REVIEWER

NGEC 8
 MEANING OF ETHICS

• Etymologically, Ethics is derived from the Greek word Ethicos, or

that pertains Ethos, the English translation of which is “custom” or
“character”.
- From this etymological meaning, Ethics is taken to mean as
a philosophical science that deals with the morality of human
conduct or human acts.
• Ethics – is a science (normative science) because it
systematically establishes standards or norms of human
conduct.
It therefore, qualifies human conduct as to whether it is good or
bad and right or wrong.
- It also requires man to act properly as human being. And to
act properly as a man, Ethics idealistically requires man to do
what is good and what is right.
• Ethics provides the principles on the morality of human
acts; it equips man with a (theoretical) knowledge of the
morality of human acts. We know however that knowing is
different from doing. One can only become moral (or good
human person) when one applies ethics.
 ETHICS vs MORALITY
ETHICS
Ethics (as a theoretical science) provides
principles of bases of right or wrong and good
or bad actions.
Ethics outlines theories of right and wrong or
bad actions.
MORALITY
Morality actualizes the theory.
Morality is nothing else but a doing/ practice
of ethics. (Applied Ethics)
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• Division of Ethical Theories or Moral Teachings:
Western Theory of Ethics Eastern Theory of Ethics
Western philosophy deals with Eastern Philosophy is related to
Individualism Collectivism.
Western philosophy is more Eastern philosophy takes more of
hands-on. a spiritual approach
Hedonism, Pessimism,
Situationism, Utilitarianism,
Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism,
Evolutionism, Kantianism, and
Islam, Confucianism etc.
the rest of the Western Ethical
Theories.
• Why do we (Man) want to be moral? There are varied
answers to the questions:
WHY TO BE MORAL?
Immanuel Kant It is man’s rational duty
John Stuart Mill and Jeremy Bentham It is for pleasure and happiness.
Fletcher It depends upon the situation.
Lawrence Kohlberg It is due to fear of punishment.
Saints Augustine and Thomas Aquinas It is because of GOD.
Mohammad It is because of ALLAH.
It is man’s deepest pleading to be in
Lao Tzu and Confucius
harmony with nature.
It is NOT because of God (dead). Man
Friedrich Nietzsche, an Atheist
can do good even without a God.
Confronted w/ Nietzsche irreligious stance, any moral being
should reflect seriously over the question: Why do we want
to be moral? It can be answered in a 3-fold manner:
1. We want to be moral because we want to win the good
opinion or impression of others concerning our self-image.
2. We want to be moral because we want to refrain from
troubles, punishment, which could result to immorality.
3. Because we are persons, persons who exist in the
collectivity of persons. Because we live w/ others, we have to
respect each other’s rights as persons.
 IMPORTANCE OF THE STUDY OF ETHICS
Man is by nature moral. But to depend on innate nature alone in the
maintenance and development of moral integrity is not an
assurance.
We need to nourish our moral nature in order to grow and live
righteously with our neighbor.
Upkeeping ourselves with the study of Ethics is one best way.
Man cannot live happily and harmoniously by legalities alone, laws
have to be balanced with moral norms.
1. To sharpen the moral nature of the learners by inculcating the
moral norms.
2. To make them aware of the moral principles and laws governing
man’s actions.
3. To help the students become aware of the intimate relation
between their moral nature and laws.
4. To show to the learners that acting in accordance with his
rational and moral nature could lead them to their
supernatural destiny . . . God
5. To develop in the students a morally upright living.
6. To let the students realize that people cannot live together
harmoniously in society without the ethical norms and laws
applied or followed.
 IMPORTANCE OF THE STUDY OF ETHICS

Ethics is important not so that

“we can understand”
philosophically, but rather so
we can “improve how we live”
(Lafollette, 2007)
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 IMPORTANCE OF THE STUDY OF ETHICS
Among the reasons to be moral and integral, regardless of occupation are to:

1.Make society better.

