SESSION 4: FRAMEWORKS

AND PRINCIPLES BEHIND

OUR MORAL DISPOSITION
FRAMEWORKS
NOCamitan – 2nd Sem. 2020-21
EDP 2: Ethics
Frameworks
 Framework – basic structure underlying a system,
concept or text.
 What are the overarching frameworks?
 Virtue – Virtue ethics
 Rights – Right theory
 Utilitarian – morality or right action
 Justice and fairness – promote common good
Virtue Ethics
 Character-based ethics
 Pertains to virtue or moral character of a person
carrying out an action, rather than ethical duties and
rules, or the consequences of particular actions.
 Focused on person rather than actions.
 “A right act is the action a virtuous person would do in
the same circumstances .”
 Example: honesty, courage, compassion, generosity,
fidelity, integrity, fairness, self-control, and prudence.
 Brings the person to the “higher self”
Proponents of Virtue Ethics
 Aristotle – (384-322BC) Greek philosopher; student
of Plato and mentor of Alexander the Great
 Telos – inherent purpose
 Virtue as habit
 Happiness as virtue

 St. Thomas Aquinas – (1225-1274) Italian

philosopher and theologian; ethical evaluation of
action.
 The natural law and its tenets
 Happiness as constitutive of moral and cardinal virtues
Aristotle: Telos
 Inherent purpose or objective of the person or thing,
full potential, end-goal or 'raison d'être„
 Supreme end of man‟s endeavor
 Example: chair - to provide seat; good when it
supports a curvature of the human bottom without
collapsing under the strain; bad when non-
ergonomic.
 Aristotle: Virtue as Habit
 Moral virtue as disposition to behave in the right
manner and as a mean between extremes of
deficiency and excess, which are vices.
 Moral virtue is learn primarily through habit and
practice rather than through reasoning and
instruction.
 Once acquired, becomes characteristics of a person.
 Aristotle: Happiness as Virtue
 Accdg. to Aristotle: “Happiness is the meaning and
purpose of life, the whole aim and end of human
existence.”
 Happiness is not a pleasure, nor it is virtue. It is the
exercise of virtue.
 Happiness depends on cultivation of virtue.
 Aristotle works: Nicomachean Ethics – presents the theory
of happiness (Gr. “eudaimonia”)
 To be an ultimate end, an act must be self-sufficient and
final, “that which is always desirable in itself and never
for the sake of something else.”
 St. Thomas:
Natural Law and its Tenets
 Natural law: “good is to be done and pursued and evil
avoided.”
 Natural laws that are good for human: self-preservation,
marriage and family, and the desire to know God.
 Four (4) tenets:
 Eternal law – laws that govern the nature of an eternal
universe; Law of Nature
 Natural law – law of rights and justice for all men and
derived from nature rather than rules of society (Positive Law)
 Human law – says that human beings possess intrinsic values
that govern our reasoning and behavior.
 Divine law – law derived from transcendent source --- will of
God.
 St. Thomas: Happiness as Constitutive of
Moral and Cardinal Virtues
 The morality of happiness should be connected to our
virtues in doing what is right and good.
 Moral virtues: prudence, justice, temperance, courage,
faith, hope, and charity.
 Four (4) cardinal virtues:
1. Practical wisdom/ prudence
2. Justice
3. Courage/ fortitude
4. Temperance
Proponents of Right Theory
 Immanuel Kant – (1724-1804) German
philosopher; best-known for the work on “Critique
of Pure Reason”
 Kant principles:
 Good will
 Categorical imperative

 Different kinds of rights

 Legal
 Moral
 Kant: Good will

 Good will – “good without qualification”; absolute

good in itself, universally good in every instance and
never merely as good to some yet further end.
 What we can control is the will behind action.
 All other candidates for an intrinsic good have
problems (e.g., courage, health, wealth) and can be
used for ill purposes, and therefore, cannot be
intrinsically good.
 Good will is the only unconditional good despite all
encroachments.
 Kant: Categorical Imperative

 Provides a way to evaluate moral actions and to

make moral judgments.
 Ethics of duty
 Provide formulation by which we can apply our
human reason to determine the right, the rational
thing to do --- our duty
 Something that a person must do no matter what the
circumstances.
 An ethical person follows a “universal law” regardless
of their situation.
 Different Kinds of Rights: Legal

 Legal rights – explains the authority of law by

reference to the way law secures important general
interests (e.g., security and welfare).
 Legal is not always moral
 Different Kinds of Rights: Moral

 Moral rights – the sense of obligation to which our

will often responds.
 The moral rights is nothing other than rational will ---
entirely “devoted” to, or guided by impartiality and
universality of reason.
 Utilitarianism

 View that the morally right action is the action the

produces the most good.
 Maximize the overall good --- consider the good of
others as well as one‟s own good.
 Emphasis under this subject:
 Origins and nature of theory of utilitarianism
 Business‟ fascination with utilitarianism
 Utilitarianism: Origins and Nature of
Theory
 Traceable from Epicureanism
 Epicureanism – proponent was Epicurus (341-270 BC),
Greek philosopher who advocated that pleasure was the
chief good in life.
 Rejected determinism (theory that all events including
moral choices are completely determined by
previously existing causes).
 Agreed with hedonism (pleasure as the highest
good); from Greek word “hedone” meaning
“pleasure”.
 Utilitarianism: Business’ Fascination

 Most common approach to business ethics because of the

way that it accounts for costs and benefits.
 Two (2) types of utilitarian ethics practice in business:
 Rule utilitarianism – helps the largest number of people using
the fairest methods possible. (Ex., tiered pricing of products
and services like, for instance, airlines can offer first-class,
business, and economy seats)
 Act utilitarianism – makes the most ethical actions possible for
the benefit of the people. (Ex., pharmaceutical companies
released a drug approved by the government, but with known
minor side effects because it can help more people than
bothered with side effects); demonstrates the concept of “the
end justifies the means” of Niccolo Machiavelli (1469-1527;
Italian political philosopher).
Justice and Fairness:
Promoting the Common Good
 Emphasis under this subject:
 The nature of the theory
 Distributive justice
 Egalitarian
 Capitalist
 Socialist
Justice and Fairness:
The Nature of the Theory
 Justice is used with reference to a standard of
rightness while fairness is used with regard to an
ability to judge without reference to one‟s feelings
or interests.
 Proposed by John Rawls (1921-2002), an American
moral and political philosopher.
 Articulates the Liberty Principle the “each person
has an equal claim to a fully adequate scheme of
equal basic rights and liberties.”
Distributive Justice
 Egalitarian – all people are equal in rights and
opportunities
 Capitalist – individuals are free to make money, own
business, sells goods and services, and own private
property.
 Socialist - socio-political and economic philosophy
characterized by social ownership of the means of
production.