ETHICS211

MIDTERM REVIEWER
BSN 2-Y1-14 | AGUILAR | SEM 1 2023

WEEK 7: THEORY OF ULITIRIANISM JOHN STUART MILL (1806- 1873)

 On one hand, the principle refers to
Utilitarianism  the motivation
Born on May of 20our
th
actions
, 1806 in as
guided by our avoidance
Pentonville, London, UKofDied painonand
 an ethical theory that argues for our desire
May 8 , for
th
1873 pleasure. It is France
in Avignon, like
the goodness of pleasure and the saying
fromthat in our everyday actions,
Erysipelas.
determination of right behaviour  weMill
do dissents
what is pleasure as good if,
from Bentham’s
based on the usefulness of the and onlyscale
single if, they produce more
of pleasure. Thinks
actions consequences. happiness than unhappiness.
that the principle of utility must This
 means that pleasure is good and means that it pleasures
distinguish is not enough to
that the goodness of action is experience
QUALITATIVELYpleasure, andbutnottomerely
also
determined by its usefulness. inquire whether the things we do
quantitatively.
 utilitarianism claims that one’s make us happier.
action and behaviour are good in  Actions that lead to PLEASURE ARE
as much as they are directed RIGHT, ones that produce PAIN ARE
WRONG.
toward the experience of which
refers to the usefulness of the
consequences of one’s action and
behaviour. LAW AND SOCIAL HEDONISM
 Value pleasure and Happiness
 Ex. Individual rights can be
LAW
 Government should not pass laws
sacrificed for the sake of the
that protect tradition, customs or
greater happiness of the many.
rights.
JEREMY BENTHAM (1748- 1832)  Government should base all laws
on the happiness principle
 Born on Feb 15th , 1748 in London
The greatest happiness for the greatest
England, Died on June 6th1832
number
 Teacher of James Mill.
 Bentham first wrote about the  Bentham’s theory is both empirical
greatest happiness principle of (how much pain or pleasure is
ethics and was known for a caused by the act or policy) and
system of penal management democratic (each individual’s
called PANOPTICON. happiness is as important as
 Intellectual inheritor of David
SOCIAL HEDONISM
 Moral worth judged by presumed
Hume
effect
 Recognized as ‘Act Utilitarian’
 Action guided by pleasure/pain
 Right actions result in ‘good or
pleasure,’ wrong actions result in FELICIFIC CALCULUS
pain or absence of pleasure.
 The Principle of Utility  calculates the pleasure that some
 Law and Social Hedonism actions can produce.
 Felicific Calculus In this framework, an action can be
evaluated on the basis of intensity or
THE PRINCIPLE OF UTILITY strength of pleasure;
 In the book An Introduction to the  DURATION
Principles of Morals and  CERTAINTY & UNCERTAINTY,
Legislation (1789), Jeremy  PROPINQUITY & REMOTENESS
Bentham begins by arguing that These indicators allow us to measure
our actions are governed by two and pain in actions, we need to
“sovereign masters”--which he consider THREE MORE DIMENSIONS:
calls pleasure and pain. These  FECUNDITY or the chance it has of
“masters” are given to us by being followed by sensations of
nature to help us determine what the same kind
is good or bad and what ought to  PURITY or the chance it has of
be done and not; they fasten our not being followed by sensations
choices to their throne. of the opposite kind.
 when considering the number of
persons who are affected by
pleasure or pain, another
dimension is to be considered --
EXTENT.
ETHICS211
MIDTERM REVIEWER
BSN 2-Y1-14 | AGUILAR | SEM 1 2023