2.Treat everyone equally.

3.Secure meaningful employment.

4.Succeed at business..

5.Lessen stress.

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Postulates in Ethics
Postulates are proven facts that need to be presupposed.
Some examples of postulates are:
 Theory of Relativity
 Theory of Gravitational Pull
Ethics need not proved them; instead it takes them as they
are because they are already proven by other sciences. In
moral philosophy, there are 3 postulates:
a. The existence of God.
b. The existence of intellect and free will; and
c. The spirituality and the immortality of the soul.
Questions to ponder:

Why are you worthy of freewill?

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Questions to ponder:

Why do you choose to act the way you act right

now?

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Morality of Human Acts - refers to the goodness or
badness, the rightness or the wrongness of human acts.
 With this, we now say that Ethics is a normative
philosophical science that deals with the goodness or
badness, the rightness or the wrongness of human
acts.
HUMAN ACTS
- Human activity of man as man by which he attains an end
he wants to obtain.
- it does not refer to the animal acts of man. Since man is
not purely human or spiritual, but also animal in nature, he
has some activities in common with brutes like feeling,
hearing, eating, taste and smell. Such animal activities,
which are called ACTS of MAN, are not classified as
Human Acts.
- Acts of rationality of man. They are the rational acts of
human person which involves understanding and free will.
ACTS OF MAN
- are activities of man as animal, these acts are not
deliberately done, nor voluntary; they are performed without
the free will of the agent.
- Examples of these are beating of the heart, acts done
during sleep or dream, sensations by the five sense organs,
seeing, eating, among others.
Signs of Acts of Man:
1. Done In deliberately. The agent performing the act is
not conscious of his actions going on. The action he is
doing is not under the command of his consciousness.
 2. The acts are not done freely. They maybe done by
force, i.e., w/o the freedom of choice of the person.
3. The acts are done involuntarily. The acts emanate
not from the heart of the agent. Acts of man, since they are
not deliberately, freely and voluntarily done, do not demand
responsibility and imputability from the agent. For this reason,
acts of man are not subject to morality. They are amoral
acts. Thus, they are not concern of the study of Ethics.
Essential Qualities of Human Act:
1. The act must be deliberate. The agent does it
consciously; he knows that he is doing the act and aware of its
consequences, good or evil.
2 . The act must be free. The person doing the act must be free
from external force beyond his control, or from any strong
influence. Otherwise, the act is not his own. The act must not be
done out of fear.
3. The act must be voluntary. The act is done out of the will
and decision of the agent. It emanates from the bottom of his
heart.
Human Acts being moral in nature is the concern of Ethics. For a
human act can be morally good or morally evil. Examples of
Human Acts:
- an act of decision to select a degree course
- an act of killing someone
- an act of marriage
HUMAN ACT
- human activity of man as man
- act of rationality of man
THE M O N E Y M AT T E R S SERIES
- understanding and free will
- proceeds after free will of man

Financial
- agent is responsible of such act
- either morally good or morally evil

Technology
ACT OF MAN
- not deliberate or actions beyond
consciousness

Today
- does not use intellect and free will
- done without consent and involuntary
- action is natural

