DELGADO, BRENDAN LEWIS 15 NOV 2021

AAMT 1-7 GEC 2108 ETHICS

GROUP 2: BERUNIO, DELGADO, HERNANDEZ

Lesson 5: Senses of Self

Experience:

We have all struggled, at one time or another, with the question: why should I
bother being good? Why should I care for others, beyond my own self? Recount
the circumstances surrounding your own experience of feeling this question
most acutely.

(insert answer)

Assess:

Consider the following questions

1. Assess the pros and cons of the theories of subjectivism and psychological
egoism.

Subjectivism
 Pro:
o Subjective – opens to many possibilities that things can change.
o Clarification – sheds light to discussion and may resolve problems.
o Open-mindedness – being open to others brings about what more one has
yet to know and be open to understanding those.
 Con:
o Clouded judgement – may appear as one’s personal opinion or say on
things
o Cannot critique – this one cannot be criticized as it is difficult to know or
justify the measures of right and wrong
Psychological egoism
 Pro:
o Societal benefit – may help society as a whole
o Self-awareness – benefit for the self and others
 Con:
o Conflict – as it is motivated by self-interests, there will be clashes to other
interests as well
o Selfishness – it benefits the self but not others
2. Explain how the story of the ring of Gynes is a warning on the possibilities of
ethical egoism.

The story of Ring of Gyges talks about the abuse of power from the shepherd
obtaining a ring that renders him invisible and gets away with anything, good and bad.
When a person obtains power, it can influence them and use it to their own advantage.
It is used for the self-interests and stays in power as long as they have the power and
as such, will do anything they can in order to stay in that position.

Challenge:

Comment on this, “What I believe must be true if I feel very strongly about it.”

I disagree with the statement because people tend to center their beliefs on
forms of bias - subconscious bias, implicit bias, and learned behavioral explicit bias.
Thinking or believing something does not make anything right or wrong but is an
understanding of how these biases can give someone perspective which leads to more
alienable truths. So believing on something can be true. Hopefully, this makes sense.
Everyone has a right to an opinion about taste or preference. Still does not make them
right about anything other than they are the expert about their personal preferences.
Any mindset that says something is absolutely true because one believes it is simply
wrong fallacy.

The context is everything. Everyone has perfectly reasonable beliefs and it

depends on what your beliefs are concerning whatever the current topic it maybe.
Believing is different from the truth, depending on which angle of perspective you are
looking into.

Harness:

Corruption is the form of nepotism and cronyism have long been recornized as
one of the most pernicious social and political problems in this country. We are
so accustomed to it, some ven go so far as to find ways to justify it,, more or less
saying that it is only right for a person to protect those around him or her. Could
it be said that looking after the benefit of one’s own-one’s family and one’s friend-
without regard to the welfare of others is basically another form of egoism?
Discuss this.

Nepotism and cronyism is a form of egoism in a sense that one's self interest
extends to family and friends where they are secured to that interest but not to those
who do not belong in it. It simply robs other people of their chances, especially if it's the
topic of government. Corruption is there, and in many ways, people will go far in order to
maintain power and use it to make sure they are comfortable where they are, regardless
of who will be harmed under them. People are conditioned to accept it the way it is,
unaware what those in the higher social status do and ends up manipulated to stay
where they are.
Keywords:

ETHICS – is the study of what are good and bad end to pursue in life and what is right
and wrong to do in the conduct of life. It is about matters such as the good thing that we
should pursue and the bad thing that we should avoid. Its primary aim is to determine
how one ought to do in the conduct of one's life.

MORALITY - sense used in philosophical ethics is viewed as standards of right and

wise conduct whose authority in practical thought is determined by reason rather than
custom. Concerned with the principles or rules of right conduct or the distinction
between right and wrong.

AESTHETICS - means "sense" or "feeling" and refers to the judgments of personal

approval or disapproval that we make about what we see, hear, smell, or taste.

ETIQUETTE - concerned with right or wrong actions, but those which might be
considered not quite grave enough to belong to a discussion on ethics

TECHNIQUE - or also called technical which are used to a proper way or right way of
doing things.

DESCRIPTIVE ETHICS - study of ethics reports how people, particularly groups, make
their moral valuations without making any judgment either for or against these
valuations usually done by historians, sociologists, and anthropologists.

NORMATIVE ETHICS - study of ethics, as is often done in philosophy or moral

theology, which engages in the question: what could or should be considered the right
way of acting? or that prescribes what we ought to maintain as our standards or bases
for moral valuation

POSITIVE LAW - It is said to have nothing to do with religion or morals but is shaped by
certain specifically procedures for law making. It refers to the different rules &
regulations that are posited or put forward by an authority figure that require
compliance.

DIVINE COMMAND THEORY - something is morally right for an individual simply

because God commands it. There are not independent criteria for judging the morality
of an action. Something is holy or moral because God loves it. It is the idea that one is
obliged to obey God in all things.

CULTURAL RELATIVISM - this is what is ethically acceptable or unacceptable is

relative to, or that is to say, dependent on one’s culture.

SUBJECTIVISM - The starting point is the recognition that the individual thinking person
(the subject) is at the heart of all moral valuations. From this point, it leaps to the more
radical claim that the individual is the sole determinant of what is morally good or bad,
or right or wrong. The individual thinking person is at the heart of all moral valuations or
the sole determinant of what is morally good or bad, right or wrong.

PSYCHOLOGICAL EGOISM - theory that describes the underlying dynamic behind all
human actions. Treats self-interest as the foundation of morality so all our actions are
always already motivated by self- interest

ETHICAL EGOISM - It prescribes that we should make our own ends, our own
interests, as the single overriding concern. We may act in a way that is beneficial to
others, but we should do that only if it ultimately benefits us. An act in a way that is
beneficial to others, but we only do that if it ultimately benefits us.

HONESTY CLAUSE:

You are hereby to adhere to the rules and regulations stipulated in the Student
Handbook and the guidelines set by your instructor. Following academic integrity and
honesty are an integral part of student formation holistically.

DELGADO, BRENDAN LEWIS A.

STUDENTS SIGNATURE OVER PRINTED NAME