Introduction to Ethics

Rogelio P. Bayod, PhD

Professor, Cor Jesu College (CJC)
Visiting Professor, American University of Sovereign
Nations (AUSN)
09950676946
Email: roger.bayod@gmail.com
Let us first begin with a basic question – what
makes a person moral?
the answer to the question…
n requires an exposition of the nature of our moral
universe.
n Humans are rational beings. Reason enables us to
distinguish right from wrong.
n But still, moral problems arise day after day and
moral problems arise not only in the individual level
but more so with individuals belonging to and
running organizations (like politicians, leaders and
managers) which cause not only the downfall of the
persons but also of the organizations.
n Is this due to our imperfect nature? Or due to
structural deficit in our systems?
What have we learned so far?
n We already learned the basics. Do what is good
and avoid what is bad.
n In fact, the meaning of human life is primary.
People discover life’s intrinsic worth as they
interact in society, join different organizations and
behave in a complex web of relations.
n Since people relate to each other and the world
around them, human conduct/behaviors as well
as organizational behaviors should be governed
by ethical principles.
 What else have we learned so far?
n We also learned that persons (all persons such as
workers, businessmen, rich or poor, women, IP, PD, etc)
are entitled to a dignified life.
yet….
n social structures and organizational structures favor the
rich and put the poor at a disadvantage (take for example,
the contractual workers, the agency workers, the rank and
file employees)
n and even those at the higher ups versus the owner of the
companies or the politicians running the state, cities,
provinces and municipalities and even Barangays).
 Can you relate to this so far?
n Why is it that LEADERS WHOM we think are good
and promising, practice unethical and even unjust
labor practices against their employees?
Why…why…why…?

