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ETHICS (Philosophy 2)
Self-Learning MODULE (SLM)- First Quarter

Course: ETHICS

Course Credit: Three (3) units

Contact hours/week: THREE (3) hrs/week

Pre-requisite: NONE

Instructor: MR. FITZ G. JANDA

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Part I
The Moral Agent

Ethics is central to humans. The study of ethics enables humans, as moral agents, to
obtain factual information about the different aspects of life, particularly the moral. Part I
introduces students to the nature and methodology of ethics as branch of philosophy, with
specific focus on philosophical inquiry which allows humans to understand what is good
for people and the society. This part includes the principles that govern moral decisions
when one is confronted with moral issues. It also sheds light on the relationship between
ethics and culture as well as explains how culture shapes moral behaviour. It is organized
into five modules:

Module 1 Ethics and Philosophical Inquiry

 Ethics as a branch of Philosophy

 Major Areas of Ethics
 Philosophical Methods of Inquiry

Module 2 Ethics as a Study

 The Good Life

 Origin of Ethics
 What ethics Studies
 Relation to other Studies
 Presupposition of Ethics
 Method of Ethics

Module 3 Human Conduct

 Human Acts
 Background of Choice
 Commanded Acts
 Ethical Constitution of Human Act
 Voluntariness
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Module 4 Emotion
 Introduction to Emotion
 Emotion
 Mood
 Desire
 Emotion as Judgment
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Module 1 : Ethics and Philosophical Inquiry

Learning Outcomes

At the end of this module, the students should be able to:

1. Define the major branches of Philosophy and ethics;

2. Determine the importance of philosophical inquiry; and
3. Apply the principles of critical thinking.

This module discusses the branches, methods, and objectives of philosophical inquiry.
Philosophers usually conduct philosophical inquiries for various reasons. One is ascertaining
reality or the existence of things and other is knowing the causes and outcomes of good and
bad behaviors.

Ethics as a Branch of Philosophy

Humans have the innate tendency to know the truth. The essence of philosophy is
to question what is considered the truth. Philosophical Inquiry involves questioning beliefs
and assumptions of reality and how it works. It questions the truth and what it means to be
human outside of experience and observation. Philosophical activity is practical because it
challenges what and how humans think and act. Philosophy is the study of general and
fundamental problems concerning matters such as existence, knowledge, values and
reason. It provides the principle that develop skills for critical thinking to better
understand and evaluate the world.

Philosophers also raise questions about moral behaviors such a: What is good? How
can be good be distinguished from evil? What is the difference between moral and immoral?
What is Justice? Philosophers seek to find answers to theses questions, which are often the
basis of human behaviors. They need to learn the factors that influence moral or immoral,
good or bad behaviors, and apply this knowledge to understand the nature of humans and
society.

Philosophy and ethics form a more complex relationship which provides people
with different perspectives of reasoning in order to understand how right differs from
wrong. Ethics, as a branch of philosophy, involves systematizing, describing and
recommending concepts of right and wrong. As such, ethics takes on the essence of
philosophy which is to address what happens once what is right is distinguished from
what is wrong.
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Major Areas of Ethics

1. Metaethics attempts to determine the meanings of terms such as right, good, virtue,
justice, etc. Among the approaches in metaethics are cognitivism, intuitionism, naturalism
and subjectivism. Cognitivism maintains that moral judgment can be true or false and can
be a subject of knowledge or cognition. Intuitionism suggests that human knowledge of
what is considered good and bad is immediate and self-evident. Naturalism suggests that
moral terms are complex matters and can be established through scientific investigation.
Subjectivism holds that moral judgments are subjective and that there are no objective
moral truths. Subjectivism is a form of moral skepticism that doubts the absolute moral
truth and asserts that no one can have absolute knowledge about it.

2. Normative Ethics is the study of ethical actions and questions the standard of what is
considered morally good or evil. It is concerned with questions such as why should one be
moral and how can one tell what is right and wrong. Normative Ethics has three major (3)
theories--consequentialism, deontological ethics and virtue ethics. In consequentialism,
the moral worth of an action is determined by its potential consequences. Thus, form
consequentialist perspective, an act is considered morally good if it produces a positive
outcome. Deontological ethics is the study of the rightness and wrongness of the actions
themselves regardless of their consequences. Simply put, deontological ethics is the study
of duty. Virtue ethics is the study of a person’s character and the virtues for determining or
evaluating ethical behavior.

