Introduction to Ethics

• The purpose of "Student's notes" is to introduce undergraduate students to a philosophical style of reflection with new concepts, using these notes as an initial guide into philosophical discourse.
• Readily available information on the web can be confusing, and time constraints or lack of conceptual tools can be demotivating.
• The notes aim to offer a simple, clear, and orderly presentation of man's complex nature, providing an easy roadmap into Ethics and its practicality for individual and social behavior.
• The challenge is to present a simple synthesis of basic ethical concepts and principles, with the goal that the application to concrete life situations will be easier once concepts are understood.
• Before any application, concepts and principles should be understood, considering that what is not understood can hardly be practiced.
• Students will face the burden of first trying to comprehend concepts and principles, only then will they be required to test their understanding by applying them to real life cases.
• Focusing on Ethics also means revisiting key ideas from philosophical anthropology to establish the intrinsic unity between man’s nature and free behavior.
• This approach aims to familiarize readers with Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics, which sets the basis of ethical thought in a timeless perspective.
• This introduction describes the main branches of philosophy to show where Ethics belongs, to state the relation between Ethics and other sciences, particularly the legal field.
• The classification of philosophy's main areas includes speculative branches like metaphysics, practical ones like Moral Philosophy, and historical ones, corresponding to major historical eras.

Metaphysics

• Scientific method to study of reality to search for the ultimate causes of all that is
• Focuses on being as such, in its causes, and its different manners of being
• Aims to rise above what is material and sensible and reach out even to spiritual realities
• Everything real falls within the scope of metaphysics, including both material and non-material aspects of reality.
• Governed by universal laws, also called the first principles that lead to conclusions applicable to different beings.

Parts of metaphysics include:

• General metaphysics discusses the act of being, essence, substance, mode of being, composition act, potency, structure of corporeal substances, principles of causality, knowledge (truth), the will (goodness) and aesthetics (beauty).
• Natural theology or religion focuses on rational understanding of God as the subsistent being and the uncaused cause of reality.
• Gnoseology or philosophy of knowledge studies knowledge itself in relation to the being, how the being arises in knowledge, and the certainty of what is known.

Philosophy of Nature

• May refer to nature as all corporeal or material beings focusing on material beings, including natural beings (possessing an internal principle of being and activity)
• The human being, with their spiritual soul, falls under philosophy of nature, though the soul is also studied by metaphysics and anthropology.
• Commonly used to refer to study of material beings, animate and inanimate, and what they have in common

The philosophy of nature has its own content showing its significance which covers:

• Philosophical conclusions based on knowledge acquired through proved experience, e.g. the fact that every material substance is composed of a prime matter and a substantial form (the actual mode of being of a specific substance).
• Hypothetical considerations based on less certain findings of science, consequently could be revised over a period of time, e.g. the belief about the earth's relation to the sun. Important not to confuse philosophical conclusions with hypothetical considerations.
• Hypothesis about nature that can serve as guide for scientific inquiry, and later be confirmed to the point of leading to true progress, even if they could be quite inconclusive in themselves; e.g. the atomism of ancient philosophers.
• Philosophy of nature relates to experimental sciences by placing results of experimental sciences within the context of the unity of knowledge.

Philosophy of Living Beings

• Studies self-motion which allows beings to assimilate external substances and transform them, and experience growth while maintaining their individual unity.
• Living beings also possess a diversified capacity of self-regulation and reproductive power
• The study of man as a living being features here prominently, including his rationality.

Aspects of living beings include:

• The metaphysical study of man states the human soul is the substantial form of man and it transcends scope of matter.
• The substance in man is one and the philosophy of man is Grounded in metaphysical principles.
• Experimental studies of man in his material dimension cannot grasp nature of the soul, thus the validity and significance of their methods are limited when it comes to study of the non-corporeal dimension of man.

Ethics

• Practical branch of studying the workings of living beings that man is, specifically the dynamics of why and how he acts towards the achievement of his purpose, as well as object of action
• Meant to guide man so that he can act in an upright manner
• Elucidates ultimate explanation of such ends and means
• Object is two pronged: The material object is voluntary acts; formal object is the relation between the acts and the ultimate end of man.

Ethics is comprised of two parts:

• General ethics covers all universal principles of human behavior
• Social ethics covers principle of man's life in society
• Ethics relies on metaphysical principles and concepts, specifically to determine the conformity of man's action to his true end, which requires the right ideas on his nature, reality, and knowledge.

