Ethics Midterms

Moral Norm

-It is a common awareness that only human speaks of and behave according to what they know as right or wrong, good or bad

Morally Good Person

-If he correctly distinguishes what is right from what is wrong not only in knowledge but also in practice. 

Immoral Person

-If he does not act or behave in conformity with practiced moral principles or norms.

Amoral Person

-If he does not have the ability to distinguish between what is morally good act and what is morally evil one, one who cannot identify and accept moral norms, resulting into some sort of “abnormality” or deviancy

Ethics

-Practical and philosophical science of the morality of human acts or human conduct

-Is said to be science insofar as it is a body of systematized knowledge arranged with its accompanying explanation. 

-As a practical science means it consists of principles and laws that are not applied in daily living accompanying explanation. 

-As a philosophical science, it is not a technical course nor a laboratory study

Morality

-The implementation of ethical principles and laws.

Material Object

Formal Object

Formula Object Quo

The objectives of ethics:

Material Object

-It refers to the subject matter to be studied, namely, the human act.

Formal Object

-It refers to the morality of the human act. It is which is learned and to be applied

Formula Object Quo

-It refers to the human reason employed in the study of the course.

1. To sharpen the moral nature of the learners by inculcating the moral norms.

2. To make them aware of the moral principles and law governing man’s action.

3. To help the students become aware of the intimate relation between their moral nature and laws

4. To show to the learners that acting in accordance with his rational and moral nature could lead them to their supernatural destiny – God. 

5. To develop in the students a morally upright living

6. To let the students realize that people cannot live together harmoniously in society without the ethical norms and laws applied or followed

Importance of the Study of Ethics:

THE DIVISION OF ETHICS

Socrates

Plato

Aristotle

3 Greek Thinkers:

Socrates (469 - 399 BC)

- man is made of body and soul.

-The soul is distinct from  the body, and is likened to God in memory, understanding, indivisibility and immortality

Happiness

the highest value of man. it is attained only by man’s intellectual virtue according to the Greek thinkers.

Plato (427 - 347 BC)

- viewed that the soul of man is the immediate product of God’s action.

-The soul is spiritual, rational, autonomous and immortal.  Souls are encarnated into bodies as a consequence of sin which is committed by coming in contact with matter.

-The first human body was a male body from which emerged a female.

-The spiritual soul is the thinking principle of man.  If the man lives well on earth, his soul will go to Place of Happiness.

Death

-It liberates the soul from the prison of the body

Aristotle (384 - 322 BC)

- posited the soul as the substantial form of the human body.  The soul, which is created by God, is spiritual and immortal according to him

- Man is vegetal, animal and rational.

Rationality

is man’s proper function of man differentiating him from plants and animals.

1. St. Augustine of Hippo

2. St. Anselm of Italy

3. St. Thomas of Aquinas

3 Christian Thinkers:

Lao-Tse (born 604 BC)

Kung-fu-tse or Confucius (551-479 BC)

Gautama Buddha (563-483 BC)

3 Oriental Thinkers:

Lao-Tse (born 604 BC)

-simply encourages man to be virtuous in order to attain “Tao” (God)

Kung-fu-tse or Confucius (551-479 BC)

- taught men with his “Golden Rule” in order to attain happiness and self-protection.

“Do not do unto others what you do not want others to do unto you”

What is the Golden Rule?

Gautama Buddha (563-483 BC)

-the “Enlightened One”; man strives for happiness

Oriental thinkers

hold the doctrine that the only way for man to reach happiness is to liberate himself from the slavery of sensual pleasures of this world and form selfishness.

1. Man as Body-soul composite

2. Man as Rational Animal

3. Man as Embodied Subjectivity

4. Man is Being-in-this-world

5. Man as socius and interhuman

6. Man as a Person

7. Man as an Absulote value

VARIOUS NOTIONS OF MAN

1. The experience of Good

2. The experience of the Beautiful

3. The experience of Love

4. The experience of Existence

5. The experience of Happiness

SOME HUMAN EXISTENTIAL EXPERIENCES:

Various Notions of Man

Various Notions of Man

Various Notions of Man

SOME HUMAN EXISTENTIAL EXPERIENCES:

SOME HUMAN EXISTENTIAL EXPERIENCES:

Ignacio (1985)

All acts tend toward an end.

