Dominican College of Tarlac
College Department
ETHICS
Asher John M. Cauguiran
COURSE DESCRIPTION
The course is organized according to
three main elements of moral
experience:
a)Agent, including context –cultural,
communal, and environmental;
b)The act; and
c)Reason or Framework (for the act)
LEARNING OUTCOMES
❑At the end of the course, the students must be able to:
1. Differentiate between moral and non-moral problems;
2. Describe what a moral experience is as it happens different
level of human existence;
3. Explain the influence of Filipino Culture on the way the
students look at moral experiences and solve moral
dilemmas;
4. Describe the elements of moral development and moral
experience;
LEARNING OUTCOMES
5. Use ethical frameworks or principles to analyze moral
experiences;
6. Make sound ethical judgments based on principles,
facts, and the stakeholder’s experience.
7. Develop sensitivity for the common good; and
8. Understand and internalize the principles of ethical
behavior in modern society at the level of the person,
society, and in interaction with the environment and
other shared resources.
LESSON 1:
BASIS and DEFINITION
THE SUBJECT:
ETHICS
7
Introduction
The ability to inquire or ask questions is
inherent among human beings.
To think is the basic impulse of man
The act of asking is the person’s way of
making sense of all things around him or
her that he or she does not
understand.
Philosophy (etymological definition)
• Philosophy came from two Greek words
• PHILIA (philos) – love SOPHIA wisdom
Ergo, Philosophy means love of wisdom
Philosophy (academic definition)
•Philosophy is the science of all things through
the highest causes obtained by natural reason.
Methods of Philosophy
❑Philosophy as Speculation / Speculative
Thinking
❑Philosophy as Critical Thinking /
Analysis
❑Philosophy as Reflective Inquiry
Philosophy
Main
Branches
Metaphysics Epistemology Axiology
Aesthetics
Ethics
Branches of Philosophy
1. Metaphysics refers to the branch of philosophy that studies
the nature of reality.
2. Epistemology refers to the study of validity of human
knowledge.
3. Axiology refers to the philosophical study of value – and as
humans we value two things: beauty and human conduct.
4. Aestethics is concerned with the analysis of aesthetic
experience and the idea of what is beautiful (objective beauty).
5. Ethics is concerned on moral conduct. As a normative study, it
deals with norms or standards of right and wrong applicable
to human behavior.
Other Divisions of Philosophy
❑Theoretical ❑Practical
• Metaphysics • Hermeneutics
• Epistemology • Semantics
• Cosmology • Logic
• Ontology • Axiology
• Psychology • Aesthetics
• Theodicy (Philosophy of Religion) • Ethics
Branches of Philosophy (theoretical)
❑ Cosmology is the study of the origin, evolution and ultimate fate of
the entire universe.
❑ Ontology is the study of the nature of existence of things. Also,
referred as the theory of being. Ontology is actually a branch of
metaphysics.
❑ Psychology is defined as a science that studies human and animal
behavior.
❑ Theodicy investigates the nature, being and the attributes of God
not based on the bible and divine revelation but by logical
abstractions and reasoning.
Branches of Philosophy (practical)
❑ Hermeneutics as the methodology of interpretation is
concerned with problems that arise when dealing with
meaningful human actions and the products of such
actions, most importantly texts.
❑ Semantics is the study of the meaning of words in its
linguistic forms, their functions and their relationship to
other words.
❑ Logic is defined as the science of correct reasoning.
ETHICS
• Deals with principles of ethical behavior in modern
society at the level of the person, society and in
interaction with the environment and other shared
MORALITY
resources.
•Pertains to the standards of right and wrong that
an individual originally picks from the community.
ETHICS/ MORAL PHILOSOPHY
❑May be defined in a provisional way, as
the scientific study of moral judgments.
❑Ethics is a discipline concerned with
what is morally good and bad, right and
wrong.
❑Ethics is a system of moral principles.
❑The term was derived from the Greek word ethos
which can mean custom, habit, character, or
disposition
❑Ethics is not only about the morality of particular
courses of action, but it’s also about the goodness
of individuals and what it means to live a good
life.
BRANCHES OF ETHICS
In the Field of Ethics, morality is often defined in two ways.
NORMATIVE ETHICS- in which actions are judged by
merits, allowing societies to develop codes of conduct
for behavior.