How financial technology progressed through the years

 Morality and Human Existence

Categorically, there is morality only in the context of

humanity. There is no morality outside the context of
humanity. In simple terms, we say there is morality because
there is man.
1. Man is the Only Moral Being
- man is the only moral being by virtue of the following
reasons:
a. Man is a being of action – Man acts and knows his
acts. Because he knows his acts, he knows he is
responsible for his actions.
 b. Man has Intellect. His intellect enables him to
know, what is right or wrong and good and bad actions.
Because he is capable of knowing, he is therefore,
mandated to face the consequences of his actions.
c. Man has Will. Man is free to act or not to act.
Man’s will equips him with the power to choose either
good or bad and right or wrong actions. It is his will that
enables him to enjoy freedom to act or not to act and
freedom to choose what course of action to perform.
It is his nature or his being what he is, that makes
man moral.
 But what is man?
Ethics does not provide a detailed and complete
answer; Philosophy of Man does.
In Ethics, we simply take refuge into the Aristotelian
view of man as rational animal.
It is man’s being rational therefore, that makes man
a moral agent.
This is the reason why those people who are not
capable of rationality are not moral agents – but
this does not mean they cease to be human beings.
 Morality and Human Existence
2. Man as an Animal
- man also acquires knowledge thru their senses.
* By Appetency, we mean the drive to seek or to strive for
something out of their instincts. Thus, man, being an animal, is
also a subject of these drives. Just like any other animal, man
desires for food when hungry and seeks for water when thirsty.
There are manifold kinds of psychological drives or instinctive
drives. Sex is one of them. And inasmuch as man is an animal,
he is also subject to the instinctive sexual drive.
* In this given schema, nothing special can be said of man. He is
just like any of the other forms of animals. If we rely on this, man
cannot be conceived of as a moral agent. His animality does not
give him a license to be moral.
 Morality and Human Existence
3. Man as a Rational Animal
- it is his being rational that makes man, man. It is only in this context
that man is to be understood as a moral being or a moral agent.
- It is man’s being rational that makes him a unique grade of animal.
Being rational, man’s knowledge (perception) is further “processed by his
intellect in the form of abstraction”.
- man’s perceptual knowledge helps him draw judgments as
he compares ideas so that eventually he engages in what is
called reasoning.
- man, therefore, does not just perceive things but also
analyzes, assesses, criticizes, or, in a word, intellectualizes
things.
- as a rational animal (animal rationale not capax rationale
or capable of reason), man strives for something not only
through his instincts, but also through his will. It is true that
man has instinctive drives, but man can transcend all his
drives into a higher dimension.
 Man, therefore, is capable of injecting a dose of discipline to
his physiological drives because he has intellect and will
• 4. Intellect compared with Will -
Intellect and Will are correlative faculties that are
intrinsically endowed in man as the moral agent.
Because man is a moral being, man possesses intellect
and will. Through his intellect, man knows and can know
the outcome of his future actions.
• In the fundamental moral option between right or wrong and
good or bad actions, man is will-bound to choose what is
right and what is good.

• This is the moral imperative demanded in Ethics. And this

highly emphasized in the Catholic Christian moral tradition.

• However, whether or not man should choose what is wrong

or what is bad, he still remains a moral being since he has
Freedom
30
MORAL STANDARDS
Moral standards are norms that
individuals or groups have about
the kinds of actions believed to be
morally right or wrong, as well as
the values placed on what we
believed to be morally good or
morally bad.

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NON-MORAL STANDARDS
Non-moral standards refer to
standards by which we judge what
is good or bad and right or wrong
in a non-moral way.

We can say that non-moral

standards are a matter of taste
and preference and it is based on
the social group and society
where we belong.
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CHARATERISTICS
1. Moral standards are not (merely) established by authority
figures.
2. Moral standards have the trait of universalizability.
3. Moral standards are based on impartial considerations.
4. Moral standards are associated with special emotions and
vocabulary.
5. Moral standards involve serious wrongs or significant
benefits.
6. Moral standards ought to be preferred to other values.
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 WESTERN ETHICS
The moral life in ancient Greece developed when a Greek performed his duties as
a citizen, e. g., paying taxes to the government. To the Greeks, a man who
performs his duties is a Good Man. This gave rise to the concept of how it is to be
good.

During the medieval period, the moral life was dominated by the Church and
generally speaking, the good life was identified with the holy life or the religious
life. Thus, the moral standards during this time were geared towards Salvation.

