ETIC111: ETHICS TRANSES PRELIMS
such as "Is it right to have an abortion?" and
Ethics
● Greek word ethos = customs, usage,
characteristics
● different from morality
● branch of philosophy that is a philosophical
enterprise that investigates and questions
the way or nature of human actions see if it
has a ground so that it supports its own
moral claim
● investigates or studies MORALITY:
○ used as a generic expression for
moral judgment, standard, conduct
or maybe rule.
○ Morality inquires about the concept
of what is ‘good’, ‘right’, ‘bad’,
‘’wrong’, or maybe to ask, ‘what is
proper’, ‘what is good’, or ‘what is
right’.
● expressed in various ways of understanding
and examining the moral life of the person
● it is not just any ACTION OF MAN rather
an action that is geared towards what is
considered moral, namely HUMAN
ACTION
● ethics is not necessarily about norms
● see if it has a ground so that it supports its
own moral claim.
● Method in Ethics:
○ Philosophy, thinking, reasoning
● must be based on THEORY and
PRINCIPLES not just opinions
Branches of Ethics
1. Normative Ethics - The largest branch, it
deals with how individuals can figure out
the correct moral action that they should
take. Philosophers such as Socrates and
John Stuart Mill are included in this branch
of ethics.
2. Meta-Ethics - This branch seeks to
understand the nature of ethical properties
and judgments such as if truth values can be
found and the theory behind moral
principles.
3. Applied Ethics - This is the study of
applying theories from philosophers
regarding ethics in everyday life. For
example, this area of ethics asks questions
"Should you turn in your friend at your
workplace for taking home office supplies?"
4. Moral Ethics - This branch questions how
individuals develop their morality, why
certain aspects of morality differ between
cultures and why certain aspects of morality
are generally universal.
5. Descriptive Ethics - This branch is more
scientific in its approach and focuses on
how human beings actually operate in the
real world, rather than attempting to
theorize about how they should operate.
Ethical Dimension of Human Existence
● Ethics, generally speaking, is about matters
such as the good thing that we should
pursue and the bad thing that we should
avoid; the right ways in w/c we could or
should act and the wrong ways of acting.
● It is about what is acceptable and
unacceptable in human behavior. It may
involve obligations that we are.
● Ethics as a subject for us to study is about
determining the grounds for the values w/
particular and special significance to human
life.
Acts of Human vs Human Acts
Acts of Human
● DO NOT REQUIRE a decision-making
action
● no ethical implication
● happen naturally in the body without a
person’s being conscious about them
● neither right or wrong
● EXAMPLES:
Breathing
beating of the heart
Perspiration
growing of the hair
growing of the nails
Looking
Seeing
Dreaming
Daydreaming
Hearing
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Listening 3. Moral valuations
Walking
Sleepwalking Aesthetic valuations
● It shows us that aesthetic considerations
Human Acts and questions of ETIQUETTE are important
● REQUIRE a person to make a choice facets of human life. But they do not
● use utmost responsibility necessarily translate into genuine ethical or
● use his/her conscience moral value
● can either be right or wrong ● the choice of clothing that one is to wear, in
● responsibility comes from the freedom of general, seems to be merely a question of
man aesthetics
● EXAMPLES: ● etiquette is NOT ethics
telling the truth ● improper is not being immoral or unethical
giving money to the poor ● yet in some cultures, what a women wears
returning a lost item or does not wear may bring upon harsh
punishment to her according to the
Determinants HUMAN ACT ACTS OF HUMAN
community’s rule

Knowledge / Use of yes no

intellect Moral valuations
Presence of Free yes no ● involve valuations that we make in a sphere
will
of HUMAN ACTIONS characterized by
Conscious process / yes no certain gravity and concern the human
voluntariness well-being and human life itself
● therefore, matters that concern life and
1. Good Action death such as war, capital punishment, or
2. Bad Action abortion and matters that concern human
3. Amoral or Indifferent Actions well-being such as poverty, inequality or
sexual identity are often included
Feelings are not part of ethics, it’s indifferent
(neutral) Ethics and Morals
MORALS
Animals do not have freedom
● beliefs or attitudes that people have or to
freedom - capacity to choose
describe acts that people perform. Thus, it is
sometimes said that an individual’s
Ethical Dimension of Human Existence personal conduct is referred to as his
● ethics as a subject for us to study is about morals, and if he falls short of behaving
determining the grounds for the values with properly, this can be described as
particular and special significance to immoral.
HUMAN LIFE ETHICS
● our first point of clarification is to recognize ● discipline of studying and understanding
that there are instances when we make ideal human behavior and ideal ways of
VALUE JUDGEMENTS that are not thinking. Thus, ethics is acknowledged as an
considered to be part of ethics intellectual discipline belonging to
1. Aesthetic valuations philosophy.
appreciation of beauty PHILOSOPHY
2. Technical valuations ● “love of wisdom” (philia is the noun often
Skills translated into English as “wisdom”)
Professional ● philo = love

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sophy = wisdom
● unique discipline that asks significant
questions that other fields are unable to
address.