But human existence is an act.

Therefore, human existence tends toward and end

End

- Is the very cause of human acting. it is the very reason why an act is performed, the very reason for its existence

- is both a termination of an act and a goal thereof (Glenn:48) End is that which completes an act. It is also that for which an act is performed.

THE END OF HUMAN ACT IS GOOD

THE END OF HUMAN ACT IS?

GOOD AS TO UTILITY

GOOD AS TO BEAUTY

GOOD AS TO NATURE OR REALITY

Three modes of perceiving and using the good:

GOOD AS TO UTILITY

An object or act is perceived as good when it is useful for one's purpose and satisfaction.

GOOD AS TO BEAUTY

People consider an object or act as a thing of beauty when it satisfies their aesthetic appetite. The beauty of a person, physical or social, is synonymous to goodness. But, judgement of beauty is both subjective and objective.

GOOD AS TO NATURE OR REALITY

In this context a thing is seen as good, not because of usefulness or aesthetic value, but because it is its nature and reality

AS END OF THE ACT

AS END OF THE AGENT

TEMPORAL ENDS, INTERMEDIATE ENDS

THE ULTIMATE END

4 CLASSIFICATION OF ENDS

AS END OF THE ACT

it is the direct object of the act.

AS END OF THE AGENT

can be different or the same as the end of the act depending upon the agent.

TEMPORAL ENDS, INTERMEDIATE ENDS

When an end is subject to time and place, it is classified as _____ (doesn't last forever, or good for a certain space or place). ______ because they are used to obtain other ends.

THE ULTIMATE END

is the last and final goal of human act and the human agent. It is called the end-of-all-ends since this cannot be used to attain any higher ends.

SUBJECTIVE ULTIMATE END

OBJECTIVE ULTIMATE END

TWO TYPES OF ULTIMATE ENDS

SUBJECTIVE ULTIMATE END

this is the aspect of the ultimate end which is the subjective possession of the objective ultimate end of the person. The possession results to enjoyment or happiness

OBJECTIVE ULTIMATE END

This is the aspect of the ultimate end is inseparable from the subjective ultimate end. When combined with the perceived objectively by the agent outside himself.

SUMMUM BONUM

it is the Supreme Good, the highest of all goods

MATERIALISTIC ETHICS

ULTRA-SPIRITUALISM

PROGRESSIVE ETHICS

Ethical Views According to Di Napoli

MATERIALISTIC ETHICS

This tendency holds that the supreme good of human life are human pleasures and satisfaction.

Hedonism

Utilitarianism

Two types of Materialistic Ethics

Hedonism

teaches that highest end of human life is found in sensual pleasures and satisfaction man can enjoy in this world.

Utilitarianism

holds that the ultimate end of man is the possession of political power through conquest of other nations.

Social Utilitarianism

teaches that the greatest value of man is maximum welfare in society.

ULTRA-SPIRITUALISM

this type of ethics takes spiritual matters and virtues in this life as ultimate end of man

Greco-Roman Stoicism

Humanistic Personalism

Two Types of Ultra-Spiritualism

Greco-Roman Stoicism

this ethics takes virtue and abstinence from sensual pleasures as the highest end of man.

Humanistic Personalism

hold that the ultimate end consists of human perfection through knowledge, virtue, honor which must be acquired

PROGRESSIVE ETHICS

the ethics of progress takes indefinite progress, material or spiritual, as the ultimate end of man.

CHRISTIAN ETHICS

Emanates from the teaching of Jesus Christ and His Church, embodied in the Holy Scriptures and church doctrine (teaching)

It is two-faced; GOD'S GLORY and SALVATION OF MANKIND.

What is the ultimate goal of Christianity?

HUMAN ACT

This is referred to as the human activity of man by which he attains an end he wants to obtain.