TEACHES THAT MAN HAS A SELF; THAT MAN IS AN INDIVIDUAL; AND THAT
MAN IS A PERSON (Personalism). The “Ought” of Western Ethics,
obligates man to be self, to what he is, and to be a person.
 WESTERN GREEK ETHICS: (Ethical Teachings)
ETHICS (GREEK Socrates - considered as the greatest moral
philosopher of Western civilization. His
ETHICS)
philosophy is evidently ethical rather than
ontological.
• For him, a person can act correctly and well if
he knows what is good life.
• He says that knowing what is right means doing
what is right.
• For Him, a wise person is not a type of a
mentally undisciplined individual, but that of a
well-cultured person.
• His fundamental principle is Man’s supreme
goal which is Happiness w/c man can be
attained by doing what is right.
WESTERN Plato - most intelligent student of
Socrates.
ETHICS • For him, there are two domains of
(GREEK ETHICS) reality:, the Ideal (Idea) and Phenomenal
(Phenomena) Worlds. The zenith of Idea
is Good w/c he describes as something
beyond truth, beyond essence, Therefore,
is like the sun that shines all throughout
anything in existence. The phenomenal
world, on the other hand, is material,
mutable, teleological, and destructible.
WESTERN
• 3. Aristotle - claims that Ethics is a
ETHICS matter of planning, purpose, and
(GREEK ETHICS) decision: a matter of character.
- His Ethics also emphasizes
virtues (moral and intellectual), but he
gives more weight to contemplation
which is for him the activity that
enables man to attain the highest form
of happiness and the teleology
(Purpose) for why.
- Nicomachean Ethics,
WESTERN What distinguishes Christian Ethics from
ETHICS other Ethics is the belief that the Moral Law
(CHRISTIAN ETHICS) is given not by an interpreter by a LAW-
GIVER, Jesus Christ. To us Christians,
Jesus Christ (The Anointed One), the
Messiah (The Savior) is no mere human
being but a God who has Incarnated into the
human flesh for Him to carry out and
consummate His commitment (His mission),
i.e., to save mankind from damnation.
Ethical Teachings of Jesus Christ
The moral paradigm used is similar to
those of Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle, i.e.
a personal call towards self-realization.
 • His teaching is so radical, so demanding,
WESTERN yet, so fair, because It is addressed to
Everyone whether one is a king, a
ETHICS prince, a rich man, a pauper, or a slave.
(CHRISTIAN ETHICS)
• For JC, there is only one Ethics w/c cuts
across race, nationality, talent, ability,
educational background, sex, status, etc.
• His moral teaching recognizes no social
stratification. In other words, It does not
discriminate between a slave and a
freeman, the rich and the poor, or the
powerful and the weak.
• For Jesus, the core of ethics lies in
man’s heart, not in man’s observance of
the law, or man’s fidelity to traditional
norms.
 • Acc. to Jesus, the moral man is he who loves
WESTERN his neighbors and therefore loves God, for
one cannot love God and hate his neighbors
ETHICS at the same time.
(CHRISTIAN ETHICS)

The following are His Ethical Teachings:

a. The Ethics of Jesus shows more
preference to the poor and the oppressed.
b. The Ethics of Jesus is an Ethics of Love.
c. The Ethics of Jesus demands Honesty
and Authenticity.
e. Ethics which teaches Faith in the Father.
f. Ethics that espouses Peace and
Reconciliation.
g. Ethics that demands sacrifice and
suffering.
 Ethical Teachings of Saint Augustine
WESTERN - The focal point of Augustine’s moral
ETHICS imperative is God; and because Love is the
Highest Attribute of God, Love, eventually, is
(AUGUSTINIAN ETHICS)
considered as the basis and the central
point of his moral teaching.
- He believes that God is the starting point
and the terminal point of everything in
existence. God is the Creator and He
created everything out of Love.
- Augustine is so resolved in his conviction
that it is man who authors evil and not God
(because of Free Will). And he firmly
anchors this conviction in the premise that
“everything which God created is good”.
- For him, to be good is to desire for God.
 Ethical Teaching of St. Thomas Aquinas
WESTERN
Christianized the pagan moral philosophy of
ETHICS Aristotle.
(THOMISTIC ETHICS) To Him, Aristotelian Ethics is incomplete in that it needs
his (Aquinas) Theological virtues as complements.

