CHAPTER FIVE

ETHICS AND CIVIC VIRTUE

5.1 Overview of ethics and ethical theories
Ethics is a branch of philosophy that study what constitutes good and bad human conduct,
including related actions and values. And extensive ethical thought was begun in ancient Greece
with Socrates in the 5th century B.C. Socrates in his dialogues to his student Plato initiated the
question of ethics. When there was dialogue and argument between Socrates and his student
Plato, other students questioned whether Socrates’ argument was right or wrong. Thus, the
question initiated serious ethical thought in ancient Greece. That is why we say ethics first
originated in ancient Greece.
When a society proceeded into the middle age, ethical issues came to be influenced by religious
doctrines. During this era, ethics in the Christian world maintained that the source of all morality
was God, who is the creator and the living essence of the world. Hence norms, outlooks and
moral standards were perceived as God’s commandments. All religions wanted their believers to
strictly follow and respect the standards of their own religion as principal sources of social
obligation. In modern period of human’s history ethics has emancipated itself from the medieval
religious associations and dogmas. Modern ethics is shaped to fit and settle problems in modern
ways of societal interaction marked by diversity and other considerations. Basically it is
concerned with analysis of the correlation between social norms and individual needs and
promotion. The question of how the individual is transformed into a social being that associates
his/her claims and responsibility to the cause of the community has been the subject of
contemporary ethics.
5.2. Contending Theories of Ethics
This is the major section of the chapter that introduces theories of ethics. Ethical theories could
generally be divided into Normative and Non-normative ethics. Normative ethics in its turn can
be categorized into applied normative ethics and general normative ethics. Moreover, general
normative ethics consists of teleological, deontological and virtue ethics. On the other hand
Non-normative ethics is divided into two major theories, i.e. Scientific Study and Meta-Ethics.
5.2.1. Normative Ethics
Normative Ethics involves an attempt to determine precisely what moral standards to follow so
that our actions may be morally right or good. There are two areas of normative ethics: applied
and general.

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Applied normative ethics: is an application of normative theories to the actual world. And also
attempts to explain and justify positions on specific moral problems, such as sex outside
marriage, capital punishment, euthanasia, and reverse discrimination. This area of normative
ethics is termed applied because the ethicist applies or uses general ethical principles in an
attempt to resolve specific moral problems.
General normative ethics: is the reasoned search for principles of human conduct including a
critical study of the major theories about which things are good, which acts are right, and which
acts are blameworthy. It attempts to determine precisely what moral standards to follow so that
our actions as human beings may be morally right or good. General normative theories can be
distinguished between teleological or consequentialist, deontological or non-consequentialist and
ethics of virtue. Each of these broad categories consists of their respective theories.
A. Deontological (Non Consequentialist) Theory of Ethics.
Deontological theory assesses the moral worth of a particular action, by looking to the action
itself, and whether it confirms to certain principles, rules and commands. The Deontologists does
not consider the consequence of an act to be morally primary, and these are put to one side when
making moral judgments. The principles or rules of Deontology may be once governing our
motives for an action or they may simply identify specific kinds of actions that are permitted
and/or forbidden, for example, by Ten Commandments. Deontologists focused on making sure
that our actions are in accord with certain principles rules or commands –irrespective of the
possible benefits or harms they might bring as a consequence. The two most influential forms of
Deontological theories are Divine Command theory and Kantian ethics (Categorical Imperative).
Divine Command Theory: According to the Divine Command Theory an action is right if God
commands it and what makes an action right or wrong is that it is commanded or forbidden by
God. In other words, whatever the situation, if we do what God wills, then we do the right thing;
if we do not do what God wills, then no matter what the consequences, we do wrong. In general
this theory equates what is right with what God wills.
Kantian Ethics (Categorical Imperative): Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) put forward a non-
religious form of deontological ethics. This is mainly because he believed that morality is
independent of God’s and everyone else’s will. According to him an action is morally genuine
or right if it is prompted by recognition of our duty or from the sense of our duty. Kant identified
two types of imperatives- an imperative being an act we impelled to do i.e. Hypothetical or
conditional imperatives and categorical or unconditional imperatives.