ACTS OF MAN

refers to activities in common with brutes like beating of heart, feeling, hearing, eating, taste and smell, and such animal activities

The act must be deliberate

The act must be free

The act must be voluntary

ESSENTIAL QUALITIES OF HUMAN ACT

Elicited Acts and Commanded Acts

CLASSIFICATION OF HUMAN ACTS

WISH

INTENTION

CONSENT

ELECTION

USE

FRUITION

Six Elicited Acts

Elicited Acts

Emanate from the will of the agent. It is a will-act begun and completed in the will of the agent

WISH

It is a natural inclination of the will towards an object. The wishing of the will includes objects that are possible or impossible to be realized by the wishing subject.

INTENTION

This is the will's tendency towards something attainable but not obligatory, however.

CONSENT

Is the acceptance of the will to implement the agent's intention.

ELECTION

The agent chooses from among a variety of means what he believes to be the most effective to carry out an intention

USE

This is the will's command to make use of the selected means in carrying out the intention.

FRUITION

This is the enjoyment of he will as a result of the attainment of the object desired earlier.

COMMANDED ACTS

are those acts involving body and mind, necessary to carry out the elicited acts.

INTERNAL ACTS

EXTERNAL ACTS

MIXED

THREE COMMANDED ACTS

INTERNAL ACTS

These acts refer to the purely mental faculties under the command of the will. e.g. meditation, rationalization, strategizing etc.

EXTERNAL ACTS

These acts are done by the body as commanded by the will. Illustrative examples are talking, deliberate motion like running, walking, hand gestures writing or eating. (becomes human acts when done with the advertence and with the will).

Mixed Acts

As term connotes, mixed acts are those done by both bodily and mental powers. E.g. studying, sharp shooting, playing chess etc. These acts employ both body and mind.

for every act that is done, there is always a corresponding end, or a goal.

What causes human act to exist? What motivates it to be performed? What is in the mind of the agent in doing the act?

Responsibility

is the ability of a person to respond to a need or problem in a given situation. Always entails with the word "Accountability"

HUMAN FREE WILL (KAGUSTUHAN)

is man's natural tendency of being attracted to what is good and beautiful and to be repulsed from what is evil and ugly, after they have been presented by intellect. (elicited)

FREEDOM (KALAYAAN)

Negatively defined, _____ is the absence of constriction. Positively, it is the power to be and to act under free will and choice. (action, commanded act)

Accountability

Willingness to take credit and blame for actions.

IGNORANCE

CONSCUPISENCE

FEAR

VIOLENCE

HABIT

THE MODIFIERS OF HUMAN ACT

Ignorance

- is the lack of knowledge in man of a certain thing expected to have been known by him.

Intellectual Ignorance

is more than just negation, it also means the presence of what is falsely supposed to be knowledge.

Ignorance in its object

refers to subject's ignorance of the law, fact, or corresponding penalty.

Ignorance of Law

Ignorance of Fact

Ignorance of Penalty

THREE IGNORANCE IN ITS OBJECT

Ignorance of Law

is the absence of knowledge a person ought to possess. (e.g. moral practices)

Ignorance of Fact

- is ignorance of the nature or circumstances of an act that is generally forbidden in the community. (e.g. unknown orgy)

Ignorance of Penalty

is lack of knowledge of the sanction imposed by the law to violators. (e.g. death penalty)

Ignorance in its Subject

This aspect of ignorance lies in the agent who has no knowledge of the law, fact, or penalty. This ignorance is either "vincible" or "invincible".

Vincible Ignorance

Easily overcome through diligence and exertion of efforts of the subject. (e.g. asks about something he doesn't know)

Invincible Ignorance

Cannot possibly overcome due to lack of means, other factors. (e.g. illiterate beggar doesn't have means for education)

Affected Ignorance

Refuse to acquire knowledge of a certain thing they are expected to know. (e.g. refuses to read the gc so he doesn't have to help classmates)

Ignorance in its Result

refers to relation of ignorance to act done out of ignorance (result).

Antecedent Ignorance

Concomitant Ignorance

Consequent Ignorance

THREE FORMS OF IGNORANCE IN ITS RESULT

Antecedent Ignorance

precedes the consent of the will. (e.g. American lover and Filipina live-ins)

Concomitant Ignorance

Accompanies act would be performed if there was no ignorance. (e.g. Christian uninterested in holy mass on Sundays because he is ignorant of the spiritual value)