n These are all examples of moral imbalance which

calls for an understanding and critical analysis of
the reasons and root causes to our problems.
n Philippine society has been at the receiving end of
a global hegemonic order.
n Our problems are so diverse that politics has
become disruptive and dangerous.
 So what now?
n As LEADERS, we have that vision in which we desire the
moral good of each member.
n Normatively, we must respect the dignity and rights of our
members to a decent life.
n In order to realize the moral good of the organizations,
people need to understand the intrinsic value of persons
(the most important asset of the organizations) and the
ethical role that each one of us members of the
organizations needs to do to achieve just and humane way
of life.
n This is a moral burden that we have to bear.
 Why moral burden?
n Why providing a just and humane way of life
for each member of the organizations a kind of
moral burden that we must bear?
n Especially, to the leaders and managers as
well as owners of the organizations?
 …now we have to go back again to
the basic…
n Here we go back to different motivations,
appetites and intentions of human beings as part
of their nature…there are several studies about
human beings.
n The advancement of human sciences such as
psychology, anthropology, sociology and
philosophy have given plenty of definition of the
nature of human person and their motivations for
behaving and working on different projects and
activities.
Which is which for you?
n If you are Freudian, you are interested to
study about the different pleasure points and
appetite of persons as Freud would say that
basically people is governed by their
unconscious and they desire to obtain
pleasure and avoid pain.
n If you are feminist like Karen Horney, you
are interested in studying the different forms
of subjugation of women by men as the
dominant rationality.
 Which is which for you?
n If you are inspired by Victor Frankl, Jean-Paul
Sarte and other existentialists, you will be
interested in studying about the different attempts
of human beings to look for meaning and reasons
of their existence.
n But if you are like Thomas Hobbes, you are
interested in studying how human being compete
and try to outshine other human being so that he
will be the winner (this we can see in different
organizations especially when there are
opportunities for promotion).
 Which is which for you?
n If you are motivated by Karl Marx you will be interested to
study about the different oppressive structures in the
organizations that put the workers at a disadvantaged
position, and thus, they are not treated as human subjects
but as commodities to be used, abused and dispose of
when not needed anymore.
n If you are inspired by Michelle Foucault and Jurgen
Habermas, you will be interested with the different ruptures
and events in history where the weak and voiceless tries to
challenge the dominant and the powerful through different
discourses and communicative actions.
 Which is which for you?
n If you are Rawlsian, you will try to discover how the notion of
justice e as fairness operate in different social structures and
institutions of society and social structures are arranged to
achieve justice, which for john rawls, is fairness.
n If you are inspired by martha Nussbaum and amartya sen,
you will be interested to see how the different capacities and
freedoms of individuals are given space and opportunities to
flourish and contribute for the development of an
organization.
n Of course, if you are inspired by Jesus Christ, you will be
motivated to offer your lives for the sake of loving those who
are lost, least and last in the society even to the point of
risking your career advancement opportunities and even your
own life.
 Some Ethical Dilemmas
An elderly woman living alone in poor circumstances with
few friends or relatives is dying, and you, her friend, are
at her bedside. She draws your attention to a small case
under her bed, which contains some momentos along
with the money she has managed to save over the
years, despite her apparent poverty. She asks you to
take the case and to promise to deliver its contents,
after she dies, to her nephew living in another state.
Moved by her plight and by your affection for her, you
promise to do as she requests. After a tearful goodbye,
you take the case and leave. A few weeks later the old
woman dies, and when you open the case, you discover
that it contains $500,000 dollars. No one else knows
about the money, or the promise you made. You learn
that the nephew is a compulsive gambler and has a drug
addiction. What will you do?
What is ethics?
n (1) What makes an act morally right or wrong
(a question of conduct)?
n (2) What makes a person good or bad (a
question of value)?
n (3) How to draw the correct conclusion about
what we ought to do or what kind of person
we ought to be?
n (1) and (2) are theoretical/conceptual
questions and (3) is a practical and normative
question about moral reasoning.
 Etymological Meaning of Ethics
n Ethics and morality are two words which are
oftentimes used interchangeably in many
discourses. Are these two terms exactly the
same or is there a shade of difference between
them?
n Etymologically, “Ethics” is derived from the
Greek word “ethos” which can be roughly
translated in English as “custom” or a particular
way of acting or behaving.
n Custom is a form of behavior or character
 Etymological Meaning of Ethics
n Custom has a Latin equivalent which is “mos” or
“mores” which also became the root word of the
term “moral” or “morality”.
n Thus, ethics and morality have literally the same
meaning.
n Ethics is usually taken as synonymous with
morality. Ethics is even called morality.
n Thus, in many instances, we often hear people
say: “what he/she did is moral or ethical”, “this
person lacks ethics or moral”, etc.
Ethics and Morality Distinguished
n Generally, ethics and morality deal with the
goodness or badness, rightness or wrongness
of the human act or human conduct.
n In ethics, we specifically study morality. Hence,
morality gives ethics a particular perspective of
what to study about – that is the rectitude of
whether an act is good ort bad, right or wrong.
n Morality provides with a quality that determines
and distinguishes right conduct from wrong
conduct.
 Ethics: A Philosophy of Action
n While Ethics arms the person with a theoretical
knowledge of the morality of human acts, so
he/she may know what to do as well as how to
do it, there is a whole world of difference
between knowing and doing, knowledge and
action.
n Knowledge is not always performed.
n It does not automatically happen that, as a
person knows, then he/she does.
n It does not necessarily follow that knowledge
leads or results to practical action.
 Ethics: A Philosophy of Action
n While ethics (theory) provides certain principles
and guidelines as to what is good and bad, right
and wrong in human conduct, it is morality which
actualizes the theory.
n Ethics and morality truly need and complement
each other.
n As ethics outlines theories of right and wrong,
good or bad actions, morality translates these
theories into real actions.
n Morality is nothing else but a doing (or the
practice) of ethics.
Ethics: A Practical Discipline
n Is ethics or teaching ethics purely, an
academic endeavor?
n Ethics should be taken not just as an
academic study, but as fundamentally, a “way
of life”.
n Ethics as a discipline has an intimate
connection with the daily lives of man.
n Knowing what is right without actually
changing the way we behave morally is
nothing but useless knowledge.
 The Importance of Studying Ethics
n Ethics is indeed an area of knowledge which is
indispensable in the living of life which is “truly human”.
n Ethics and morality served as the very foundation of
every human society.
n Ethics is the study of choices people make.
n The study of Ethics enables us to reason out moral
beliefs and why we hold them so dearly.
n Ethics helps us widen our horizon as to what is good
and bad.
n Ethics deepens our reflection on the ultimate questions
of life.
 What is right and wrong?
n A 12-year-old girl was taken in marriage in
the village of Sitangkay, Sulu. Is that good
or bad? Why?
n Should the death penalty apply for a man
or woman engaged in homosexual acts?
n Is it good for a husband to donate his
sperm to other woman because his wife is
infertile?

