Ethics

1
Introduction to Ethics

Module 1 Introduction, Scope, and Meaning of

Ethics

At the end of this module, you are expected to:

1. Understand the importance of Ethics to Philosophy to Higher Learning
2. Elaborate on the importance of its contribution to Man’s development
3. Explain the definition of ethics, morality, and other phases of Human Life
4. Identify human acts

Ethics and Philosophy

What is Ethics? Why is it important to every society? First of all, let us define Ethics
– simply put, it is the Philosophy of Life. Critical thinking discerns men from brutes, making
men decide better than mere a priori judgment. The quality of life men lived is a testament
to man’s mental development. Ethics is the primary vehicle for men to reach the very
purpose of life – the pursuit of happiness. Since civilizations began their baby steps,
societies have been created to ensure their security from predators – real or imagined.
They have to create laws, but of what use is it if not guided by reason? And that is where
Ethics comes in. The written law is used to ensure order, but what is the ultimate source of
it all – ethics, no doubt. Ethics made men decide what is right or wrong, guided by reason
should ambiguity in the written law persists.
As we all know, nothing is perfect. Everything has flaws, and with that, confusion
comes in. Human Ethics are clouded by man's self-interest that interpretation of law and
order is as muddled as a needle in a haystack. As time went by, changes in the environment,
the complexities of the human world, and his thinking altered his understanding of Ethics.
That is an undeniable fact. Sadly leaders of the modern world lack ethical standards that, at
times, their morals are condescending.
In the current world, we are currently in, there are age-old questions that even
baffle geniuses, and they are: 1) what the supreme purpose of human living is? 2) What are
man's greatest good and perfection? 3) what is the ultimate objective of human strivings? Is
it attainable? 4) what is the summum bonum (highest good) of human life, and 5) what is
the root cause and remedy to human suffering.
Is man intrinsically good or evil? If we are to correlate man as part of the Animal
Kingdom, then men are bad. For example, co-workers in an office who display "decency" in
each other's presence but invent stories behind their backs to discredit them to their boss
and gain brownie points are a sure sign of a lack of professional ethics. We might say this is
immoral but logical just the same. We live in a dog-eat-dog world. Survival at all costs is the
name of the game. Which brings us to another philosophical question, why are not moral
acts not legal and vice versa? Going to church is moral, but why was this not legislated? In
the same way, why is divorce considered immoral to us Filipinos legally approved in other
Course Module
 societies? The decadence of ethics is not just limited to the business world. It has even
affected every aspect of society, such as sports and entertainment.

Ethics and Human Development

Humans are not born endowed with ethics as an inherent characteristic, but their
behavior jives with human development. The man initially behaves like a brute, and under
human development, he behaves less morally and more ethically. Ethics and morality are
interchangeable, for they are both patterns of human behavior but, in reality, are different.
Ethics refer to rules provided by an external source, such as laws, codes of conduct in
workplaces, or principles in religions. Morals, on the other hand, refer to an individual's
own principles regarding right and wrong. Ergo as man progressed, he deviated from his
clouded personal beliefs to a more socially acceptable norm.
Ethical human behavior depends on two things: personal development and human
development. Personal development, in general, is a process of internalizing values,
judgment, and thought; morally, it is a transition from what we should do to what is the
best thing to do. Human development is the combination of -collective- personal
development, and social development. The ethics of human behavior ranges from the
spectrum of low personal and human development to high personal and human
development. In time, man’s ethical development will also serve as his transition from a
self-indulging individual to a person endowed with knowledge that will aid him in his
pursuit of happiness.

A deeper understanding of Ethics

Ethics is a branch of philosophy that studies human acts and human conduct. However,
some subjects study human conduct, such as Psychology and Sociology. They are more concerned
with the morality of human acts. Ethics has a deeper meaning in its standpoint by further delving
into the aspect of human acts.

