ETHICS

FINAL TERM

1. FOUNDATION – the human reason is the foundation of sound ethics

2. SOURCE – goodwill is the source of sound ethics

3. MOTIVATION – duty is the obligation that follows reason

The components of Kant’s ethical perspectives were enumerated by PASCO
et al. (2018) as the following:

HUMAN REASON

- is the foundation of sound ethics

GOODWILL

– is the source of sound ethics

DUTY

– is the obligation that follows reason

Deontology (BULONG et al, 2018)

- the moral theory that evaluates actions
that are done because of duty

Deon

A Greek word which means "being necessary".

Immanuel Kant

Deontology was proposed by ________________.

Human Reason

- is the sole foundation of sound ethics

Reason

The _______ is independent of religion. It is the interiority of the human person, the innate goodness, that propels the person to do good and act in an ethical manner.

Happiness

The goal of morality

Pleasure and Freedom from Pain

- is the supreme measure of morality

Mill’s Principle of Utility or Greatest Happiness Principle

Based on ___________________________, pleasure and freedom from pain is the supreme measure of morality.

1. Religious thought is interwoven with philosophical and ethical thinking.

2. Love and compassion bound the intellectual traditions

3. Personal nurturance and social responsibility are interconnected.

4. Each Asian tradition is geared toward enlightenment.

5. Each of the teachings offers paths of harmony with oneself, with others, with nature, and with a Transcendent.

General Characteristics of Asian Spiritual and Intellectual Traditions
[ by Manuel B. Dy as cited by Pasco et al. (2018) ]

Dharma

- is an individual’s duty fulfilled by observance of custom or law

Nadkami

____________ stressed that ethics can exist without religion but religion without ethics is unworthy of its name. This follows that a person can be ethical without being religious but cannot be considered religious without being ethical.

Vedas and Upanishads

The religious views of the Hindus can be seen in _____________ and _____________.

Vedas

____________ are some of the most ancient writings of the world. These are hymns to the ancient gods and poetic articulation of the meanings of the universe.

Upanishad

_____________ means "those who sit near” and listening closely to the spiritual teacher

Gautama Buddha

Buddhism was born from the enlightenment of _______________ between the 6th and
4th century BCE

Confucianism

- is a system of thought attributed to Konqui which the West referred to as Confucius who lived around the 6th– 5th century BCE.

Buddhism

- was born from the enlightenment of Gautama Buddha between the 6th and 4th century BCE.

Gautama Buddha

Buddhism was born from the enlightenment of ________________ between the 6th and 4th century BCE.

1. Life is a suffering.

2. Action or karma is the cause of suffering. Specifically, the non-virtuous actions, and negative mental states that led to actions.

3. There is an end to suffering and the path beyond suffering is to transcend this illusion and enter nirvana. Nirvana is the end of suffering which results from giving up of ego.

4.In order to live a life free of suffering, the person must follow the Eightfold Path:

Four truths according to Gautama Buddha

Action or Karma

____________ is the cause of suffering. Specifically, the non-virtuous actions, and negative mental states that led to actions.

Nirvana

- is the end of suffering which results from giving up of ego.

a. Correct view
b. Correct intention
c. Correct speech
d. Correct action
e. Correct livelihood
f. Correct effort
g. Correct mindfulness
h. Correct concentration, singlemindedness.

Eightfold Path

Transmitter

Confucius considered himself as a “___________” of the old reanimating them to become new.

Confucius

He proposed invigorating the meaning of the past promoting a ritualized life

person who internalized the way of heaven

For a Confucian, the basic aspiration is to be a
_________________________________.

filial piety

In Cofucianism, the person must live the virtues of heaven. One of the virtues stressed is _____________.

Ramon Castillo Reyes (or "Doc Reyes")

- was one of the pioneers of existential phenomenology in the Philippines.

Man and Historical Action

Ramon Castillo Reyes write an essay entitled "_________________________".

Ramon Castillo Reyes

He explained that “who one is” is a cross-point.

1. PHYSICAL CROSS-POINT

2. INTERPERSONAL CROSS-POINT

3. SOCIETAL CROSS-POINT

4. HHISTORCIAL CROSS-POINT

Four Cross-Points

Physical Cross-point

– there are events in the past and material factors that one has no other option. For example, being born as part of Homo sapiens, a child of your
parents, being born in the Philippines, and other factors that you have control of.

Interpersonal Cross-point

– there are many events and factors that are beyond your options. For example, you did not choose your parents but many of their
characteristics and even your personality is affected by them. In the same way, you
cannot choose your classmates, teachers, and later, your workmates.

Societal Cross-point

– you are shaped by the society you live in. You are part of a culture that prevails in your community.

Historical Cross-point

– these are the events that you have gone through. As a country, we also have our own history. There were colonizers that affected our ways of thinking and dealing with things.

