GECETH MODULE 1
SCOPE AND MEANING
OF ETHICS
Course contents
COURSE OUTCOMES:
• CLO1. Differentiate between moral and non-moral
• problems.
• CLO2. Describe what a moral experience is as it
• happens in different levels of human
• experience.
• CLO4. Describe the elements of moral development
• and moral experience.
Why do we need to study Ethics?
Definition of Ethics
• Ethics is about matters such as the good
things 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.
• It may involve obligations that we are
expected to fulfill, prohibitions that we are
required to respect, or ideals that we are
encouraged to meet.
• Ethics as a subject for us to study is
about determining the grounds for the
values with particular and special
significance to human life.
General Ethics
•General Ethics is a
philosophical inquiry
concerning norms of
morality, its clarification,
justification, and application
in relation to good life.
General Ethics Elements
What is goodness?
Aristotle
• According to Aristotle, the goodness
of an action lies in the action itself
whatever consequences it may
occur.
• For instance, the act of “truth
telling”, whatever consequences it
may incur, is good itself. What is
essential is you do the right things
base on your deliberation on what is
good.
•
•The good for Aristotle is
attainable by action. It is
not something beyond
the practical life of man.
•For Aristotle, however,
the good is a human act
and not an abstract idea.
Value
• According to the Voluntarist
conception, valuing is the ground
value. A thing can only be valuable
when it is valued; therefore, it has
no intrinsic value.
Good in relation to Value
• On the contrary, if value are will, choice or desire
independent, how can it be an action guiding? How can it
stimulate action if it is not valuable to a person?
• Good is everything that is desirable but we know for a fact
that there are things that we do not value but valued by
others. In other words, not just because a thing is not
desirable for me, it does not have value.
• On the other hand, the value of something may not be
intrinsic but in the state potentiality which can be
actualized and achieved through valuation.
Virtue
• it is formed through action, by performing an action.
• Virtue is a disposition or character that enables it’s
possessor to perform a noble or good action according to
the mean as determined by practical wisdom.
• It is a character formed through habit
Virtue
• If an action is done by a person of good
character, that action can be called virtuous
action.
• Virtue is a character and a person who has a
virtuous character performs a good action and
performs for the sake of performing good action,
not for other reason.
• For instance, a person may perform a generous
act but intends other people to see his action.
• However, to a virtuous person, what is
significant is the performance of good action and
not the reaction of other people towards the
action.
Different Applied Fields in Ethics
• 1. Bioethics/Biomedical Ethics -
concerned with the rightness or
wrongness of procedures that are
performed in the practice of medicine and
the provision of health care systems.
Different Applied Fields in Ethics
• 2. Environmental Ethics
• It covers acceptable or unacceptable actions affecting the
environment (De Castro & De Villa, 2012). As what one of
the green movements’ slogan is saying, “harm to the
environment will bring harm to the people.” So this
particular ethical field promotes the welfare of human
beings by promoting the well being of the environment
since we are part of it.
Different Applied Fields in Ethics
• 3. Business Ethics - concerned with what is acceptable
and unacceptable business code of conducts are affecting
the business enterprises. And when speaking of the
business enterprise, it includes both the owner or investor
and or the consumer.
• This field measures and establishes guidelines for the
economic dynamics as a whole, including the moral
aspect of the supply and demand, the benefits-cost-profit
ratio, rule of competition and fair opportunity for the
consumers.
Different Applied Fields in Ethics
•4. Legal Ethics - norms of conduct
or standards that law practitioners,
such as judges, lawyers, notary
public, law makers, must follow in
the practice of the profession
Relation of Ethics With Other
Sciences
• Ethical science is particularly
concerned with the study of man and
human conduct and is, therefore,
especially related to all those sciences
dealing with the study of human nature
and human living.
Relation of Ethics With Other
Sciences
Relation of Ethics With Other
Sciences
Morality and Other Phases of Human
Life
• Ethics and Education
• Education develops the whole man: his
moral, intellectual and physical capacities.
Since man, however, is primarily a rational
moral being (endowed with reason and will,
which ranks him above brute creation), the
primary objective of education should be the
development of these powers in man, which
consists his true perfection.
Morality and Other Phases of Human
Life
Morality and Other Phases of Human
Life
• Religion and Ethics
The relationship between religion and ethics is the closest
among the phases of human activity. This is evident from
the following considerations:
• A) Both of these are based on the same postulates: 1.
The existence of a Creator 2. Freedom of the will of man
3. Immortality
• B) Both have the same end- the attainment of man’s
supreme purpose or man’s ultimate end.
• C) Both prescribe the same means for attaining the goal
of man: right living.
The Importance of Ethics
The Importance of Ethics
• Thank
you!