The Golden Rule, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto
you”, is a classic example of normative ethics, since you are
determining morality through your actions.
•DESCRIPTIVE ETHICS- it ask what people think
is moral. It does not actually claim that things are
right or wrong, but simply studies how individuals
or societies define their morals.
•It defines morals in terms of their cultural or
personal significance.
WHY STUDY ETHICS?
The Study of Ethics will enable a person to
understand better what his conscience is, how he
acquired it, how far he is likely to be able to trust
to its deliverances with safety, and how he can
improve it and make it more intelligent.
MORALITY
• Can be defined as the standards that an individual or a
group has about what is right and wrong, good or evil.
• Morality is an informal public system applying to
all rational persons, governing behavior that
affects others, and has lessening of evil or harm
as its goal.
• It is a complex of concepts and philosophical
beliefs by which an individual determines
whether his or her actions are right or wrong.
THE TERM MORALITY CAN BE USED EITHER;
a. Descriptively (Descriptive Sense)- to refer to
certain codes of conduct put forward by a
society or a group (such as religion), or accepted
by an individual for his/her own behavior or;
b. Normatively (Normative Sense)- to refer to a
code of conduct that, given specified conditions,
would be put forward by all rational persons.
Six Key Features
of Morality
1. People experience a sense of moral
obligation and accountability.
❑One cannot doubt successfully a phenomenon of his
own existence –namely, his moral experience. Even
Secularists like Kai Nielsen recommend that one “ought
to” act or follow some rules, policies, and practices, or
principles.
❑Even Atheist Richard Dawkins declares that there are
“moral instructions on how we ought to behave”.
2. Moral Values and Moral
Absolutes Exist
❑It’s hard to deny the objective reality of moral
values –actions like rape, torture, and child abuse
are not just socially unacceptable behavior but are
moral abominations. (Craig, 1994)
❑There are moral absolutes -truths that exist and
apply to everyone.
3. Moral Law Does Exist
❑When we accept the existence of
goodness, we must affirm a moral law
on the basis of which to differentiate
between good and evil
4. Moral Law is known to Humans
•Moral law is also called the Law of
Nature because early philosophers
thought that generally speaking,
everybody knows it by nature.
•Different civilizations and different ages
only have “slightly different” moralities
and not radically or “quite different
moralities”.
5. Morality is Objective
❑Morality is absolute – there is a real right
and real wrong that is universally and
immutably true, independent of whether
anyone believes it or not.
❑Since almost all people assume certain
things to be wrong such as genocide, murder,
and rape – the best explanation is that such
things really are wrong and morality is
objective.
6. Moral Judgements must be
supported by Reasons.
❑Moral judgments are different from
mere expressions of personal preference
–they require backing by reasons, and in
the absence of such reasons, they are
merely arbitrary.
LESSON 2
MORAL and
NON-MORAL
STANDARD and
DILEMMAS
THE MORAL
AGENT
MAN AS MORAL AGENT.
❑Moral Agent is a being that is “capable of
acting with reference to right and wrong”.
❑A moral agent is an intelligent being who
has the power of choosing, and scope to
act according to his choice.
❑Being a moral agent means that they can
be held responsible for their decisions and
behaviors, whether they are good or bad.
•Rules are specific sets of norms of
behavior, regulations and laws established
on purpose to regulate the life in the
community.
•These Norms secure the order and allow
avoiding total chaos.
•The availability of rules is a crucial criterion
allowing to call nowadays society civilized
and well developed.
1. Rules protect social beings
by regulating behavior
Importance 2. Rules help to guarantee each
person certain rights and freedom
of rules to
3. Rules produce a sense of
human justice among social beings
beings 4. Rules are essential for a
healthy economic system
Differences between
Moral and Non-Moral Standards
• Moral Standard- refers to the norms
which we have about the types of
action which we believe to be morally
acceptable and morally unacceptable.
• Deals with matters which can either
seriously harm or seriously benefit
human beings.
How are Moral Standards Formed?
❑Moral Standards are influenced by a variety of factors
❑as the moral principles we accept as part of our upbringing,
❑values passed on to us through heritage and legacy,
❑the religious values that we have imbibed from childhood,
❑the values that were showcased during the period of our education,
❑the behavior pattern of those who are around us,
❑the explicit and implicit standards of our culture,
❑our life experiences
❑and more importantly, our critical experience reflections on these
experiences.
