Ethics

• Good life


  What every man always seeks
• Before man became conscious of his existence, life was indeed good
• People before the ancient times never considered the self and the other person as a problem since they were living in a utopia
• State of nature


  Early people were living their life according to how it should be lived
• Civilization


  Led man to think in time and space
• The people's concept of time led them to interpret nothing into something
• Human beings will always look for the cause and effect in all their actions
• Because of this, when man thinks he always seeks concrete answers to the problem – causal and material
• Human person


  The only earthly creature who has the capacity to ask questions about the meaning of his life
• John Locke's view of human person

  Thinking intelligent being that has reason and reflection and can consider itself as itself, the same thinking being in different time and places
• John Locke's view on goodness


  Everyone will have the capability of distinguishing the good from the bad, at the same time everyone will always incline himself towards goodness – but the concept of goodness will always be in reference to pain
• Immanuel Kant's view of human person

  Autonomous self-regulating will who is capable of making moral decisions by and for himself
• Viktor Frankl's view of human person

  • Able to live and even to die for the sake of his ideals and values
  • In constant search for the meaning of all his actions, he will naturally strive hard in order to find a meaning in life and finding this meaning in his own life becomes the primary motivational force in a human person
  • Ultimately self-determining – human person does not simply exist rather, he always decides what his existence will be and what he will become in the next moment
  • Capable of distinguishing the good from the bad – this is the very reason why a human person will orient himself towards the truth and goodness
  • Truth and goodness become the source of value for the human person
  • Man's orientation towards the truth and goodness binds him towards an affirmation of the spiritual freedom and dignity of the other person and thereby makes him responsible for the welfare and dignity of other persons as well
  • As a human person is the only creature who is endowed with reason, he is the only creature who has the capacity to valuing and loving especially to those things whom he will consider a source of goodness
  • Because of the rationality of the human person, he becomes capable of knowing the importance of searching for truth and goodness. Eventually, the search for truth and goodness become the very reason why the human person exist
• Erich Fromm's view of conscience


  • Enables the person to know what ought to be done in order to become his own self
  • Became also the reason why the human person becomes aware of the goals of life, as well as norms for the attainment of such goals
• St. Thomas Aquinas' view of conscience


  • What constitutes the human person as a moral subject
  • The human person discovers the moral law because of his conscience
  • It is also the means why the human person aspires for the good and discovers the affirmation of the spiritual freedom as well as the dignity of the other person– it also is responsible for making the human person aware of the welfare and dignity of the other person
  • Conscience refers to the totality of the human person, that is, the absolute structure of a person– it is the conscience that makes human beings moral persons
• Because of the development of science and technology, man's concept of goodness has changed
• Before, this concept of goodness is related so much to the norm of morality
• When the human person began to taste a more pleasurable life brought about by technological advancements, man's concept of goodness is now related to the physical pleasures
• For the modern people, the basis of morality does not anymore lie on the value of judgement but rather, on the measurement of pleasure and pain
• Because of this, human being's desire for happiness has led him to do activities that is contrary to what he ought to do
• Ethics is not meant to teach students to justify any ethical theories or to make a judgement as to which ethical theories will be better when compared with the others
• Ethical principles of the different moral philosophers will be assessed as to whether they will be capable of providing a particular moral standard in the justification of any moral issues as well as in the justification of good life
• Plato's view of ethics


  Ethics is the Supreme Philosophy because it deals with the attainment of man's highest good – happiness
• It is important that contemplation is combined with one's personal experience, observation, reflection, and tradition in order to obtain concrete and strong ethical beliefs and practices