Understanding Ethics

• The lesson elucidates the meaning of ethics
• It clarifies the distinction between moral and non-moral standards and introduces ethics apart from law, religion, and culture

Learning Outcomes

• Students will differentiate between moral and non-moral problems
• A moral experience as it occurs in various levels of human existence will be described
• The lesson aims to define and relate ethics to, and distinguish it from, morality
• The significance of ethics in discerning right from wrong for human beings will be examined
• The value of moral principles in life will be appreciated through the formulation or adaptation of a preferred maxim

Student Learning Strategies

• Synchronous online discussions are held via Google Meet, with links in Google Classroom and FB Messenger
• Asynchronous learning is facilitated through the module available in Google Classroom
• Learning guide questions include:
• The importance of studying ethics
• How ethics relates to and differs from morality
• The differences between moral and non-moral standards
• How morality differs from authority sources like law, religion, and culture

Historical Glimpse

• Pre-Socratics in Greece inquired into nature's processes to understand the principle underlying reality
• Socrates shifted focus to the human person through street dialogues on what kind of person one needs to be
• Plato developed the ethical orientation of the discipline in his attempt to describe humans as struggling to live according to a defined form or ideal way of living
• Aristotle conceived of an ethical person as someone practicing moderation and using reason to achieve happiness.

Nature of Philosophy

• Greece is considered the birthplace of Western philosophy
• Early Greek thinkers went beyond storytelling to understand the world through natural processes like the cycle of life and celestial movements
• These thinkers sought fundamental substances behind cosmic changes through observation, becoming pioneers in natural science

Main Branches of Philosophy

• Philosophy includes a variety of subjects and foci

• Divisions provide an overview

• Epistemology, from the Greek word "episteme" (theory of knowledge), is a fundamental area influencing other branches

• Epistemology deals with sources, methods, the nature, and the validity of knowledge

• The Tabula Rasa theory by John Locke suggests the mind is a blank slate, acquiring knowledge through experience

• Plato's Innate Knowledge theory suggests knowledge is inherently imprinted in a person's mind from birth and is rediscovered through recollection

• Metaphysics, using the Greek words "meta" (beyond) and "phisica" (nature), explores the fundamental nature of reality

• Metaphysics questions the composition of the universe, the purpose of existence, human agency, and the nature of the world

• Logic systematically studies reasoning structures, interrelations between ideas, deductive and inductive reasoning, and symbolic logic with mathematical underpinnings

• Logic is the science of correct and valid reasoning

• Axiology, using the Greek words "Axia" and "logia" (worth), covers moral worth (ethics) and aesthetics

• Ethics studies human moral behavior and right/wrong actions, defining what human behavior should be

• Aesthetics determines what constitutes beauty in art, music, sculpture, and personal appearance

Meaning of Ethics

• Etymologically, ethics and morality are similar, both referring to "custom" (ethos in Greek, mos/moris in Latin)

• Ethics is called moral philosophy

• Ethics studies human customs, not social manners or fashions, but permanent moral behavior following natural moral law

• Examples include telling the truth and honoring parents

Ethics and Morality

• Ethics and morality shares an affinity through etymology, there is a distinction between the two
• Ethics, as a normative philosophical science, is a theoretical science of good and bad or right and wrong actions, which provides principles on the morality of human acts
• Ethics is about knowing, which differs from doing
• Ethics does not guarantee moral or good behavior
• Morality is considered the application or praxis of ethics
• Morality is properly called applied ethics

Relations and Distinctions

• Both ethics and morality deal with human act or human conduct.
• Ethics studies about morality.
• Morality gives ethics the perspective of what to study; that is the rectitude of whether an act is good or bad.
• Morality provides ethics with the quality that determines and distinguishes right conduct from wrong conduct.
• Ethics applies to the acquisition of knowledge of what to study about; morality pertains to the application of this knowledge in the performance of a human act.
• Ethics provides learning about the morality of a human conduct; morality provides ways of practicing what is learned.
• Ethics is the word and morality is the flesh.
• Ethics indicates the theory and morality indicates the practice.

Definition and Purpose of ethics

• Ethics is the study of moral behavior or conduct viewed from ultimate principles using human reason
• Ethics is a philosophical science dealing with the morality of human acts
• The purpose of ethics is to guide the intellect in acquiring and applying moral principles, pointing the way to right living

Material and Formal Object of Ethics

• Human acts are the material object, which is the subject-matter of the science of ethics' investigation
• The formal object of ethics is the specific perspective ethics uses when considering the subject matter; and this is the right conduct of man, the rectitude of his actions
• The view of ethics is to consider all human acts using the natural light of human reason, which is the immediate norm of morality

Types of Ethics

• Meta-ethics or analytical ethics examines the origin of moral principles
• It questions what is morality
• Meta-ethics often conflicts with ethical relativism
• Cultural ethical relativism or conventionalism justifies actions based on society's norms
• Individual ethical relativism or subjectivism justifies actions based on individual commitments

Examples of Issues

• Muslim societies practicing polygamy while Christians consider it wrong

• Eskimo customs allowing infanticide

• A policeman believing killing a suspected drug user is permissible

• Adolf Hitler's obsession to annihilate the Jews is morally right because he believes it is right

• Meta-ethics seeks to answer fundamental philosophical questions about the nature of ethical theory itself

• Meta-ethics studies the validity of arguments, looking beyond facts and relativism

• Normative ethics focuses on moral standards for determining right and wrong conduct

• It formulates moral norms or rules for actions, institutions, and ways of life

• Consequentialism, deontology, and virtue ethics are the three categories of theories that will be tackled which asks; what is moral.

• Applied ethics uses philosophical methods to determine the moral permissibility of specific actions and practices, often involving public policy and the professions

Relationship to Other Disciplines

• Ethics is linked to disciplines like biology, economics, history, politics, psychology, and theology, differing as ethics helps determine the nature of normative theories and their moral application
• Descriptive ethics categorizes other disciplines since they give factual knowledge about reality.

Kinds of Valuation

• Aesthetics comes from the Greek word "aisthesis" (sense or feeling) and involves judgments of personal approval/disapproval based on what is seen, heard, smelled, or tasted

• Etiquette involves rules/customs determining accepted behavior in a social group, concerning proper manners

• Observed etiquette can make individuals seem moral

• Technique and technical refer to the proper or right way of doing things; however, a technical valuation may not be an ethical issue

Moral vs non moral standards

• Moral standards concern issues that can seriously harm or benefit human beings
• They possess universal validity
• They are generally thought to have a overriding importance, that is they prevail over other values
• They are not established by authoritarian bodies or consensus, but are accepted based on adequate justifying reasons.

Authority and Ethics

• Ethics can be viewed as a standard of valuation based on authorities like law, religion, and culture

• Law regulates human conduct, codifying society's moral ideals

• However, legal actions can be morally wrong, and breaking the law isn't always immoral

• Law can't cover all conduct and is too blunt for providing moral guidance

• Religion provides moral basis and direction for people

• Religions are general and imprecise, with varying moral doctrines and practices

• Judgments of right and wrong cannot be solely based on religious dictates

• Culture shapes human behavior and influences the conception of the good

• Cultural concepts of good may not align with what ought to be, as some cultures can be destructive

• Reliance on culture alone for understanding the good can lead to destructiveness and violence

• Ethics helps people discern accepted ethical systems and broadens conceptions of good