ETHICS

(Moral Philosophy)
 List of Questions
 Ethics (moral philosophy)
 Normative ethics
 General normative ethics
 What is the nature of morality?
 What is the nature of moral
goodness?
 List of Questions

 What moral principles, rules,

standards, or values should we live
by?
 What are the basic rules or principles
of morality?
 What is the difference between right
and wrong conduct?
 List of Questions

 What is the foundation of morality

(God, nature, reason, desire, etc.)?
 What is the basis of moral duty or
obligation?
 What is the basis of moral
responsibility?
 What is the nature of moral virtue?
 List of Questions

 Is there a significant difference

between “being good” and “doing
good”?
 What kind of persons should we
become?
 What kind of life is worth living? A
morally good life?
 List of Questions

 Applied normative ethics: the

application of general normative
principles to specific moral problems
and controversies (e.g., can
[abortion, the death penalty, warfare,
racial or sexual discrimination, the
“war on drugs,” etc.] be justified,
and, if so, how?)
 List of Questions
 Non-normative ethics:
 Descriptive ethics: the scientific
study of moral beliefs and practices
(part of the social sciences)
 Metaethics: reflective and critical
thinking about (normative) ethics
itself (e.g., What do “right,” “wrong,”
“good,” and “evil” mean?, Is moral
knowledge possible?, etc.)
 Case Analysis

Identify the Issue at

hand
State the issue in one
simple sentence
A thesis Statement
 Moral Reflection

 I-Ignatian
 P-Pedagogical
 P-Paradigm
 First Principle and Foundation
Spiritual Exercises (SpEx)

 “man is created to praise,

reverence and serve God
our Lord, and by this means
save his soul”
 “Finding God in all things”
 Spiritual Exercises (SpEx)
 By the term “Spiritual
Exercises” every method of
examination of conscience,
meditation, of contemplation, vocal
and mental prayer….seeking and
finding God in the disposition of
Spiritual Exercises (SpEx)
 “In all the Spiritual Exercises
which follow, we make use of the
acts of the intellect in reasoning,
and of the acts of the will in
manifesting our love ….”
Case 1
In the first day of class, the teacher asks:
“What makes something good or bad,
right and wrong?” Many, if not most of
the students, would just say, “It
depends!” By this they mean that the
question of good and bad, right and
wrong, is all a matter of personal opinion.
It is, they say, “subjective.”
Case 1
What is right or wrong depends on how
one looks at something. What is good or
bad for one may not be good or bad for
the other. To each his/her own.Do you
think this is correct? What does the
subject of ethics or moral philosophy say
about this? Can philosophical discipline of
ethics help in clarifying this?
Case 2
Many educators who have taught ethics
as a subject at one time or another share
the belief that ethics or morality “cannot
be taught.” They say that moral values
such as respect, honesty, integrity, and
the like are not learned through studying
ethics or moral philosophy in the
classroom.
Case 2
If this is correct, should ethics than as a
course be taken out from the curriculum?
Why or why not studying ethics as an
academic discipline relevant or not? Can
ethics be taught? Justify your answer.
 Moral Reflection

