Ethics

• Ethical framework


  Will serve as our guide to what judgment we will take
• Meta ethics (WHY)


  • Cognitivism
  • Non Cognitivism
• Cognitivism


  • Moral Realism - independent from personal/humans perception and thought
  • Ethical Subjectivism - is dependent to his/her perception
• Non Cognitivism


  • Emotivism
  • Moral Universalism - opposite of relativism, if an action is bad, it is bad to everybody regardless to whatever culture,religion or one's feelings etc. you have
  • Moral Relativism - Relative goodness or badness referenced to subject culture personal opinion or belief
• Moral Empiricism, Moral Rationalism, Moral Intuitionism


  • Ones experience (own experience), they believe when you talk abt good or bad it must be the (kutob/gut feeling)
  • /reason/rationality, common sense, you need to have the experience by your senses to conclude if the action is good or bad
  • A source of understanding of good or bad
• Normative Ethics (WHAT)


  • Deontological - judge the action base on duty "is this my duty?"
  • Teleology - concern about the consequence of the action
  • Virtue Ethics - character formation, "who performs the action"
• Applied Ethics (WHERE)


  • Bioethics
  • Environmental
  • Business
  • Sexual
  • Social
• Virtue Ethics


  A moral theory that focuses on the development of virtuous character
• Virtue ethics


  • Character is the key to the moral life, for it is from a virtuous character that moral conduct and values naturally arise
  • Emphasizes individuals character and personality traits instead of their actions or the particular duties they are obliged to obey
  • Emphasizes cultivating good virtues
• Central concepts of virtue ethics

  • Virtue (arete) - refers to genuine moral excellence of character
  • Eudaimonia - humans should act in ways that seek purpose and meaning
  • Practical Wisdom (phronesis) - refers to the importance of rational decision-making based on empirical evidence
• Virtues


  • Engrained dispositions to act by standards of excellence
  • A trait-like strength that leads to morally and socially valued actions
  • Difficult to practice continually
  • Their opposites are unethical
  • Kind actions are ethical
  • Unkind actions are unethical
• Plato's Virtue Ethics


  • Life of proportionality
  • To know the good is to do good
  • Ignorance is the primary cause if evil
  • Material world is not the ultimate reality but rather the world in the world of idea
  • Divine life
  • Beauty (good) must be enjoyed
  • Expose yourself to the beauty appreciate it mirror our life on it
  • Embracing the good life
  • Live a Life of Contemplation
• Plato's Three Souls


  • Intellectual soul - most important
  • Will soul - courage
  • Desire soul- moderation
• Aristotle's Virtues Ethics


  • What does the person fundamentally desire or goal in life?
  • Happiness: The end of our life is happiness
  • Eudaimonia
  • Phronesis
  • Empirical evidence (mahalaga ung nakikita)
• Nicomachean Ethics


  • Highest good; natural objective
  • Flourishing | enjoyment happiness
  • Capacity to reason
• Saint Thomas Aquinas Natural Law Ethics

  • Aristotle + God
  • All human actions are governed by general principle that is foundation for all practical reasoning: good is to be done
  • Aquinas acknowledged that characteristics that help us to improve aspects of ourselves such as: Ability to think contemplate reflect, Physical skills
  • St. Thomas affirms - each of the cardinal virtues is really anchored in man's ability to reason
  • For st thomas, reason is not what we often think of as reason being critical thinkers or scientifically capable, Reason is more like an entire moral order that God has created rather than simply being a method
• Natural Law Ethics


  • Preservation of human life
  • Avoidance if harm
  • Reproduction and care
• How to be good

  • Plato's Virtue Ethics = knowledge
  • Aristotle= continues doing an action (has factor)
  • Saint Thomas = obey your nature as a human being
• Virtue and Law


  • Acquired
  • Infused
  • Moral
  • Theological
• Law


  • Eternal - Gods rational purpose of all things
  • Natural - mans rational participation in eternal law
  • Human - devised by human reason for the common good
  • Divine - derived from eternal la appears in humans through revelation; found in scriptures
• Utilitarianism

  An ethical theory that suggests the best action is the one that maximizes utility, usually defined as maximizing happiness and reducing suffering for the greatest number of people. The consequences of an action are the primary determinant of its morality, rather than adherence to rules or principles.
• Utilitarianism

  • Part of consequentialist theory teleological theory
  • Telos = end of life = happiness
  • Not concerned with the act
• Jeremy Bentham

  • The first notable figure endorsing "the principle of utility"
  • People are pleasure seeking individuals
  • Action produces happiness pleasure = good
• Hedonic Calculus

  • Pleasure is intrinsically good
  • Basis of good is the pleasure we receive
  • Intensity
  • Duration
  • Certainty or Uncertainty
  • Fecundity
  • Extent
  • Purity
• John Stuart Mill


  • It defines utilitarianism as theory based on the principle that actions are right in proportion as they tend to promote happiness, wrong as they tend to produce the reverse of happiness
  • Mill defines happiness as pleasure and the absence of pain. He argues that pleasure can differ in quality and quantity, and that pleasures are rooted in one's higher faculties (intellectual, more and aesthetic faculties) should be weighted moral heavily than pleasures of lower qualities (i.e. animal pleasures)
  • Mill believed it was too hard to measure the happiness produced by every act and that the term "happiness" was not specific enough because it covered too many types of satisfaction
  • Mill suggested humans have worked out through trial and error those actions which lead the best to human happiness, which they promote through moral rules, which he termed "secondary principles"; do not lie, protect the weak, keep your promises.
  • Rather than performing the act that will lead to the greatest happiness, we should follow rules that, if everyone followed them, would lead to the most overall happiness.
• Deontology


  • Kantian deontological ethics, formulated by Immanuel Kant, focuses on the inherent moral duty and principles that guide human actions.
  • Central to Kant's theory is the concept of the categorical imperative, which proposes that actions should be judged based on their universalizability.
  • According to Kant, morality is not based on consequences but on the intentions behind an action and adherence to moral principles.
  • Deontological ethics emphasizes the importance of following moral rules and duties, regardless of the outcomes or consequences.
  • Kantian ethics prioritizes autonomy and rationality, suggesting that individuals should act out of respect for the moral law and treat others as ends in themselves, not merely as means to an end.
  • Critics argue that Kant's theory may lead to moral rigidity and fail to adequately address complex moral dilemmas where conflicting duties arise.
  • However, Kant's deontological approach provides a strong foundation for moral reasoning and offers clarity in ethical decision-making by emphasizing universal principles and rationality.