ETHICS

Lecture 1/ Pre Mid 2nd Semester

etho law
● Ethics derived from the greek word __ ● product of collective agreement of the
● means custom/particular way & manner authorities to decide which is more
of acting and behaving” appropriate to implement
moralitas Ethics and Morality
● morality derived from the Latin word ● does not rely on how many people agrees
● means “manner, character, proper to it.
behavior” ETHICS AND RELIGION
Ethics ● .They share concerns regarding right or
● studies morality. wrong behaviors, the good and the bad

Morality Religion

● gives ethics the perspective of what to ● primarily and mainly relies on supernatural

study whether an act is good or bad. reason, that is - divine revelation or divine

● basis of Ethics. authority.

ETHICS: A PHILOSOPHY OF ACTION Ethics

● arms the person with knowledge of ● relies on natural reason, logic, and

morality of human acts, so he/she may experience when justifying and validating

know WHAT to do & HOW to do it. principles concerning good and bad

● knowledge about ethics must be put into behavior.

action. Ethics grounds itself on reason and the wisdom of

● it’s not enough to just know. we must act human experience, not on the supposed

according to it. authority of any holy book and sacred writings

Example of Unethical
● You knew that stealing from your mother’s ETHICS

coin purse is bad but you kept on doing it. ● known as Moral Philosophy

● You knew that flirting with someone’s ● practical science of morality of human

wife/husband is immoral but you still did. act/ conduct & of the good life.

ETHICS IMPORTANCE ● talks about how we ought to live, with the

idea of the good and with the concepts
● It distinguishes good and evil, and right or
of “right” and “wrong”
wrong.
norm.
● Without ethics, human life will be a mess
and chaotic ● important element in assessing an

● Without a sense of morality, of what’s right individual’s act or behavior as moral or

or wrong, our life choices wouldn't be as notis through referencing to a ___

guided as it should be. norm

● Making a moral decision is difficult when ● rule, standard, or measure.

confronted by dilemmas. ● act / conduct is measured as good or

● Ethics will help us decide to follow what is bad, right or wrong, moral or immoral.

good 4 types of norm

Ethics and Law 1. Technical Norms

● established & both used to to govern 2. Societal Norms

people with their actions. 3. Aesthetic Norms

Ethics is for morality 4. Ethical / Moral Norm

Law is for legality.