3. Ethics of Religion. Religion is a system of beliefs and practices by which people relate
their lives to a supernatural for or being such as God. Most religious possess an ethical
code. Thus, philosophers regard that there can be no morality without religion as it is
necessary to live ethically. Ethics and religion are best viewed as complementing systems.

Philosophical Methods of Inquiry

Philosophy is embedded in different disciplines as its goal is to seek the truth.

Branches of Philosophy present different methods of inquiry in knowing and
understanding the truth. As a discipline, philosophy relies on a specific method of inquiry
in order to find answers to the kinds of questions that philosophers deal with. The aim of
philosophical inquiry is to question the truth, reason, reality, knowledge, ethics and
morality. When conducting a philosophical inquiry, philosophers employ a methodology,
which is a set of systematic procedures that guide the inquiry.

Philosophical inquiry is a method geared towards arriving at a clear meaning of

common human issues in everyday life. People have been and are exposed to different
perceptions of the world. They are expected to respond to a variety of human issues. There
are may philosophical approaches people can apply to effectively understand human
nature and its relationship to everyday situations.
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In order to address philosophical questions, a philosopher must be logical. Logic is

the science and art of correct thinking. It uses the methods to achieve accuracy and
objectivity in explaining what is valid logical argument. In logic, an argument is composed
of premises and a conclusion. A premise is an assumption that something is true. From
initial premises, philosophers try to work out answers to basic philosophical questions. A
conclusion is a claim that has been reached through the process of reasoning and is
justified by preceding premises. Formulating philosophical arguments is an important part
of the philosophical method. Philosophers usually offer arguments for the different claims
they make. Thus, this indicated that philosophy is a quest for the most logical and valid
arguments.

Logic provides a means of analyzing basic concepts to determine if they are true or
false, valid or invalid, and consistent or inconsistent. It plays an important role in the
history of philosophy. Almost all human knowledge is founded on logical analysis.
However, logic is not enough to find answers to philosophical questions. In order to arrive
at answers to philosophical questions, it is important to prioritize relevant facts
surrounding the question. Specific criteria are needed for selecting the facts relevant to the
issue. Applying a theory helps to determine what facts should be considered in an
explanation (Archie and Archie, 2004).

Philosophical Inquiry provides an explanation that only leads to further inquiry

which reflects the general nature of philosophy. This is in connection to the aim of ethics at
systematic knowledge. People are exposed to many problems and the challenge is to come
up with critical and practical solutions using their own thinking and reasoning form their
ethical perspective. This means applying ethical theories to actual life experiences
supported by personal evaluation in terms of importance and practicality. Philosophical
Inquiry is guided by theories which are crucial for the prediction and control of behavior.

Epistemology is also the study of the theory of knowledge particularly its scope,
method, and validity. It deals with how knowledge relates to similar notions such as truth,
belief and justification. Humans can only attain the truth if they are certain that their
philosophy is based on facts or pieces of evidence.

Ethics is also related to metaphysics. Metaphysics is the study of the nature of

things, of what is real and apparent. It explores the nature of existence, identity, home,
space and others. In ethics, philosophical inquiry is prompted by uncertainties or
conflicting opinions about duty, morality, and justice in certain situations. Uncertainties
and conflicts are the main source of moral skepticism.
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Key Points

 Ethics and philosophical inquiry are used to obtain factual information about the
different aspects of life, particularly the moral.
 Philosophy is defined as the study of general and fundamental problems
concerning existence, knowledge, values and reason.
 Philosophical inquiry enables one to understand what is good and bad.
 Ethics is a branch of philosophy concerned with morality, its fundamentals and
standards.
 In ethics,uncertainties or conflicting opinions about morality lead to philosophical
inquiry.
 Uncertainties and conflicts are the main sources of moral skepticism. Thus, there
is a need for scientific method and critical thinking.