Week 2 - Ethics Defined PDF

Chapter 1 ETHICS DEFINED Learning Outcomes ✔ Discuss Define ethics; ✔ Explain the importance of studying Ethics; ✔ Analyze Ethics and its relation to other sciences; ✔ Relate the divisions of Ethics; ✔ Assess the standards of morality: Moral vs. Non-Moral; ✔ Reflect on why people have...

Chapter 1 ETHICS DEFINED Learning Outcomes ✔ Discuss Define ethics; ✔ Explain the importance of studying Ethics; ✔ Analyze Ethics and its relation to other sciences; ✔ Relate the divisions of Ethics; ✔ Assess the standards of morality: Moral vs. Non-Moral; ✔ Reflect on why people have to be Ethical. Introduction https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OMGHrKSUb8E The Concept of a Good Life People are always searching for a good life. Good life became a problem when man started thinking. Since the early people were living in harmony, issues about truth, goodness, and beauty were never a problem. For the eastern people, questions on goodness and beauty were never a problem. Eastern people were not aiming for the attainment of material and intellectual greatness. They were just aiming for the perfection of the self. The Concept of a Good Life In the east, metaphysical and epistemological truths were not much of their concern because knowledge on such things could only make their existence more difficult. In the west, people were living in a diaspora. They did not only barter material goods. They were also bartering ideas or intellectual goods. Since they were coming from different regions and from different beliefs, people were able to realize that their ideas of the beautiful was not anymore to be considered beautiful when compared with others. The Concept of a Good Life People began to philosophize and think of the reason why there were lives are beautiful than that of others. Material evolution led the people to discriminate others and look down on people whose lives were not as good as theirs. In this case, we may say that when man becomes civilized, the more he actually becomes uncivilized. The Implication of Civilization Civilization has made man think in a spatio-temporal dimension. Human beings will always look for the cause and effect in all their actions. Hence, goodness and beauty are always connected with their daily activities. Goodness becomes causal and material. Man as a Person of Goodness and Truth When a human person became aware of himself, different philosophers came out, each having a different view as regards what and who is a human person. Man is an animal and yet not an animal. Man is the only creature who is capable of asking about the meaning of his life. Man as a Person of Goodness and Truth John Locke considered the human person as a “thinking and intelligent being that has reason and reflection and can consider itself as itself. Every man will always search for the good. Man as a Person of Goodness and Truth Immanuel Kant considered the human person as an autonomous self-regulating will who is capable of making moral decisions by and for himself. Man as a Person of Goodness and Truth Viktor Frankl held that a human being is able to live and even to die for the sake of his ideals and values. Man is a being who is always in search for meaning. Man as a Person of Goodness and Truth Erich Fromm believed that conscience enables the person to know what ought to be done in order to become his own self. Conscience became the reason why the human person is aware of the goals of life, as well as the norms for the attainment of such goals. Man as a Person of Goodness and Truth St. Thomas Aquinas believed that what constitutes the human person as a moral subject is his conscience. The human person discovers the moral law because of his conscience. Man’s conscience is also responsible for making the human person aware of the welfare and dignity of the other persons. The Need to Redefine Ethics Because of the development of science and technology, man’s concept of goodness has changed. Before, his concept of goodness is related to the norm of morality. When man was able to taste a more pleasurable life brought about by technological advancements, his concept of goodness became related to physical pleasures. The Need to Redefine Ethics With this inclination to pleasure, man began looking at things as moral if it is pleasurable and if it prevents him from suffering pain. For the modern people, the basis of morality does not anymore lie on the value judgment but rather, on the measurement of pleasure and pain. For this reason, there is a need to redefine ethics. The Need to Redefine Ethics Plato considered Ethics as the Supreme Philosophy, the science par excellence. Because Ethics deals with the attainment of man’s highest good—happiness, ethics is the only discipline that deals with the attainment of the ultimate goal of a human person. Confucius, Plato, and Aristotle held that philosophers must be the rulers of all people. In the Republic, Plato held that society must be ruled by the philosopher-king Definition of Ethics Ethics, or moral philosophy, is the attempt to achieve a systematic understanding of the nature of morality and what it requires of us—in Socrates’s words, of “how we ought to live,” and why. Knowing the “how we ought to live” could have been easier if we have a simple, uncontroversial definition of what morality is. But this is impossible. There are many rival theories and they are offending one another. Definition of Ethics Ethics is a practical and normative science, based on reason, which studies human acts, and provides norms for their goodness and badness (cf. Buenaflor 2018, 7ff). Actus Humanus vs. Actus Hominis Why Do We Study Ethics? Man is an imago Dei (an image of God). Hence, he is by nature good. It is the nature of the human person to incline himself towards the good. Man will find meaning in life if he will be doing good deeds. Because man has been endowed with reason, which is sometimes inclined towards his passion, there is always the possibility that he may choose to turn away from goodness. Why Do We Study Ethics? Man’s inclination towards earthly goods will oftentimes lead him to envy and despair. Hence, he needs to study ethics to be guided so that he may be able to fully understand what real happiness is. Through ethics, man will be able to understand that the goal of human being is not merely the acquisition of material goods. His real fulfillment is in the development of moral quality, which places man above brute creations. Why Do We Study Ethics? Ethics provides the person with an idea of what right living is. Ethics is the very investigation of the meaning of life. Education can serve as the means in order to teach the young people about what the good really is. Hence, education should not focus only on teaching technological innovations and advancements.