● Branches:
○ Metaphysics - wonders as to what
constitutes the whole of reality
○ Epistemology - asks what our
basis for determining what we know
○ Axiology - study of the value of
beauty, ethics, w/c concerns, itself
with the value of human actions.
2 Approaches of Ethics
NORMATIVE ETHICS
●Evaluative
●way of generating and formulating
principles, rules, standards that will guide
human conduct or action
● includes general normative ethics and
applied ethics
● aka applied ethics
● we apply the rules and principles in specific
scenario
● you must know the theories and principles
● the principles found in normative general
ethics that are regarded to be of help to
guide an action and are commonly applied
to some specific moral problems such as in
medicine, nursing, and other medical
sciences; thus, it yields an APPLIED
ETHICS
GENERAL NORMATIVE ETHICS
● philosophical attempt to formulate and to
defend basic moral principles and virtues
governing the moral life, thus, it emphasizes
ethical theories like natural law theory,
utilitarianism, deontology, and virtue ethics
etc.
NON-NORMATIVE ETHICS
● non evaluative
● It simply considers by knowing what is and
describes certain actions, practices, and
events
● it is not expressed by categorizing that is
right or that is wrong rather it simply
expressed what is the action and the way an
action was done
● e.g. study of stages of moral development by
Lawrence Kohlberg
2 Considerations:
1. Descriptive ethics
● simply reports through description
and explanation of moral behavior
and belief of a person
2. Meta (beyond) ethics
● analytic ethics
● analyzes the peculiarity of an ethical
language such as ought, good,
wrong, bad.
● It asks the question what is and also
analyzes the structure of logic and
moral reasoning.
Issues, Decision, Judgement, and
Dilemma
Moral Issue
● a situation that calls for moral valuation
● often used to refer to those particular
situations that are often the source of
considerable and inconclusive debate
Moral Decision
● one is placed in a situation and
confronted by the choice of what act to
perform
● e.g. I choose not to take something I did
not pay for.
Moral Judgement
● person is an observer who makes an
assessment on the actions or behavior of
someone
● e.g. A friend of mine chooses to steal from a
store, and I make an assessment that it is
wrong
Moral Dilemma
● matter of choosing right over wrong, or
good over bad, and considering instead the
more complicated situation wherein one is
torn between choosing one of two
good or bad choosing between the
lesser of two evils
● e.g. A mother may be conflicted between
wanting to feed her hungry child, but then
recognizing that it would be wrong for her
to steal
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Problem, Analysis, Decision
Moral Problem
● whether A or B
Moral Analysis
● (+) and (-) consequences of option A
● (+) and (-) consequences of option B
Moral Decision
● A or B and why?
REASONING
● The promise of rewards and the fear of
punishments can certainly motivate us to
act, but are not in themselves a determinant
of the rightness or wrongness of a certain
way of acting or of the good or the bad in a
particular pursuit
● Our thinking may take on a level of
abstraction, that is, detaching itself from the
particular situation and arriving at a
statement like, “Cheating is wrong”, by
recognizing proper reasons for not acting
this way.
Principles
● rationally established grounds by which one
justifies and maintains her moral decisions
and judgments.
Moral Theory
● systematic attempt to establish the validity
of maintaining certain moral principles.
● Insofar as a theory is a system of thought or
of ideas, it can also be referred to as a
framework. We can use this term,
“framework,” as a theory of interconnected
ideas, and at the same time, a structure
through which we can evaluate our reasons
for valuing a certain decision or judgement.
Moral Decision Making
2 elements:
1. Moral action
● ability to take appropriate measures
or actions to resolve the ethical
issues
2. Moral sensitivity
● ability to be able to recognize moral
problems as a potential or even
actual conflicts that may arise
against the rights of the parties,
duties and even principles.
Elements
1. Gather the facts
● ethical dilemmas can be resolved simply by
clarifying the facts of the case in question.
● gathering the facts is the essential first step
prior to any ethical analysis and reflection
on the case.
● “What do we know?” but also “ What do we
need to know?”
2. Determine the ethical issues
● most important thing in case study
● The issues should be presented in a
______versus _________ format in
order to reflect the interests that are
colliding in a particular ethical dilemma.
3. What ethical principles have bearing on
the case.
● In any ethical dilemma, there are certain
moral values or principles that are central to
the conflicting positions being taken.
● It is critical to identify these principles, and
in some cases, to determine whether some
principles are to be weighted more heavily
than others.
● Clearly, biblical principles will be weighted
the most heavily. There may be other
principles that speak to the case that come
from other sources.