Noted definition of Ethics

1. Ethics is the practical science of the morality of human actions
2. Ethics is the scientific inquiry into the principles of morality
3. Ethics is the study of human conduct from the standpoint of morality
4. Ethics is the science of human acts with reference to right and wrong
Relation of Ethics with Other Sciences
1. Ethics and Logic – Logic is the science of right thinking and while Ethics is the
science of right living. Thinking and Doing things go hand-in-hand. We cannot
move without thinking right the same way. Every action is guided by reason.
2. Ethics and Psychology – The two subjects dealt with the study of man, human
nature, and human behavior, but that is all their similarity ends. Ethics is
interested in moral obligation, while Psychology ends there. Psychology only
tells us the causes of man's actions, which may be psychological or physiological,
but ethics tells us how a man should react.
3. Ethics and Sociology – as we all know, Sociology deals with the study of society
as well as the social order that regulates society as a whole. Any society is
doomed to fail if devoid of the correct basis of thinking. But then what is the
 Ethics
3
Introduction to Ethics

foundation of their social order if there is no basis of right and wrong, which is
Ethics.
4. Ethics and Economics – Napoleon once said that an army marches on its
stomach. In economics, man has to fulfill his economic needs. The need for
material wealth is inherent in man there are instances that economic topics need
ethical principles such as capital-labor relations, profit, interests, money et al.
The need to settle these conflicts must have an ethical basis to incur equitable
results.

Morality and Other Phases of Human Life

1. Ethics and Education – Education, whether formal or informal, is a never-ending
process and is the foundation of man's moral, intellectual and physical
capacities. But then again, education is illicit if ethics does not support it, they
say ethics is life the same way education is intertwined with life. Learning is
good but learning supported by ethics is better since ethics is living right.
2. Morality and Law – as mentioned in the previous module, not everything moral
is legal, and not everything legal is moral. Good things do not need legislation
and immoral acts that the State may approve. But to further differentiate, their
laws only used external acts while ethics cover man's "acts" that play in his mind
that will not incriminate him in any statute. For example, a plan for a robbery, if
discovered, is not criminally liable in any court of law, but ethics said it is a fault
for such an "act" is intrinsically evil.
3. Ethics and Politics - Man's constant search for happiness, temporal or eternal, is
never-ending. They say politics and ethics are poles apart – to a certain point,
that is correct. It is the very reason why politics become dirty, for they deviate
from ethics. Man's insatiable greed for wealth and power thru politics means the
absence of ethics. An ideal state should be an ethical state.
4. Ethics and Art – Ethics is about positive morality, while art is beauty. The
purpose of art is for appreciation that contributes to man's ethics. Beautiful
work of art will give a positive outlook to the looker that will be greatly
appreciated.
5. Religion and Ethics – Religion is ethics, and ethics is religion. They are
interchangeable for any religious belief tends to ethical standards in relation to
his most fundamental tenet. What unites them all boiled down to three things: a)
belief in the Supernatural, b) man's beginning and end, and c) right living.

Morality and Human Acts

Morality is the quality of goodness or badness in a human act. In this case, we base
judgment on any human action based on its ethicality. The quality of an act may be justified
according to its gravity. An evil human act may be considered "right" just as long as it can
be justified, leading us to its morality norm. By that term, we mean that the basis for

Course Module
 determining its correctness is the standard of the judging party and the reason why an act
is morally wrong or right.
Just like the word itself, human acts mean actions of men that are done willfully and
willingly. Keep in mind that scenarios beyond human control are not human acts, such as
rainfall, sunset, earthquake, or even the beating of the heart or blood circulation are
beyond human acts, for these are actions a man cannot control. In the case of
assassinations where the culprit pulled the trigger, the gun is not to blame but the doer of
the action that caused taking the life of another man. Once questioned, he has the right to
justify his action as either morally right or wrong.

References and Supplementary Materials

Books and Journals
1. Montemayor, Felix; Ethics the Philippines; Navotas Metro Manila; National Book Store
2. Agapay, Ramon B.; Ethics and the Filipinos; Mandaluyong Metro Manila, National
Book Store