Ethics is grounded on the experience of free

persons who have to act in difficult situations.

It developed from the reality that when people act,
they do not merely need to know the best way to
realize something but there are times when they
need to act in a way that realizes the good.
 Ethical norms and the question of good and evil
arise when people need to act as free persons.
But not all actions are inherently ethical.
Actions only require ethical reflection when they
are free acts that involve a person’s desire to
realize the good.
• Man is composed of body and soul
• Man has will and intellect, making him a person
• To will something, man has to know beforehand
• Man cannot choose or act unless he know which is a “better good”
• When a person acts according to what he knows is right, he acts freely
• Man is accountable with his actions
• Only man is capable of free acts
NATURE OF FREEDOM
• Proceeds from the intellect and will
• Based on reason, with the will followed
• When he make decisions, he is free
• Man is responsible for what he is doing because he is conscious of what
he is doing, why he is doing it, and how he is doing it.
 “ethos”
CHARACTERISTIC WAY OF LIVING

“mos, moris”
TRADITION OR CUSTOM
MORALITY

ηθική
Science of the morality of human acts.
 Science of the morality of human acts.

SCIENCE - a systematically organized body of knowledge on a

particular focus.
- SPECULATIVE – Science that enlightens the mind
- PRACTICAL – Science that induces a certain action
 Science of the morality of human acts.

MORALITY - is the quality of human acts by which they are determined

as good, bad, or indifferent (indifferent acts are neither
good nor bad).
 Science of the morality of human acts.

HUMAN ACTS – Act proper to man

- Also called intentional or deliberate actions, or
Voluntary

ACTS OF MAN
In contrary to human acts, it is involuntary and instinctive and unintentional.
 Science of the morality of human acts.

ELEMENTS HUMAN ACTS

KNOWLEDGE
FREEDOM
VOLUNTARINESS
 Science of the morality of human acts.

SOURCES HUMAN ACTS

OBJECT – act itself (what)
END – intention/purpose (why)
CIRCUMSTANCE – adds moral dimension to an action (who, where, how,
to what extent, how much)
 Science of the morality of human acts.

