Man as a Moral Agent

• Ethics is a field of study.

Man as a Moral Agent

• Man possesses knowledge, freedom, rationality, and free will.
• These attributes enable deliberation and conscious decision-making.
• Actions are determined, charting their course with objectives in mind.
• Man bears responsibility for actions, their consequences, and the quality of choices made.
• Knowledge and freedom determine the extent of responsibility.
• Greater freedom and knowledge correlate with increased responsibility.
• Freedom and responsibility drive concern for right and wrong.
• Human beings naturally seek to live well, equating a well-lived life with a happy one.
• Happiness and living well are linked to the good and values in life.
• Good is the goal or fulfillment of man's being, the end or object of will, and the driving force behind action and endeavors.
• It can be real or just apparent and recognizes the drives to act.

Types of Good

• Objective goods are genuinely good and exist intrinsically and independently.
• Examples include health and proper knowledge.
• Apparent goods may only appear good but are not genuinely so.
• Value is the assessment of worth or what a group deems useful, significant, and desirable.
• It constitutes a large part of who one is and can be subjective or objective.

Types of Values

• An objective value exists independently of assessment and is not dependent on valuation, estimation, recognition, or appreciation.
• A subjective value is conferred by individuals based on their evaluation or estimation.
• Something valuable to one may not be to others.
• Values have a hierarchy, with some considered higher in worth.
• Objective ranking is independent of individual preferences.
• Material values rank lower than spiritual values.
• The more spiritual a value, the higher it ranks; the more material, the lower.

Role of Lived Experiences

• Experiences shape and form values.
• Values are inseparable from changing experiences.
• Moral values are valued within human conduct.
• Lived experiences bring awareness and a sense of responsibility.
• Man experiences being the author of action and the source of moral good or evil

Nature of Ethics or Moral Philosophy

• Philosophy involves the love of wisdom and explores the underlying causes and meaning of reality.
• It studies existence, actions, and human conduct, studying reality, knowledge, and morality.
• Ethics, synonymous with "morals" or morality, examines whether actions are good or bad, right or wrong, moral or immoral.
• It serves as a guide, attempting to achieve a systematic understanding of morality.
• An ethical guideline will determine how to live and why.

Morals and Ethics

• Being moral is associated with a value system and the desire to be good.
• Being ethical means following rules and guidelines
• A moral precept is an idea driven by the desire to do something good.
• An ethical code is a set of rules defining allowable actions or correct behavior.
• Ethical and moral both refer to acts or behavior, though they have differences

Act of Man vs. Human Act

• "Act of Man" refers to actions we are unaware of.
• "Human Act" refers to deliberate actions that we are aware of.
• Morality involves actions derived from rationality, requiring knowledge, freedom, and voluntariness.
• A norm or standard of morality is something that measures actions as good or evil.
• Amoral actions lack rational character precluding judgment.
• Nonmoral actions are outside the realm of morality, like inanimate objects.

Morals

• Morals concern whether something is right or wrong in the moral sense.
• Manners/Etiquette is something socially acceptable.

Origin of Morality

• Morality originates subjectively or objectively, based on the origin of value.
• Objective origin involves values from a supernatural being (supernatural theory).
• Objective origin also includes values part of:
  • The fabric of nature (natural law theory).
  • The "furniture" of the world independently of human beings (objectivism).
• Subjective origin relates value to human beings.

Customary Morality

• Customary/Traditional morality involves systems handed down through generations and is static.
• Reflective morality requires careful examination and testing of ideas.
• Traditional morality can evolve into reflective and dynamic through analysis and criticism,.

Application of Morality

• Morality can be applied to religion (human being and the supernatural), nature (human being and nature), and individuality (one's relationship to themself).

Ethics, Religion, and Law

• Religion and ethics can overlap, influence each other, or remain independent.
• Some religions provide ethical norms, but some norms exist outside religion.

Ethics and Law

• Law is an ordinance of reason that can be eternal, divine, natural, or human.
• Eternal law expresses God's providence and is based on divine intelligence.
• Divine law is expressed in revelation and the Holy Scriptures.
• Natural law is understood by human reason.
• Human law is an ordinance of man, either legal (civil authority) or ecclesiastical/canon law, it is not always moral.

Kohlberg’s Moral Reasoning

• Kohlberg's sought to determine universal stages in moral judgments.
• Children develop moral standards from parents and social interaction, becoming "moral philosophers".