Accordingly, Thomistic Ethics is centered on the

concept of Natural Law and the Eternal Law.

For Aquinas, God, in His Providence, plans for all things

and directs all things to their proper order, to their
proper purpose, or to their proper ends.
a. Eternal Law - things have their own purpose and
end. The plan and direction of God to all things.
b. Natural Law – the natural order of things; which is
nothing else but the attainment of God’s plan and
direction of these things.
 Immanuel KANT
WESTERN For Kant – to live a moral life is to live
ETHICS in accordance with the laws of reason.
(KANTIAN ETHICS)
Ethics of Duty - Man acts morally
because it is his duty to be moral. In
this dogma, it is maintained that man
never acts morally because man wants
to be pleased, or to be happy with his
actions, nor should man act morally
because there is God who will reward
his good actions afterlife.

The moral duty, according to KANT – is

a duty of man because of his respect for
the moral law.
 UTILITARIAN Ethics – kind of ethical theory that
WESTERN advocates the idea that human happiness is the
measure of goodness.
ETHICS - This brand of ethics maintain that man should
(UTILITARIAN ETHICS)
act in order to produce the greatest happiness for
the greatest number of people.

ETHICAL Teaching of Jeremy BENTHAM

- A Philosopher who, like Plato, believes that
Ethics is NATURE-Based. For him, it is nature that
demands man to be moral. And to be moral, man
should realize that nature subjects him to be
governed by two masters: pain and pleasure.
- In his Ethical Theory, He maintains that the
greatest good lies in man’s pursuit to Happiness
and Pleasure while Evil lies in the avoidance of
Pain. In his Utilitarianism, “the greatest
happiness to the greatest number of people.
 UTILITARIAN Ethics – kind of ethical theory that advocates
WESTERN the idea that human happiness is the measure of goodness.

ETHICS - This brand of ethics maintain that man should act in

order to produce the greatest happiness for the greatest
(UTILITARIAN ETHICS)
number of people.

John Stewart MILL - An avid follower of Bentham.

