CAVITE STATE UNIVERSITY

Silang Campus
2nd SEMESTER AY 2024--2025
Course Code: Gned 02
Course Title: Ethics
Credit Units: 3

MR. ROGAN DOMINGO DE LA CRUZ

Soc. Sci. Instructor
Teacher Education Department
Consultation Hours: Tuesday 8-10
◼ Vision
The premier university in historic Cavite globally
recognized for excellence in character development,
academics, research, innovation and sustainable
community engagement.
◼ Mission
Cavite State University shall provide excellent,
equitable and relevant educational opportunities in the
arts, sciences and technology through quality
instruction and responsive research and development
activities. It shall produce professional, skilled and
morally upright individuals for global competitiveness.
 Course Description
The subject 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 resources.

…mga prinsipyo ng
etikal na pag-uugali
 COURSE COVERAGE
◼ Week 1- Introduction: Key Concepts in Ethics
a. The importance of rules to Social Beings
b. Moral vs. Non-moral Standards
c. Three levels of Moral Dilemmas
d. ‘Only human beings can be ethical’
e. Reason & Impartiality
◼ Week 2 & 3- CULTURE IN MORAL BEHAVIOR
a. Culture : Definitions
b. Culture’s Role in Moral Behavior
c. Moral Standards as Social Convention and the Social
Conditioning Theory.
d. Cultural Relativism in Ethics
e. Asian Moral Understanding
f. Filipino Moral Character
g. Universal Values
 COURSE COVERAGE
◼ Week 4 – The Moral Agents
a. Moral Character & Virtues
b. The circular relation of acts & character
c. Six Stages of Moral Development
◼ Week 5- FEELINGS & MORAL DECISION-
MAKING
a. Feelings as Instinctive Response to Moral Dilemmas
b. Feelings as Obstacles to Making the Right Decisions
c. Feelings can help in making the right decisions
◼ Week 6 - REASON & IMPARTIALITY
a. Definition
b. Seven Step Moral Reasoning Model
 COURSE COVERAGE
◼ Week 7 - MORAL COURAGE
a. The importance of Will and Moral Courage
b. Developing Will and Moral Courage
PROJECT: HELPING CHALLENGE applying moral courage
and willpower.
◼ Week 8 - BASIC THEORIES AS
FRAMEWORKS IN ETHICS
a. Meta-Ethics
b. Normative Ethics
c. Applied Ethics
◼ Week 9 - MIDTERM EXAMINATION
 COURSE COVERAGE
◼ Week 10 & 11 -VIRTUE ETHICS
a. Definition
b. Socrates & Plato’s Moral Philosophy
c. Aristotle’s Ethics
d. Thomas Aquinas Ethics
◼ Week 12- KANT & RIGHTS THEORY
a. Kantian Ethics
b. Rights theory
c. Legal rights & Moral rights
◼ Week 13 - UTILITARIANISM
 COURSE COVERAGE
◼ Week 14- JUSTICE & FAIRNESS
a. Rawl’s Justice as Fairness
b. Distributive Justice
c. State and Citizens Responsibilty
◼ Week 15 – GLOBALIZATION & PLURALISM:
NEW CHALENGES TO ETHICS
◼ Week 16- THE CHALLENGES OF FILINIALS
AND MILLENIALS
◼ Week 17 – THE ROLE OF RELIGION IN
ETHICS
◼ Week 18 - FINAL EXAMINATION
 Grading System
◼ Examinations 40%
◼ Other Requirements 60%
◼ Total 100%
◼ Examinations (70% passing rate)
◼ Midterm Exam 20
◼ Final Exam 20
◼ 40%
◼ Other Requirements
◼ Quizzes 25%
◼ Recitation 5%
◼ Class Attendance 10%
◼ 60%
 STANDARD TRANSMUTATION TABLE
FOR ALL COURSES
◼ 96.7 – 100.0 1.00 ◼ INC - Passed the course
◼ 93.4 – 96.6 1.25 but lack some
◼ 90.1 - 93.30 1.50 requirements.
◼ 86.7 – 90.0 1.75 ◼ Dropped- If unexcused
◼ 83.4 – 86.6 2.00 absence is at least 20% of
◼ 80.1 – 83.3 2.25 the Total Class Hours.
◼ 76.7 – 80.0 2.50 Total Class
◼ 73.4 – 76.6 2.75 Hours/Semester: (3 unit
◼ 70.00 – 73.3 3.00 Lec – 54 hrs; 2 unit Lec – 36
◼ 50.0-69.9 4.00 hrs)
◼ Below 50 5.00 (1 unit Lab – 54 hrs; 2 units
Lab – 108 hrs; 3 units Lab –
162 hrs)
 CLASS POLICIES
◼ Attendance
◼ Students are not allowed to have 20% or
more unexcused absences of the total class
hours; otherwise, they will be graded as
“DROPPED”.
◼
 Examination/ Evaluation
◼ Quizzes may be announced or unannounced.
◼ Mid-term and Final Examinations are scheduled.
◼ Cheating is strictly prohibited. A student who is caught
cheating will be given a score of ”0” for the first offense.
For the second offense, the student will be automatically
given a failing grade in the subject.
◼ Students who will miss a mid-term or final examination, a
laboratory exercise or a class project may be excused
and allowed to take a special exam, conduct a laboratory
exercise or pass a class project for any of the following
reasons:
◼ participation in a University/College-approved field trip or activity;
◼ due to illness or death in the family; and due to force majeure
or natural calamities.
 preface