CHARACTERISTIC OF MORAL STANDARD
1. Moral standards deal with matters
we think can seriously injure or
benefit humans, animals, and the
environment, such as child abuse,
rape, and murder;
2. MORAL-STANDARDS ARE NOT
ESTABLISHED BY AUTHORITY FIGURES.
Moral Standards are not
invented, formed, or generated by
authoritative bodies or persons
such as nation’s legislative
bodies.
3. MORAL STANDARDS HAVE THE TRAIT OF
UNIVERSALIZABILITY
It means that everyone should
live up to moral standards. It
entails that moral principles
must apply to all who are in a
relevantly similar situation.
4. MORAL STANDARDS ARE BASED ON IMPARTIAL
CONSIDERATIONS.
• Moral standard does not evaluate standards on
the basis of the interests of a certain person or
group, but one that goes beyond personal
interests to a universal standpoint to a universal
standpoint in which each person’s interests of
all concerned parties.
• Impartially is usually depicted as being free of
bias or prejudice.
5. MORAL STANDARDS ARE ASSOCIATED
WITH SPECIAL EMOTIONS AND VOCABULARY.
•Prescriptivity indicates the practical or
action-guiding nature of moral
standards. These principles are
proposed for users to evaluate
behavior, assign praise and blame, and
produce feelings of satisfaction or of
guilt.
Differences between
Moral and Non-Moral Standards
•Non-Moral Standard –refer to
rules that are unrelated to
moral or ethical
considerations. Example, rules
of etiquette, fashion
standards, rules in games, and
various house rules.
•Etiquette- refers to the norms of correct conduct
in polite society or, more generally, to any special
code of social behavior or courtesy.
•Statutes- are laws enacted by legislative bodies.
Congress and state legislatures enact statutes.
•Somewhere between etiquette and law lie
professional codes of ethics. These are the rules
that are supposed to govern the conduct of
members of a given profession.
MORAL DILEMMA
❑is a conflict in which you have to choose
between two or more actions and have
moral reasons for choosing each action.
❑A Moral Dilemma is a situation where:
❑You are presented with two or more
actions, all of which you have the ability to
perform.
MORAL DILEMMA
❑There are moral reasons for you to
choose each of the actions.
❑You cannot perform all of the actions
and have to choose which action, or
actions when there are three or more
choices, to perform.
3 Levels of Moral Dilemma Moral Dilemmas
can be categorized according to these levels:
1. Personal Dilemmas are those experienced and
resolved on a personal level.
•Since many ethical decisions are personally made,
many if not most moral dilemmas fall under, or boil
down to this level.
•If a person makes conflicting promises, he faces a
moral conflict. When an individual has to choose
between the life of a child who is about to be
delivered and the child’s mother, he faces an ethical
dilemma
2. Organizational Dilemmas refer to ethical cases
encountered and resolved by social organizations.
This category includes moral dilemmas in
business, medical fields, and the public sector.
3. Structural Dilemmas refer to cases involving a
network of institutions and operative theoretical
paradigms. As they usually encompass multi-
sectoral institutions and organizations, they may be
larger in scope and extent than organizational
dilemmas.
Scenario: Carrie is a doctor working in a
hospital. Due to an incident in the building
next door, there are deadly fumes rising up
through the hospital’s ventilation system. In a
certain room of the hospital are four of her
patients. In another room, there is one of her
patients.
If she does nothing the fumes will rise up into
the rooms containing the four patients and
cause their deaths.
❑The only way to avoid the deaths of these
patients is to hit a switch that will cause the
fumes to bypass the room containing the four
patients. As a result of doing this, the fumes will
enter the room containing the single patient
(against her will). If she does, the woman will
die, but the other four patients will live.
❑Should Carrie hit the switch in order to
save four of her Patients?
Only human beings can be Ethical (lifted from the book of De Guzman,
(2017) -Ethics: Principles of Ethical Behaviour in Modern Society)
❑If we commit something, we often hear “animal ka”. But
we are as Aristotle says, “rational animals”.
❑Another basic tenet in ethics is the belief that only human
beings can truly be ethical. Most philosophies hold that,
unlike animals, human beings possess some traits that make
it possible for them to be moral.
❑Only human beings are rational, autonomous, and self-
conscious. The qualities of rationality, autonomy, and self-
consciousness are believed to confer a full and equal moral
status to those that possess them as