- Mill, recognizing that Bentham focuses only in the
quantitative value of pleasure, adds his concept on
the qualitative values of pleasure and takes them as
the trademark of his ethical theory.
- If Bentham’s emphasis is Pleasure. Mill’s is
Happiness. i.e. Happiness, as a quality, is higher
in degree than Pleasure.
- For Mill, “Happiness is the most fundamental
principle of morality and the source of moral
obligation.”
- Mill introduces the concept of “greatest
 WESTERN
ETHICS - Not a system of Philosophy, but a way of
(EXISTENTIALISM ETHICS)
doing Philosophy. In Existentialism, there are
no absolute and objective norms or
standards of morality, because for
existentialists man possesses no fixed
nature. This adhere to the notion “Existence
precedes essence.”
- This means that man’s essence is to
exist; existence is prior to essence.
 Confucian ethics
ORIENTAL - focuses on the structure of human
ETHICS relationships, and in particular on the core
(CONFUCIANISM) relationship of the family which provides an
idealized model for all other relationships.
• Confucian ethics is characterised by the
promotion of virtues, encompassed by the
Five Constants, Wǔcháng ( 五常 ) in
Chinese, elaborated by Confucian scholars
out of the inherited tradition during the Han
dynasty. The Five Constants are:
• Rén ( 仁 , benevolence, humaneness);
• Yì ( 义 ; 義 , righteousness, justice);
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WnFeY
O7t49c • Lǐ ( 礼 ; 禮 , propriety, rites);
• Zhì ( 智 , wisdom, knowledge);
•
 - The common ethical principles of Buddhism were
ORIENTAL articulated by Gautama Buddha. They include the Five
ETHICS Precepts (or virtues) and three of the eight points on the
Noble Eightfold path to enlightenment.
(BUDDHISM)
- In mainstream Buddhism there is no separate “God”
who is the judge or arbiter of ethical action. Rather, it is
a general psycho-spiritual “law” that certain behaviors
promote enlightenment and abate suffering while
others impede enlightenment and bring about
suffering.
- The Five Precepts Buddha advises abstinence from: (1)
harming living beings, (2) taking things not freely given,
(3) sexual misconduct, (4) false speech, and (5)
intoxicating drinks and drugs causing heedlessness
(Knierim).
- The Noble Eightfold path to enlightenment consists of
cultivating the following : (1) Right View, (2) Right
Intention, (3) Right Speech, (4) Right Action, (5) Right
Livelihood, (6) Right Effort, (7) Right Mindfulness, and (8)
Right Concentration. These virtues generally fall into
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sw_D44s3 three categories. The first two tend toward cultivation of
9Zc wisdom, the middle three toward ethical conduct, and
 HINDUISM - Primordial religion in India
ORIENTAL and probably the oldest religion in the
ETHICS world, has no official founder.
(HINDUISM)
- In Hinduism, the moral life is geared
towards the realization of one’s inner
identity with the Divine and Absolute
(Brahman).
- This teaches that man should have an
authentic knowledge of himself – that he
is not to be bound to the finite and
mundane realities, but to the Spiritual
and Absolute (Brahman).
- This also teaches Love - Love to God,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Spe
JEP_SWhQ
particularly to Brahman.
 Islamic ethics
ORIENTAL - include two meanings, where:
ETHICS • The first is the science that deals with
(ISLAM)
the standards of the right and wrong of
human conduct, particularly “what
humans ought to do”.
• The second interpretation means ‘good
character’ or good human behavior
• Islamic ethics is related to several
terms. These terms are: approved,
goodness, truth and right,
righteousness, equity, equilibrium
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ivcyz
PlwQXI
and justice, and piety.
51
PHILOSOPHY
Philosophy comes from the
Greek word philein sophia,
meaning “lover of wisdom”.

It is the systematic study of ideas

and issues, philosophy may
examine concepts and views
drawn from science, art, religion,
politics, or any other realm.

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Subfield In Philosophy

Logic is concerned to
provide sound
methods for
distinguishing good
from bad reasoning.

53
Subfield In Philosophy

Ethics takes up the

meanings of our moral
concepts—such as right
action, obligation and
justice—and formulates
principles to guide moral
decisions, whether in
private or public life.
54
Subfield In Philosophy

Metaphysics seeks
basic criteria for
determining what
sorts of things are
real.

55
Subfield In Philosophy

Epistemology
concerns the
nature and
scope of
knowledge.
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Subfield In Philosophy

This field studies both major

philosophers and entire periods
in the development of
philosophy such as the Ancient,
Medieval, Modern, Nineteenth
Century, and Twentieth Century
periods. It seeks to understand
great figures, their influence on
others, and their importance for
contemporary issues.
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Subfield In Philosophy

Philosophy of Man is the

philosophical study of man.
It is an endless inquiry in his
attempt to understand
himself and the world he
lives in, his dignity, truth,
freedom, justice, love, death,
and his relations with others
and with God
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Subfield In Philosophy

Another traditional concern

of metaphysics is to
understand the concept of
God, including special
attributes such as being all-
knowing, being all-powerful,
and being wholly good

59
Subfield In Philosophy

This is probably the largest

subfield generated by
epistemology. Philosophy of
science is usually divided into
philosophy of the natural
sciences and philosophy of the
social sciences. It has recently
been divided further, into
philosophy of physics, biology,
psychology, economics, and
other sciences.
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