒ Not everything can be governed by law in a given society as it would be

impossible to foresee and legislate for all possible human acts; whereas as
Ethics can and does concern itself with all human actions, be they good or
bad.

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Ethics and Economics

• Economics has always appeared as an essential part of human existence because it

forms part of man’s way of being and manifests the social aspect in man.

⇒ It studies how people and social groups decide to use their productive
elements in order to get goods and services which contribute to the well being
of the whole of society, in order to create and distribute wealth.

⇒ Economics has an anthropological basis because very possible form of

economic organization of society includes some idea about the human person,
some way of understanding man and his conduct.

⇒ Marxist economics holds that man is made only of matter, he has no soul and
so his work is only a product that can contribute to wealth but it has no
enriching value for the man who carries it out; this is false.

⇒ Capitalism and the free market economy relies on the fact that man is a free
being who can make choices that effect the supply and demand of products on
the market.

⇒ For this reason, economic theory and norms for action are not irrelevant to
Ethics; Ethics should also guide all economic activity in society.

⇒ If this is not the case, the goal of Economics can be twisted and it can
subordinate it’s objectives to other concerns which are not the good of each
human being and of society, such as the amassing of wealth by a few people,
rather than contributing to the material progress of all members of society.

⇒ So, although Economics has it’s own principles, it is not absolutely

independent regarding Ethics because by it’s very nature it is a service to man;
it ought to be oriented to the good of the human person and of society.

⇒ The way of organizing work, production and consumption should respect the
true dignity of the human person, which should be the guiding principle of all
economic activity.

Ethics in relation to Metaphysics and Anthropology

• Every system of Ethics has some metaphysical basis that effects the moral
conclusions or the practical applications to human behaviour of that ethical
system.

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 • This is because Metaphysics studies being (or existence) as such and in itself,
while Ethics studies a specific type of being, free human acts.

⇒ Metaphysics is the central element in the interpretation of the real world as it

considers the very fact that this world exists.

⇒ It thus establishes certain truths regarding the existence of God, the creation of
the world and man by God, spirituality and immortality of the soul, man’s
final destiny as union with God, etc.

⇒ Ethics takes these truths as the basis for the deepest explanation and
understanding of the moral life that it offers; the goodness and badness of free
human acts that is studied in Ethics depends precisely on the fact that they
really exist and on their orientation in terms of man’s final goal, union with
God, as established in Metaphysics.

• Anthropology is the speculative science which studies the truth about the nature
of the human person, who and what he is; once the nature of man is clear, Ethics
can consider man’s behaviour and explain what he ought to do in order to be a
better person.

⇒ All ethical norms should be based on the truth about man as such and should
express the truth about what is good for man.

⇒ Only if we know who and what is man from the philosophical point of view,
can we know what is good for him, and how he should act to obtain that good.

The ethical dimension of professional work

• In today’s world, work is very important; it is considered to be the engine, the

driving force in anyone’s personal and social life.

⇒ In fact, technical advancement has awakened in man the fascination with

transforming the world, which has given rise to an ever growing number of
new professions, careers, types of employment which contribute to further
advancing the technical development of the world (medical engineering,
institutional communication, etc.).

⇒ In order to understand the ethical dimension of professional activity, we need

to understand the term “profession”.

• A profession is any personal stable, noble activity which is placed at the service
of others and for one’s own benefit, and which a person carries out moved by his
own personal vocation; this activity is enriched by the dignity which characterizes
the human person as such, and it contributes to the good of the person who works,
as well as to the overall common good.

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 ⇒ A person’s profession is rooted in the depths of his being; it has a vocational
dimension in that the person often discovers and considers that he “was born”
to carry out that activity; we sometimes describe a person as “a born doctor”,
or “a born teacher”.

⇒ The fact that the person is “called” to that profession is shown in that fact that
he has natural qualities, skills, capacities and interests which makes it easy for
him to carry out that profession and which show that he was created in a way
which suits that particular profession; he has a certain facility for carrying out
that profession.

⇒ When the person puts into practice his natural qualities and capacities in his
professional activity he achieves personal satisfaction; in fact, one of the
deepest sources of personal satisfaction is the carrying out of one’s own
personal professional activity well.

⇒ This is because the professional work suits that person’s capacities and so
permits the person to be faithful to his own way of being and to develop his
qualities, capacities and personality through his work.

⇒ For this reason, it is tremendously important to know oneself and one’s

capacities, so as to be able to discover the right professional activity for
oneself, the one that suits and helps us be true to ourselves.

• At the same time, professional work is a call to serve society; it is our most
important personal input to life in society.