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Ethics (Moral Philosophy) Defined
n It concerns the nature of the right
[deontology] and the nature of the good
[utility].
n Theories of the good are of two basic types:
n Theistic ( based upon the assumption of a
God)
n Philosophical/anthropological (based upon
reason)

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 3 Stages in the History of Ethics
n First stage: moral authority shifted from above
humans (the divine), to humans.
n Second stage: extending the belief that humans are
responsible only to humans
n Rise of nihilism and relativism
n Third stage: focus shifting from individual to public
ethics—toward utilitarianism, social justice, and
environmental ethics
n Applied ethics is popular
n Virtue ethics is gaining ground
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Philosophical ethics--Assumptions
n Assumes that humans are basically good,
and can be more ethical.
n Reason is a sufficient basis for developing
ethics.
n Humans are accountable not only to other
humans but also to the rest of creation.

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 Locating Ethics Within Philosophy
Meta-ethics “What is goodness?”
(philosophical How are good and bad
questions) determined?
Normative ethics “What should we do?”
(“moral” questions) Deontology
Ethical theory Utility, Virtue,
(Teleological=+goals)
Applied ethics What is right and
wrong in specific
situations
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 Definition of Ethics
n Philosophically, Ethics is defined as the practical
science of morality of human act or conduct and
of the good life.
n As a science, Ethics is a body of knowledge
systematically arranged and presented in such a
manner that it arrives at its conclusions coherently
and logically.
n Ethics as a branch of Philosophy, is also known
as Moral Philosophy – it that branch of Philosophy
that deals with how we ought to live, with the idea
and the pursuit of the Good and with concepts as
“right” and “wrong”
 Definition of Ethics
n Furthermore, Ethics as a philosophical discipline,
deals with ultimate principles and truth concerning
the morality of human conduct through the use of
human reason and experience alone, without the
aid of supernatural reason or divine revelation.
 Objects in the Study of Ethics
n Material Object: Human conduct or human act –
refers to the act that is done by a human person
which he/she is conscious of, which proceeds
from one’s deliberation and freewill, and thus, for
which one is held morally responsible.
n Formal Object: Morality or the moral rectitude of
human conduct or human act. Ethics deals with
the human person’s right conduct, whether his or
her actions conform to right reason which is the
immediate norm of morality.
Characteristics of Ethical Issues
n Moral disagreements are common. Moral
issues are often controversial and open-
ended. It is often difficult to arrive at some
consensus.
n How serious could people disagree with one
another? Could the disagreement be radical
and fundamental?
n People even disagree about what and how
much they disagree.
Moral Theories
n A moral theory consists of a set of moral
principles.
n These principles specify the conditions under
which an action is morally right or wrong, or
what makes a person or something good or
bad.
n They purport to guide our moral reasoning.
Moral Theories
n Together with facts about different moral
situations, moral rules that guide the morality
of specific kinds of actions could be derived.
n Together with facts about an individual case,
we can further judge whether an individual
act is morally right or wrong, or whether a
person or something is good or bad.
 The Moral Dimension of Human
Existence
n The experience of morality is part and parcel of
our everyday life (Moga, 1993).
n Is the whole of human experience fall under the
ambit of ethics or morality?
n Are there clear and neat rules that govern
morality that can easily be accessed in
practically all situations of human existence?
 Characteristics of Moral Principles
n Reasonability (Backed with good reason)
n Impartiality (Not bias)
n Prescriptivity (Has commanding principle)
n Overidingness (Has authoritative stature)
n Autonomous from Arbitrary Authority (stand on
their own logic)
n Publicity (Known to everyone)
n Practicability (Workable, doable for human
beings)
