ethics

MORAL FRAMEWORK AND

PRINCIPLES BEHIND OUR MORAL
DISPOSITION
Tomas C. Gelay Jr., LPT
 LEARNING OUTCOMES

UNDERSTAND, ARTICULATE AND

DIFFERENTIATE THE FOLLOWING CONCEPTS:

• VIRTUE ETHICS (ARISTOTLE)

• DEONTOLIGAL ETHICS (KANT)
• UTILITARIANISM
• DIVINE COMMAND THEORY
• NATURAL LAW THEORY
IF YOU ARE THE BATMAN AND GIVEN A
CHANCE TO KILL THE JOKER, WHAT WILL YOU
DO? ACCORDING TO:
1. VIRTUE ETHICS (ARISTOTLE)
2. DIVINE COMMAND THEORY
3. NATURAL LAW THEORY
4. DEONTOLOGICAL ETHICS (KANT)
5. UTILITARIAN ETHICS
SUPPORT YOUR ANSWER.
 ETHICAL THEORIES
01 02
VIRTUE ETHICS NATURAL LAW
(ARISTOTLE) THEORY
(AQUINAS)

03 04
DEONTOLOGY
UTILITARIANISM
(KANT)
Imagine a person who:
● always knows what to say
● can diffuse a tense situation
● deliver tough news gracefully
● confident without being arrogant
● brave but not reckless
● generous but never extravagant
 We are what we we
repeatedly do.
Excellence, then, is not
an act, but a habit.
— ARISTOTLE
VIRTUE ETHICS
ETHICAL THEORY THAT
EMPHASIZES AN INDIVIDUAL’S
CHARACTER RATHER THAN
FOLLOWING A SET OF RULES
 VIRTUE
IS GENERALLY AGREED TO BE A
CHRACTER TRAIT SUCH AS A
HABITUAL ACTION OR SETTLED
SENTIMENT.
IF WE CAN JUST FOCUS ON
BEING GOOD PEOPLE, THE
RIGHT ACTIONS WILL
FOLLOW, EFFORTLESSLY.
WHAT EXACTLY DOES
IT MEAN TO BE
VIRTUOUS?
 Aristotle said that
having virtue just
means doing the right
thing, at the right time,
in the right way, in the
right amount, toward
the right people.
 VICE VIRTUE VICE

DEFICIENCY GOLDEN MEAN EXCESS

 VICE VIRTUE VICE
DEFICIENCY GOLDEN MEAN EXCESS

Failing to say things Honesty Brutal honesty

that need to be said

Stinginess Generosity Prodigality

It also means knowing how
to deliver hard truths
gracefully. How to break
bad news gently, or to offer
criticism in a way that’s
constructive, rather than
soul-crushing.
virtue is a skill, a way of living, and
that’s something that can really only
be learned through experience.

Aristotle said your character is

developed through habituation.

If you do a virtuous thing over and

over again, eventually it will become
part of your character.
eudaimonia
A LIFE WELL LIVED. HUMAN
FLOURISHING

And a life of eudaimonia is a life of

striving. It’s a life of pushing yourself
to your limits, and finding success. A
eudaimonistic life will be full of the
happiness that comes from achieving
something really difficult, rather than
just having it handed to you.
Virtue ethics according to
aristotle
● Areté – excellence or virtue
● Energeia – excellent conduct
● Phronesis – practical or moral
wisdom
● Sophia – theoretical wisdom
● Telos – end, purpose or goal

Eudaimonia – well-being,
happiness or “human flourishing
 DIVINE
COMMAND
THEORY
A MORAL ACT IS ONE WHICH GOD SAYS IS
MORAL
 VIRTUE
ACCORDING
TO AQUINAS
NATURAL LAW THEORY
BE GOOD FOR GOD’S
SAKE.
— TOMAS DE AQUINO
NATURAL LAW THEORY
● Natural law is a theory in ethics and
philosophy that says that human beings
possess intrinsic values that govern their
reasoning and behavior. Natural law
maintains that these rules of right and
wrong are inherent in people and are not
created by society or court judges.
 GOD-ORIENTED MORALITY
DIVINE COMMAND THEORY
argues that what’s good, and
what’s not, are determined by
a deity, whether that’s the God
of Abraham, or a panoply of
gods who come up with
ethical rules by committee.
NATURAL LAW THEORY
says that morality comes from
us but only because we were
made by God, who preloaded
us with moral sensibilities.
Categorical
imperatives
COMMANDS YOU MUST FOLLOW, REGARDLESS
OF YOUR DESIRES. MORAL OBLIGATIONS ARE
DERIVED FROM PURE REASON.
 Two things awe me
most, the starry sky
above me and the moral
law within me.
— Immanuel kant
It doesn’t matter whether you
want to be moral or not – the
moral law is binding on all of us.

you don’t need religion to

determine what that law is,
because what’s right and wrong is
totally knowable just by using
your intellect.
 Kantian ethics

The Universalizability Principle

“Act only according to that maxim
which you can at the same time
will that it should become a
universal law without
contradiction.”
So! Kant argued that proper,
rational application of the
categorical imperative will
lead us to moral truth that is
fixed and applicable to all
moral agents.
No God required.
utilitarianism
MORAL THEORY THAT FOCUSES ON THE RESULTS,
OR CONSEQUENCES, OF OUR ACTIONS, AND
TREATS INTENTIONS AS IRRELEVANT.
UTILITARIANISM WAS MADE FOR THE
GOOD OF EVERYBODY

Actions should be measured in

terms of the happiness, or pleasure,
that they produce.

After all, they argued, happiness is

our final end – it’s what we do
everything else for.
 UTILITARIANISM

ACT UTILITARIANISM
IN ANY GIVEN SITUATION, YOU SHOULD CHOOSE
THE ACTION THAT PRODUCES THE GREATEST
GOOD FOR THE GREATEST NUMBER

RULE UTILITARIANISM
VERSION OF THE THEORY THAT SAY WE OUGHT TO LIVE
BY RULES THAT, IN GENERAL, ARE LIKELY TO LEAD TO THE
GREATEST GOOD FOR THE GREATEST NUMBER
 COMPARISON

DIVINE UTILITARIAN
COMMAND ETHICS
WHAT GOD SAYS The action is good if
the consequences
NATURAL are good
DEONTOLIGICAL/ VIRTUE ETHICS
LAW KANTIAN ETHICS The action is good if
GOD PRELOADED it’s what a virtuous
The action is good
AS WITH person would do.
if it follows the
MORALITY
rules
IF YOU ARE THE BATMAN AND GIVEN A
CHANCE TO KILL THE JOKER, WHAT WILL YOU
DO? ACCORDING TO:
1. VIRTUE ETHICS (ARISTOTLE)
2. DIVINE COMMAND THEORY
3. NATURAL LAW THEORY
4. DEONTOLOGICAL ETHICS (KANT)
5. UTILITARIAN ETHICS
SUPPORT YOUR ANSWER.