PASS COLLEGE

ETHICS HAND-OUTS
Midterm Period 2nd Sem A.Y 2020-2021
Week 4 MAr 1-7, 2021

CHAPTER 4: Two Fundamental Questions

Objective:
-To understand what is Happiness from knowing what is right or wrong
- To understand what is the ultimate quest for life
-To understand what is Beauty and Peace

As seen in its definitions, the science of Ethics revolves around two pivotal questions:
1. WHATIS MORALITY?
2. WHAT IS THE MEANING OF LIFE?

More specifically, in the first question, we ask what makes an action right, what makes an action wrong;
what is the very reason why certain acts are right and why certain acts are wrong; by what standard or on what
basis do we discriminate between right and wrong, good and bad, in human conduct? In short, we ask in Ethics,
what is the norm of morality, the basis, criterion standard, test, measure or rule of right and wrong in human
conduct.
Since Ethics is a branch of philosophy, the inquiry by human reason into the ultimate why's, causes, and reasons
of all things, then the two above-stated questions in Ethics are also raised in their ultimate and deepest
significance:
1. What is the ultimate norm or ground of distinction between right and wrong?
2. What is life in its fullest and deepest meaning?

In connection with the second question, we deal specifically with such questions as what is the supreme
purpose of human life, summum bonum of human existence, the ultimate end' of all human activities; in what
consists man's greatest good and perfection, mans ultimate destiny and happiness. This question is discussed
more fully in the latter portion of this chapter.

Relation Between the Two Questions

The two aforementioned questions of Ethics are intimately related-much as the means necessarily relates
with the end. The science of Ethics teaches us that morality, good upright moral living. is the only way, the means
by which we can reach and attain our supreme goal and purpose Happiness.

According to Ethics there is a necessary connection between doing good and enjoying the GOOD. The
latter term is all capitalized to signify the absolute infinite Good-the boundless good, or bliss or beatitude which is
attained only by good upright living. In concrete practical terms, Ethics counsels us to be good, i.e., to live
righteously. Constantly to practice virtue - in short, to possess in this life a good moral character in order to
possess the GOOD in all its latitude, and plenitude in the next. A good life is the only sure ticket to the boundless
Good, bliss or beatitude.

Likewise the two aforestated questions involve the necessary connection between goodness and
purpose. Even in our ordinary conscious living, we always associate the goodness of anything with the fulfilment
of its purpose.

Example: A good pen is one that writes well, for this is the very purpose of a pen.
A tool or instrument to be worth itself should serve its own purpose. A good life, Ethics tells us, is that which
leads to the attainment of life's supreme purpose. Man's greatest good and perfection is to be found, as the
sages of all ages tell us, in the fulfilment, the full realization of man's ultimate purpose and destiny -Happiness

In the last analysis, the two questions are seen to converge to one common answer: Life is
a journey to the Summun Bonum (Happiness) by way of morality, Right Living.

The Ultimate End of All Man's Volitional Activities:

Every act is directed towards an end. The end of an act is the purpose for which the act is done. No sane
man acts without a motive or end. You may object and say sometimes you do things for nothing, for merely
killing the time or for leisure; nevertheless, you still act for an end, the end in this case being to kill time.
An end of an act oftentimes is not yet truly the end but merely a means to a still further end; and again
this further end becomes a means to a still further end. But in the series of means end-means, we cannot proceed
to infinity.

Is there one last end to all the human acts of a given individual? Is there one supreme motive for all that
this or that man deliberately does? At first sight it seems that there is none. The same individual will act now for
glory, now for material gain, now for love. But all these different ends are reducible to one, that it may be well
 PASS COLLEGE
ETHICS HAND-OUTS
Midterm Period 2nd Sem A.Y 2020-2021
Week 4 MAr 1-7, 2021

with him or his. And what is true of one now here, is true of all. All the human acts of men are done for the one
last end just indicated. This is called happiness.

Everybody, no doubt, is looking for happiness. Sinner and saint alike are looking for happiness. The first is looking
for it in the wrong place in the wrong way; the other looks for it in the right way. But there is no doubt that it is
happiness both are looking for. The saint looks for the gold and finds it; the sinner also looks for it but mistakes
the glitters for the gold.

The Quest for the Perfect: LIFE, TRUTH and LOVE

Man naturally seeks the perfect good. He longs for life, for truth, for love and happiness. Take LIFE, for
instance. Of all our treasures it is that which we surrender last, and with the greatest reluctance. Titles, joys, and
wealth, power, ambition, honor- all of these we will let go provided we can hold on to that precious, palpitating,
vibrating thing called life. The very instinct which impels a man to put out his hand when he walks in the dark
shows that he is willing to sacrifice any part of his body as long as he does not lose his life.