Pope Francis (2015)

______________ called the earth a shared inheritance.

Pope Francis (2020)

Similarly, in the recent encyclical, _______________ exhorts that taking care of our world is a form of taking care of ourselves for we are a single family living in our common home. Below is a discussion of the first chapter of Laudato Si’ which deals with the situation of our common home.

Laudato Si’

The first chapter of _____________ which deals with the situation of our common home.

1. Pollution and climate change

2. The issue of water

3. Loss of biodiversity

4. Decline in the quality of human life and the breakdown of society

5. Global inequality

6. Weak Responses

7. A variety of opinions

The including topics in the discussion of the first chapter of Laudato Si’:

Pollution and climate change

Some forms of pollution become part of daily experience. This includes exposure to atmospheric pollutants. To some extent, these causes millions of premature deaths

The issue of water

Fresh drinking water is vital for life. However, research showed that possible water
shortage might occur unless measures will be done

Loss of biodiversity

Loss of species happens due to loss of forests and woodlands. These species are important for they may have uses like food and cure of diseases.

Decline in the quality of human life and the breakdown of society

Internet communication tends to replace real relationships with others

Global inequality

Poor countries are controlled by countries where they have foreign debt.

Weak Responses

We lack the culture and leadership needed to oppose the crisis despite being called by
God as stewards of the planet where peace, beauty, and fullness flourish.

A variety of opinions

There are various approaches about the current situation and possible solutions

1. Peter Singer and Tom Regan on the Ethical Treatment of Animal

2. Paul Taylor and Biocentrism

3. Aldo Leopold’s Land Ethic

4. World Commission on Environment and Development (1987)

Various Approaches to Environmental Ethics
(Pasco et al.)

Peter Singer and Tom Regan on the Ethical Treatment of Animal

• focuses on “equal treatment of all sentient beings, from animals to human beings.”

• For Tom Regan, “certain non-human animals have actual rights, which makes them morally considerable.”

Paul Taylor and Biocentrism

- Taylor advocates on the moral protection of all beings that maybe considered as “teleological centers of life”. Biocentric approach protects the rights, seeks the good and well-being of all living organisms, which include plants and microorganisms.

Aldo Leopold’s Land Ethic

- “A thing is right when it tends to preserve the integrity, stability, and beauty of the biotic community. It wrong when it tends otherwise.”


Human beings are part of the ecology, members of a life-giving system. Human beings must develop not only the rational but also emotional intelligence as well as “ecological conscience” to establish an ethical relationship with the land.

World Commission on Environment and Development (1987)

Vital planetary resources and processes that are necessary to sustain life were
under strain. “It is not equitable for the future generations to experience
considerable reduction of options for the sake of sustaining the needs and
wants of the present.”

1. The Stockholder Theory

2. The Stakeholder Theory

3. The Social Contact Theory

Normative Theories of Business Ethics
(Pasco et al.)

The Stockholder Theory

Businesses are merely arrangements by which one group of people, the
stockholders, advance capital to another group, the managers, to be used to
realize specified ends and for which the stockholders receive an ownership
interest in the venture.

Implication: The society has a responsibility to restrict businesses from dealing
unethically.

The Stakeholder Theory

The management’s fundamental obligation is not to maximize the firm’s
financial success but to ensure its survival by balancing the conflicting claims
of multiple stakeholders.

a. Principle of corporate legitimacy

b. Stakeholder fiduciary principle

Principles of stakeholder management:

Principle of corporate legitimacy

The corporation should be managed for the benefit of its stakeholders
like the customers, suppliers, owners, employees and local
communities. These groups should get involved in the decision-making
process.

Stakeholder fiduciary principle

Management bears a trusting relationship to stakeholders and to the
corporation as an abstract being.
Implication: All interests related to the firm are given a voice,
especially in decision-making process.

Example:
If a manufacturing firm purchases its raw materials from an indigenous
tribe in an underdeveloped community, the stakeholder theory obligates
the firm to ensure fair compensation of the tribe for their product.

The Social Contract Theory

All businesses are ethically obligated to enhance the welfare of society by
satisfying consumer and employee interests without violating any of the
general canons of justice.

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)

- is a strategic initiative of the company to contribute to the welfare of the society and the environment

Stage 1: Amoral organization

Stage 2: Legalistic corporation

Stage 3: Responsive corporation

Stage 4: The emergent ethical organization

Stage 5: The ethical organization

Reidenbach and Robin’s Conceptual Model of Corporate Moral
Development (Pasco et al.)

Stage 1: Amoral organization

– ethics is the least concern of the organization

Stage 2: Legalistic corporation

– “exhibit compliance with the letter of the law not to the
spirit of the law.” What is legal parallels to what is right.

Stage 3: Responsive corporation

– have values above profitability and legality “Concern for
other stakeholders begins to manifest itself as
managements begin to realize the importance of employees
and community in which they operate.”

