Ethics tells us what is the right thing to do and the bad thing to avoid.

Kinds of Valuation
AESTHETICS- greek word aesthesis meaning “sense” or “feeling”
- Judgements of personal approval & disapproval

ETIQUETTE- right and wrong actions that are not quite grave enough
to belong to the study of ethics

TECHNIQUE- Greek word “techne”

-Proper way or right way to do things

Ethics Vs. Morals

MORALS- specific beliefs that people have or to describe acts that people perform
ETHICS- the discipline of studying and understanding ideal human behaviors and
ideal ways of thinking

Descriptive Vs. Normative

DESCRIPTIVE- study of ethics reports how people, particularly groups, make their moral
valuations without making any judgment either for or against these valuations
NORMATIVE- prescribes what we ought to maintain as our standards or bases for moral
valuation

Issue, Decision, Judgment, and Dilemma

MORAL ISSUE- a situation that calls for moral valuation
MORAL DECISION- made when one is placed in a situation and confronted by the choice of
what act to perform
MORAL JUDGEMENT- when a person is an observer who makes an assessment of the actions
or behavior of someone
MORAL DILEMMA- wherein one is torn between choosing one of two goods or choosing
between the lesser of two evils

Reasoning
A person’s fear of punishment or desire for reward can provide him a reason for acting in a
certain way.

PINCIPLES- rationally established grounds by which one justifies and maintain her moral
decisions and judgments
MORAL THEORY- is a systematic attempt to establish the validity of maintaining certain moral
principles.

Sources of Authority
LAW.
POSITIVE LAW- refers to the different rules and regulations that are posited or put forward by
an authority figure that require compliance.
“the law cannot tell us what to pursue, only what to avoid”

RELIGION.
DIVINE COMMAND THEORY- the divinity called God, Allah or Supreme Being commands
and one is obliged to obey her creator.

CULTURE.
CULTURAL RELATIVISM- what is ethically acceptable or unacceptable is relative to or
dependent in one’s culture

DIFFICULTIES OF CULTRUAL RELATIVISM. (James Rachels)

1. The argument of cultural relativism is premised on the reality of difference. We cannot
say that any one moral code is the right one.
2. Under cultural relativism, we realize that we are in no position to render any kind of
judgment on the practices of ANOTHER culture
3. We realize that we are in no position to render judgment on the practices of even OUR
OWN culture.
4. We can maintain it only by following the presumption of culture as a single, clearly
defined substances or as something fixed and already determined.

Senses of the Self

- Theories about ethics that center on the self

1. SUBJECTIVISM – the recognition that the individual thinking person (the subject) is at
the heart of all moral valuations.
2. PSYCHOLOGICAL EGOISM- a theory that describes the underlying dynamics behind
all human actions. The idea is that “whether or not the person admits it, one’s actions are
ultimately always motivated by self-serving desire.
3. ETHICAL EGOISM- prescribes that we should make our own ends, our own interests, as
the single overriding concern.