⇒ If in our work we do not have the goal of contributing to the common good, to
improving society, the task will become simply an instrument for personal
gain and glory, a way of expressing oneself, but forgetting the needs of others.

⇒ We then run the risk of turning our work into a way of serving our own
selfishness, and so, it will not be a truly professional form of work.

• Work has two dimensions that can be distinguished from one another although
they should go together: the objective aspect and the subjective aspect.

⇒ Objective dimension: the technical, productive factor whereby one dominates

the material world and transforms it = man manages or controls the created
world through his work.

⇒ Subjective dimension: as work is a free human activity carried out by the

person, he “owns”, “controls” or belongs to himself as he works and so can
acquire greater perfection as a person through his work; this is also known as
the ethical aspect of work = man manages and controls himself and so can
perfect himself through the free activity involved in carrying out his
professional work.

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 ⇒ There is a very close relationship between these two aspects of work in that
the objective carrying out of one’s professional activity is an opportunity for
the person or subject who carries it out to improve in ethical terms and in
technical terms, while at the same time, this activity is a way of serving
society.

⇒ For example: punctuality in getting down to work may be a professional asset

but it also contributes to becoming a more disciplined person; studying or
working intensely, by putting all one’s attention into what we are doing is
fruitful from the point of view of the quantity and the quality of the task
carried out, but it also makes the person grow in habits such as concentration,
attention to detail; helping our colleagues at work makes us a generous
professional person.

⇒ As a result, when moral norms and principles are neglected or rejected at

work, such as in the case of bribery, the evil social consequences are
accompanied by the interior corruption of the person who carries out the act; it
makes him be a worse person.

• Nowadays, great importance is given to the professional competence required to

do a particular job; however, this interest in the technical qualifications a person
has should be accompanied by a concern for the person’s human, moral qualities
also.

⇒ A good professional must combine technical capacities and qualities for the
job with human worth; if a person does not have good moral qualities, he
cannot be an excellent professional person.

⇒ In other words, to be a good professional means to work, not as an end in

itself but as a means to grow and improve as a person and to contribute to
improving one’s family situation and that of society as a whole.

⇒ As a result, a person may be an expert on some topics, he may be very skilled

at some job or very quick to discover new business opportunities, but if he is
morally corrupt, he cannot be a real professional person because he will be
missing an essential aspect of work as such, it’s ethical dimension.

⇒ We should seek in the truly professional person not only technical competence
but also human qualities: he should be trustworthy, responsible, have spirit of
service; he should have good ethical qualities, as these ensure that he will
always act well as a person, including when he is carrying out his professional
activity.

• We have been emphasizing the fact that the moral worth of a person affects his
whole being; it is not something secondary or independent of his technical skill,
but influences everything in his life.

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 ⇒ A person may have good technical training, but if he is a bad or mediocre
person, he will use these skills to find solutions to difficult problems that a
person who respects and defends ethical values knows he cannot accept.

⇒ When the mediocre person comes across ethical dilemmas, he will not be
capable of finding morally viable alternatives; rather he will fall easily into the
temptation of using illicit means to achieve his goal at any price.

• Professional Ethics: Deontology [from the Greek “deon”= duty and “logos” =
treatise or study] => deontology = the science of duty

⇒ This science studies the morality of human conduct in the field of professional
practice; it defines the obligations and responsibilities of an ethical nature that
arise in carrying out a given profession.

⇒ The subject also defines, for each specialty, the rights and duties of the
professional person, which moral requirements should be demanded of him as
a person, and what ethical perspective he should give to the new situations
which arise in his professional work.

• The aim of a university education is to prepare the students to be upright in

carrying out their profession; many institutions emphasize the technical and
scientific knowledge their students should acquire, leaving aside the moral value
of the future professional; they abandon or neglect his personal formation as a
human being. This is a disservice to society as a whole.

⇒ “University studies should give the importance it really has to knowing what
man really is in terms of his nature and his history; this is the role of the
humanities. Likewise, in higher-level institutions, man should learn to educate
himself, character formation; this is what Ethics is all about”1.

⇒ In other words, a true university should be concerned with offering the

students an all round education that may be summarized in three areas:
personal, professional and education for solidarity.

⇒ The aim is to forge personalities that are of the same calibre as the technical
knowledge and skills of the person.

⇒ In this way the university will provide society with good professionals who
are technically prepared and who are interested in their own on-going personal
improvement; people who know how to place their scientific knowledge at the
service of the person and the common good of society.

1
C. Llano, El postmodernismo en la empresa, McGraw-Hill, Mexico 1994, p. 95.

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