GNED 02 – ETHICS

Midterm Period

1. ETHICS DEFINED
- ETHICS came from the Greek word ethos (Character, Custom, Disposition)
- Defined as the systematic study of MORALITY.
- It is related to the code or set of principles, standards, or rules that guides the moral action of an
individual within a particular social framework.
- It is concerned with moral judgement and moral decision, involving questions about human
behavior or conduct.
- “There is no right way to do a wrong thing.”

2. MORALITY
- Came from the Latin word MORALIS, custom or character in which people do things.
- Refers to what we call MORAL CODE or CONDUCT.
- Looks at how good or bad our conduct is and our standards about conduct.
- Morality is ethics in action.

3. CONDUCT
- How a person ought to act responsibly in a particular case and to what extent this action should
be described as right or wrong.

4. TERMS RELATED TO ETHICS

- MORAL CODES are the rules that establish the boundaries of generally accepted behavior.
- VALUE SYSTEM is the complex scheme of moral values that we choose to live by.
- TRAITS it is the distinguishing qualities of a person. It highlights values.

5. VIRTUES and VICES

- VIRTUES are habits that incline us to do what is acceptable.
- VICES are habits that incline us to do what is unacceptable.

6. THREE BROAD CATEGORIES of MORAL PHILOSOPHY or ETHICS

- METAETHICS is the study of the nature and the basis of ethics. It is the most abstract area of
moral philosophy. It doesn’t ask what acts, or what kind of acts are good or bad, right or wrong;
it asks about the nature of goodness or badness, what it is to be morally right or wrong.
- NORMATIVE ETHICS is the study of norms, rules, values, and standards that should guide our
moral decisions. It is an attempt to figure out what people should do or whether their current
moral behavior is reasonable. How people ought to act is then question of normative ethics.
- DESCRIPTIVE ETHICS describing how people behave. What do people think is right is the
question of descriptive ethics.
 7. ETHICAL THEORY
- Is based on the assumption that people are rational and make free choices.
- Conditions that are always and absolutely true:
a. People act emotionally and they make mistakes.
b. A person is not making a free choice when someone else is pointing a gun at him.
c. A person is not making a free choice in a situation where she might lose a job.
- Individual in most circumstances, responsible for his/her actions.
- Ethical Theory attempt to achieve the same goal:
a. To enhance human dignity.
b. Peace
c. Happiness
d. Well, being

8. ETHICAL RULES
- rules that follow in our interactions with other people and in our actions that affect other
people.
- It applies to all people and are intended to achieve good results for people and situations in
general.
- set of rules that shows well respect for the fact that we are unique and have our own values and
goals, that we have judgement and will, and that we act according to our judgement to achieve
our goals.

9. RELATIVISM
- A theory that there are no universal norms of right and wrong.
- Different individuals can have opposite views of a moral problem, and both can be right.
- SUBJECTIVE RELATIVISM what’s right for you may not be right for me.
- CULTURAL RELATIVISM is an ethical theory that the meaning of right and wrong with a society’s
actual moral guidelines. These guidelines vary widely from place to place from time to time.

10. DIVINE COMMAND THEORIES

- Claim that something is right because God wills it.
- Moral rightness willed by God.

11. BEHAVING ETHICALLY

- Behaving ethically, is usually not a burden. Is often practical.
- Sometimes, it is difficult to the right thing, that’s why we need COURAGE.

12. INTEGRITY
- INTEGRITY is doing the right thing when no one is watching.
- INTEGRITY is the cornerstone of ethical behavior

13. MORAL DILEMMA

- DILEMMA is a situation where a person is forced to choose between two or more conflicting
options, neither of which is acceptable. The person has choices to make that will all have results
he/she does not want.
- On the other hand, if the person is in a difficult situation but it is not forced to choose between
two or more options, then the person is not in a dilemma.
- MORAL DILEMMA is a situation where persons, who are called “moral Agents” in ethics, are
forced to choose between two or more conflicting options, neither of which resolves the
situation in a morally acceptable manner.
- When dilemmas involve human actions which have moral implications, they are called ethical or
moral dilemmas.
- 3 Levels of Moral Dilemma:
a. INDIVIDUAL conflict arrives when a person is asked to choose between two important values
for him or her for example, choosing between one’s duties to his or her family and one’s love
for another person.
b. ORGANIZATIONAL can take many forms and these are the moral problems in the workplace.
c. STRUCTURAL refers to moral predicaments in public administration.
- 4 types of Moral Dilemma:
a. EPISTEMIC and ONTOLOGICAL
a.1 EPISTEMIC involve situations wherein two or more moral requirements conflict with
each other and that the moral agent hardly knows which of the conflicting moral
requirements takes precedence over the other.
a.2 ONTOLOGICAL involve situations wherein two or more moral requirements conflict with
each other, yet neither these conflicting moral requirements overrides each other.
b. SELF-IMPOSED and WORLD-IMPOSED
b.1 SELF-IMPOSED is caused by the moral agent’s wrongdoing.
b.2 WORLD-IMPOSED certain events in the world place the agent in a situation of moral
conflict.
c. OBLIGATION and PROHIBITION
c.1 OBLIGATION more than one feasible action is obligatory.
c.2 PROHIBITION all feasible actions are forbidden.
d. SINGLE AGENT and MULTI PERSON AGENT
d.1 SINGLE AGENT the agent “ought, all things considered, to do A, ought, all things
considered, to do B, and she cannot do both A and B”. In other words, the moral agent is
compelled to act on two or more equally the same moral options but she cannot choose
both.
d.2 MULTI PERSON AGENT occurs in situations that involve several persons like a family, an
organization, or a community who is expected to come up with consensual decision on a
moral issue at hand. A family may be torn between choosing to terminate or prolong the life
of a family member.