Studying moral philosophies is thus

fundamental and necessary. ETHICS
helps in endorsing valuable moral and
social values like cooperation, social
responsibility, respect for human rights,
compliance with the law, and peace
preservation.
As the subject calls for rational and
righteous living, it encourages making
good choices and living a purposeful and
meaningful life.
 1. What is Ethics?
2. What is Morality
Ethics: branch of philosophy that studies morality
or the rightness or wrongness of human conduct.
- stands to queries about what there is reason to
do; deals with human actions and reasons for
action; concerned with character (from the Greek
‘ethos,’ which means ‘character’, or ‘manners’.)
- also called ‘moral philosophy’; a normative study
of human actions
Morality: speaks of a code or system of behavior
in regards to standards of right or wrong behavior
Ethics and Morality: oftentimes used
interchangeably; both carry the concept of moral
standards …or its called rules.
1. The Importance of Rules to Social Beings

Rules: regulations or principles governing conduct

within a specific activity or sphere.
a. Protect social beings by regulating behavior
-usually coupled w/ means to impose consequences on
those who violate them.
b. Help to guarantee people certain rights and
freedom
-laws/rules are outlined in what is called constitution w/c
protects human rights.
c. Produce a sense of justice among social beings
-prevent exploitation and domination.
d. Essential for a healthy economic system
-e.g. ensure product safety, employee safety, and
product quality.
 2. Moral vs. Non-moral Standards
Moral standards: those relating to human behavior,
especially the distinction between good and bad
behavior
-involve rules about actions which are morally right
and wrong, and values on objects which are morally
good and bad
Non-moral standards: rules unrelated to moral or
ethical considerations; either not necessarily linked to
morality or by nature lack ethical sense
Examples: rules of etiquette, fashion standards, rules
in games, and various house rules
Reflections: religious rules, some traditions, and legal
statutes (i.e. laws and ordinances)….
 Six (6) Characteristics of Moral Standards
1. Involve serious wrongs or significant benefits
-deal with matters which can seriously impact, that is,
injure or benefit human beings.
2. Ought to be preferred to other values
-have hegemonic authority (overriding character); take
precedence over other considerations (like aesthetic,
prudential, and even legal ones)
3. Not established by authority figures
-not invented or generated by authoritative bodies (e.g.
legislative bodies); cannot be changed nor nullified by the
decisions of authoritative bodies
-their validity lies on the soundness or adequacy of the
reasons that support and justify them
 Six (6) Characteristics of Moral Standards
4. Have the trait of universalizability
-means that everyone should live up to moral standards
and moral principles must apply to all who are in the
relevantly similar situation
5. Based on impartial considerations
-require that we give equal and/or adequate consideration
to the interests of all concerned parties
6. Associated with special emotions and vocabulary
- Have practical or action-guiding nature (prescriptivity);
appear as injunction or imperatives (such as, ‘Do not kill’)
- proposed for use, to advise, and to influence action;
used to assign praise and blame, and produce feelings of
satisfaction or of guilt
 3. Dilemma and Moral Dilemma
Dilemma: a situation in which a tough choice has to be
made between two or more options, especially more or less
equally undesirable ones
Note: “…not all dilemmas are moral dilemmas”
Moral dilemmas: situations in which a difficult choice has to
be made between two courses of action, either of which
entails transgressing a moral principle. It involves conflicts
between moral requirements
Example from the Book I of Plato’s Republic:
“… Socrates suggests that it would be wrong to repay
certain debts—
another example…not to return a borrowed weapon to a
friend who is not in his right mind is right. … What we have
here is a conflict between two moral norms: repaying one's
debts and protecting others from harm …”
 Key Features of a Moral Dilemma
(a) the agent is required to do each of two (or more)
actions;
(b) the agent can do each of the actions; but the agent
cannot do both (or all) of the actions;
In Plato’s example, one can say that the moral
requirement to protect others from serious harm overrides
the ethical requirement to repay one's debts.
But some ethicists propose that when one of the
conflicting moral requirements overrides the other, the
case is not a ‘genuine moral dilemma.’ Thus, in addition to
the two features above, in order to have a genuine moral
dilemma, some add that it must also be the case that:
(c) neither of the conflicting moral requirements is
overridden
 4. Three Levels of Moral Dilemmas
a. Personal Dilemmas
-those experienced and resolved on the personal
level.
CASE study #1
(1957)Jean-Paul Sartre’s case example:
“… a student whose brother had been killed in the
German offensive of 1940. The student wanted to
avenge his brother and to fight forces that he
regarded as evil. But the student's mother was living
with him, and he was her one consolation in life ….
 4. Three Levels of Moral Dilemmas
a. Personal Dilemmas
-those experienced and resolved on the
personal level.
CASE #1
Sartre describes him as being torn between
two kinds of morality: … personal devotion to
his mother [and] … attempting to contribute to
the defeat of an unjust aggressor.”
 4. Three Levels of Moral Dilemmas
a. Personal Dilemmas
-Otherexamples:
1. Making conflicting promises