ETHICS
Lecture 1/ Pre Mid 2nd Semester
TECHNICAL NORMS
● Concerned w/ how we “technically do things”
● man’s needs which come from his bodily
space- time limitations.
● has to do with survival, health and well-
being.
Examples:
● proper way of washing dishes
● how you should dribble and pass a ball
how you write using a pen
● how to turn on the television
SOCIETAL NORMS
● need for group cohesion & strengthening
the bonds of community
● proper conduct within the society and
around its people (social etiquette).
Examples:
● knocking first before opening the door
● one should not pick one’s nose in public
● don’t talk if your mouth is full
AESTHETIC NORMS
● perceptual forms of color, shape, space,
movement, sound, feeling and emotion,
touch & texture, taste, scent and etc.
● in touched with our sense’s perception of
beauty.
Examples:
● Taylor Swift’s music sound
● great Uncle Roger’s dish tastes great
● Jordan 1 Retro High Off-White looks fancy
● Fair skin means beautiful
ETHICAL / MORAL NORMS
● ideal perception of an individual’s action
or behavior if it is good or bad etc.
Examples:
● Killing someone
● Stab someone with an ice pick spreading
gossip against your peer
MORAL PRINCIPLES
● guidelines that people live by to make
sure they are doing the right thing.
● includes: honesty, fairness, and equality.
CHARACTERISTICS OF MORAL PRINCIPLES
1. Reasonability
2. Impartiality
3. Prescriptivity
4. Overridingness
5. Autonomous From Arbitrary Authority
6. Practicability
7. Universability
REASONABILITY
● Moral judgments must be backed up by
good reason and arguments
IMPARTIALITY
● Ethical or moral rule should be neutral
● supposed to apply to everyone regardless
of one’s status and situation in life.
PRESCRIPTIVITY
● practical/action-guiding nature of morality
● commanding aspect of morality.
● put forth as some kind of commands or
imperatives since they are intended to
direct people on what to do & avoid.
OVERRIDINGNESS
● Moral standards must have hegemony.
● they should reign supreme over all other
standards, whatever they may be.
AUTONOMOUS FROM ARBITRARY AUTHORITY
● should stand on their own logic and
independent of arbitrariness of the
majority.
● The quote what is good is good even
when no one is doing it and what is bad is
bad even if everyone does it.
PUBLICITY
● must be made public if they are to serve
as clear guidelines to our actions.
● These should be made public because it
will be useless if everyone is clueless about
those moral principles.
PRACTICABILITY
● must be practical, not impossible to
achieve or else they will not be for people.
● must not be over the capability of humans
ETHICS
Lecture 1/ Pre Mid 2nd Semester
UNIVERSAL
● must be applicable to everyone, without
exception, provided that all people are in
a relevantly similar situation or context.
HUMAN ACTS
● actions done by a person as result of her
conscious knowledge, freedom &
voluntariness/consent
● which a person does when she decides
and thinks for himself/herself.
● is classified as good or bad, right or wrong,
and this, subject to morality and its norms
ACTS OF MAN
● actions which happen “naturally”, even
w/out awareness of herself
● actions are spontaneously happening in
the person during her impulsive,
unconscious and instinctive moments
● humans share with animals whose actions
and movements emanate from purely
sensual nature.
● are performed w/out deliberation & free will.
- the person here is neither morally responsible nor
accountable for these kinds of actions
Examples:
1. heartbeat, 6.sleeping,
2. breathing, 7.dreaming,
3. Digestion 8.eating,
4. Fear 9.Walking
5. rage/anger,
BASIC ELEMENTS OF HUMAN ACTS
1. The Act Must Be Deliberate
2. The Act Must Be Performed In Freedom
3. The Act Must Be Done Voluntarily
THE ACT MUST BE DELIBERATE
● it must be performed by a conscious
agent who is very much aware of what
he/she is doing and of its consequences.
they are said to be incapable of acting knowingly
and sufficient knowledge.
1. children below the age of reason,
2. the insane, the lunatics,
THE ACT MUST BE PERFORMED IN FREEDOM
● person performing the action should be
free from any force beyond their control/
from any powerful influence from outside.
● it must be done by an agent who is acting
freely, with his/her own volition and
powers.
- action performed under stress & against free will
cannot be considered a free & voluntary action.
THE ACT MUST BE DONE VOLUNTARILY
● It must be performed by an agent who
decides willfully to perform the act.
● The act, to be truly a voluntary one, must
come from the core of a person’s being.
DETERMINANTS OF MORALITY OF HUMAN ACT
● this pertains to factors that allow us to
identify whether an act is good or bad
MAJOR DETERMINANTS OF MORALITY OF
HUMAN ACTS
1. The Act Itself / The Object Of The Act
2. Motive / Intention
3. The Circumstance
The Act Itself
● the action that is done or performed by an
agent, or WHAT THE PERSON DOES.
● proposes that morality is objective.
Objective Morality
● the idea that right and wrong exist
factually, without importance of opinion.
Motive / Intention
● the purpose / intention that for the sake of
which something is done.
● the “reason” behind our acting.
● “WHY THE PERSON DOES WHAT HE DOES”
Subjective Morality
● depend on one’s motive/ intention, a
particular act can be modified in its moral
worth.
● Does not rely on facts.
ETHICS
Lecture 1/ Pre Mid 2nd Semester
4 PRINCIPLES TO BE CONSIDERED IN
MOTIVE & INTENTION
1. An act can become morally good or evil
depending upon the intention of the
person doing the act
2. A good act becomes morally evil due to
