Session 1:Ethics and Morality

Ethics
Gr. “ethos” –custom, habit, character, disposition.
Concerned with what is good or right.
Morality
Concerned with the distinction between right and wrong or good and bad behavior.
Behavior –conduct; action towards others in a particular situation
Moral Standards and Rules of Lives

Moral standards

Norms that individuals or groups have about the kind of actions believed to be morally
good or bad.

Promote “the good” (self, others and environment)

Sum of values (importance in life) and norms (standard of pattern).

Rules of Lives

Rules that helps the people function in a civilized way.

Anchored in morality
Moral vs. Non-moral Standards
Non-moral Standards

Standards which we judge what is good or bad, right or wrong in a non-moral way.

Call for the law (e.g., legal or illegal)

Moral vs. Non-moral Standards:

Culture and context-based.

Imposition Cultural conundrum

Dilemmas and its Levels
Dilemmas
Difficult situation or problem
Moral dilemmas
Torn between right and wrong
Situation which a difficult choice has to be made between two courses of actions, either
of which transgress a moral principle.
Levels of moral dilemmas:
Individual
Organizational
Systemic
SESSION 2: THE MORAL AGENT
Culture
What is culture?
The system of shared
Ethical definition: A culture is a set value of norms among a certain group of people, and
takes them together to constitute the way these people live.
How culture defines or shape our moral behavior?
It depends on one’s moral values and standards.
Why should culture not be the ultimate determinant of values?
Filipino Way
Filipino Culture
Resilient
Close family ties
Religious
Respectful
Helpful
Value traditions
Love to party, eat, sing and arts
What influences the Filipino understanding of right and wrong?
Religious and spiritual

The Moral Agent: Developing Virtue as Habit

How is moral character developed?
Strength and weakness of the Filipino moral characters
Pakikipag-kapwatao Extreme family centeredness
Family orientation Extreme personalism
Joy and humor Lack of discipline
Flexibility,adaptability and creativity Passivity and lack of initiative
Hardworkand industry Colonial mentality
Faithand religiousity Kanya-kanyasyndrome, talangkamentality
Ability to survive (noxious) Lack of self-analysisand self-reflection
Emphasison

Stages of Moral Development

Live with deeply held moral principles, which are seen more
important than the laws of the land.

•Personal values determine right and wrong although these can be

over-ridden by democratically agreed laws.
•When laws infringe our own sense of justice, we can choose to
ignore them.

•Doing good now means doing your duty to society.

•Obey laws without question and show a respect for authority.

•Being good is whatever pleases others.

•Child adopts a conformist attitude to morality
•Right and wrong are determined by majority.

•Reward determines hat is right and wrong as well as doing what

others want.
•Concern for others is motivated by selfishness.

•Punishment determines what is right and wrong.

Culture in Moral Development

Culture and its role in moral development

should determine what values are applied across groups and individuals.

Cultural relativism –focus on how culture transmits values (wrong).

Moral relativism –different cultures defined the boundaries of morality differently.

Cultural Relativism
Cultural Relativism

Different cultures have different moral codes.

The idea of universal truth in ethics is a myth.

Six (6) propositions:

1.Different societies have different moral codes;

2.The moral code of a society determines what is right within that society;

3.There is no objective standard that can be used to judge one society’s code better than
another’s
Cultural Relativism

Six (6) propositions:

4.The moral code of our own society has no special status; it is merely one among many;
5.There is no “universal truth” in ethics;

6.It is mere arrogance for us to try to judge the conduct of other people. We should adopt
attitude of tolerance toward the practices of other cultures.
How do we get to the highest level, conscience-based moral decisions?
Answer: ???

The highest conscienceconscience-based moral decision is moral perfection. No one is

perfect (Romans 3:10; 3:23).
The commandments of God are the highest level of moral decisions ---God is perfect.
Seek the Lord, accept and follow

SESSION 3: THE ACT

Feelings
What is feelings?emotion
Feelings vs. reason
Upsurge of feeling is natural.
What we do with the feeling is what makes us ethical or unethical.
Can we rely on our feelings?
What is the difference between feelings and intuition?
Emotion
Importance of Feelings
For survival (e.g., threat alerts, need satisfaction)

2.Emotional attachment and social interaction (e.g., parents emotional attachment, social
acceptance)

3.For growth (e.g., enjoyment in life stages)

4.For health and longer life

5.Creativity reinforcement

6.Connection with other living things

Disadvantages of Over-reliance in Feelings

Disadvantages:

Partial/bias.

