CAPIZ STATRE UNIVERSITY - MAIN CAMPUS

INDUSTRIAL TECHNOLOGY DEPARTMENT

Roxas City, Capiz, Philippines
ETHICS

CHAPTER 1
THE ETHICAL DIMENSION OF HUMAN
EXISTENCE

LESSON OBJECTIVES

After reading this chapter, you should be able to:

1. Identify the ethical aspects of human life and the scope of ethical thinking;
2. Define and explain the terms that are relevant to ethical thinking; and
3. Evaluate the difficulties that are involved in maintaining certain commonly-held
notions on ethics.

CHAPTER 1
NAME:_____________________________________ COURSE/YEAR:___________________
DATE:________________________ SEMESTER:______________________

ACTIVITY
Articulate observations on yourself.
Think of at least five mistakes you have done in your life and provide answer on what is
being asked. (total of 15 points)

Mistakes Reason for doing it How did you

correct it?

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 CAPIZ STATRE UNIVERSITY - MAIN CAMPUS
INDUSTRIAL TECHNOLOGY DEPARTMENT
Roxas City, Capiz, Philippines
ETHICS

ANALYSIS 10 points each

1. Is it easy to identify our mistakes? Why or why not?

2. Why is it people tends to commit mistakes even though they knew it was wrong? Explain
your answer.

LET’S UNDERSTAND

Ethics is derived from the Greek word ethos which means “a characteristic way of acting.”
Hence, Ethics is sometimes called Moral Science or Moral Philosophy.
Ethics is a branch of philosophy which deals with the study of the morality of human
conduct acquired by the use of human reason alone.
o Material Object: Human Act/Human Conduct
o Formal Object Quod: Morality/ Rectitude of Human Acts
o Formal Object Quo: Human Reason

Definition of Ethics
 Ethics is the practical science of the morality of human act.
 Ethics is a science for it is a complete and systematically arranged body or
data, which relate to the morality of human conduct and it presents the
reason which show these data to be true.
 Ethics is a practical science for it presents data, which directly imply and
indicate directions for human conduct.

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 CAPIZ STATRE UNIVERSITY - MAIN CAMPUS
INDUSTRIAL TECHNOLOGY DEPARTMENT
Roxas City, Capiz, Philippines
ETHICS
 Ethics is a science of human conduct for it treats of human acts and
human acts make human conduct.
 Ethics is the science of morality of human conduct for it studies human
activity to determinate what it must be to stand in harmony with the dictates
of reason.
 Ethics is a normative(speculative) and practical science, based on reason,
which studies human conduct and provides norm for its natural integrity and
honesty.
Division of Ethics
 General Ethics presents truth about human acts and from these truths deduces
the general principles of morality.
 Special Ethics is applied ethics. It applies the principle of General Ethics in
different departments of human activity, individual and social.

CLARIFATIONS AND TERMINOLOGY

Recognizing the notions of good and bad, and right and wrong, are the primary
concern of ethics.

Kinds of Valuation

 Our first clarification is to recognize that there are instances when we make value
judgments that are not considered to be part of ethics.

Aesthetics- derived from Greek word aesthesis (“sense” or “feeling”) and refers to the
judgments of personal approval that we make about what we see, hear, smell, or taste. In
fact, we often use the word “taste” to refer to the personal aesthetics preferences that we
have on these matters, such as “his taste in music” or “her taste in clothes.”
For instance, I could say that this new movie I had just seen was a “good” one because I
enjoyed it, or a song I had just heard on the radio was a “bad” one because it had an
unpleasant tone.
Etiquette- concerned with right and wrong actions, but those which might be considered
not quite grave enough to belong to a discussion of ethics.
For instance, I may think that it is “right” to knock politely on someone’s door, while it is
“wrong” to barge into one’s office.
Technique- Greek word techne the English words “technique” and “technical” which are
often used to refer to a proper way (or right way) of doing things, but technical evaluation

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 CAPIZ STATRE UNIVERSITY - MAIN CAMPUS
INDUSTRIAL TECHNOLOGY DEPARTMENT
Roxas City, Capiz, Philippines
ETHICS

Ethics and Morals

 Our second point of clarification is on the use of the words “ethics” and “morals”.
This discussion of ethics and morals would include cognates such as ethical,
unethical, immoral, amoral, morality, and so on.

ETHICS MORALS
Reasoning Involved Adhere to what is described
Beyond Rules Hard and Fast Rules
Usually considered universal Relative to society/culture
For the survival of the society For the survival of the individual
Moral refer to mainly to guiding principles, and Ethics refer to specific rules and actions, or behaviors.
A moral precept is an idea or opinion that’s driven by desire to be good. An ethical code is a set of
rules that defines allowable actions or correct behaviour.