MODIFIERS OF HUMAN ACTS

VIOLENCE – physical force brought to bear in a person to do an act which he does not will
FEAR – shrinking back of the mind on account of an impending evil
IGNORANCE – lack of knowledge which a person should have
PASSION (concupiscence) – tendency of the sensible appetite towards pleasurable good
HABIT – repeated actions becoming a manner (good habit = virtue, bad habit = vice)
Ethics is Moral Philosophy and is distinguished from
Moral Theology. As a branch of philosophy, it relies
solely on human reason to investigate truths. On the
other hand, Moral Theology employs reason insofar
as it is enlightened by faith or divine revelation.
 In this context, Ethics is an art. Art, literally means
appreciation of beauty. It implies order and harmony of
parts in a given whole. Human life does not imply merely
physical survival. The demands of daily life include and
derive meaning from the cultivation of these traits that
truly relates man’s innate dignity.
1. It is indispensable knowledge.
2. Moral integrity is the only true measure of what man
ought to be.
3. Morality is the foundation of every human society.
ATHEISTIC APPROACH
•This approach assumes that only matter exists and that man is only
responsible to himself since there is no god who creates and rules
the universe.
•It favors science than religion.
•It tries to centralized scientific ideology.
•Its followers are called atheist.
PRINCIPLES OF THE AETHEISTIC APPROACH:
•Matter is the only reality.
•Man is matter and does not have spiritual dimension.
•Man is free and must exercise his freedom to promote society’s
welfare.
•There is no life after death.
•Man is accountable to the state.
PHILOSOPHERS
Jean Paul Sartre: Man is doomed to be free
: Man cannot but choose
Albert Camus: Tale of Sisyphus
: Life is absurd
Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche: Superman (Ubermench)
THEISTIC APPROACH
•It begins with the assumption that God is the Supreme Lawgiver.
•Employs the aid of a favoring religion.
•God’s will is the core of this approach.
•It believes that God is the point of origin.
•With God’s will, man must exercise his freedom.
POSTULATED TRUTHS OF THE THEISTIC APPROACH:
•God is the Supreme Creator and Lawgiver.
•Man is free and must use his freedom to promote his personal and
social interests along with his fellow men.
•Man has an immortal soul which cannot die.
•Man is accountable for his actions, both good and evil.
 Moral standards involve the rules people have about the
kinds of actions they believe are morally right and wrong, as
well as the values they place on the kinds of objects they
believe are morally good and morally bad.
 Non-moral standards refer to rules that are unrelated to
moral or ethical considerations. Either these standards are
not necessarily linked to morality or by nature lack ethical
sense. Basic examples of non-moral standards include
rules of etiquette, fashion standards, rules in games, and
various house rules.
Moral standards involve serious wrongs or significant benefits.
Moral standards deal with matters which can seriously impact,
that is, injure or benefit human beings.
It is not the case with many non-moral standards. For instance,
following or violating some basketball rules may matter in basketball
games but does not necessarily affect one’s life or wellbeing.
Moral standards ought to be preferred to other values.
Moral standards have overriding character or hegemonic
authority.
If a moral standard states that a person has the moral obligation to do
something, then he/she is supposed to do that even if it conflicts with
other non-moral standards, and even with self-interest.
Moral standards ought to be preferred to other values.
Moral standards are not the only rules or principles in society, but they
take precedence over other considerations, including aesthetic, prudential, and
even legal ones. When a particular law becomes seriously immoral, it may be
people’s moral duty to exercise civil disobedience.
It may be prudent to lie to save one’s dignity, but it probably is morally wrong to
do so.
Moral standards ought to be preferred to other values.
There is a general moral duty to obey the law, but there may
come a time when the injustice of an evil law is unbearable and thus
calls for illegal but moral non-cooperation (such as the antebellum laws
calling for citizens to return slaves to their owners).
Moral standards are not established by authority figures.
Moral standards are not invented, formed, or generated by
authoritative bodies or persons such as nations’ legislative bodies. Ideally
instead, these values ought to be considered in the process of making laws.
In principle therefore, moral standards cannot be changed nor nullified by
the decisions of particular authoritative body.
Moral standards have the trait of universalizability.
Everyone should live up to moral standards. To be more accurate,
however, it entails that moral principles must apply to all who are in
the relevantly similar situation.
If one judges that act A is morally right for a certain person P, then it is
morally right for anybody relevantly similar to P.
Moral standards have the trait of universalizability.
This characteristic is exemplified in the Gold Rule, “Do unto others what
you would them do unto you” and in the formal Principle of Justice, “It cannot be
right for A to treat B in a manner in which it would be wrong for B to treat A,
merely on the ground that they are two different individuals, and without there
being any difference between the natures or circumstances of the two which can
be stated as a reasonable ground for difference of treatment.” Universalizability
is an extension of the principle of consistency, that is, one ought to be consistent
about one’s value judgments.
Moral standards are based on impartial considerations.
Impartiality is usually depicted as being free of bias or prejudice.
Impartiality in morality requires that we give equal and/or adequate
consideration to the interests of all concerned parties.
Moral standards are based on impartial considerations.
Moral standard does not evaluate standards on the basis of the
interests of a certain person or group, but one that goes beyond
personal interests to a universal standpoint in which each person’s
interests are impartially counted as equal.
Moral standards are associated with special emotions and
vocabulary.
Prescriptivity indicates the practical or action-guiding nature of moral
standards. These moral standards are generally put forth as imperatives
(such as, ‘Do not kill,’ and ‘Love your neighbor’). These principles are
proposed for use, to advise, and to influence to action. Retroactively, this
feature is used to evaluate behavior, to assign praise and blame, and to
produce feelings of satisfaction or of guilt.
 DILEMMA
A situation in where a person is forced to
choose between two or more conflicting options,
neither of which is acceptable
 MORAL DILEMMA
Situations where the agent is forced to choose
between two or more conflicting options, neither of
which resolves the situation in a morally acceptable
manner
THREE CONDITIONS
•The agent is obliged to make decisions about which course of
action is best
•There must be different courses of action to choose from
•No matter what course of action is taken, some moral
principles are always compromised
 Adam’s wife was giving birth and was in danger of
death. The doctor asked Adam whom he wanted to be
saved, was it his wife, or his child?
In choosing his wife, he would cease the right of the child to live.
In choosing his child, he would cease the right of the child to be loved and cared
by his/her biological mother.
THERE IS NO PERFECT SOLUTION TO THE
PROBLEM
 LAWRENCE KHOLBERG (1927-87)
proposed that moral reasoning, which he thought to be the
basis for ethical behavior, develops through stages.
Level 1: PRE-CONVENTIONAL
Reasoners judge the morality of an action by its direct consequences.

Stage One: Obedience and Punishment

• Individuals focus on the direct consequences that their actions will have for themselves.
Stage Two: Individualism, Instrumentalism, and Exchange
• “What's in it for me” position. Right behavior is defined by what is in one's own best
interest (self-interest orientation).
Level 2: CONVENTIONAL
People who reason in a conventional way judge the morality of actions by
comparing these actions to social rules and expectations.

Stage Three: Interpersonal Concordance (“Good boy/girl”)

• Individuals seek approval from other people. They judge the morality of actions by evaluating
the consequences of these actions for a person's relationships. (Conformity orientation)
Stage Four: Law and Order
• In stage four, individuals think it is important to obey the law and conventions of society.
(Law-and-Order Mentality)
Level 3: POST-CONVENTIONAL
(Most people do not reach this level of moral reasoning)
Stage Five: Human Rights
• People have certain principles to which they attach more value than laws, such as
human rights.
• An action is wrong if it violates certain ethical principles.
• Laws that do not promote general social welfare should be changed.
Stage Six: Universal Ethical Principles (Principled Conscience)
• Moral reasoning is based on the use of abstract reasoning using universal principles.