Lesson 1: ETHICS
● Know the theories or ethical principles and
Ethics is the study of right or wrong.
● Greek word ethos, a characteristic way of
acting.
● Free and deliberate use of the will
● Science of human acts or human conduct
● John Deigh - the study of what are good
and bad ends to pursue in life and what is
right and wrong to do in the conduct of life.
○ Morality - standards of right and wise
conduct determined by reason rather
than custom.
● Ethics is a Science - a complete and
systematically arranged body of connected
data together.
○ It presents the reasons which show
this data to be true.
○ A practical science bec. It presents
data which directly imply and
indicate directions for human
conduct.
○ Speculative science - opposite of ps.
Ss presents truths that are to be
known, but not necessarily acted
upon.
Material and formal object
Material object
● the subject matter of the science
● Human acts
Formal object
● The aim or special way
● The right morality or rectitude of human acts
Dimensions of Ethics
General Ethics
● Focuses on the basic concepts
Applied or Special ethics
● The application of the moral principles,
standards, and norms
○ Legal ethics for lawyers
○ Judicial ethics for judges
○ Code of ethics for teachers
Ethics is both a theory and practice.
● Right - good actions
● Wrong - bad actions
Theories ➡ Actions
one has to translate these theories into
actions.
● Knowing what is right without changing
one's actions is useless.
Characteristics of Moral Principles:
1. Prescriptivity - refers to the action-guiding
nature of morality. Something that
"prescribe" or guide and direct people what
to do or should not do.
○ Ex. Obey your parents, you should
not tell lies
2. Impartiality - moral principles should be
neutral. It should apply to anyone
regardless of the status.
3. Overridingness- moral principles should
surpass all other norms or standards of
evaluation.
4. Autonomous from Arbitrary Authority - moral
standards should be independent, hence,
be able to stand on its own.
○ An act should be based on ethical
principles and not on what men say.
5. Publicity - moral standards guide people on
what to do, so they should be made public.
6. Practicability - rules are made for men to
follow. Hence, moral standards exist in
which human beings are capable of doing.
The Values and Importance of Ethics
1. Ethics should make clear to us why one act
is better than another.
2. Ethics seeks the most intelligent principles
of behavior or the principles which will make
life most wholesome.
3. Moral conduct and ethical systems both
from the past and present, must be
intelligently appraised and criticized. There
is the constant need to study the
fundamentals of morality which is not
subject to change or modifications.
4. Ethics seeks to point out to men true values
of life. It employs the marvelous faculty of
human reason (idealism/realism).
5. Ethics is a science deserving of careful
study. Faulty ethical theories and lack of
definite ethical principles are causes of
 great disorders in the political and social ○ Advertence - an important factor that
world. affects the voluntariness of an
action.
What is Human Act? ■ The act whereby the intellect
Acts perceives the action that the
Human Act person is about to perform or
● Act which proceeds from the deliberate free is performing.
will of man. Consciousness ■ Volition follows upon
○ Ex. Any acts performed by a human cognition, there can be full
being consent only if there was full
Acts of Human advertence to the act.
● Acts that man performs indeliberately or ■ Actions performed
without the full exercise of free choice. semi-advertently are for that
Unconsciousness reason semi-deliberate
○ Ex. Sleep walking/talking actions, they are not done
○ Being drunk with full consent.
● Ex. Out of surprise,
Acts of man may sometimes become human acts Sudden anger,
by the consent of the human agent (doer of the Sudden fear
act).
Modifiers of Human Act
Constituents of Human Act - Things that may affect human acts in the
● Knowledge - act whereby the intellect essential qualities of knowledge, freedom,
perceives the action that the person is about voluntariness and so make them less
to perform or is performing. perfectly human.
○ A person must know first what he is 1. Ignorance - absence of intellectual
doing . knowledge in man. Negation of knowledge
○ Someone is not held responsible for ➡ negative thing
what he does while he is sleeping. a. The absence of knowledge that
○ The will cannot act in the dark, for ought to be present ➡ Not merely
the will is a "blind" faculty in itself. negative, but privative
○ An essential element of the human b. absence of math of Structural steel
act. worker - merely negative
● Freedom - is the capacity to act or not to act c. Absence of math of architect or
(freedom of exercise), or to choose this engineer - privative
thing in the preference of others. d. Kinds of Ignorance:
○ Freedom of Choice - gives man full i. Ignorance in its Objects -
dominion over his actions. His will don't know a thing (Ignorance
does not necessarily adhere to the of law, Ignorance of fact,
goods known and presented to it by Ignorance of penalty-lack of
the intelligence. knowledge of precise
○ What is the root of freedom? sanction)
○ Its root lies in man's intelligence. The ii. Ignorance in it Subject - the
will loves only that object which the person in whom it exist
intellect presents to it as good in all 1. Vincible ignorance -
respects. can be dispelled by
● Voluntariness - will (voluntas - hindi ka the use of
pinilit) 2. Invincible ignorance -
ordinary and proper
 diligence cannot d. Levels of Intention:
dispel. Never the i. Actual intention
fault of the person. ii. Virtual intention - intention is
Causes: not present during the act
a. No realization because the act was
b. Finds influenced by prior intention
ineffective his iii. Habitual Intention - the act is
effort to dispel not influenced by prior
it intention or the act is just a
mere coincidence.