n Universality (applicable to everyone)
Structure of moral action
n Person à Action à Consequence
n Person: What makes a person morally good?
Be courageous, kind, and so on? Do the
motive, character, and intention of the person
matter in deciding whether an action is right
or wrong?
n Action: What makes an action morally right?
Should the motive, character, or intention of
the actor be taken into consideration? Should
it be solely determined by the consequences?
n Consequence: What constitutes a good or
bad consequence?
 What is a Human Act?
n Human Act (Actus Humani) refer to “actions that
proceed from insight into the nature and purpose
of one’s doing and from consent of free will”
(Peschke, 1985, p. 247).
n Specifically, human actions are those actions
done by a person in certain situations which are
essentially the result of his/her knowledge,
freedom, voluntariness or consent.
n Hence, these actions are performed by man
knowingly, freely, and voluntarily
3 Basic Elements of Human Acts
n The act must be deliberate.
n The act must be performed in
freedom.
n The acts must be done voluntarily.
 Major Determinants of the
Morality of Human Acts
n The act itself or the object of the
act.
n the motive or the intention
n The circumstances
 4 Types of Circumstances that Affect the
Morality of the Act
(Baldemeca, et al. 1984. p. 94)
n Mitigating or extenuating
circumstances diminish the degree of
moral good or evil in an act.
n Aggravating circumstances increase
the degree of moral good or evil in an
act without adding a new and distinct
species of moral good or evil.
 4 Types of Circumstances that Affect the
Morality of the Act
(Baldemeca, et al. 1984. p. 94)
n Justifying circumstances show
adequate reason for some acts done
n Specifying circumstances give a new
and distinct species of moral good or
evil of the act.
 Modifiers of Human Acts
n Ignorance
n Passion or Concupiscence
n Fear
n Violence
n Habit
 Human Acts and Acts of Man
n Human Acts proceed from one’s conscious
knowledge as well as freedom and
voluntariness
n Acts of Man are actions which happen to a
person “naturally”, even without his or her
awareness of himself/herself while doing the
acts. These actions are done without
deliberation, reflection and consent.
Challenges to Morality
n Egoism
n Psychological egoism: Human actions are
motivated by their self-interests.
n Ethical egoism: One should only promote
one’s own interests, or it is alright for everyone
to do so.
n Relativism
n Descriptive relativism: People of different
cultures follow different norms and have
different conceptions of the good.
 n Ethical relativism: What makes an act morally
right and wrong or something morally good or
bad depends on the cultural context in which
the question is raised.
n Moral skepticism
n Why should I be moral? It is impossible to give
a non-question begging answer.
n We can never justify our moral beliefs and
ideas.
n Moral Nihilism
n Ethical claims are either fictitious (according to
error theories) or neither true nor false.
n They are not answerable to any reality.
n There is no such thing called “morality”.
Suggested Readings:
n Elizabeth Burns & Stephen Law (eds.),
Philosophy for AS and A2, London:
Routledge, 2004.
n Julia Driver, Ethics: The Fundamentals,
Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, 2007.
n Christopher Hamilton, Understanding
Philosophy for AS Level, Cheltenham: Nelson
Thornes, 2003.
n James Rachels, The Elements of Moral
Philosophy, 4th ed., Boston: McGraw-Hill,
2003.
n Nina Rosenstand, The Moral of the Story: An
Introduction to Ethics, 5th ed., Boston:
McGraw-Hill, 2005.
n Mark Timmons, Moral Theory: An Introduction,
Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield, 2002.
 Case Study
n A young bureaucrat was offered a considerable sum of
money to approve a project that was considered by the
people to be harmful to the environment. He argued to
himself that perhaps he must maintain his moral position
and not fall prey into the culture of corruption in the
agency. However, when he came home one evening, he
was told that his mother has cancer and will need a big
amount of money. While he has bought an insurance
policy, he was told that it will not be able to cover all the
expenses required after the operation. It was right then
and there that he thought of the money offered to him.
What is the moral path that he must choose?