Nature and Elements of

Ethics / Moral
Philosophy:
“DISCOVERING THE WISDOM OF THE HAPPY LIFE”

PREPARED BY: MIRALONA RELEVO & ASNAWIE ALI

WHAT IS Ethics also called moral

ETHICS? philosophy,is the

discipline concerned
with what is morally
good and bad and
morally right and
wrong.

Distinction between
“ethics” and “morality.”
 The philosophy of happiness is

WHAT IS A the philosophical concern with

the existence, nature, and
HAPPY LIFE attainment of happiness. Some
PHILOSOPHY philosophers believe happiness
? can be understood as the moral
goal of life or as an aspect of
chance; indeed, in most
European languages the term
happiness is synonymous with
luck.
How should we live? Shall we aim at
happiness or at knowledge, virtue, or the
creation of beautiful objects? If we choose
happiness, will it be our own or the
happiness of all?
 HOW IS ETHICS
RELATED TO
HAPPINESS?
Virtuous behavior contributes to moral excellence. Moral
excellence can contribute to a happy life. Thus, being a
moral person is essential to living a life of happiness. A
person achieves happiness by possessing the dispositions (i.e.,
tendencies) to make the right choice at the right time in the
right way
 According to Aristotle, happiness
WHAT IS A consists in achieving, through the
HAPPY LIFE course of a whole lifetime, all the
ACCORDING goods — health, wealth,
TO knowledge, friends, etc. — that
ARISTOTLE lead to the perfection of human
? nature and to the enrichment of
human life. This requires us to
make choices, some of which may
be very difficult.
 ARISTOTLE
Happiness is the highest good and the end at which
all our activities ultimately aim.
• Only happiness is an end in itself, so it is the
ultimate end at which all our activities aim. As such, it
is the supreme good.
• The difficulty is that people don’t agree on what
makes for a happy or good life, so the purpose of the
Ethics is to find an answer to this question.
 ARISTOTLE
Aristotle defines moral virtue as a disposition to
behave in the right manner and as a means between
extremes of deficiency and excess, which are vices.
• We learn moral virtue primarily through habit and
practice rather than through reasoning and instruction.
• Virtue is a matter of having the appropriate attitude
toward pain and pleasure.
 PLATO
Plato maintains a virtue-based eudaemonistic
conception of ethics.
• happiness or well-being (eudaimonia) is the highest
aim of moral thought and conduct.
• Virtues (aretê: 'excellence') are the requisite skills
and dispositions needed to attain it.
Nature and Elements of
Ethics / Moral
Philosophy:
“DISCOVERING THE WISDOM OF THE HAPPY LIFE”

PREPARED BY: MIRALONA RELEVO & ASNAWIE ALI