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 CAPIZ STATRE UNIVERSITY - MAIN CAMPUS
INDUSTRIAL TECHNOLOGY DEPARTMENT
Roxas City, Capiz, Philippines
ETHICS

Descriptive and Normative

 Our third point of clarification is to distinguish between a descriptive and a
normative study of ethics. A descriptive study of ethics reports how people,
particularly groups, make their moral valuations without making any judgement
either for or against these valuations. An enterprise that seeks to describe and
explain people’s moral attitudes and the moral practices of societies. It is concerned
with what is believed to be good, right or virtuous and with what practices societies
do have.
 A normative study of ethics, as is often done in philosophy or moral theology,
normative discussion prescribes what we ought to maintain as our standards or
bases for moral valuation. It is concerned with the determination of what is good,
right or virtuous and of what practices society ought to have.

Issue, Decision, Judgement, and Dilemma

 As the final point of clarification, it may be helpful to distinguish a situation that calls
for moral valuation. I can be called a moral issue. For instance, imagine a situation
where in a person cannot afford a certain item, but then the possibility presents itself
for her to steal it. Issue is also often used to refer to those particular situations that are
often the source of considerable and inconclusive debate.
When one is placed in a situation and confronted by the choice of what act to perform,
she is called to make a moral decision. For instance, I choose not to take something I did
not pay for. When a person is an observer who makes an assessment on the actions or
behaviour of someone, she is making a moral judgment. For instance, friend of mine
chooses to steal from a store, and I make an assessment that it is wrong.

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 CAPIZ STATRE UNIVERSITY - MAIN CAMPUS
INDUSTRIAL TECHNOLOGY DEPARTMENT
Roxas City, Capiz, Philippines
ETHICS

Finally, going beyond the matter of choosing right over wrong, or good over bad, and
considering instead the more complicated situation wherein one is torn between
choosing one of two goods or choosing between the lesser of two evils: this is referred
to as moral dilemma.

Ethics is a branch of philosophy which deals with the study of the morality of human
conduct acquired by the use of human reason alone.
o Material Object: Human Act/Human Conduct
o Formal Object Quod: Morality/ Rectitude of Human Acts
o Formal Object Quo: Human Reason
Nature of Human Acts
Human acts, directed to their last end by law applied by conscience, are moral acts, and as
such are imputable to the agent and beget him habits of action.

Human Act and Acts of Man

Human Act is an act which proceeds from the deliberate free will of man. It is an act
performed with advertence and motive, an act determined by the free will. Such an act
alone is proper to man as man for he is rational, that is to say, he has understanding and
free willing.
Human Acts are moral acts for in human acts, man is responsible and they are
imputed to him as worthy of praise or blame, of reward or punishment. Human acts tend
to repeal themselves and to form habits. Habits coalesce into what we call a man’s
character.
“A man is what his human acts make him”
Human Acts are those performed by a person who is acting knowingly, freely, and
willfully. These actions are deliberate, intentional, or voluntary.
 Act is done knowingly when the doer is conscious and aware of the reason
and the consequence of his actions.
 Act is done freely when the doer acts by his own initiative and choice
without being forced to do so by another person or situation.
 Act is done willfully when the doer consents to the act, accepting it as his
own, and assumes accountability for its consequences.
Act of Man is an act performed by human beings without advertence or without the
exercise of free choice. Example of this is man’s animal acts of sensation and appetition.
Sometimes acts of man become human acts by the advertence and consent of the human
agent.

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 CAPIZ STATRE UNIVERSITY - MAIN CAMPUS
INDUSTRIAL TECHNOLOGY DEPARTMENT
Roxas City, Capiz, Philippines
ETHICS

CHAPTER 1

NAME:_____________________________________ COURSE/YEAR:___________________
DATE:________________________ SEMESTER:______________________

APPLICATION AND ASSESSMENT

I. Look for a newspaper article (Online newspaper or Printed newspaper) that

tackles an ethical issue. Consider the following questions: (10 points each)

a. What makes this a matter of ethics?

b. What is your own ethical judgment on this case?
c. What are your reasons for this judgment?

II. What can you say about this statement: “What I believe must be true if I feel
very strongly about it.” (10 points)

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 CAPIZ STATRE UNIVERSITY - MAIN CAMPUS
INDUSTRIAL TECHNOLOGY DEPARTMENT
Roxas City, Capiz, Philippines
ETHICS

CHAPTER ii
UTILITARIANISM

LESSON OBJECTIVES

After reading this chapter, you should be able to:

1. Identify the ethical aspects of human life and the scope of ethical thinking;
2. Define and explain the terms that are relevant to ethical thinking; and
3. Evaluate the difficulties that are involved in maintaining certain commonly-held
notions on ethics.