Levels and Stages

• Level 1 - Pre-conventional Morality:
  • Punishment Orientation: Rules are obeyed to avoid punishments.
  • Reward Orientation: Conforming to obtain rewards or have favors returned.
• Level 2 - Conventional Morality:
  • Good Boy/Girl Orientation: Conforming to avoid others' disapproval.
  • Authority Orientation: Upholding law avoids the guilt of not doing one's duty.
• Level 3 - Post-conventional Morality:
  • Social-Contract Orientation: Guided by principles to retain respect.
  • Ethical Principle Orientation: Self-chosen principles avoid self-condemnation.

Types of Ethics

• Moral Statement says whether a rule is right or wrong.
• Based on values, beliefs, religion, culture.
• Also has Sociological and anthropological contexts.

Types of Ethics

• Normative assesses standards to discern which actions are good.
• Non-Normative contains Descriptive/Scientific and Meta-ethics

Normative Ethics

• General Normative: is a search for human conduct principles
• Applied Normative: explains positions in specific moral issues

Non-Normative Ethics

• Descriptive/Scientific is factual, concerning how people behave.
• Meta-Ethics critically studies how ethical statements can be verified.

General Normative

• General Normative studies human conduct principles and critical study of the major theories
• It defends a system of basic ethical principles, and has 2 broad categories which include:
  • Teleological (Consequential)
  • Deontological (Non-consequential)
• Applied Normative
  • Attempts to explain and justify
  • Uses the general ethical principles to revolve a specific issue
  • Applies ethical principles to situations such as Bioethics, environmental ethics, etc.

Non-Normative Ethics

• Non-Normative is evaluations of moral attitudes.
• Descriptive/Scientific offers a scientific study of morality, investigating with how people behave and the values and behaviors of different societies
• Meta-Ethics is a technical discipline, that studies the meaning of ethical terms.
• It critically studies how ethical statements can be verified; does not propose principles or norms for action.

Meta-Ethical Positions

• Naturalism: Ethical statements can be translated into non-ethical ones.
  • Autobiographical Naturalism: Ethical statements express approval or disapproval.
  • Sociological Naturalism: Ethical statements express majority approval.
  • Theological Naturalism: Expresses divine approval.
• Non-Naturalism: Ethical statements cannot be translated into non-ethical.
• Emotivism/Non-Cognitivism: Ethical statements evoke responses like the way people feel.

Ethical Theories

• These set principles that serve to determine the morality of actions
• They provide the reasons why a behavior is good or bad.

Teleological Theories

• The ultimate standard of right actions is the value produced and have Consequentialist theories.
• Hedonism: Right actions are determined by physical pleasure or avoids physical pain.
• Epicureanism: Right action = mental/spiritual pleasure and minimizes spiritual/mental pain.
• Egoism: Right action promotes self or personal interests.

Classic Utilitarianism

• Classic Utilitarianism: Rightness based on overall usefulness
• Utilitarianism associates more, with fairness.
• Determines is done so by merit, not total benefit.
• Act Utilitarianism actions bring the best, over all for everyone impacted.
• Rule Utilitarianism rules bring the best number of consequences for everyone.
• Instrumentalism/Pragmatism: Right improves existing situation, remedies problems.

Deontological Theories

• This denies Teleological approaches, and depends on what is dependent to the other considerations other than the outcome.
• Divine Command Th.: Established by God.
  • Presribes moral laws, and particular actions, it is good if it to these laws.
  • Moral action is the one that are required or the command.
• Natural Law Th.: The standards exist in the nature of the universe.
  • If an action conforms to these laws it is the right choice.

Natural Law

• Natural Law: principles of rationality judged as reasonable or unreasonable.
• Natural Rights: that oblige to treat one another.
• Social Contract: Rightness is from rules.
• Categorical Imperative: Actions derived from such commandment of reason.
• Prima Facie Duties: Moral guidelines.

Virtue Ethics

• Virtue Ethics: Develop good habits.
• Ethical Relativism: Varies from one society or group to another.
• It is dependent to the the society/group/culture.

Cultural Relativism

• Cultural Relativism: Cultures have different codes.
• Ethical Subjectivism: Moral judgments from feelings.
• Ethical Egoism: Must always do what will promote their greatest good over evil for a person.

Christian Virtues

• Virtues are known to be good habits.
• Permanent dispositions do through known repeated actions.

Christians Values

• Are regarded as the basic virtues required for a life.
• Prudence: judge between actions.
• Justice: giving what is due.
• Temperance: practice control.
• Fortitude: ability to confront fear and uncertainty.

Theological Values

• These are theological because the object is God!
• Faith: Belief in God.
• Hope: Belief to be present in on'e love.
• Charity/Love: Helps to love our neighbors.