 C- Context
 E- Experince
 R- Reflection
 A- Action
 E- Evaluation
In a college faculty meeting of
philosophy teachers, the
department chair proposed that
a percentage of student’s final
grade in an ethics subject should
cover their attitude or moral
behavior.
He said that ethics being a
practical discipline, teachers
should not just rate student’s
academic performance but also
the way they apply in reality
what they learn from the course.
Some faculty members objected to
this idea because according to them
what the students actually do with
their lives are their own private
business and should never be
subjected to somebody else’s
evaluation, not even that of ethics
teacher. Do you agree? Why or why
not?
“The fact that men do make
judgments of right and wrong,
is the basic fact of experience
from which ethics takes its
starts.”
Etymological: The word ethics
comes from the Greek word “ethos”
,meaning : custom, a habitual way of
acting character, a meaning that the
Latin terms “mos” , “moris” also
connote. Among the Greeks, “ethics”
meant what concerns human
conduct/human action.
Branches of Ethics
1. Descriptive
2. Meta-Ethics
3. Normative
a. Teleological (Telos) End,
Goal, Fulfillment, Realization.
b. Deontological: (Deon).
The need to study Ethics:
1. Ethics makes clear to us why
one act is better than the other.
2. Ethics contributes an orderly
social life by providing humanity
some basis for agreement,
understanding some principles or
rules of procedure.
3. Moral conduct and ethical
system both of the past and of
the present, must be intelligibly
appraised and criticized.
4. Ethics seeks to point out to
men the true values of life.
 Assumptions of Ethics:
1. Man is a Rational Being
2. Man as Free
The Objects of Ethics:
1. Physical: The doer of the act
2. Non Physical: The act done by
doer. Human acts- are said to be the
formal objects of ethics because they
have moral value. Acts of man:
Involuntary natural acts, Voluntary
natural acts, Amoral and Neutral Acts.
Classification of Human Acts
1. Moral or Ethical Acts: These are
human acts that observe or conforms
to the standards or norms of morality.
2. Human Will: Moral acts stem
from the human will that controls or
influences the internal and external
actions of man.
Components of Moral Acts:
1. Intention: or motive of the act
2. The means of the act
3. The end
Three kinds of Acts
1. Those that man ought to do
2. Those that man ought not to do.
3. Those that man may either do or
not do.
In order to determine the morality of an
action (i.e. whether it is good or bad),
one has to take into account three things:
1. The circumstance of the action(which
only makes it better or worse)
2. The nature of the action,
3. The intention of the one ding the
action.
This latter condition is so
decisive that, if a person does
an objectively wrong action
(while not knowing it is wrong)
but with a right intention then it
will determine the right thing to
do.
Elements of Moral Experience
1.ACTION
2.FREEDOM
3.JUDGEMENT
4.UNIVERSALITY
5.OBLIGATION
CASE ANALYSIS
Methods and Materials:
1. Case on a particular issue
2. Guide questions for content
a. How is the ethical problem or issue
explained?
b. Is the solution right or wrong?
c. What ethical reasons have been used to
support the claim?
3. Guide questions for analysis and evaluation
a. How is the particular issue understood?
b. What reasons or evidences are advanced to
support or reject the explanation in terms of
authorities, references, factual evidence,
personal experience?
 Grade, Grade me Good?!
You know that you should.
So, Please, Please me Like I please you”

“Thank you for seeing me,” said the student

as she sat down in the chair next to the
instructor’s desk. “I want to ask you about
the grade you gave me on my paper. You
gave me a C+. And I don’t understand.
 I did everything you said to do- I followed
the instructions to the letter. I got the
required number of references; followed the
format exactly.
“ Yes, I looked at the comments you put on
the draft and responded to all of your
comments. They were very helpful too. And I
think this is one of the best paper I ever
wrote for any Professor”
I don’t mean to sound conceited, but I have a
3.85 GPA and I always get A on all my
papers.
“No, I just don’t understand how you could
give me such a bad grade. It’s so out of
character for me. I’ve written tons of papers
for teachers ever since high school and for
three years in college. This is not a C paper!”
“You see, I really can’t get a C or even a B in
this course. I’m pre-med. I’m going to be a
doctor. I have to have A’s.”
“Your course is only an elective for me. If you
don’t evaluate my paper, I think I’ll just drop
the course. Or, maybe I’ll talk to your
department chair. You said in class that
grading is subjective on essays. I think you
were being arbitrary when you gave me that
C.”
Questions for Ethical Analysis:

1. Suppose you are an experienced faculty

member and quite confident in the grade you
assigned. How do you work with this student
to effectively promote greater learning and
maturation?
Questions for Ethical Analysis:

2. Would your response differ if you were new

to teaching or if you otherwise did not have
greater confidence in the grade you
assigned? If so, How and Why?
Questions for Ethical Analysis:

3. Is there a statement about grading and

appealing grades which should become part
of your course syllabus? Is there a
reasonably clear way for faculty to
communicate to students that professional
judgment, while “subjective” is informed and
not necessarily arbitrary, without standards,
or random?
Minimum Requirement for Moral Deliberation:

1. What is the ethical problem?

2. What are the relevant facts?

3. Who are the stakeholders

4. What are the available options?

ETHICAL PRINCIPLES:
When making a moral decision, ask the
following questions:

1. Does the action maximize social benefits

and minimize social injuries?
2. Is the action consistent with the moral
rights of those affected?
3. Will the action bring just distribution of
benefits and burdens?

4. What kind of person will one become if one

makes this decision?

5. Does the action exhibit care for the well

being of those who are closely related to or
dependent on oneself?
STAGES OF MORAL DEVELOPMENT

1. PUNISHMENT AND OBEDIENCE ORIENTATION

2. REWARD ORIENTATION
3. GOOD BOY/GOOD GIRL ORIENTATION
4. AUTHORITY ORIENTATION
5. SOCIAL CONTRACT ORIENTATION
6. ETHICAL PRINCIPLE ORIENTATION
“….It is hard to be good…anyone can get
angry---that is easy----or give away money or
spend it; but to do all this to the right person,
to right extent, to the right place, at the right
time, for the right reason and in the right
way is no longer something anyone can do….
It is for this reason that good conduct is rare,
praiseworthy and noble…”

Nichomachean Ethics, Book II