wrong / bad motive
3. A good act is becomes morally good due
to noble intention / motive.
4. An evil act can never become morally
good if it is done with good motive
The Circumstance
● the various conditions outside of the act.
● they are not part of the act itself.
● conditions that influence, to a lesser/
greater degree, the moral quality of
human act.
Types Of Circumstances
1. Mitigating/ Extenuating Circumstances
2. Aggravating Circumstances
3. Justifying Circumstances
4. Specifying Circumstances
Mitigating / Extenuating Circumstances
● type of circumstances diminish the degree
of moral good or evil in the act.
Example:
- Rob and Zeke stole the chicken of their neighbor
just for fun so that they can eat a delicious dinner.
- after a few weeks, he felt guilty about what she
did as his conscience kicks in.
- Because of the guilt he felt, he swore to himself
that he will never do it again.
Aggravating Circumstances
● increases the degree of moral good or evil
act without adding a new and distinct
species of moral good or evil.
Example:
- Jeff was arrested in the past because of selling
drugs and it is the reason why he was sentenced
with 6 years imprisonment.
- Now that he is going out of prison, he chose to
still sell drugs again.
Justifying Circumstances
● show adequate reason for some act that is
used to justify the act done by an
individual.
Example:
- John was confronted by two teenage students &
just want to be physical with him.
-As a taekwondo black belter, John defended
himself and accidentally killed one of the two.
- In court, John asserted that it was just because
of self-defense.
Specifying Circumstances
● circumstance where it makes an
indifferent act become good or bad.
● this circumstance is dependent on the
situation.
Example:
- Withdrawing money from an ATM. The act is
good if it is your ATM.
-If it’s not yours, the act will be considered bad.
- Talking is either good or bad.
It depends on the reason or purpose. If you talk to
hurt someone, then it becomes bad.
PRINICIPLES GOVERNING CIRCUMSTANCES
1. Circumstances may either increase or
decrease the wrongfulness of an evil act.
2. Circumstances may either increase or
decrease the merits of a good act
3. Circumstances may exempt temporarily
someone from doing a required act.
4. Circumstances do not prove the guilt of a
person. The presence of a person when a
crime is committed does not prove he is
the criminal.
Modifiers Of Human Act
● factors, conditions that affect a man’s
inner disposition towards certain actions
Inner disposition means: Inner state
Inner feelings Inner mood
Inner mental state
ETHICS
Lecture 1/ Pre Mid 2nd Semester
Modifiers Of Human Act
1. Ignorance
2. Passion & Concupiscence
3. Fear
4. Violence
5. Habits
IGNORANCE
● absence of necessary knowledge which a
person in a given situation, who is
performing a certain act, ought to have.
Types Of Ignorance
1. VINCIBLE IGNORANCE
● ignorance that can easily be remedied
through diligence & reasonable efforts.
2.INVINCIBLE IGNORANCE
● ignorance which an individual may have
without being aware of it, or, having
knowledge of it, simply lacks necessary
means to correct and solve it.
● ignorance that is unconquerable, and
thus, not correctible.
PRINCIPLES GOVERNING IGNORANCE
1. Invincible ignorance renders an act
involuntarily - a person cannot be held
morally responsible if she is not aware of
the state of her ignorance
2. Vincible ignorance does not destroy, but
lessens the voluntariness & accountability
of the act
3. Affected or pretended ignorance does not
excuse a person from her bad actions; on
the contrary it actually increases their
malice and accountability.
PASSION AND CONCUPISCENCE
● a strong / powerful feeling or emotion.
● the desire of a person in doing an act.
TYPES OF PASSION
1. ANTECEDENT PASSION
● passion that precede an act
● it may happen that a person is
emotionally aroused to perform an act.
2. CONSEQUENT PASSION
● Passion that a the person concerned who
willfully acts following his/her passion,
allows himself to be completely controlled
by it and hence, is considered morally
responsible for it.
FEAR
● the disturbance of the mind of a person
who is confronted by an impending
danger or harm to himself or loved ones”
(Agapay, 2008)
PRINCIPLES GOVERNING FEAR
1. Human acts done “with” fear are
voluntary.
○ The persons concerned remains
morally responsible of their actions.
2. Human acts done “because of” intense
fear or panic are simply involuntary.
○ The doer of the act is not morally
accountable of their action.
VIOLENCE
● physical force exerted on a person by
another free agent for the purpose of
compelling the said person to act against
its will.”
● Any act where great and brutal force is
inflicted to a person constitutes violence.
PRINCIPLES GOVERNING VIOLENCE
1. Any action resulting from violence is simply
involuntary.
○ This just depends on the will while
doing the act.
2. When the victim experiences so much fear
in the face of unjust aggressor who is
armed & dangerous, she is not held
responsible.
HABIT
● constant & easy way of doing things
acquired by the repetition of the same act
● the readiness, born of frequently repeated
acts, for acting in a certain manner”
ETHICS
Lecture 1/ Pre Mid 2nd Semester
PRINCIPLES GOVERNING HABITS
1. Actions that becomes habit without
attempting to correct the habit (if it is bad)
○ holds a moral accountability to the
doer of the action.
2. When a person decides to fight their habit,
for as long as efforts towards their purpose
continues,
○ actions resulting from such habit
entails that the person is not
morally responsible.