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Hypothetical imperative involves , when our action is depends on certain ends or goals in mind
i.e. if you want Y then you ought to do X.
Example: - always help those in need because then you will get to heaven.
- Always respect your mother and father because otherwise they will spend all your
inheritance money.
In these two examples the moral worth of an action depends up on the result of expected from it.
Helping those in need and respecting fathers and mothers is dependent upon certain aims and
goals. However, Kant is not interested in this sort of conditional or hypothetical imperatives.
Categorical or unconditional imperative is central to certain obligations and duty regardless of
any result i.e. you ought to do Y regardless of any consequences.
Example: - always help those in need, just because it is your duty.
- Always respect your mother and father, just because it is your duty.
According to Kant any action which we perform because we are trying to achieve some practical
or personal end is not moral. To be moral an action must have appropriate maxim i.e. general
principle of action, namely one which expresses our duty to perform the act. Kant claimed that
our basic moral duties are summed up in a principle he called the categorical imperative.
The genuine moral motive for action that is recognition of our duty, what Kant called the “good
will”. Kant believed nothing in the world is “good without qualification except a good will.”
“Will” means that part of a person that reasons about and decides what he will do.
B. Teleological (Consequentialist) Ethics
This theory tries to assess the moral worth of a particular action dependence on the consequence
or result that it brings i.e. if an action brings positive consequence is moral worth and if not it is
morally wrong action. Example, for deontological theories, stealing is wrong because we have a
duty to respect other’s property, for a consequentialist, stealing must be judged on an evaluation
of the effects it produces. In its pure form this would mean the individual acts are to be judged
according to their actual consequences.
Consequentialist theories are most often Hedonistic. That is to say they identify the highest good
with pleasure, and a morally good act is defined as one which brings about the greatest amount
of pleasure over pain

There are two main forms of consequentialist ethics. These are Ethical egoism and Utilitarianism
Ethical egoism: Ethical egoism, considers an action to be good if it brings about the best
possible outcome for me as an individual (or in your case, for you as an individual). Ethical

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egoism holds that I should always do what will promote my own greatest good: that an act or
rule of action is right if and only if it promotes the greatest balance of good over evil for me
compared with any alternative. Greatest good for all will be served only if we all pursue our own
self- interest. One of the critics of ethical egoism claims that if we all live without any concern
for others, conflicts of interest will inevitably arise.
Utilitarianism (social hedonism): The term utilitarianism stems from the idea of utility, meaning
social utility or welfare or good of society. To put it in other word the core standard of
utilitarianism is the principle of greatest happiness for the greatest number of people.
Historically, social hedonism or social utilitarianism is identified with the English philosophers
Jermy Bentham and John Stuart Mill. These two thinkers, however, represent two different forms
of utilitarianism, though the difference reduces more to a matter of emphasis. One emphasis on
quantity of happiness whiles the other on quality of happiness.
Bentham’s Version of Utilitarianism: According to Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832) utility is the
sole principle that we ought to live and judge others by and we must follow a moral system that
invokes us to maximize happiness and minimize pain for everyone in society. This is to mean the
greatest happiness for the greatest number of people.
As already indicated, when Bentham presses for the greatest balance of pleasure over pain, his
idea of pleasure is a purely quantitative one. His utility calculus although it considers many
dimensions of pleasures, ignores the quality of pleasures and pains that are being measured.
John Stuart Mill’s Version of Utilitarianism: John Stuart Mill (1806-1873) is also a greatly
known advocate of utilitarianism. For Bentham all pleasures are equal. Mill unlike Bentham
differentiated between higher pleasures and lower pleasures that human enjoyed and he
introduced quality and quantity in to the evaluation of pleasures. However, both agree that, an
action is right if, and only if, it produce pleasure or happiness or satisfactions of needs, and this
pleasure or happiness or satisfaction is to be distributed among as many people as possible.
5.2.2. Non-normative Ethics
Non normative ethics consists of either a factual investigation of moral behavior or analysis of
the meaning of the terms used in moral discourse and an examination of the moral reasoning by
which moral beliefs can be shown to be true or false. Non-normative ethics consists of two
fields. These are Scientific or descriptive study and Meta ethics.