JUSTICE AND MORAL RIGHTS

WEEK 8: NATURAL LAW
 A right is justifiable on
St. THOMAS AQUINAS
utilitarian principles in as much
as they produce an overall
 Also known as Doctor Angelicus and
happiness that is greater than
Doctor Communis
the unhappiness resulting from
  Born in 1225 Aquino, Italy
their implementation.
 Mill creates a distinction
 Died in 1274 in Italy
between legal rights and their  Referred to as Thomas because his
justification. He points out that last name Aquinas refers to where he  D
when legal rights are not was born.  U
morally justified in accordance  Italian Dominican friar, philosopher, a
to the greatest happiness Catholic priest, and Doctor of the th
principle, then these rights need Church
neither be observed, nor be  Theologian, and jurist in the tradition
respected. This is like saying
of scholasticism
that there are instances when
 Begins his natural law theory by
the law is not morally justified
differentiating human acts from acts
and, in this case, even
objectionable.
of man.
NATURAL LAW
 In short, Mill’s moral rights and
considerations of justice are  Natural law is a system in which
not absolute, but are only actions are seen as morally and
justified by their consequences ethically correct if t accords with the
to promote the greatest good end purpose of human nature and
of the greatest number. human goals.
 Follows the fundamental maxim, ‘do
good and avoid evil’.
PRINCIPLE OF GREATEST NUMBER
 Utilitarianism cannot lead to
selfish acts. It is neither about our
pleasure nor happiness alone; it
cannot be all about us. If we are
the only ones satisfied by our
actions, it does not constitute a
moral good. In this sense, BETHAMITE MILISIAN
utilitarianism is not dismissive of DEMOCRATIC ELITE
sacrifices that procure more UTILITARIANIS ULTILIYATARIA
M NISM
happiness for others.
 No one Some pleasures are
 Utilitarianism is interested with better than others
pleasure PRIN
the best consequence for the  If you party
is
highest number of people. It is not and get
inherently
interested with the intention of drunk every
better
the agent. Moral value cannot day, then
than any
discernible in the intention or you won’t
other be as happy
motivation of the person doing
 If drunken as you
the act; it is based solely and
parties otherwise
exclusively on the difference it
make you might be.
makes on the world’s total
happy,  Enjoying
amount of pleasure and pain.
then go poetry is
 “The only purpose for which better than
for it!
power can be rightfully exercised watching
over any member of a civilized  Reading
poetry bad TV. And
community, against his will, is to if you
prevent harm to others.” isn’t
disagree, it
better
is because
than you don’t
watching understand
The quality.
Bachelor,
it’s just
different.
ETHICS211
MIDTERM REVIEWER
BSN 2-Y1-14 | AGUILAR | SEM 1 2023

INTENTION / MOTIVE
 The ultimate reason that
determines the moral act
 Is a means towards attainment of
true happiness both of a agent
and the common good.
 There are many possible
desirable ends or goods, and we
act in such ways to pursue
them,
 ACTS are rightly toward their
ends by reason.
 Since we belong to a
community, we have to consider
what is good for the community
as well as our own good. This
can be called COMMON GOOD.
 "The definition of law may be
gathered; and it is nothing else
than an ordinance or reason
for the common good, made by
him who has care of the
community and promulgated"
— Aquinas

 We do not only recognize God as

the source of these beings, but also
THOMAS AQUINAS acknowledge the way they have
been created and the way they
 Medieval Thinker Thomas Essencecould return to him, which is the
of Law:
Aquinas – This natural law of work of his divide reason itself.
theory is part of a larger project,  "He governs all the acts and
which isHUMAN ACTSof the
Aquinas’ vision movements that are to be found in
Christian
 Human actsfaith.
as Aquinas expressed each single creature, so the type of
is the part of the human act that must be THEDivine Wisdom,
CONTEXT OF as moving allETHICS
AQUINAS’
proceeds from the will.
things to their due end, bears the
ACTS OF MAN character
How inof our pursuit of happiness
law."
ETHERNALwe direct
LAW: How our actions
each toward
participant
 Is an action that does not intended tospecific
return ends.
to him. Refers
proceeds from the will  How
specifically our
to the actions are
instances related
where we to
 have what is handed down to us in dynamic
certain dispositions in a sacred
MORAL OBJECT scripture. way since our actions arise from
HUMAN LAW: our habits
refers and
to allatinstances
the same time
 Although the moral object or finis
reinforce
wherein human a good
being disposition
construct and
operis is the fundamental
enforce lawsleading us community
in their toward making moral
element of the morality of the
choices.
human act, that is also the
 There is a need or a clearer basis
circumstance.
of ethics, a ground the will more

