ETHICS

The word "ethics" is derived from the Greek

word "ethos" (character), and from the Latin
word "mores" (customs). In the legal context,
ethics defines how individuals choose to interact
with one another. In philosophy, ethics defines
what is good for the individual and for society
and establishes the nature of duties that people
owe themselves and one another.
 MORALITY
From Old French "moralite" (moral
qualities, virtuous conduct or thought),
and from Late Latin "moralitas"
(manner, character) is the differentiation
of intentions, decisions and actions
between those that are distinguished as
proper (right) and those that are
improper (wrong).
 MORALITY
From Old French "moralite" (moral
qualities, virtuous conduct or thought),
and from Late Latin "moralitas"
(manner, character) is the differentiation
of intentions, decisions and actions
between those that are distinguished as
proper (right) and those that are
improper (wrong).
 MORAL
DISCERNMENT
Involves discerning (discovering, judging)
which goals (ends, intentions) and means
(actions) really are conducive to human
fulfillment and according to God's will.
 FOUR TYPES OF MORAL DISCERNMENT

Principle of Formal Principle of Material

Cooperation Cooperation

Means that the person When person's actions

cooperating intends, desires, unintentionally help another
or approves the wrongdoer's person do something wrong.
conduct.
 FOUR TYPES OF MORAL DISCERNMENT
Principle of Lesser
Evil
The principle that when
faced with selecting from
two immoral options, the one
which is least immoral
should be chosen.
Principle of Double Effect
This principle aims to provide specific
guidelines for determining when it is
morally permissible to perform an
action in pursuit of a good end in full
knowledge that the action will also
bring about bad results.
 VALUES
Values describe the personal qualities we choose to
embody to guide our actions; the sort of person we
want to be; the manner in which we treat ourselves and
others, and our interaction with the world around us.
They provide the general guidelines for conduct.
 • Useful/Utilitarian

• Pleasurable/Delectable

• Befitting/Becoming good

• Accidental Values
10 CLASSIFICATION • Natural Human Values
OF VALUES
ACCORDING TO • Primary Values

ANDRES • Secondary Values

• Moral/Ethical religious

• Cultural Values

• Social Values
 USEFUL/UTILITARIAN
Some other things are obtained from and

through it.
 PLEASURABLE/
DELECTABLE
A thing is pleasurable when it provides

pleasure to the subject.

BEFITTING/BECOMING
GOOD
A thing is befitting when it develops,

completes, or perfects the subject.

 ACCIDENTAL VALUES
Value which befits a man with respect to

the accidents found in him;

characterized by variability, temporality,

impermanence.
 NATURAL HUMAN
VALUES
Refer to the shared moral and ethical

principles that are considered important

in a given culture or society.

 PRIMARY VALUES
Primary values are values that relate to

the usefulness or significance of

something to the creator or the holder.

SECONDARY VALUES
The usefulness or significance of

records based on purposes other than

that for which they were originally

created.
 MORAL/ETHICAL
VALUES
It helps us makes decisions that affect

the course of our lives.

 CULTURAL VALUES
It is the core principles or ideals that an

entire community or society is based

around.
 SOCIAL VALUES
A set of moral principles defined by society dynamics,

institutions, traditions and cultural beliefs. These values are

implicit guidelines that provide orientation to individuals and

corporations to conduct themselves properly within a social

system.
 Max Scheler outlined a hiera
values. Our hierarchy of valu
shown in our preferences and
decisions. For instance, you
prefer to absent from class be
HIERARCHY OF you want to attend the annua
fiesta where you are the <star
VALUES ACCORDING because of your ability to sin
dance. Another one may pref
TO MAX SCHELER opposite by missing the fiesta
(anyway, s/he can have all th
after studies) and attends clas
 Aquino (1990) presents Scheler’s hierarchy of values arranged from
the lowest to the highest as shown below :