2. Fear - The shrinking back of the mind from iv. Interpretative intention - the
danger. More accurately, it is the agitation of intention is created after the
mind (ranging from slight disturbance to intention.
actual) brought about by the apprehension 3. Deliberation - weighing the pros and cons of
of impending evil. cheating.
-actions may proceed from fear as their 4. Practical Judgment - consent for approval or
cause, or may be done with fear as an choice
accompanying circumstance. 5. Command - means directing some parts of
- fear a.k.a coaction- the external force the body.
applied by a free cause for the purpose of 6. Enjoyment - means the satisfaction
compelling a person to perform an act which
is against his will. Theories in Ethics
3. Violence - martyrs suffered violence Utilitarianism - satisfaction (economics)
a. Cannot reach the will directly. ○ Moral Philosophy that actions derive
b. Not controlled by the body, rather, their moral quality from their
the body is controlled by the will. usefulness as means to some end,
4. Habit - operative habit is a lasting readiness ○ Ex. Trolley problem - choose which
and facility, born of frequently repeated acts, one to sacrifice
for acting in a certain manner. ○ You choose for the greater good.
○ Ethical dilemma (by Philippa Foot
A man who has always endeavored to speak the 1897) 3 kinds:
truth, has a habit of truthfulness, and it goes ■ Personal dilemma - you
against his habit to lie. decide to solve a dilemma.
You choose a decision but
A man who has the habit of lying, finds it very easy still feel wrong.
to falsify or evade the truth and it is difficult for him ■ Organizational dilemma -
to tell the truth when a lie would prove convenient. happens when you are in an
organization. Problems in the
Elements of Human Acts organization arise
1. Like/Liking - means the desire of a person in ■ Structural dilemma -
doing the act. everyone is involved
2. Intention - possibility of attaining the desire ● Ex. Universal
a. One of the great factors considering Healthcare Law -
whether an act is an accident or not. poor and rich are
There are levels of intention to be entitled of healthcare
considered such as actual, virtual, services
habitual and interpretative. ○ Jeremy Bentham (author) - act
b. Homicide - no intention utilitarian; right actions result in
c. Murder - has intention
 'good or pleasure' wrong actions
result in pain or absence of pleasure
■ Pig philosophy - max
pleasure, minimum pain
■ Some have argued lecture,
that "The ends cannot justify
the means" in moral choices
■ Hedonic Calculus measuring
pleasure and pain using what
amounts to a formula (for a
group, it measures intensity,
duration, certainty)
○ John Stuart Mill's Utilitarianism
■ Concerned with quality of
pleasure
■ Lower pleasures: eating,
drinking, sexuality, etc.
■ Higher pleasures:
intellectually, creativity, and
spirituality
■ 'better to be Socrates
dissatisfied than a fool
satisfied '
■ 'Rule' utilitarianism - would
lead to greater utility
○ Rule of thumb always to be followed
unless in conflict with another rule.
○ Higher level rules which override
thumb rules.
○ No rules apply - do your best
○ Henry M. Stilson
Deontology vs. Teleology
Deontology - you do a thing out of your duty
● Virtue ethics - David Hume
Teleology - consequence; ex.
● Utilitarianism - common good
● Hedonism - pleasure
● Egoism - kanyang perspective lang iniisip;
satisfaction (utils)
Natural ethics - Aristotle Nichomachean Ethics
● Teleological - greek root teleos means end,
goal
● Happiness is the goal
● Happiness (ultimate good) = Virtue
● A person who lives a virtuous life…
● 2 major kinds of ends:
○ Instrumental - acts are done as
means for other ends;
medium/means
○ Intrinsic - acts that are done for their
own end; end
● Eudaimonia - act is good if it leads to
happiness
○ A right action that leads to
happiness
● Tripartite
○ Irrational part
■ Appetitive component
■ Vegetative component
○ Rational part
● Virtue as the Golden mean
○ Virtue is something that we have to
develop.
○ The Golden Mean - ang lahat ng
sobra ay masama
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Extreme Extreme
Two kinds of reasoning
- Practical
Principle distinction
- Involuntary acts
- Voluntary acts
Chapter 3: Natural Law
Cicero - "True law is the right reason in agreement
with nature."
Aquinas and Natural Law Theory
- Built on his thought and developed a system
of ethics known as Natural Law
Aristotle
- Telos - end/purpose; there is an unchanging
order in the physical changing world
- Efficient Cause - means to an end
- Final causes - end to itself; what should
happen if we do the right things.
- Inner principle of human nature is REASON
- 'Good' if it fulfilled its 'telos' or purpose for
which it was created.
Thomas Aquinas
- The moral life is the life which is lived
according to reason
- 4 ends which humans were created:
- To live harmoniously in society
- To reproduce
- To learn
- To worship God
- Apparent good vs. Ideal good - the reason
behind immoral action is to confuse
'apparent good' with the 'ideal good.'