2. Choosing between the life of a child who is

about to be delivered and the child’s mother.
 4. Three Levels of Moral Dilemmas
b. Organizational Dilemmas
- ethical cases encountered and resolved by social
organizations; include moral dilemmas in business,
medical field, and public sector.
Examples:
- withdrawing life support from a dying patient (human life
should not be deliberately shortened vs. unpreventable
pain should not be tolerated)
- whether or not to favor family, friends, or campaign
contributors over other constituents; favoring the agenda
of one’s political party over a policy one believes to be
good for the community; accepting gifts if it is legally
permitted but creates the appearance of impropriety.
 4. Three Levels of Moral Dilemmas
c. Structural Dilemmas
- cases involving network of institutions and operative
theoretical paradigms; encompass multi-sectoral
institutions and organizations; may be larger in scope and
extent than organizational ones
Case: relatively higher prices of medicines in the
Philippines Factors: the cost of research, presence of
competition in the market, government regulations, and
patent protection
Lowering the costs of medicine:
(+) benefits the Filipino public
(-) ruins the interests or legal rights of the involved
researchers, inventors or discoverers, and
pharmaceutical companies
 5. ‘Only human beings can be ethical’
Human beings' posses ’ traits that make it possible
for them to be moral:
a. Only human beings are rational, autonomous, and
self-conscious.
-We can achieve certain values and goods that outweigh
those that non-rational, non-autonomous, and non-self-
conscious beings are capable of realizing.
-For instance, in order to attain the kind of dignity and
self-respect that we have, a being must be able to
conceive of itself as one among many, and must be able
to consciously select his actions rather than be led by
blind instinct.
 5. ‘Only human beings can be ethical’
Some human beings’ traits that make it possible for
them to be moral:
b. Only human beings can act morally or immorally.
- Strictly speaking, an animal which devours another
animal cannot be said to be immoral. And no matter how
‘good’ an animal’s action seems to be, it cannot be
technically said to be moral.
- Only beings that can act morally can be required to
sacrifice their interests for the sake of others. Animals
could not really sacrifice their own good for the sake of
others, but would even pursue their good at the expense
of others.
 5. ‘Only human beings can be ethical’
Some human beings’ traits that make it possible for
them to be moral:
c. Only human beings are part of the moral
community.
- Moral community is defined in terms of the essential
social relations that exist between or among beings.
- only human beings can communicate with each other,
engage in economic, political, and familial relationships,
form deep personal relationships, and extend real
concern to other members of the moral community.
-Only human beings can possess or practice values such
as love, honor, social relationships, forgiveness,
compassion, and altruism; and participate in a collective
cognition.
 6. Freedom as a Foundation of Morality
- Morality is a question of choice and is about choosing
ethical codes, values, or standards to guide us in our daily
lives. Philosophically, choosing is impossible without
freedom.
- Animals cannot be truly ethical for they are not really
autonomous or free. Likewise, a beneficial robot cannot
be said to be moral, for it has no freedom or choice but to
work according to its built-in program.
- Morality requires and allows choice. In daily lives,
people make the choice to give to charities, donate time
and money to schools, mentor children, open businesses,
or protest against animal cruelty.
- Practically, the sum of our choices defines our specific
‘morality.’
 7. Minimum Requirement for Morality:
Reason and Impartiality
James Rachels (1941-2003) holds that moral judgments must
be backed by sound reasoning and that morality requires the
impartial consideration of all parties involved.
Reason entails that human feelings may be important in
ethical decisions, but they ought to be guided by sound
reasoning. It helps us to evaluate whether our feelings and
intuitions about moral cases are correct and defensible.
Impartiality involves the idea that each individual’s interests
and point of view are equally important. Also called
evenhandedness or fair-mindedness, it is a principle of justice
stating that decisions ought to be based on objective criteria,
rather than on the basis of bias, prejudice, or preferring the
benefit to one person over another for improper reasons.
V. EVALUATION: DEBATE/ Sound Reasoning
Case Study
◼Selected movie scene from
“Vertical Limit”. (3:48 time
played.)
◼YOUTUBE
link :https://www.youtube.co
m/watch?v=Q0gx_D--iDw
 Assignment: pass it with in this Week
1. Recall some rules you have to follow in school and
community. What rules do you find constricting?
Explain why you have to follow rules.
2. When do you say something is a moral
experience?
3. Discuss about student’s moral dilemma/s?
4. From the Video clip. Identify and explain, what
level of moral dilemma? Please include some
reflection.