BUGHAO, MARIA ANGELIKA A.

ETHICS
BSN - 1B MS. MELANIE SOLIS
Choose five (5) questions, then answer and explain .

1. Explain the rights theory.

 Right theory means that there are things that we cannot do against other
people, because they are holders of moral rights. A right defend people from
getting bad intentions or from getting hurt.
 Right theory also means that for a society to work well and be successful,
government officials are needed to make and implement laws for the citizen.
But in making the laws, government officials should consider the freedom of
the citizens and their rights, those laws should not be a barrier to their
freedom. Those laws should be made with right intentions for the people or
citizen. The government have no rights to make law that have cruel
intentions against the citizen and the society. To be able to achieve the end
goal of the society, the government must work hard and be transparent and
equal in making laws and in considering their citizens. The government that
shows or demonstrates superiority against their citizen and society are
considered to opposed the human rights of the citizen.

2. Differentiate a legal from a moral right.

LEGAL RIGHT MORAL RIGHT

 Are the rights that are on the books.
 Representing the positive law.
 Questions as to their existence can be
resolved by just locating the pertinent
legal instrument or piece of
legislation.
 Legal rights are rights that people
have under some legal system,
granted by a duly authorized legal
authority or government.
 Legal rights are made by the
government officials.
 Describe what ought to be.
 Represent the natural law.
 Are rights that exist prior to and
independently from their legal
counterparts.
 Moral rights are rights accorded
under some system of ethics. These
might be grounded in mere
humanity, they might be rights that
all people deserve just because they
are humans, or because they are
rational beings.
 Moral rights exist naturally to
humans.

4. For Kant, what is the role of reason in living morality?

 For Kant, the role of reason is that we do our moral duty when our
motive is determined by a principle recognized by reason rather than the desire for
any expected consequence or emotional feeling which may cause us to act the way we
do. The “will” is defined as that which provides the motives for our actions. In other
words, Kant claims that reason dictates that the act we are morally obligated to do is
one which is motivated by adherence to a principle which could, without
inconsistency, be held to apply to any or all rational agents. The directive role reason
plays in the attainment of morality accentuates individuals to perform actions, which
could be used as a universal maxim, and also enthrones respect for human dignity and
BUGHAO, MARIA ANGELIKA A. ETHICS
BSN - 1B MS. MELANIE SOLIS
mutual co-existence in inter-human social relationship among members of a
community.

9. Explain: “What is legal is not always moral.”

 Legal pertains to laws or legal system that are made by our government, but
not all legal are always adequate to our moral as it some affects our moral
rights or human rights. To accordance of all people, in legal way laws are
made and implemented for us to follow, but basically some laws affects our
moral rights and the intentions are not right for humans, so what happen is
that in the end people do rallies to complaint and to voice out there moral
rights and this can affect the status of lawmakers or the government itself. An
example of this phrase is that in the Philippines, death sentence before are
legal, but human right committee stop this legal law as it showcase immoral
actions to the people and affects the human rights of each Filipino. Another
example is that in Japan, abortion is legal, but in the Philippines it is illegal to
kill an unborn child since it is viewed as immoral.
 In other words, legal are not always equal or right to the eyes of all people.
Some legal can also cause or do damage and affect our moral rights.

10. Differentiate between the rights and virtue theories.

RIGHTS THEORY VIRTUE THEORY

 Right theory is doing good for the
benefit of all people. This theory
cannot do things that are against
individuals, because they are holder
of moral rights.
 Can be natural rights (moral rights)
or legal rights.
 Norms that should be obey or
followed.
 Right theory maintain the
peacefulness and equality of the
society.
 Virtue theory are normative ethical
theories which emphasize virtues of
mind, character, and sense of
honesty.
 Virtue ethics centers in the heart and
personality of the person.
 It showcase what kind of person each
individual can become. Makes
central use of the concept of
character.
 Each person’s character can affect
their moral life.

 In other words, Right theory focuses on the citizen of the society while in Virtue
theory it focuses more on the persons character.