Unreasonable.

Provoke committing mistakes.

Impossible to make moral judgment.

Gives unreliable basis.

How can we make reasons and impartial decisions?
Is it possible?
Possible ways:
Act independently, in good faith and for a proper purpose
Comply with relevant legislation
Follow set policies and guidelines unless there is a reason for exemption
Take into account all relevant matters
Apply the appropriate weight to the different factors relevant to the decision
Give proper consideration to the merits of the case
Make decision based on supporting evidences
Emotions and reasons play equally important roles in justifying a moral decision.

Emotions without reasoning result in human acting irrationally and primitively, based on
inbuilt and instinctive reactions.

If moral reasoning is based on religion then we have the emotional peace of having
granted all the responsibility to a higher power.

Feelings and Moral Decision-Making

Feelings and its role in moral decisions:

Emotional Intelligence (EI) -ability to perceive, control, and evaluate emotions.

Understanding someone’s feeling.

4 components:

1.Perceiving emotions –understanding non-verbal signals (e.g., body language and facial
expressions).

2.Reasoning with emotions –using emotions to promote thinking and cognitive activity.
Emotion helps prioritize what we pay attention and react to; we response to things that
garner our attention.
4 components:
3. Understanding emotions –observer interprets the cause of person’s emotions (e.g., if
the boss is angry, it means they are satisfied with your work).
4.Managing emotions –the ability to manage/regulate emotions effectively is a crucial part
of EI and highest level.
Psychologists/some experts regards EI as more important than Intelligence Quotient
(IQ), a measure of a person’s reasoning ability.

Feelings as Instinctive Response to Moral Dilemmas

People’s emotional responses to certain dilemmas guide their reasoning.
Suppose a runaway trolley with five (5) frightened people in it headed for a cliff. They
can be saved if you hit a switch and send the trolley to another track where, tragically,
another person is standing who would be killed by the trolley. Which would you choose?

How feelings can help in making the right decisions?

 Pause and reflect
 Give yourself few minutes to think and reflect on what thoughts come to your mind
and what you are feeling.
 Identify your why

 Asking yourself why you are feeling that way.

 Be proactive, not reactive

 Setting aside time to discuss the disagreement with your significant other in order
to better understand each person’s point of view with hope of coming closer to
making a decision.

Reason and Impartiality as Minimum Requirements for Morality

Reason and Impartiality
 become the basic prerequisite formoralityas one is expected to be able to deliver
clear, concise, rightful, and appropriate judgments made out of logic and
understanding in an unbiased and unprejudiced manner while considering the
general welfare to accurately concoctmoraldecisions.

Reasons and Impartiality

Reason–

 basis or motive for action, decision and conviction. It refers to the capacity for
logical, rational, and analytic thought; for consciously making sense of things,
establishing and verifying facts, applying common sense and logic; and justifying, if
necessary, changing practices, institutions, and beliefs based on existing or new
existing information.
Impartiality–
 involves the idea that each individual’s interest and point of view are equally
important. It is a principle of justice holding the decisions ought to be based on
objective criteria rather than on the basis of bias, prejudice, or preferring the benefit
to one person over another for improper reasons.

The 7-step Moral Reasoning Model

1. State the problem.
Is decision uncomfortable or is there a conflict of interest?
2. Check the facts.
Closer examination of the situation.
3. Identify relevant factors (internal and external).
4. Develop a list of options.
Be imaginative. Avoid dilemma. Whom to go to. What to say
5. Test the options

 harm test: Does this option do less harm than the alternatives?
 publicity test: Would I want my choice of this option published in the newspaper?
 defensibility test: Could I defend my choice of this option before a congressional
committee or committee of peers?
 reversibility test: Would I still think this option was a good choice if I were
adversely affected by it?
 colleague test: What do my colleagues say when I describe my problem and
suggest this option as my solution?
 professional test: What might my profession's governing body for ethics say
about this option?
 organization test: What does my company's ethics officer or legal counsel say
about this?
6. Make a choice (based on Steps 1-5).
7. Review steps .
Reduce the likelihood that you will need to make similar decision again. What are the
cautions need to take.

SESSION 4: FRAMEWORKS AND PRINCIPLES BEHIND OUR MORAL DISPOSITION

FRAMEWORKS
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: NicomacheanEthics –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

 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 NiccoloMachiavelli (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

 Justiceis used with reference to a standard of rightness while fairnessis 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.