The intention inherent in the concretely direct our sense of
action that one is actually what is wrong and right
Traditional Moral Theology, presents four
performing.  For Aquinas, there should be
conditions for the Double-effect Principle
 It specifies the human act and is
to be applied: Natural Law
theispurpose
1. The action thatorthe
good itself act in
at least
different accomplishes as a means to the
THE ESSENCE AND VARIETIES
2. The Goodultimate goal come
effect must of life.first before OF LAW
the evil effectCIRCUMTANCE
or a least simultaneously
Varieties of Law:
3. The Good effect must be intended
 must
4. There considered in order to evaluate
be a proportionately grave  As a rational being, we have free will.
the total moral act. Can be
reason for the evil effect to happen Through our capacity for reason, we
considered in various moral are able to judge between possibilities
questions, thus, be might ask, and to choose to direct our actions in
‘who’, ‘when’, ‘how much’ or ‘in one way or the other.
what manner’.  ACTIONS are directed toward
 attaining ends or goods that we
desire.
ETHICS211
MIDTERM REVIEWER
BSN 2-Y1-14 | AGUILAR | SEM 1 2023

 As Aquinas puts it, nothing

 Aquinas then goes on to say that hinders a change in the natural
there is our human nature, law by way of addition, since our
common with other animals, a reason has found and can fine
desire that has to do with sexual many things that benefit
intercourse and the care of one’s individual and communal human
offspring. As the matter of fact, life.
animals periodically engage in WEEK 9: DEONTOLOGICAL ETHICS
sexual intercourse at a specific
time of “heat”, and this could
result an offspring. In human too,  “duty-based” or “obligation-
that natural inclination to engage in based” ethics
the sexual act and to reproduce  It is an approach to ethics that
exists. Thomas writes certain focuses on the rightness and/or
special sins are said to be against wrongness of an action-itself;
nature, thus contrary to sexual rather than on the rightness or
intercourse, which is natural to all wrongness of the consequences
animals, is unisexual lust, which has or the character of the person.
received the special name of the  What makes a choice RIGHT is its
unnatural crime. conformity to moral norms
 Deontology may sometimes be
consistent with Moral Absolution,
 We have an inclination to good the belief that certain actions are
according to the nature of our just wrong, no matter what
reasons. With this, we have a follows.
natural inclination to know the
truth about God and to live in REGGIE CABANATUAN
Society.
 It is of interest that this is
followed by matters of both an
epistemic and a social concern.
General guideposts:
 Epistemic Concern – which is
that we know we pursue the
truth
 Social Concern – which is that
we know we live in relation to
others
 Thomas tells us that there is a
priority among the powers of
our soul, with the intellectual Deontology:
directing and commanding our
IN COMMON
sensitive and IN nutritive
OTHER
BEINGS
capacities.
 Recognizing how being rational
 We have consider
is what how we,
is proper to man, the
humanapparent
beings, are both
vagueness unique
of the
and atthird
the same time
inclination that Aquinas
participating
mentions in the community of
is counter-balanced
the rest of creation.
by the recognition Our presence
that he is
in the not
restinterested
of creationindoes not
providing
only mean that that
precepts we interact
one would with
creatures that are not human,
simply, unthinkingly follow. but
that
 there is alsohuman
In making in our nature
laws,
something that shares
additions that are not in theat all
natureproblematic
of other beings. for the natural law
are possible.
IN COMMON IN OTHER ANIMALS
ETHICS211
MIDTERM REVIEWER
BSN 2-Y1-14 | AGUILAR | SEM 1 2023
 Herald the “Copernican
Revolution in Philosophy”
 Kant developed revolutionary
insights
 Reggie, is concerning
a taxi driverthe
whohuman
drove his
kind and the conditions
Australian passenger, Trent forShields
the
topossibility of knowledge similar to
his workplace.
Copernicus
NICOLAUS COPERNICUS (1473–1543)
Deontology:
 A 15th century mathematician and
astronomer who proposed that the
sun was stationary in the center of
the universe and the earth revolved
around it.
 He proposed the heliocentric model
of the universe in his book De
Sentence: Revolutionises Erbium Coelestium.
 Heralded a radical paradigm shift in
the way humans considered their
place in the universe.
RATIONAL WILL

