GE-1 ETHICS

THE ETHICAL DIMENSION

OF HUMAN EXISTENCE
LESSON 1
WHAT IS THE PURPOSE
OF HUMAN EXISTENCE?
VALUE
VALUE
▪ Ethics, generally speaking, is about
matters such as the good thing that we
should pursue and the bad thing that we
should avoid; the right ways in which we
could or should act and the wrong ways
of acting.
▪ It is about what is acceptable and
unacceptable in human behavior.
VALUE
▪ It may involve obligations that we are
expected to fulfill, prohibitions that we
are required to respect, or ideals that we
are encourage to meet.
▪ Ethics as a subject for us to study about
determining the grounds for the values
with particular and special significance
to human life.
CLARIFICATIONS AND TERMINOLOGY:
FIRST POINT
KINDS OF VALUATION
- This new movie I had just seen was a “good” one
because I enjoyed it.
- A song I just heard on the radio was a “bad” one
because it had unpleasant tone.
THIS WERE NOT PART OF ETHICS
This is called AESTHETICS
AESTHETICS
▪ Derived from the Greek word
aisthesis (“sense” or “feeling”) and
refers to the judgments of personal
approval or disproval that we make
about what we see, hear, smell, or
taste.
CLARIFICATIONS AND TERMINOLOGY
KINDS OF VALUATION
- I may think that it is “right” to knock politely
on someone’s door.
- It is “wrong” to barge into one’s office.
THIS WERE NOT PART OF ETHICS
This is called ETIQUETTE
ETIQUETTE
▪ It is concerned with right and
wrong actions, but those which
might be considered not quite
enough to belong to a discussion
on ethics.
CLARIFICATIONS AND TERMINOLOGY
KINDS OF VALUATION
- I knew how to bake properly, and this was the
right thing to do in baking.
- Obeying the rules in basketball makes senses
in the context of the game.
THIS WERE NOT PART OF ETHICS
This is called TECHNIQUE
TECHNIQUE
▪ It is derived from the Greek word
techne the English words “technique”
and “technical” which are often used
to refer to a proper way or (or right
way) of doing things, but a technical
valuation (or right and wrong technique
of doing things).
▪ Are clothes always matter of taste or
would provocative clothing call for some
kind of moral judgement?

▪ Can we say that a man who verbally

abuses his girlfriend is simply showing
bad manners or does this behavior
deserves stronger moral condemnation?
▪ Is it ever okay to lie? If yes, when is it
acceptable?

▪ Is it always wrong to be selfish?

▪ Should you help others even if it's

inconvenient for you?
▪ Should you apologize even if you don't
think you did anything wrong?

▪ Is it okay to break a promise if you have

a good reason?

▪ Should you always follow the rules, or is

it sometimes okay to break them?
ETHICS AND MORALS
ETHICS AND MORALS
SECOND POINT
- The difference between words “
Ethics” and “Morals”.
- It includes cognates such as ethical,
unethical, immoral, amoral, morality,
and so on.
MORALS
- It refers to specific beliefs or attitudes that
people have or to describe the acts that
people perform. Thus, it is sometimes said
that an individuals' personal conduct
referred to as his morals, and he falls short
of behaving properly, this can be described
as immoral.
- However, we also have term such as “moral
judgement” or “moral reasoning”, which
suggest a more rational respect.
ETHICS
- A disciple of studying and understanding
ideal human behavior and ideal ways of
thinking.
- It is an intellectual discipline belonging
to philosophy. However, acceptable and
unacceptable behaviors are also
generally described as ethical and
unethical, respectively.
ETHICS
- “Professional ethics” (e.g., legal
ethics for the proper comportment
of lawyers and other people in the
legal profession; medical ethics
for doctors and nurses; and media
ethics for writers and reporters).
PHILOSOPHY
- Rooted from the Greek words that translate
to “love of wisdom” (philia is the noun
often translated into English as some form
of “friendship” or “love”, while Sophia is
the noun often translated into English as
“wisdom”).
- More specifically, the word “philosophy”
had been first used by thinkers to refer to
their striving to better understand reality
in a maintained and systematic manner.
DESCRIPTIVE AND NORMATIVE
THIRD POINT
-Difference between a descriptive
and normative study of ethics.
DESCRIPTIVE STUDY OF ETHICS
A descriptive study of ethics
reports how people, particularly
groups, make their moral valuations
without making any judgement either
for or against these valuations.
NORMATIVE STUDY OF ETHICS
A normative study of ethics, as is often
done in philosophy or moral theology,
engages the question: What could or should be
considered as the right way of acting? In other
words, a normative discussion prescribes what
we ought to maintain as our standards or bases
for moral valuation.
ISSUE, DECISION, JUDGEMENT, AND
DILEMMA
FINAL POINT
-For instance, imagine a situation wherein a
person cannot afford a certain item, but then
the possibility presents itself for her to steal it.
This is a matter of ethics (and not just law) as
it involves the question of respect for one's
property.
ISSUE, DECISION, JUDGEMENT, AND
DILEMMA
We should add that "issue" is also
often used to refer to those particular
situations that are often the source of
considerable and inconclusive debate
(thus, we would often hear topics such as
capital punishment and euthanasia as
moral "issues").
ISSUE, DECISION, JUDGEMENT, AND DILEMMA
FINAL POINT
When one is placed in a situation and
confronted by the choice of what act to
perform, she is called to make a moral
decision.
For instance, I choose not to take something
I did not pay for. When a person is an
observer who makes an assessment on the
actions or behavior of someone, she is
making a moral judgment.
ISSUE, DECISION, JUDGEMENT, AND
DILEMMA
FINAL POINT
Finally, going beyond the matter of choosing
right over wrong, or good over bad, and
considering instead the more complicated
situation wherein one is torn between
choosing one of two goods or choosing
between the lesser of two evils: this is referred
to as a moral dilemma.
ISSUE, DECISION, JUDGEMENT, AND
DILEMMA
We have a moral dilemma when an
individual can choose one from a
number of possible actions, and there
are compelling ethical reasons for the
various of choices.