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 A. Scientific or Descriptive Study
The Scientific or descriptive study of morality involves factual investigation of moral behavior.
It is concerned with how people do in fact behave. This approach is used widely in the social
sciences.
B. Meta Ethics
Meta ethics is the highly technical discipline investigating the meaning of ethical terms,
including a critical study of how ethical statements can be verified.
Meta Ethics is concerned with the meanings of such ethical terms as right, obligation and
responsibility.
Accordingly, Meta ethicists would be more concerned with the meanings of such words as good
or bad than with what we think is good or bad. If you maintained, for instance, that an act of
euthanasia was right, the Meta ethicist might ask; just what do you mean by right?
5.3. Selected issues in applied ethics
A. Development Ethics
Development ethics is the study of the philosophic as well as the practical side of the relations
between development and morality. Development defined in the words of Dudley Seers (1995) is
simply a normative concept to refer to socio-economic conditions where choices for satisfying
human needs are amply supplied and where human beings have boasted a reliable level of
income to ensure access to these goods and products.
B. Environmental Ethics
Environmental ethics is relatively a new academic thrust in the study of applied ethics with the
increasing demand to consider environmental issues as ultimate preconditions of human
existence on the plane-earth. It origins in the 1960s in developed states like America and
England with the advent of a new theoretical approach called “post-materialism”. Post-
materialism has advanced a new progressive approach roughly based on the theory of Abrham
Maslow (1908-70) that “self-actualization” under the prosperity conditions should be redefined
as “quality of life” expressed in human personal fulfillment and satisfaction from high morality,
political justice and equality, as well as return to nature and love for nature.
Environmental ethics is theory and practice about appropriate concern for, values in, and duties
regarding the natural world. By classical accounts, ethics is people relating to people in justice
and love. Environmental ethics starts with human concerns for a quality environment, and some
think this shapes the ethic from start to finish. Others hold that, beyond inter-human concerns,

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values are at stake when humans relate to animals, plants, species and ecosystems. According to
their vision, humans ought to find nature sometimes morally considerable in itself, and this turns
ethics in new directions.
C. Professional Ethics
In times of ancient human civilization because of the simple nature of life they were leading,
individuals were trying to fulfill most of their demands by themselves. In later times because of
the increasing number of population and more complexity of life people began to become
interdependent for the fulfillment of their needs. Human civilization is also marked by the
increasing tendency of professionalization of tasks. The complexity of ideas, concepts and even
terminologies in professions made it difficult to specialize themselves in all areas. Therefore,
the need to efficiency and effectiveness required specialization of individuals in specific
professions.
This is how the need for code of ethics arose for professions. The idea here is that these
specialized people are charged with the responsibilities of discharging their service for others
who are not familiar with the subject area. The ultimate necessity of professional ethical codes
arises here; when each professional is required to deliver his/her service with utmost sense of
responsibility and to the best of his capacity to the satisfaction of his/her customers.
Therefore, professional ethical codes can be defined as, specific expected behavior of workers
in the same areas of specialization. These standards enable workers to differentiate the right
way of conduct from the wrong in providing their services/discharging their responsibilities.
Ethical work conduct enables workers to possess proper behavior, so as to develop proper
relationship with other workers, their customers and all in all to create a good industrial
environment.
D. Public service Ethics
There has been considerable scientific debate on how to make the public sector function in the
best way, and in particular there has been a debate on the role of government, of regulatory
institutions and of good governance in the developing world. With (great) power comes (great)
responsibility, but how much and what form of state intervention (government regulation) is
needed to achieve economic development, political accountability, poverty eradication and other
objectives?
This debate has given a better understanding of the responsibilities of the public sector, and how
it should interact and interface with (elected) governments, with citizens, civil society and

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foreign as well as domestic corporations and private business institutions. Besides, ethics and
ethical principles can help people make better decisions, and help people evaluate the decisions
of others (like public officials). Much of this debate has focused on “good governance”, broadly
speaking. Ethics has also been a part of this debate, in particular the discussion on professional
ethics of civil servants, and to a lesser extent the professional and personal ethics of politicians
and elected office holders.
5.4. Civic Virtue: civic disposition and civic commitment
As a citizen of on country an individual is expected to contributing for economic, social and
political development of their country. In this regard, there are characteristics expected from all
citizens for the good of ourselves as well as for our nation. The two most important
characteristics required from citizens in a democratic society are civic dispositions and civic
commitments. In this section, we will study the elements of civic dispositions and civic
commitments.
A. Civic Dispositions
Civic dispositions are habits or characters of citizens that are conducive or helpful to the healthy
functioning and common good of a democratic system. In other words, civic dispositions include
all the behaviors and actions that are good. It refers to the behaviors that are desirable and
acceptable such behaviors or habits are expected from responsible citizens. Some of the
elements of civic dispositions that are required from citizens are the following:-
1) Civility: - Civility is a polite way of acting or behaving towards others. It is the need to
respect others. This includes the respect and politeness you show to those with whom even you
may disagree. In this case, thus, you are expected to respect the rights of those who are in dispute
with you. Civility is an element of civilized behavior; and it is a way of peaceful living and co-
existence with others.
2) Self Discipline: - Self-discipline means acting and behaving according to some acceptable
standards. In all situations, there are some rules and regulations to be observed. These rules and
regulations help to guide our actions. Thus, we should be able to respect these rules and
standards in our day-to-day activities.
3) Individual Responsibility: - As member of different groups at different levels and as
Ethiopian citizens, we all have some duties or obligations to fulfill. As we would like to demand
and enjoy our rights and benefits, we should also be ready to discharge the responsibilities that