4. List the alternatives
● coming up with various alternative courses
of action.
● In general the more alternatives that are
listed, the better the chance that your list
will include some high-quality ones.
● In addition, you may come up with some
very creative alternative that you had not
considered before.
5. Compare the alternatives with the
principles
● the task is one of eliminating alternatives
according to the moral principles that have
a bearing on the case.
● Purpose:
○ to see if there is a clear decision that
can be made without further
deliberations.
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6. Weigh the consequences
● Both positive and negative consequences
are to be considered. They should be
informally weighed, since some positive
consequences are more detrimental than
others.
7. Make a decision
● Frequently the decision that is made is one
that involves the least number of problems
or negative consequences, not one that is
devoid of them.
Cultural Relativism
Sources of Authority (external)
Law (state)
● not all legal is moral
○ e.g. abortion, use of marijuana, same
sex marriage
● not all moral is legal
○ e.g. no freedom of speech and
religion in North Korea
● one’s guide to ethical behavior.
● Positive law
○ different rules and regulations that
are posited or put forward by an
authority figure that require
compliance.
● The law is enforced by way of a system of
sanctions administered through persons
and institutions, which all help in
compelling us to obey.
● Taking the law to be basis of ethics has the
benefit or providing us with an objective
standard that is obligatory and applicable to
all.
Prohibitive Nature of Law
● The law does not tell us what we should do:
it works by constraining us from performing
acts that we should not do.
● To put it slightly differently, the law cannot
tell us what to pursue, only what to avoid.
Religion (Faith)
● Multiplicity of religion
● e.g. polygamy of Islam, INC do not eat
dinuguan
● Divine Command Theory
○ foundation for ethical values
● there is an advance here over the law
because religion is not simply prohibitive,
but it also provides ideals to pursue.
● taking religion as basis of ethics has the
advantage of providing us with not only a
set of commands but also a Supreme
Authority that can inspire and compel our
obedience in a way that nothing else can.
Culture
● there is in fact a wide diversity of how
different people believe it is proper to act.
● aesthetic differences, religious differences,
etiquette differences
● James Rachels (1941 - 2003)
○ there is no such thing as objective
truth in the realm of morality.
○ there is no one correct moral code
that all cultures must follow.
● “Just follow whatever your cultures says”
● what is ethically acceptable or unacceptable
is relative to, or that is to say, dependent on
one’s culture.
● seems to conform to what we experience,
w/c is the reality of the differences in how
cultures make their ethical valuations.
● by taking one’s culture as the standard, we
are provided the basis for our valuations.
● This teaches us to be tolerant of others from
different cultures, as we realize that we are
in no position to judge
● Our own culture's moral code is neither
superior to nor inferior to any other, but
they would provide us the standards that
are appropriate and applicable for us.
● Examples
○ infanticide of eskimos
○ female circumcision
○ apartheid - racial segregation
○ Slavery
● if cultural relativism was correct, then:
○ one can not criticize the practices or
beliefs of another culture anymore
as long as that culture thinks that
what it is doing is correct
○ one can not even accept that moral
progress can happen.
○
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Point of criticisms:
1. Cultural relativism is premised on the
reality of difference.
2. We realize that we are in no position to
render any kind of judgement on the
practices of another culture.
3. The most evident contemporary difficulty
with cultural relativism is that we can
maintain it only by following the
presumption of culture as a single,
clearly-defined substance or as something
fixed and already determined.
Sources of Authority (internal)
Subjectivism
● the recognition that the individual thinking
person is at the heart of all moral
valuations.
● the individual is the sole determinant of
what is morally good or bad; right or wrong
● She is the one who is confronted with the
situation and is burdened with the need to
make a decision or judgement.
● “No one can tell me what is right and
wrong”.
“No one knows my situation better than
myself”.
“I am entitled to my own opinion”.
“It is good if I say that it is good”
Psychological Egoism
● human beings are naturally self-centered,
so all our action are always already
motivated by self-interest
● all people are selfish in everything they do
● It is an irrefutable theory because there is
no way to try to answer it being confronted
by the challenge that, whatever one might
say, there is the self-serving motive at the
root of everything.
● The ego or self has its desires and interests,
and all our actions are geared toward
satisfying these interests.
● We do things in pursuit of our own
self-interest all the time.
● The Psychological egoist would maintain
that underlying such apparently
other-directed behavior is a self-serving
desire, even if one does not acknowledge it
or is even conscious of it.
Simplicity
● has a unique appeal
● a theory that conveniently identifies a single
basis that will somehow account for all
actions
Plausibility
● the motivation behind many of the actions
one perform w/c are obviously self-serving;
it could very well also be the motivation
behind individuals seemingly other-directed
actions.
Ethical Egoism
● prescribes that we should make our own
ends, our own interest, 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.