CHAPTER 2
NAME:_____________________________________ COURSE/YEAR:___________________
DATE:________________________ SEMESTER:______________________

ACTIVITY

Compare and contrast what is Pleasure and Pain, find the similarities between the two. (15
points)

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 CAPIZ STATRE UNIVERSITY - MAIN CAMPUS
INDUSTRIAL TECHNOLOGY DEPARTMENT
Roxas City, Capiz, Philippines
ETHICS

ANALYSIS 10 points each

1. Are all pleasure and pain commensurable? Why or why not?

LET’S UNDERSTAND

THE PRINCIPLE OF UTILITY

Jeremy Bentham begins by arguing that our actions are governed by two “sovereign
masters” – which he calls pleasure and pain. These “masters” are given to us by nature to
help us determine what is good or bad and what ought to be done and not; they fasten our
choices to their throne.
The principle of utility is about our subjection to these sovereign masters: pleasure and
pain. On one hand, the principle refers to the motivation of our actions as guided by our
avoidance of pain and our desire for pleasure. It is like saying that in our everyday actions,
we do what is pleasurable and we do not do what is painful. On the other hand, the
principle also refers to pleasure as good if, and only if, they produce more happiness than
unhappiness. This means that it is not enough to experience pleasure, but to also inquire
whether the things we do make us happier. Having identified the tendency for pleasure and
the avoidance of pain as the principle of utility, Bentham equates happiness with pleasure
and the avoidance of pain as the principle of utility, Bentham equates happiness with
pleasure.

John Stuart Mill supports Bentham’s principle of utility. He reiterates moral good as
happiness and, consequently, happiness as pleasure. Mill clarifies that what makes people
happy is intended pleasure and what makes us unhappy is the privation of pleasure. The
things that produce happiness and pleasure are good; whereas, those that unhappiness and
pain are bad. Clearly, Mill argues that we act and do things because we find our actions
pleasurable, Mill explains, it is because they are inherently pleasurable in themselves or
they eventually lead to the promotion of pleasure and the avoidance of pain.

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 CAPIZ STATRE UNIVERSITY - MAIN CAMPUS
INDUSTRIAL TECHNOLOGY DEPARTMENT
Roxas City, Capiz, Philippines
ETHICS

Bentham and Mill characterized moral value as utility and understood it as whatever
produced happiness or pleasure are good; whereas, those that produce unhappiness and
pain. The next step is to understand the nature of pleasure and pain to identify a criterion
for distinguishing pleasures and to calculate the resultant pleasure or pain; it is in relation to
these aforementioned themes that a distinction occurs between Bentham and Mill.

THE THEORY OF USEFULNESS

(Called Utiliitarianism), which

asserts that what is discerned as
useful (to individual men or to
human society) is good, and
what is found harmful is evil. It is
true that good is ultimately
useful, and evil harmful; but the
usefulness comes from
goodness, not goodness from
usefulness; and harmfulness
comes from evil, not evil from
harmfulness.

Further, the theory of

utilitarianism would make the
code of morals as changeable
as the stock market rates; for
what is useful ( in merely
temporal and material sense)
is variable and differs for times
and persons: but the Norm of
Morality, to be a norm or law,
must be a stable thing. Again,
how would the test of
usefulness be established?
Acts would have to be “tried
out” first without any rule at
all to discover which acts
might be listed as useful, and
hence good, and which as
harmful, and hence forbidden
as evil.

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 CAPIZ STATRE UNIVERSITY - MAIN CAMPUS
INDUSTRIAL TECHNOLOGY DEPARTMENT
Roxas City, Capiz, Philippines
ETHICS

Bentham and Mill see moral good as pleasure, merely self-gratification, but also the greatest happiness
principle or the greatest happiness for the greatest number of people. We are compelled to do whatever
increases pleasure and decreases pain to the most number of persons, counting each as one and none as
more than one. In determining greatest happiness for the greatest number of people, there is no distinction
between Bentham and Mill. Bentham suggests his felicfic calculus, a framework for quantifying moral
valuation. Mill provides a criterion for comparative pleasures. He thinks that persons who experience two
different types of pleasures generally prefer higher intellectual pleasures to base sensual.

Mill provides an adequate

discourse on rights despite it being
mistakenly argued to be the
weakness of utilitarianism. He
argues that rights are socially
protected interests that are
justified by their contribution to the
greatest happiness principle.
However, he also claims that in
extreme circumstances, respect for
individual rights can be overridden
to promote the better welfare
especially in circumstances of
conflict valuation.

