Ethics - Lecture 1

• Ethics may refer to the philosophical study of the concepts of moral right and wrong and moral good and bad, to any philosophical theory of what is morally right and wrong or morally good and bad, and to any system or code of moral rules, principles, or values.
• Ethics as a branch of Philosophy - the essence of philosophy is to question what is considered truth.
• Philosophy and ethics form a more complex relationship which provides people with different perspectives of reasoning to understand how right differs from wrong.
• Philosophy is a study of general and fundamental problems concerning matters such as existence, knowledge, values, and reason.
• Ethics is a branch of philosophy, involves systematizing, describing, and recommending concepts of right and wrong.
• Major areas of Ethics are Metaethics, Normative Ethics, and Ethics of Religion.
• Metaethics attempts to determine the meanings of terms such as right, good, virtue, justice, etc.
• Major metaethical theories include Cognitivism, Intuitionism, Naturalism, and Subjectivism.
• Cognitivism maintains that moral judgement can

  be true or false and can be subject of knowledge or cognition.
• Intuitionism is a human knowledge of what is

  considered good and bad is immediate and self-evident.
• Naturalism is a moral terms that are complex matters and can be established through scientific investigation.
• Subjectivism holds that moral judgements are subjective and that are no objective moral truths.
• Normative Ethics is the study of ethical actions and questions the standards of what is considered morally good or bad.
• Three main types of normative ethical theory include Consequentialism, Deontological Ethics, and Virtue Ethics.
• Consequentialism - the moral worth of an action is determined by potential consequences.
• Deontological Ethics is the study of rightness and wrongness of the actions regardless of their consequences
• Virtue Ethics is the study of a person’s character and the virtues for determining or evaluating ethical behavior.
• Ethics of Religion - religion is a system of beliefs and practices by which people relate their lives to a supernatural force or being such as God.
• Philosophy is embedded in different disciplines as its goal is to seek the truth.
• Philosophy Inquiry is a method geared towards arriving at a clear meaning of common human issues in everyday life.
• Logic is the science and art of correct thinking. It uses methods to achieve accuracy and objectivity in explaining valid logical argument.
• Argument - composed of premise and conclusion.
• Premise - the assumption that something is true.
• Conclusion - claim has been reached through the process of reasoning and justified by preceding premises.
• Epistemology - study of the theory of knowledge particularly its scope, method and validity.
• Metaphysics - study of the nature of things, of what is real and apparent.
• Moral skepticism- the main source of uncertainties and conflicts.
• Critical Thinking - objective analysis of facts to form a judgement.
• Scientific Method:

  1. Statement of the Problem
  2. Formulation of Hypothesis
  3. Gathering of Data
  4. Drawing the Conclusion
  5. Reporting the Results
• Statement of the Problem - identify the problem that needs solution.
• Formulation of Hypothesis - tentative explanation of the problem.
• Gathering of Data - surveys and case studies
• Drawing the Conclusion - conclusion is established and justified based in the pieces of evidence and findings.
• Reporting the Result - ensures researcher to verify the result and ensure that they are accurate.
• CRITICAL THINKING

  1. Be skeptical. Keep an open mind. Accept nothing as the truth until you have examined the evidence,
  2. Ask for evidence.
  3. Examine the definition of terms. Some statement are true when a term is defined in a certain way.
  4. Examine the assumptions or premise of argument.
  5. Be cautious in drawing conclusions from evidence.
  6. Consider alternative interpretations of evidence.
  7. Do not oversimplify.
  8. Do not overgeneralize.
  9. Apply critical thinking to areas of life.
• Moral Dilemma are instances when individuals are confronted with conflicting answers to the questions, “what is right?” Answers to this question come from various sources.
• Moral Dilemma - A situation in which a difficult choice has to be made between two courses of action, either of which entails transgressing a moral principle (English Oxford Dictionary).
• Moral Dilemma relates primarily to the Principle of Double Effect that takes roots in the teaching of St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica.
• Personal Experience - things that individual gains everyday from social interactions.
• Conflict - involves opposing values, beliefs, and norms.