● One should consider herself as the priority
and not allow any other concerns, such as
the welfare of other people, to detract from
this pursuit.
● Example:
○ give help to gain benefits from
others as well.
Lawrence Kohlberg Stages of
Development
Introduction
● Lawrence Kohlberg,
○ a professor of psychology in Harvard
University
○ a moral development theorist, but
his thinking grew out of Jean
Piaget’s writing on children’s
intellectual development.
○ His theory is DESCRIPTIVE,
rather than, proven facts.
Pre Conventional Level
● individuals do not yet speak as members of
society, instead they see morality as
something external to themselves
STAGE 1: Punishment & Disobedience
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● lowest stage of morality ● pag ginawan ka ng maganda, gawan mo rin
● right action is to behave according to social ng maganda
acceptable norms imposed by some
authority figure (e.g., parent, teacher) in Conventional Level
order to avoid punishment.
● majority of people belong here
● What is right is to avoid breaking rules, to
● speaks on isolated individuals rather
obey for obedience’s sake and to avoid
than as members of the society. It sees
physical damage to people and authority.
individual exchanging favors, but there is
Thus follow and obey because of the
still no identification with the values of the
consequence of punishment and due to
family/community
superior power of authorities.
● egocentric point of view
STAGE 3: Mutual & Interpersonal
● a person at this stage does not consider
Conformity
the interests of others and does not
● one seeks to do that will gain the
relate two points of view.
approval of others.
● Actions were justified in terms of physical
● living up according to the expectations by
consequence rather in terms of
people that are close to them
psychological interests of others.
● Being good and having good behavior
● Authority’s perspective is confused with
means having good motives and
one’s own.
interpersonal feelings such as empathy,
● you will obey because u are afraid to be
love, trust, concern.
punished
● perspective of the individual in
● we obey the government because we don’t
relationship to other individuals.
want to go to prison
● the person is aware of the shared feelings,
● you only do good because you are afraid to
agreement and expectations that take
be punished
primacy over the individual interests.
● you do what is good in order to get the
STAGE 2: Individual & Instrumental
approval and acceptance of others
Change
● Example:
● right behavior means acting in one’s own
○ peer pressure because you want to
best interests.
be in
● Right is acting to meet one’s interests
● Conform = your behavior = behavior of
and needs and letting others do the same.
others
● Right is also what is fair, that is, what is an
equal exchange, a deal, am agreement.
STAGE 4: Law & Order
● The reason for doing what is right is to serve
● you do what is good because it is the LAW
one’s own needs/interests in a world where
● abiding the law and respecting authority
one must recognize that other people have
and performing one’s duty
their interests as well.
● fulfilling one’s own duty to which one had
● individualistic perspective
agreed.
● A person at this stage separates his own
● differentiates societal point of view from
interests and points of view from those of
interpersonal agreement or motives.
authorities and others.
● the person takes the viewpoint of the
● instrumental exchange of service, need for
system, which defines roles and rules,
others and other’s goodwill. Perhaps
individual relations in terms of one’s own
through fairness giving each person the
place in the system.
same amount.
● “I am a law abiding citizen”
● you do good in exchange of something
● an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth
Post Conventional Level
● may utang na loob
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● minority belong here ● The principle of equality, justice, respect
● moral decisions are generated from the and others. These are not only values but
rights, values or principles that are or that regarded as principle that is of used in order
could be agreeable to all individuals to generate decisions.
composing or creating a society designed to ● person takes a stand in view of moral
have fair and beneficial practices principle from which social agreement are
derived on which they are grounded.
STAGE 5: Social Contract & Individual
Rights **Read a case study of Heinz Dilemma and the
● you do what is good because it is for the pregnant woman. Check canvas**
common good
● Example:
○ people who have advocacies in life
● thinking about a society in a very theoretical
way, stepping back from their own
established society and considering the
rights and values of the society ought to
uphold.
● awareness of the fact that people hold a
variety of values and opinion that most
values and rules are relative to one’s group.
● feeling obligated to obey the law,
because one has made a social
contract to make and abide by laws for the
good of all and to protect their own rights
and the rights of others.
● One is concerned that laws and duties be
based from a rational calculation of the
overall ‘utility’. ‘The greatest good for the
greatest number
● prior-to-society’ perspective.
○ individuals are aware of the values
and rights prior to social attachment
and contract

STAGE 6: Universal Ethical Principles

● you do what is good because you believe
that it is the good thing to do
● attitude of respect for universal principle
and the demands of individual
CONSCIENCE - tells you what is right
and what is wrong
● Mahatma Gandhi and God belong here.
● never do something against your conscience
even though it will be against the law
● right action is guided by universal ethical
principles, particularly law, social
agreement are usually valid because it is
anchored to principles

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