Pleasure Values – the pleasant against the unpleasant

The agreeable against the disagreeable
• Sensual feelings
• Experiences of pleasure or pain

Vital Values - values pertaining to the well-being either of the individual or of the community
• Health
• Vitality
- Values of vital feeling
• Capability
• Excellence

Spiritual Values - Values independent of the whole sphere of the body and of the environment;
- Grasped in spiritual acts of preferring, loving and hating
• Aesthetic values: beauty against ugliness
• Values of right and wrong
• Values of pure knowledge

Values of the Holy - appear only in regard to objects intentionally given as absolute objects.
• Belief
• Adoration
• Bliss
 • Hedonism

• Utilitarianism

DEFECTIVE • Moral Rationalism

NORMS OF • Moral Positivism

MORALITY • Moral Evolutionism

• Moral Sensism

Communism
 Hedonism

• It is an ethical theory which holds that the supreme end of man consists in the acquisition
of pleasure.

 Sensible pleasures are the highest good of life.

• Morality is grounded on the pleasure or satisfaction that an act brings or entails.

 The good action is the pleasant action.

 The bad action is that which produces pain or unhappiness.
 Utilitarianism

• Is a theory very much akin to Hedonism.

• This norm of morality holds that actions are right in proportion as they tend to promote
happiness, wrong as they tend to produce unhappiness.
• It makes “utility” the norm of morality
 Types of Utilitarianism

Individual/egoistic utilitarianism – holds that the norm of morality resides in the usefulness of an
action for the production of the temporal happiness of the individual.

Social/altruistic utilitarianism – holds that an act is good when it is conducive to the social good
or well-being.
 Types of Utilitarianism

Individual/egoistic utilitarianism – holds that the norm of morality resides in the usefulness of an
action for the production of the temporal happiness of the individual.

Social/altruistic utilitarianism – holds that an act is good when it is conducive to the social good
or well-being.
 Moral Rationalism – Immanuel Kant

• Is the theory which maintains that all knowledge and all truths are derived from human
reason.

 Human reason, therefore, is the source of all truths, all laws, and all principles.
 Human reason is the source of all moral laws and all moral obligations.
 Reason commands, and the commands of reason are absolute and unconditional,
absolutely binding on all men of all times (Categorical Imperative).

• Why we must do good?

 We must do good because we must, it is our duty to obey unconditionally without
questioning (Principle of Deontology).
 Moral Rationalism – Immanuel Kant

• The command of reason is categorical and all are obliged to obey, it is our moral duty to obey
unconditionally.
 Duty – is the very root, test and the mainspring of all morally good acts.

• True morality, must be autonomous in character (Autonomy of Reason).

 According to which theory: it is reason that commands and at the same time it is reason
that obeys.
 Moral Evolutionism

• This is the theory of all those who holds that morality is never fixed or absolute, but is
continually changing and evolving gradually into a perfect morality.
• Friedrich Nietzsche - believed that morality – the distinction between right and wrong – did not
exist in the beginning or originally unknown.
 Moral Positivism

• This theory holds that the basis/source of all moral laws is the laws of the State.
• The proponent of this theory is Thomas Hobbes
 Nature was in a state of universal war. Mankind was in a state of war before the formation
of the State.
 Man is a wolf unto his fellowmen (Homo homini lupus)
 Thus, there was no law, no morality, no distinction between right and wrong.
 To end this state of war and anarchy, men came together to form the State.
 Moral Sensism

• Is an ethical theory which holds that man is endowed with a special moral sense (other than
reason) by virtue of which man distinguishes between right and wrong.
 The basis/source of morality is man’s senses; what a person’s feel about the human act.
 Good if I feel it is good; bad if I feel it is bad.
 This view expressed when we say he has “no sense of morality,” “no moral taste”.
 Communism

• Its moral philosophy is the logical consequence of metaphysics or view of reality known as
dialectic materialism.
• It is founded on the theory of change, evolution and revolution.
• Morality is changing since all things changes.