Logic

• Starts from what is sensible to what is intelligible, by way of reasoning
• Studies the laws that apply to different ways of reasoning and the conditions that must be met for any type of reasoning to be valid
• Relies on metaphysical content and conditions of valid knowledge
• Has 4 key elements: concepts, propositions, syllogisms, and epistemology

History of Philosophy

• Has a particular significance both for philosophy, other sciences and culture
• The historical view of problems and solutions is of greater interest in the human sciences, since ideas, doctrines, facts, and their impact, are understood better in their historical circumstances
• Involves understanding philosophical systems, how they pose questions, and solve them historically

Continuity between Philosophical Anthropology and Ethics

• Philosophical anthropology first, and then Ethics, deals with this complex problem in a continuity that stems from their respective object and the method used by the two disciplines.
• Philosophical anthropology relates to ethics in object (study of man), since ethics is centered on the study of man from the perspective of their actions, the process of decision, their purpose, and the assessment of the means.
• The transcendental method explores the ultimate causes and ends behind observable phenomena, transcending the observable data to understand the inner workings of man's being, which is the essence that gives consistency and reality.
• Philosophical anthropology is a necessary pre-requisite for ethical knowledge from the theoretical and practical points of view.

On the Nature of Ethics

• The loss of criteria for morality becomes even more dangerous when comes to today's understanding of individual liberty as absolute.
• Freedom without transcendence is always at the risk of becoming deprived of the higher aims to which man aspires.
• It expounds upon the nature of Ethics, the moral experience as the starting point of ethical thinking, the question of human good and evil, and the question of the ultimate end of man.
• From the etymological point of view, no difference between “Ethics” and "Morality"
• Historically, “Moral” often refers to behavior guided by norms while “Ethics” directly refers to the idea of good life
• Ethics studies the end of human conduct or the end of human action, the human good, meaning that which makes humans and their actions good.

Definition of Ethics

• A rational discourse on the absolute, non-relative, significance or meaning of the concept of good
• Analyses the structure, the principles and internal rationality of human actions which have great relevance in shaping character, customs and institutions undoubtedly.
• Ethics must be distinguished from positive sciences such as psychology or sociology, morality, moral theology, anthropology, and metaphysics.
• Human conduct covers what is called acts of the will; acts of all other faculties of human spirit are good or bad as long as they are a result of the command of the will.

The moral orientation of conduct

• Ethics is not limited to teaching that voluntary actions pertain to the moral sphere, but consists in orienting man to make his free actions moral/good
• Man's action orients to a "good" or something that "appear to be good"
• Virtue or vice are the good or evil that human actions possess as human, that is why they affect the person in her totality.

Unity and totality

• The good, object of Ethics is the integral good of the person considered in her unity and totality.
• Through the correct understanding of the concept of end or finality is how the connection between those particular ends and the "total" or ultimate end is made
• Only ethics has the ability to show how to rationally answer the question as to what the reasonable desirable outcome is and which particular ends are to be followed as a result.

Ethics as Practical Philosophy

• Elaborates in a systematic manner the logical dynamism of moral life
• Superior level of reflection on the principles of practical reason and its activity is what makes of Ethics philosophy,
• Its finality is practical, meaning Ethics is also about helping man in the task of projecting and realizing a good conduct and behavior.
• As a discipline capable of establishing ends and norms of absolute character, Ethics does not depend on criteria established by other practical sciences, nor on subjective interests, preferences, or social conventions.
• Assumes that moral life comes first and then philosophical reflection follows
• The ethical question must be considered first because the human is naturally a moral being.
• Rodriguez-Luno understands Ethics as "the constitutive logic of moral existence, by which the direct exercise of practical reason takes the form of an investigation into the kind of life that is best for man".

The moral experience and philosophical science

• Emphasizes that ethical reflection is not possible without the ontological nature of man, in its concrete experience.
• Ethics is described as a process in human life, so that moral behavior can be planned, organized, and executed.

Ethical knowledge is derived from the goods and ends sought as inscribed in human nature

The ethical question of the human good

• The human good has an essential role, since such conception depends on the knowledge that man is a moral subject, an agent of free and voluntary action.
• Every behavior is geared toward an end, but according to an internal guidance: the first practical principle, also known as fundamental principle of human reason.
• What reality is, has be be known not by individual's decision, because light for realization has already been placed before
• It can also be said that whatever a person does, they always aspire to a ultimate goal.
• Because we are constantly acting under external influences
• However, the priorities people have are arranged because the end goal of one's life is to be unified in good.
• One person cannot act independently, knowing or acting in ignorance.

Ultimate end and happiness

• Ethics and the concept of happiness deal frequently in concert with one another.
• Aristotle's theory of action considers “happiness” as the supreme good.

Ultimate end, happiness, and rationality.

• Happiness is the general term applied to a natural aspiration and Ethics must give a more precise account of it, and it can be a rational reality.
• Happiness is the state of satisfaction attained when human actions achieve their right end, achieved corresponds to realness
• Through a proper balance and awareness of one's being, there is complete happiness.
• Each have limited scope in what is just the singular.

Understanding human good according to St Thomas Aquinas

• Aquinas focuses on what the end of man's life and action is.
• Reaching the ultimate end would consist of desiring it in itself and beyond all measures.
• Aquinas's ultimate focus in philosophy, the ultimate end is considered the greatest in action and in life.