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 CAPIZ STATRE UNIVERSITY - MAIN CAMPUS
INDUSTRIAL TECHNOLOGY DEPARTMENT
Roxas City, Capiz, Philippines
ETHICS

CHAPTER 2

NAME:_____________________________________ COURSE/YEAR:___________________
DATE:________________________ SEMESTER:______________________

APPLICATION AND ASSESSMENT

I. Answer the following questions thoroughly.(10 points each)

1. What is the major difference between the theories of Bentham and Mill. Explain
your answer.
2. Is it true that the Principle of Utility is not enough to experience pleasure, but to also
inquire whether the things we do make us happier? Why or why not? Defend your
answer.

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 CAPIZ STATRE UNIVERSITY - MAIN CAMPUS
INDUSTRIAL TECHNOLOGY DEPARTMENT
Roxas City, Capiz, Philippines
ETHICS
CHAPTER iiI
NATURAL LAW
LESSON OBJECTIVES

After reading this chapter, you should be able to:

1. Recognize how Thomas Aquinas made use of ancient Greek concept to provide a
rational grounding to an ethical theory based on the Christian faith;
2. Identify the natural law in distinction from, but also in relation to, the other types of
law mentioned by Aquinas; eternal law, human law, divine law; and
3. Apply the precepts of the natural law to contemporary moral concerns

CHAPTER 3
NAME:_____________________________________ COURSE/YEAR:___________________
DATE:________________________ SEMESTER:______________________

ACTIVITY

Differentiate Natural law, Eternal law, Human law and Devine law in your own
understanding. (5 points each)

NATURAL LAW ETERNAL LAW HUMAN LAW DEVINE LAW

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 CAPIZ STATRE UNIVERSITY - MAIN CAMPUS
INDUSTRIAL TECHNOLOGY DEPARTMENT
Roxas City, Capiz, Philippines
ETHICS

ANALYSIS 10 points each

1. Provide 5 examples that can relate to natural law. Explain.

LET’S UNDERSTAND

UNDERSTANDING NATURAL LAW

Natural law holds that there are universal moral standards that are inherent in humankind
throughout all time, and these standards should form the basis of a just society. Human beings are
not taught natural law per se, but rather we “discover” it by consistently making choices for good
instead of evil. Some schools of thought believe that natural law is passed to humans via divine
presence. Although natural law mainly applies to the realm of ethics and philosophy, it is also used
extensively in theoretical economics.

IMPORTANT:

Natural law
believes that our
civil laws should
be based on
morality, ethics,
and what is
inherently
correct.

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 CAPIZ STATRE UNIVERSITY - MAIN CAMPUS
INDUSTRIAL TECHNOLOGY DEPARTMENT
Roxas City, Capiz, Philippines
ETHICS

NATURAL and HUMAN

LAW
Thomas Aquinas , much like
Aristotle, wrote that nature is
organized for good purposes.
Unlike Aristotle, however,
Aquinas went on to say that
God created nature and rules
the world by “divine reason”.
Aquinas described four kinds of
law. Eternal law was God’s
perfect, not fully knowable to
humans. It determined the way
things such as animals and
planets behaved and now how
people should behave. Divine
Law, primarily from the Bible,
guided individuals beyond the
world to “eternal happiness” in The master principle of natural aw, wrote Aquinas was
what St. Augustine had called that “good is to be done and pursued and evil avoided.”
“City of God.” Aquinas stated that reason reveals particular natural laws that
Aquinas wrote most extensively are good for humans such as self-preservation, marriage and
about natural law. He stated, family, and the desire to know God. Reason, he taught, also
“the light of reason is placed by enables humans to understand things that are evil such as
nature [and thus by God] in adultery, suicide, and lying.
every man to guide him in his
While natural law applied to all humans and was unchanging,
acts.” Therefore, human beings,
human law could vary with time, place, and circumstance.
alone among God’s creatures,
Aquinas define this last type of law as “ an ordinance of reason
use reason to lead their lives.
This is natural law. to lead their lives. This is natural law.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

 The theory of natural law says that humans possess an intrinsic sense of right and wrong that govern our
reasoning and behavior.
 The concepts of natural law are ancient, stemming from the times of Plato and Aristotle.
 Natural law is constant throughout time and across the globe because it is based on human nature, not
on culture or customs.

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 CAPIZ STATRE UNIVERSITY - MAIN CAMPUS
INDUSTRIAL TECHNOLOGY DEPARTMENT
Roxas City, Capiz, Philippines
ETHICS

CHAPTER 3
NAME:_____________________________________ COURSE/YEAR:___________________
DATE:________________________ SEMESTER:______________________

APPLICATION AND ASSESSMENT

Answer the following questions thoroughly. (20 points each)

1. Go online and look for an instance of what might be “fake news”. See whether you
are able to determine the veracity of the news report. Detail your findings and
opinion below.

I. Tittle of the News:

II. Date published:
III. Author or Reporter:
IV. Summary of the Report
V. Why do you think this is considered “Fake News”?
VI. What’s your opinion or findings from it?

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