RationalityAbility to enact our thoughts
 Refers to the faculty to intervene in
the world to act in a manner that is
consistent with our reason.
DUTY AND AGENCY
 Moral theory that evaluates the
actions that are done because of
duty
 Refers to the study and obligation
 Immanuel Kant is the main
proponent
 Organism has the ability to
perceive and navigate its external
environment
 Humans are rational because they
have the ability to stop and think
about what they are doing.
IMMANUEL KANT (1724–1804)
 Born on April 22, 1724.
 College: University of Konigsberg
(AKA Albertina)
 After College: 6 years as private
tutor to young children and began
teaching Philosophy at the
Albertina the following year.
Immanuel Kant (1724–1804)
 it immediately promulgates the
specific actions that comprise that
theory.
Examples:
✓ ten commandments
✓ “honour your father and
mother”.
✓ “you shall not kill”
 It does not supply the rules or
commends straight away.
IMMANUEL KANT
 Embodies a formal moral theory
in what he calls the categorical
imperative, which provides
procedural way of identifying the
rightness or wrongness of an
action.
 Kant describes the categorical
imperative in 3 ways.
AGENCY
 Ability of a person to act based on
her intentions and mental states.
 The capacity of a person to be the
cause of her actions based on
reasons and not merely to
mindlessly to react to the
environment and base impulses.
IMMANUEL KANT ON AUTONOMY
Substantive
 He Theory:
claims that the property of the
rational will is autonomy which is
the opposite of heteronomy.
These three Greek word are
instructive: Autos, Heteros & Nomos
Which means; Self, Other & Law
It does not supply the rules or
UNIVERSABILITY
commends straight away.
KINDS OF MORAL THEORIES
IMMANUEL
Formal Moral Theory: KANT
 it immediately promulgates the
 Embodies
specificaactions
formal that
moral theory that
comprise
in what he
theory. calls the categorical
imperative,
Examples: which provides
procedural way of identifying the
✓ ten commandments
rightness or wrongness of an
✓ “honour your father and
action.
mother”.
 Kant describes the categorical
✓ “you shall
imperative not kill”
in 3 ways.
The a
ETHICS211
MIDTERM REVIEWER
BSN 2-Y1-14 | AGUILAR | SEM 1 2023

 Self-contradictory
 Act and its purpose become
impossible

TWO WAYS WHICH KANT REJECTS

MAXIMS ARE THE FOLLOWING:

RATIONAL PERMISIBILITY

 Intrinsic quality of an action that

is objectively and necessarily
rational.

UNIVERSALIZABILITY TEST
 a form of a moral test that invites
us to imagine a world in which
any proposed action is also
adopted by everyone else.
 it is the foundational principle for
deontological, or duty-based,
ethics.

WEEK 10: VIRTUE ETHICS

VIRTUE ETHICS:
 It is the ethical framework that is
concerned with understanding the
good as a matter of developing the
virtuous character of a person.
 Virtue ethics, on the other hand,
focuses on the formation of one’s
character brought about by
ETHICS211
MIDTERM REVIEWER
BSN 2-Y1-14 | AGUILAR | SEM 1 2023

Aristotle
 Aristotle was born in
Macedonia and studied
philosophy under Plato in
Athens. He was considered to
be the brightest among Plato’s
students in the former’s school,
the Academy. He later founded
his own school, Lyceum, where
he became a very productive
intellectual, having written
numerous works on different
topics. Such as the theoretical
and practical sciences, and
logic. He was also known to be
the tutor of Alexander the
Great who tried to conquer the
world. Aristotle’s Nicomachean
Ethics is his major work in moral
philosophy.