Ethics Reviewer while disobeying means you'll get in
trouble because you did something
 Kinds of Laws
LAWS- according to St. Thomas
Aquinas: the ordinance of reason,
promulgated for the common good by
the one in charge of society.
DIVINE POSITIVE LAWS (e.g Ten
Commandments)
HUMAN POSITIVE LAWS (e.g Laws
enacted by the state or church)
AFFIRMATIVE (e.g, paying taxes when
due) and;
NEGATIVE LAWS (e.g, no smoking in
public places)
 Formal and Material Norm
NORMS- a standard of measurement.
-Human actions' moral attributes are
assessed using a norm or standard to
support a conclusion.
FORMAL NORMS: Relate to the
formation of character, and what kind of
person we ought to be.
MATERIAL NORMS: Relate to actions,
and what actions we ought to do.  ideas, values, and views of other
-determines whether an act complies or
complies not with the formal criteria in
the context of its nature.
 Six (6) Stages of Moral
Development
“Preconvention Morality (until age 9)”
STAGE 1: Avoidance of punishment:
Children believe that adult rules are
unchanging and that following them
means you'll escape getting punished
wrong.
STAGE 2: Individualism and
exchange: Children come to
understand that there are divergent
views on a given situation, and they
create their own perspectives that
enable them to assess whether or not
an action is motivated by self-interest.
“Conventional Morality (until age 10-13)”
STAGE 3: Good interpersonal
relationship: Teenagers actively
engage in moral behavior to be seen as
good people and get the respect of
others.
STAGE 4: Maintaining social order:
Adolescents learn the value of
supporting social order through obeying
the law, following rules, carrying out
one's duties, and showing respect to
authority. At this point, an action is
wrong if it hurts other people.
“Post-Conventional Morality (early
adolescence- adulthood)”
STAGE 5: Social contract and
Individual rights: Based on one's
people, one evaluates the existence of
social contracts and an individual's
rights. The application of the law is
essential for keeping social order, but its
effects and benefits on the overall good
must also be considered.
STAGE 6: Universal Principle: People
create their own morality, principles, and
social norms that may or may not align
with those of others. People typically
adhere to their internalized sense of
fairness, which may or may not align Some Strengths of CR:
with social norms or legal requirements.
It recognizes cultural and human
 Types of Culture differences.
CULTURE- refers to a complex whole It promotes respect and tolerance for
that includes knowledge, belief, art, diversity or cultural sensitivity and
morals, law, custom, and other uniqueness.
capabilities acquired by the society.
It rejects moral absolutism, imperialism,
FORMAL CULTURE: Includes all the and superior ideologies.
abstract, non-physical, spiritual, mental,
Some Weaknesses of CR:
immaterial, and invisible elements.
It fails to accept that not all beliefs and
MATERIAL CULTURE: Refers to all the
cultural or social practices are equally
physical, corporeal, solid, spatial,
admirable.
sensible, temporal, actual, observable,
and tangible objects. It leads to mediocrity, moral indifference,
and the end of moral progress.
Kinds of Culture:
It upholds democracy, consensus, and
Individual Culture
fairness to other ideologies.
Organizational Culture
 Ethical Subjectivism and
Structural Emotivism
 Symbols ETHICAL SUBJECTIVISM:
Each culture has its own symbols and ‘Report’ feelings or opinions, and
objects. They represent something else are therefore factual and can be true or
and frequently evoke different false.
responses and feelings. While some
Moral truths are ordinary facts
symbols are genuinely nonverbal forms
about the world.
of communication, others are actually
tangible items. A theory about the nature of
moral judgments.
 Cultural Relativism
Moral judgments simply describe
Refers to the understanding or belief
our personal feelings.
that everything should be judged only
according to one’s own perspective EMOTIVISM
culture.
‘Express’ feelings, and are
A cultural relativist believes that there is therefore non-factual and can’t be true
no superior or inferior culture. No culture or false.
is better than the other.
Moral judgments are not
statements of facts but are mere
expressions of the emotions of the FAITH: the act of assenting to religious
speaker. truths.
Provide morality with insufficient DEVOTION: the act of obedience to
explanations. God.
Suggests ethical disputes. We PRAYER: the act of communicating with
cannot appeal to reason but only to God.
emotion.
ADORATION: the act of proclaiming the
 Moral Reasoning and its 3 glory of God.
Types
SACRIFICE: the act of binding oneself
MORAL REASONING: A thinking in the service of God.
process with the objective of
 Conflict of Duties
determining whether an idea is right or
wrong. - Duties towards God must be given
priority over those towards men.
3 TYPES OF MORAL REASONING
- Duties that secure public order or the
DEONTOLOGICAL Reasoning: A
common good have priority over those
belief that an action is wrong because it
that safeguard the individual.
is intrinsically wrong. (Reasoning from
the rule) - Duties towards the family and relatives
take precedence over those towards
TELEOLOGICAL Reasoning: A belief
strangers.
that an action is wrong based on its
outcome/consequences. (Reasoning - Duties of greater importance take
from consequences) precedence over those of lesser
importance
ONTOLOGICAL Reasoning: Focuses
more on characters rather than actions. - Duties based on higher law take
(Reasoning from virtue) precedence over those coming from
lower laws.
 Moral Courage
The power to act upon a moral
situation on the basis of the agent’s
moral decision.
Doing what is right when confronted
with a problem.
 Acts of Religion
RELIGION: from the Latin word
“Religare”
A bond or a fellowship between man
and his creator.