ETHICS

Week 1:
Introduction to Ethics

Prepared by: Ms. Kimberly De Guzman Yoro

 At the end of this module,
you are expected to...

OBJECTIVES 1 Understand the importance of

Ethics to Philosophy to Higher
Learning
Learn its contribution to man's
2 development
WHAT IS ETHICS?
Ethics, also known as
moral philosophy is the
discipline concerned with
what morally is good or
bad and morally right or
wrong.

By critical thinking it discerns

The quality of life a man lives
men from brutes making them
is a testament to man's mental
decide better than mere a
development.
prior judgement.
• Ethics is the primary vehicle for men to reach the very purpose of life -
the pursuit of happiness.
• Societies
Enter are created to ensure their security from predators - real or
title
imagined, they have to create laws.
• Ethics made men decide what is right or wrong guided by reason.
 • Human ethics are clouded by man's self-interest
Enter that interpretation to law and order are like
title
finding a needle in a haystack.
• Changes in the environment as well as the
complexities of the human world altered the
understanding of Ethics.
 ETHICS
AND
HUMAN
DEVELOPMENT
• Humans are not born endowed with ethics (like an inherent characteristic), but rather their
behavior jives with human development.
• Man initially behaves like brutes, and under human development, he behaves less morally
and more ethically.
 ETHICS MORALS

Ethics refers to rules provided by Morals refer to individual's own

external source, such as laws, codes principle regarding right and wrong.
of conduct in a workplace or
principles in religion.

• Ethics and morality are interchangeable for they pattern both human behavior, but in
reality are different.
• Ergo as man progressed, he deviates from his clouded personal beliefs to a more socially
acceptable norm.
• Ethical human behavior depend on two things: Personal Development and Human
Development

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT HUMAN DEVELOPMENT

-is the process of internalization of -is the combination of collective

values, judgement and thought; and personal development and social
morally, is a transition from what we development
should ought to do, to what is the
best thing to do.
• The ethics of human behavior ranges from the
spectrum of low personal human development
to high personal and human development.
• In time, man's ethical development also will
also serve as his transition from a self-
indulging individual to a person endowed with
knowledge that will aid him in his pursuit for
happiness.
THE SCOPE AND
MEANING
OF
ETHICS

Prepared by: Ms. Kimberly De Guzman Yoro

A deeper understanding of Ethics
• Ethics is a branch of Philosophy that studies human acts and human conduct. Although there are
subjects that study human conduct such as Psychology and Sociology. Ethics has a deeper
meaning in its standpoint by further delving into the aspect of human acts. They are more
concerned with the morality of human acts.

Noted definition of Ethics

1. Ethics is the practical science of the morality of human actions
2. Ethics is the scientific inquiry into the principles of morality
3. Ethics is the study of human conduct from the standpoint of morality
4. Ethics is the science of human acts with reference of right and wrong
Relation of Ethics with Other Sciences
1. Ethics and Logic – Logic is the science of right thinking and while Ethics is the science of right
living. Thinking and Doing things go hand-in-hand, we cannot move without thinking right the same
way every action is guided by reason.
2. Ethics and Psychology – The two subjects dealt with the study of man, human nature and human
behavior but that is all their similarity ends. Psychology only tell us the causes of man’s actions that
may be psychological or physiological but ethics tell us how man should react. Ethics is interested in
moral obligation while Psychology ends there.
3. Ethics and Sociology – as we all know, Sociology deals with the study of
society as well as the social order that regulates the society as a whole.
But then what is the foundation of their social order if there is no basis
of right and wrong which is Ethics. Any society is doomed to fail if
devoid of correct basis of thinking.
4. Ethics and Economics – Napoleon once said that an army marches on its stomach, in relation to
economics man has to fulfill is economic needs. The need for material wealth is inherent in man that there
are instances that economic topics needed ethical principles such as capital-labor relations, profit,
interests, money et al. The need to settle these conflicts must have ethical basis to incur equitable results.

Morality and Other Phases of Human Life

1. Ethics and Education – Education whether formal or informal is a never-ending process and is the
foundation of man’s moral, intellectual and physical capacities. But then again education is illicit if it is not
supported by ethics, they say ethics is life the same way education is intertwined with life. Learning is
good but learning supported by ethics is better inasmuch as ethics is living right.
2. Morality and Law – as mentioned in the previous module, not everything moral is legal and not
everything legal is moral. Meaning there are good things that do not need legislation and immoral acts that
the State may approve. But to further differentiate them laws only used external acts while ethics cover
man’s “acts” that play in his mind that will not incriminate him in any statute.
3. Ethics and Politics - Man in his constant search for happiness be it temporal or eternal is never ending.
They say politics and ethics are poles apart – in a certain point that is correct it is the very reason why
politics become dirty for they deviate from ethics. Man’s insatiable greed for wealth and power thru politics
means absence of ethics. An ideal state should be an ethical state.
4. Ethics and Art – Ethics is about positive morality while art is beauty. Any work of art that is beautiful, will
give a positive outlook to the looker that will be greatly appreciated. The purpose of art is for appreciation
that is contributory to man’s ethics.
5. Religion and Ethics – Religion is ethics and ethics is religion, they are interchangeable for the any
religious belief tends to ethical standards in relation to his most fundamental tenet. What unites them all
boiled down to three things namely: a) belief in the Supernatural, b) man’s beginning and end and c) right
living.
Morality and Human Acts
Morality is the quality of goodness or badness in a human act. In this case, we base judgement on any
human act based on its ethicality. The quality of an act may be justified according to its gravity. An evil
human act maybe considered “right” just as long as it can be justified which lead us to its norm of morality.
By that term, we mean that the basis for determining its correctness are the standard of the judging party
and the reason why an act is morally wrong or right.

Human Acts just like the word itself means actions of men that are done willfully and willingly. Keep in mind
that scenarios beyond human control are not human acts such as rainfall, sunset, earthquake even the
beating of the heart or blood circulation are beyond human act for these are actions man cannot control. In
the case of assassinations where the culprit pulled the trigger, the gun is not to blame but the doer of the
action that caused taking the life of another man. Once questioned he has the right to justify his action as
either morally right or wrong.
THANK YOU
FOR
LISTENING!

Prepared by: Ms. Kimberly De Guzman Yoro