Branches of philosophy:

Three types
Metaphysics
Philosophy of Religion Ethics 1. Business Ethics
Philosophy of Education 2. Biomedical and Environmental Ethics
Epistemology 3. Social Ethics
Logic
Aesthetics Example:
Cosmology A police officer shoots a terrorist who is about to blow up
Existentialism a crowded shopping mall.
Political
Philosophy Normative ethics (prescriptive) - The act of the police
officer is morally wrong.
Ethics Meta Ethics (descriptive and analytical) - It is the right
- derived from the Greek word ethos means character or thing to do in this in this particular situation.
custom.
- It is the study of the choices people make regarding DIFFERENCE BETWEEN MORAL AND NON-MORAL
right and wrong. STANDARDS.
- a critical and Systematic examination of the moral
quality of our life and standards of our way/s of living. Moral Standards
Involve the rules people have about the kinds of actions
Evolution of Ethics they believe are morally right and wrong, as well as the
values they place on the kinds of objects they believe
Greek Tradition are morally good and morally bad. Some ethicist equate
Is relating to a concept of “a good life” or ethics on that moral standards with moral values and moral principles.
time is in the concept on how to discover happiness.
Judeo – Christian Rules / norms + values = moral standards
Righteous before God , and the love of neighbor.
Norms – expressed as a general rules about our
Comparison between ethics and morality actions/behaviors
ex. Always tell the truth
Ethics Values – expressed a enduring beliefs or statements
- a “Theory “of right action and a greater good or, about is good and desirable or not.
- A “systematic study” of the underlying principles of Example: honest is good , injustice is bad
morality Example: Do not steal the belonging of other people
Do not harm others
Morality
- “practice” , rightness and wrongness of human action Non-moral standards
or, Refers to rules that are unrelated to moral or ethical
- “prescriptive by nature” considerations. Either these standards are not
- tells us what ought to do necessarily linked to morality or by nature no ethical
- urge us to follow the right way sense. Basic example of non-moral standards include
rules of etiquette, fashion standards, rules in games,
Therefore: and various house rules.
Ethics is the science of morals and morality is the Example: Do not talk if your mouth is full.
practice of ethics. Do not eat with your mouth open.

2oth century Six characteristics of moral standard

There are two ways or types of doing ethical A. Moral standards involve serious wrongs or
inquires: significant benefits.
The validity of moral standards comes from the line of
1. Normative ethics (prescriptive) - seeks to sets reasoning that was taken to back or support them, and
norms or standards that regulates right and wrong or thus are not able to be formed or changed by particular
good and bad conduct. bodies of authority. For instance, following or violating
(Do goods at all time!) some basketball rules may matter in basketball games
but does not necessarily affect one’s life or well-being.
2. Meta Ethics (descriptive and analytical) - aims to B. Moral standards ought to be preferred to other
understand the nature and dynamics of ethical values.
principles, how the moral beliefs was acquired (Sumner Moral standards have overriding character or hegemonic
1967) authority. If a moral standards states that a person has
(What is good?) the moral obligation to do something, then he/she is
supposed to do that even if it conflicts with other non-
Applied Ethics – is the actual application ethical and moral standards, and even with self-interest.
moral theories for the purpose of deciding which ethical
or moral action are appropriate in a given situation.
Moral standards are not the only rules or principles in neighbor’). These principles are proposed for use, to
society, but they take precedence over other advise, and to influence to action. Retroactively, this
considerations, including aesthetic, prudential, and even feature is used to evaluate behavior, to assign praise
legal ones. A person may be aesthetically justified in and blame, and to produce feelings of satisfaction or of
leaving behind his family in order to devote his life to guilt. If a person violates a moral standard by telling a lie
painting, but morally, all things considered, he/she even to fulfill a special purpose, it is not surprising if
probably was not justified. It may be prudent to lie to he/she starts feeling guilty or being ashamed of his
save one’s dignity, but it probably is morally wrong to do behavior afterwards. On the contrary, no much guilt is
so. When a particular law becomes seriously immoral, it felt if one goes against the current fashion trend (e.g.
may be people’s moral duty to exercise civil refusing to wear tattered jeans).
disobedience.
What are the difference between Moral Standards
There is a general moral duty to obey the law, but there and Non-moral Standards?
may come a time when the injustice of an evil law is
unbearable and thus calls for illegal but moral Morality is a complex of concepts and philosophical
noncooperation (such as the antebellum laws calling for beliefs by which an individual determines whether his or
citizens to return slaves to their owners). her actions are right or wrong. Often, these concepts
C. Moral standards are not established by authority and beliefs are generalized and codified in a culture or
figures group, and thus serve to regulate the behavior of its
Moral standards are not invented, formed, or generated members. Conformity to such codification is called
by authoritative bodies or persons such as nation’s morality.
legislative [Link] instead, these values ought to
be considered in the process of making laws. In principle THE MORAL AGENT
therefore, moral standards cannot be changed nor
nullified by the decisions of particular authoritative body. MAN AS THE MORAL AGENT
One thing about these standards, nonetheless, is that its  A moral agent is a person who has the ability to
validity lies in the soundness or adequacy of the reasons discern right from wrong and to be hold accountable
that are considered to support or justify them. for his or her own actions.
D. Moral standards have the trait of universalizability  A moral agent have a moral responsibility not to
Simply put, it means that everyone should live up to cause unjustified harm.
moral standards. To be more accurate, however, it
entails that moral principles must apply to all who are in
the relevantly similar situation. If one judges that act A is MORAL SUBJECT
morally right for a certain person P, then it is morally Human, Animals, Art, Environment
right for anybody relevantly similar to P. MORAL COMMUNITY
 Theoretically every person in the moral community
This characteristic is exemplified in the Gold Rule, “Do has equal, natural rights to moral protection.
unto others what you would them do unto you (if you  Consists of all those beings that one holds in moral
were in their shoes)” and in the formal Principle of regard
Justice, “It cannot be right for A to treat B in a manner in
which it would be wrong for B to treat A, merely on the
ground that they are two different individuals, and
without there being any difference between the natures
or circumstances of the two which can be stated as a
reasonable ground for difference of treatment.”
Universalizability is an extension of the principle of
consistency, that is, one ought to be consistent about
one’s value judgments.
E. Moral standards are based on impartial
consideration
Moral standard does not evaluate standards on the
basis of the interests of a certain person or group, but
one that goes beyond personal interests to a universal
standpoint in which each person’s interests are
impartially counted as equal.
Impartiality is usually depicted as being free of bias or
prejudice. Impartiality in morality requires that we give
equal and/or adequate consideration to the interests of
all concerned
parties.
F. Moral standards are associated with special
emotions and vocabulary
Prescriptivity indicates the practical or action-guiding
nature of moral standards. These moral standards are
generally put forth as injunction or imperatives (such as,
‘Do not kill,’ ‘Do no unnecessary harm,’ and ‘Love your