Even the sad case of suicide does not argue against the truth that man longs for life. It only means that
the one who commits suicide wants to change his bitter life with a better one. In this connection it should be
stressed that what man is looking for is life in its fullness life in all its latitude and plenitude. Life in this sense does
not mean merely continuing the exist. The natural desire for life is exemplified and made manifest in the first
law of nature -self preservation.

Another object of a fundamental craving of every human being is the TRUTH. Man has an insatiable thirst
for knowledge. We always want to know the what, the how, and the why of things, and, if possible, the why
behind the why, the cause behind the because of all things. From dawning reason to sunset old age we are always
asking questions, and life may be viewed as the rainbow arches of questions and answers raised and passed
through by the ever inquiring human mind. The delight of discovery, the satisfaction and joy one experiences after
solving a difficult problem, the ardent desire to unravel the secrets of life and love and open up what the future
holds in store for us all these prove our inborn constant incessant quest for the truth. Verily, the human mind
seeks the Truth, just as the compass needle seeks the North Pole.

Another fundamental craving of man is his desire for LOVE. We want to love and to be loved with love in
its fullness, not only for a while but for always. Everybody has thirst and will ever thirst for love. Each child that is
born into this world instinctively presses his self to his mother's breast in testimony of affection. When he has
grown up he looks for a companion, one to whom he can unpack his heart with words, one in whose
companionship he can find happiness in the world.
We desire for life, truth, and love, but do we find these in their fullness in this life? Can the world with all its power
and grandeur and glory satisfy to the fullest measure our desire for perfect and everlasting happiness? We
possess a fraction of life, a fraction of truth, a fraction of love, but can we possess them in their fullness here?

The world abounds with life but life here is circumscribed by death. We have knowledge and truth but this is
often darkened by error. There is love here but only in the narrow confines of an earthly heart which, however
warm with all the love in the world, will one day grow cold in the grave. In short the perfect good, the highest
good which all men look for, can not be found in this world because

1. All the goods of this earth are finite, unstable, and transitory and
2. All things here are imperfect and, therefore, can not give us perfect happiness.

But if man naturally longs for perfect happiness, then it must be that there exists and is atainable such an object
of our longing in reality; otherwise nature or life is the greatest absurdity, a mockery and a tragedy. Now this
perfect happiness can only be found in a perfect being the Perfect Good, the Summum Bonum, and this we call
God.

Man and Beauty

Intimately related with man's inbom quest for life, truth, love and happiness is man's love for beauty. To
man, by birth and nature a lover, beauty is a joy forever. Aquinas defines beauty as a thing that delights not only
man’s eyes and ears and his other senses of perceptions but his whole soul. For, in the transcendental vision of St.
Thomas Aquinas:, beauty blends blissfully and beats eternally with Life, Truth, and Love -all these being co-
transcendental attributes of BEING. Thus, beauty taken as a transcendental eternal reality equates with the
absolute Being, God.
Beauty is Truth, and Truth is Beauty, that is all we have to know.”

All beauty we see on earth is imperfect, ephemeral. It is only such beauty as absolute and eternal which is
identified with God, the absolute Beauty, that can fully satisfy our yearnings for infinite everlasting beauty
 PASS COLLEGE
ETHICS HAND-OUTS
Midterm Period 2nd Sem A.Y 2020-2021
Week 4 MAr 1-7, 2021
Man and Peace
Just as naturally as be breathes, man seeks peace and happiness. Peace is the abiding breath and blessing of the
Natural Law embedded in man's nature, enshrined in man's conscience and enthroned as the ruler of man's
actions. He who constantly acts and lives in accordance with the dictates of his conscience enjoys peace of mind
and is happy. Without peace of mind, there can be no happiness.

Questions to Ponder:
1. Does it matter to you if you do the right thing or not?
2. How do you see happiness before and now?
3. What is your definition of beauty after reading this material?
4. Does peace matters to you? Why?
5. What is your view on suicide?

CHAPTER 5: THE QUESTION ON THE NORM OF MORALITY

Objective:
-To understand the word GOOD
- To know the basis of Morality

"Good" Means Befitting Man's Nature

We have shown in the question of man's supreme purpose the intimate relation between morality and man's
ultimate end. It is this end which is the ultimate norm of morality. Now, let us show how morality is related to
man's nature.

