Ethics - Chapter 1

• Philosophy

  • old as man, is life itself
  • obscure, weird, and idiosancratic (Santiago, 1996)
• 2 Fashions of Philosophy

  1. Etymologically
  2. Essentially/Classically
• Pythagoras


  first to coined Philosophy
• 2 Greek words from which the term Philosophy came from

  • philos - love
  • sophia - wisdom
• 3 concept of love (ancient greek)

  1. eros
  2. agape
  3. philia
• eros (erasthai)

  • modern notion of erotic (erotikos)
• eros

  • lovers of pleasure
• philia

  • contrast of eros
  • love that seeks truth
• philia

  • lovers of wisdom
  • a philosopher must exhibit
• agape

  • paternal love of God for man
• agape

  • lovers of success
• 3 classifications of men (Pythagoras)

  1. lovers of pleasure
  2. lovers of wisdom
  3. lovers of success
• Wisdom is dissimilar to knowledge
• 3 descriptions of Philosophy

  1. search for meaning
  2. search for the ultimate meaning of reality
  3. love of wisdom
• Philosophy

  • science of all sciences
  • mother of all sciences
• Philosophy and science

  • study nature and life
  • fundamental truths about the universe
• Philosophy and history

  • dependent to each other
• Philosophy and mathematics

  • logical bodies of knowledge
  • standards of truth
  • general/fundamental foundation of learning
• Philosophy and religion

  • inseparable fields
  • one justifies the other
• Philosophy and language
• Language


  makes philosophical text possible
• importance of Philosophy

  • develop a cultured, well-mannered and well rounded individual
• logic

  • study of right and sound reasoning
• epistemology

  • study of the validity of knowledge
• metaphysics

  • explain the fundamental concept of being
• aesthetics

  • study of beauty
• cosmology

  • study of real things in the universe
• theodicy

  • study of God and His nature
• ethics

  • science of the morality of human acts
• social Philosophy

  • study of human and their relation to society
• Ethics

  • practical science, teach how human ought to live
  • ethos
• Imperatives of ethics (Emerita Quito, 2008)

  1. human freedom
  2. existence of God
  3. immortality of the soul
• freedom


  inherent human power to act or not that makes them responsible for their actions
• responsibility

  • indispensable implication in human actions; meaningless unless human is free
• justice


  deserved only to humans who are free to choose their course of action
• God's presence

  • salient factor that makes sense in the study of ethics
• God

  • gives the final judge
  • supreme being
• immortality of the soul


  cornerstone of ethics
• sine qua non


  practice of ethical/moral life imperatives
• ethics and morals greek words

  • moral: mos - custom
  • ethics: ethikos - character