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are expected from each and every one of us. Fulfilling these requirements is referred to us
individual responsibility.
4) Civic-mindedness: - Civic mindedness is citizens’ readiness and desire to give concern to
public interest. It is a commitment to give priority to the common good and make sacrifice
ourselves to the society and to our nation. As we think and work for ourselves, we are equally
expected to do our best for the good of our societies. This does not mean that we completely
neglect our private interests. However, when our country calls for our service to the nation, we
ought to be able to effectively respond to this call.
5) Open-mindedness:- Open –mindedness refers to our willingness to listen to the ideas, views
and arguments of others. It is the tolerance we should show to carefully examine what others say
or suggest. It is also our ability to express what we feel and what is in our mind. It requires our
genuine and unreserved presentation of what we believe. This does not mean necessarily to agree
with what others say, but we must respect their views.
6) Compromise: - Compromise is one form of behavior that should be observed in setting
conflicts peacefully. It involves the readiness and willingness to spare something on both sides of
the conflict in favor of the peaceful resolution of the problem and its outcome. That means,
whenever we are in conflict with others on a certain issue, there is a need to give up some of our
positions or interests.
7) Tolerance:-Tolerance is the ability and willingness to accommodate differences in ideas,
outlooks, views etc. It is the heart of peaceful co-existence in diversity. This is true at home, in
the community, at a national level, and in the world at large.

8) Honesty:-Honesty is the behavior and attitude of not telling and not accepting lies. It is the
habit of not cheating or stealing. It is being truthful. Honesty is being loyal to one’s fellow, one’s
responsibility and to one’s country. Sometimes it is observed that individuals with public
responsibility abuse public properties.
9) Compassion:-Compassion means that citizens develop empathy to other citizens and exhibit
concern about their welfare.
10) Generosity:-Generosity means to unreservedly spend time, effort and resources for the good
of other people. It would be a sign of civility if a citizen appears generous for the good of the
public.

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B. Civic commitment
Civic commitment is an active participation of citizens for the private as well as the common
good in democracy. It is the expressed devotion of citizens for the importation of the
fundamental principles of democracy. It is also related to the extent in which citizens strive to the
implementation of the rights of citizens.
The degree of civility of a citizen is measured by the extent of his/her commitment to work for
the good of and individuals and society at large. Some of the civic commitments are the
following:
1) paying Fair Taxes
Paying fair tax, as a member of the society, is one of the responsibilities and obligation of good
citizen in addition to other civic dispositions mentioned above. Paying taxes helps the
government to undertake its activities. Therefore, every member of the society must contribute
towards the support of the government. The contribution must, as nearly as possible, be in
proportion to their respective income. In other terms, the more one gets money, the more she/he
should pay in form of taxes.
1) Staying informed:

It means updating oneself by reading newspapers, listening to the radio, and watching television.
This would help citizens know what the government is doing and would help them make
informed decisions accordingly. This could also help citizens to bear responsibilities and
discharge them effectively. It would also help citizens to know what they are expected to do.

2) Participating in public affairs:

You have already realized that in a democracy, the political authority resides in the people. That
is, democracy is the self-governance of peoples Thus, it requires and active participation of
citizens in their own affairs. Participation includes being involved in various affairs at different
levels and situations. This can take place at home, in the local regional and national levels. Some
of the ways and conditions in which you may participate include the following:

- attending community meetings

- debating on issues of major concern

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 - becoming a member of association, organization or clubs
- joining campaigns
- voting in elections
- reading and writing about issues
- Serving in the defense force, and in other institutions.
3) Developing sympathy
This refers to developing feeling or interest and concern about others problems. A citizen is
expected to be apathetic towards other people who confront some problem. Thus, a citizen is
expected not only to have the feeling and apathy but also to go beyond that to solve the problem.

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