One golden principle of common sense is that a thing acts in accordance with its nature. If a thing acts in
accordance with its nature, then it does well. A knife is good if it cuts, because the nature or the purpose of the
knife is to cut. If a pencil writes well, it is good, if not, it is not good because then it would not fulfil its purpose or
nature to write.
Similarly, a good man is one who lives, behaves, and acts in accordance with his nature. That is, he lives and
behaves in a way befitting his human purpose and nature. Good acts are, therefore, those which befit him as a
man, as a human being. But man is primarily of a rational nature, since it is reason which essentially distinguishes
him from the other animals. Hence, to live well is to live according to reason. This is not to exclude the other
aspects of human nature. Man is primarily a rational being, but not exclusively so. we can not disregard the other
aspects (however lower) of human nature in dealing with morality. all we mean is that the highest type of activity
in man are those which proceed from man’s reason and will, the highest qualities in man; and that acts which
gratify man's lower nature, we do not necessarily consider natural, as these may be disapproved by man's higher
nature, though pleasing and satisfying to man's lower tendencies.

A good act is therefore, that which is natural to man as a human being endowed primarily with reason and will. A
bad act is that one which does not befit man's nature. The act follows from the nature of the one acting. A thing
acts in accordance with its nature. The morality of an act, therefore, is grounded on the nature of the one acting.
An act is good if it is becoming to one's nature; bad, if unbecoming to one's nature. This is what we mean when
we say:
"THE PROXIMATE NORM OF MORALITY IN MAN'S ACT IS HUMAN NATURE.
THE ULTIMATE NORM IS THE DIVINE NATURE”

The proximate reason why an action is good or bad is the conformity or non-conformity of the act with human
nature. Therefore, ultimately the author of human nature, the Divine Nature, is the ultimate reason why an action
is good or bad. Therefore, the ultimate norm of morality is the Divine Nature.

But what does human nature mean?

Human nature, aside from being a complicated nature, is not one isolated from the rest of things in the universe,
Human nature, human life, we may say, is a many splendored thing. It has, therefore, many aspects or phases: It is
a creature and is, therefore, related to the Creator.
Man is related to his fellowmen "in the brotherhood of men under the fatherhood of God." Man, therefore, is a
social being: Man has a social nature. Man must eat in order to live. Therefore, he must earn a living to support
himself and his family, This is economics. Man is, therefore, also an economic being. He has a body, His nature,
therefore, is also a physical nature, etc.

Human Nature in its Essential Relationships

Human nature, as the proximate norm of morality, means human nature adequately taken, i.e., in all its essential
 PASS COLLEGE
ETHICS HAND-OUTS
Midterm Period 2nd Sem A.Y 2020-2021
Week 4 MAr 1-7, 2021

aspects or relation ships: the religious, social, political, economic, physical, etc. Now these relationships comprise
what we call the natural order in things. But the natural order is the basis of the natural law, and the natural law
is the reflection of the eternal law. Therefore: the proximate norm of morality is the natural law; the ultimate
norm is the eternal law. God Himself.

The Nature of the Norm of Morality

We have shown that morality is grounded on human nature. But human nature is one and the same for
all men. Men differ in many ways: in habits, customs, traditions, race, history, religion, color, etc.; but despite
these differences they are all one in their nature, their human nature. It follows, therefore, that the law of morality
which is based on human nature, is one and the same and binding on all men of all times and of all places, just as
the law of triangles applies to all types of triangles, since the very law of triangles is based on the very nature
(essence) of triangles. It follows further that there are actions which in themselves, i.e, in their very nature, are
morally good and some that are in themselves intrinsically evil, since, as we have shown, the morality of human
acts is rooted in man's unchanging nature.
We do not claim that all actions are all intrinsically (inherently)good or bad; for there are indeed certain
actions, such as drinking, eating, walking, etc., which are morally indifferent in themselves and which become
bad only because they are forbidden by some existing law. Example: Drinking liquor on election day. This act is
bad not because drinking liquor is bad, but because it is forbidden on such day. On the other hand there are
intrinsically bad acts which can never be good even if legalized or approved by society. Prostitution, mercy
killing and other intrinsically bad acts would still be wrong though these at times may be allowed by law.

In conclusion when we say Morality, it is unchanging because it reflects the eternal law. What is ethical does not
necessarily mean always morally correct. The basis of doing what right from wrong is MORALITY.

The quiz for these chapters (Chapter 4 and 5) will be based on biblical principles. What can be the most reliable
source of knowing what is right from wrong is the Word of God which is unchanging and everlasting.