Stage 4: The emergent ethical organization

– pursues greater balance between profit and
ethics. “While responsive corporations begin to develop
ethical mechanisms to increase the probability of ethical behavior,
these organizations are not yet fully comfortable with their
implementation.”

Stage 5: The ethical organization

– “characterized by an organization-wide acceptance of a
common set of ethical values that permeates the
organization’s culture. These core values guide the
everyday behavior of an individual’s actions.

1. Personalist Biomedical Care

2. Ethics of “Prenatal Personhood”

3. Ectopic Pregnancy and the Principle of Double Effect

4. Child-bearing Enhancements, Self-Improvement, and General Well-Being

5. Extraordinary Means, Euthanasia, and the Significance of a Living Wil

Biomedical Ethics
(Pasco et al., 2018)

PERSONALIST BIOMEDICAL CARE

The value of personhood is the center of life, experience, decisions, and
actions.

ETHICS OF "PRENATAL PERSONHOOD"

Human personhood begins at the point of fertilization or conception. This is
expressed in the Filipino language which values the human life in which a
pregnant woman is said to be nagdadalangtao or childbearing.

ECTOPIC PREGNANCY AND THE PRINCIPLE OF DOUBLE EFFECT

Even if the fetus is removed from the mother, the fetus “ought to be
treated as a person”.

1. Good – the safety of the mother

2. Bad – indirect removal of the misplaced fetus

There are two results in the case of ectopic pregnancy:

CHILD-BEARING ENHANCEMENTS, SELF-IMPROVEMENT, AND GENERAL WELL-BEING

The number of adoptees and children born in poor families needs to be considered in
the place of expensive childbearing techniques.

Present child-conceiving enhancements

_______________ include getting egg cells from the
mothers, many embryos or fetuses are waiting for womb implantations and
some are considered as “spares”. Careful monitoring for these embryos is done
because the “fetus ought to be treated as human”.

EXTRAORDINARY MEANS, EUTHANASIA, AND THE SIGNIFICANCE OF A LIVING WILL

Termination of “extraordinary means” like a respirator is permitted to follow
its course and the person can go through the process of a dignified death.

Writing living wills permits the resolution of confusion that may arise in
families in making difficult decisions like DNR (do not resuscitate). This is
also applicable if the person wishes to donate his/her organs.

Euthanasia or mercy killing

– direct murder of a human being and unacceptable in the Philippines

Organ Trafficking and Human Needs
(Bulaong et al., 2018)

In 2009, the Philippine government stopped a scheduled kidney transplant of a Filipina
to a Saudi Arabian husband. The government alleges that this is a case of organ sale. The
Philippine government is banning organ trade.

Engineering ethics

– a field of applied ethics that discusses decisions and actions of engineers,
together with the consequences of these actions and decisions, both
individually and collectively.

1. Whistleblowinging

2. Loyalty

3. Conflict of Interest

4. Safety and risk

5. Environmental care and sustainability

Some Ethical Issues

WHISTLEBLOWINGING

– publicizing certain abuses by an organization which may be internal or external. This happens because the engineer has specialized knowledge of the risks and adverse effects of a certain technology or an engineering project. This is NOT the best way to deal with ethical issues in engineering. Organizational reforms are needed.

LOYALTY

– most engineering societies state that engineers must be loyal to their
employers and their clients. However, there may be times when this loyalty is against
the public interest.

US-based National Society for Professional
Engineers (2007)

According to the _____________________________, “Engineers shall not complete, sign, or seal plans and/or specifications that are not in conformity with applicable engineering standards. If the
client or employer insists on such unprofessional conduct, they shall notify the proper
authorities and withdraw from further service on the project”.

CONFLICT OF INTEREST

– this happens if a professional has an interest that would contradict meeting his or her professional obligations or may impair his/her professional judgment. It is best to avoid conflict of interest.

SAFETY AND RISK

– ensuring safety is one of the main professional responsibilities of an engineer.

ENVIRONMENTAL CARE AND SUSTAINABILITY

– “Sustainable development is a development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs”.

1. The Disciplinary Mind

2. The Synthesizing Mind

3. Creating Mind

4. The Respectful Mind

5. The Ethical Mind

Five Minds for the Future
(Gardner, 2011)

THE DISCIPLINARY MIND

– mastery of major schools of
thought like science, mathematics, and history.

THE SYNTHESIZING MIND

– the ability to integrate ideas from
different disciplines or fields into a coherent whole and to
communicate that integration with others.

CREATING MIND

– the capacity to reveal and clarify new problems, questions, and phenomena.

THE RESPECTFUL MIND

– the recognition and appreciation of diversity among human beings and groups.

THE ETHICAL MIND

- actualization of one’s responsibilities as a worker and as a citizen.