INTRODUCTION TO ETHICS

• Three levels of moral dilemma:

  1. Systematic/Structural Level
  2. Organizational Level
  3. Individual/Personal Level
• Philosophy is the discipline in which we attempt to answer the deepest, basic questions about key areas or subject matters of our lives and about the significant aspects or our existence.
• The field of Philosophy is divided into:

  1. Logic
  2. Metaphysics
  3. Epistemology
  4. Ethics
• Ethics is derived from the Greek word ethos which means a characteristic way of acting.
• Ethos would refer to the characteristics belonging to man as a thinking and rational animal gifted with intellect and free will.
• Ethics is also known as Moral Philosophy.
• Ethics is the study of morality.
• Morality pertains to beliefs about right and wrong, good and evil.
• Belief refers to the set of values, rules, principles and theories of morality that guide our actions, define our values and gives us reasons for being.
• Examined life is a life guided and enriched by self-awareness or self-knowledge.
• Self-examination means that we should know what we desire and find out if it is morally acceptable.
• To know thyself is the first ethical imperative according to Socrates.
• Ethics is a tool that can help us investigate anything and everything about what we assume to know of ourselves as mortal beings.
• A moral standard guides us in distinguishing between which behavior is good or bad, right or wrong including how we and others value what is morally good or bad.
• Moral standards are ingrained in our psyche that going against them impacts our peace of mind resulting in feelings of regret that impels us to seek for atonement.
• Non-moral standards are sets of criteria by which something is judged as good or bad, right or wrong in a non-moral way.
• Non-moral standards are created or established by a person or a group to serve as a measure by which to gauge how good something or someone is based on some criteria.
• Situations that prod us to make a difficult choice, to look deeper into ourselves before we decide or consider what possible outcome our choice and actions will have is called a dilemma.
• In the context of moral philosophy in which we are to make a choice between two options, where neither one completely resolves the situation is known as moral dilemma.
• Responsibility is accountability for the task or duty that we are required or expected to do.
• Responsibility is the price of freedom.
• Freedom cannot be separated from responsibility.
• Reason is a statement that explains why something is the way it is, why someone does thinks, or says something or why someone behaves in certain way.
• A reason may also be a fact, condition or situation that makes it proper or appropriate to do something or feel something.
• Moral principles are the general guidelines for right conduct.
• Characteristics of Moral Principles:

  1. Prescriptivity
  2. Universalizability
  3. Overridingness
  4. Publicity
  5. Practicability
• Prescriptivity is the action-guiding principle of morality posed as injuctions and imperatives.
• Injunctions are granted by a court of equity wherein one is required to do or to refrain from doing a specified act.
• Imperatives are commands, rules or duty that is very important or necessary.
• Universalizability pertains to a rule that forbids us from treating ones person differently from another when there is no good reason to do so.
• Overridingness take precedence over other kinds of considerations, including aesthetic, prudential and legal ones.
• Publicity is the only way moral principles can be known.
• Moral systems mut be workable. Ethical systems take human limitations into consideration. Practicability consider the nature of human beings.
• Impartiality is defined as equal treatment for all people and all groups.
• Morality requires the impartial consideration for everyone's interests.
• Morality is the effort to guide one's action by reason while by giving equal weight to the interest of everyone affected by one's decision.
• When so much injustice results from a bad law, then this situation may call for an illegal but moral defiance. This is an example of overridingness.
• Do unto others what you would have them do unto you is an example of universalizability.
• 'Do not steal', 'Do not kill', 'Love one another' are examples of prescriptivity.
• Senate and Congressional hearings are made public for the people to be aware that the government is not tolerating graft and corruption. This is an example of publicity.