ETHICS

The way to begin is to trace the qualifying word “philosophical,” to go back to “memory,” to philosophy. As previously encountered in the preparatory course, philosophy is a combination of Greek root words “philia” (love) and “sophia” (wisdom). On the one hand, however it is interpreted, love entails a strong affection, if not devotion, for its object—wisdom in this case. Wisdom, on the other hand, signifies profound science, learning or knowledge. Thus, the philosophical aspect manifests a strong inclination for deep and cultivated knowledge. This strong inclination could have been initiated by the fascination for the external world.

How does this etymological distinction shed light on philosophical thinking?

Pythagoras, who was said to have coined the term philosophy, showed such activity by being constantly preoccupied by the question concerning the primary principle of things, the basic stuff that constitutes things.

Early ancient philosophers also wondered about the same concern associated this ultimate principle to such elementary substances as earth, air, water, and fire.

Pythagoras and his followers held that the “infinity and unity itself were the substance of the things of which they are predicated. This is why the number was the substance of all things” (numbers are not objects of sense perception—things can be numbered; numbers are not things (in this instance, we consider things as having material or physical existence)).

questions were focused on the “fundamental” or the “nature” of things

The philosophical thinking involves seeking for that knowledge that would explain the existence of the material phenomena.

Aristotle clarified what philosophy is as love of wisdom. For him, knowledge of wisdom is not that of experience, that is, knowledge acquired through the senses. Any person who knows through the senses may gain knowledge that things exist but they may need not know “why” they exist. Wisdom requires that one knows the “why” of things.

The causes Aristotle was referring to are the material, formal, efficient, and final causes.

-the material cause is the substance from which a thing exists;

-the formal cause is the essence or the substantial characteristics that differentiate a thing from another which may possess similar substance;

-efficient cause is the one that effects change in a thing; and,

-final cause is the purpose or the end of change.

Knowledge of these four causes for Aristotle, would be wisdom.

Philosophical thinking requires the pursuit of the ultimate causes of things; philosophical activities can be circumscribed in the search for the causes of reality.

Philosophical thinking, for Rene Descartes, held that acceptable knowledge or understanding must be grasped with certainty by the thinking subject; reason as cogito recognizes only knowledge with clarity and distinctness without any moment for doubt.

knowledge is gained when it is determined as clear and distinct without an occasion for doubt by the inquiring mind. Reason then is the measure by which wisdom is gained. In this view, Descartes added a new requirement to philosophical thinking, that is, it is rational and submits to the rules of reason.

David Hume (1711-1776) would question the presumptions concerning causes and reason. In Hume’s view, experience, “lively perception,” is an inevitable source of the contents of the mind and cause is not even before experience—the notion of causation is drawn from experience.

Philosophy involves a mental activity that values the sensible world as a source of knowledge or wisdom; philosophical thinking entails not only discovering the principles or causation and subjecting forms of analysis to reason, but also valuing and examining experiences, and even causation and reason.

Immanuel Kant’s essay on “What is enlightenment?” posed a significant character of philosophical thinking in the societal milieu, that is, thinking must be free and has the “vocation” to aid others in achieving the ability to use their own reason; philosophical thinking engages the public to use reason, to be free, and have the resolve to think and speak for themselves.

Philosophical thinking, for Michel Foucault, is critical thinking, which involves what Foucault calls as the “refusal to be governed,” that is, it is not obsessed with assimilating knowledge, rather it ventures into other ways of thinking. In this thinking, knowledge is respected, but it is not regarded as absolute or certain since often it is arrived at through the competing relations of interests, concepts, strategies, positions, etc.—relations of power.

1 Object of thought - Ultimate cause, principle of causation, principle of sufficient reason, sufficient explanation of things—however they are called, the mind, the faculty of knowing, supposes that “metaphysical” principles can be arrived at

2 Manner of knowing - bases for determining true statements about the objects of our thought

3 Nature of properties of our thought - more than our knowledge claims is the application of philosophical thinking in the various worldly phenomena and other practical concerns.

Fields of Philosophy:

Metaphysics is a branch of philosophy that concerns with the ultimate principles or causes of reality. The word itself suggests a study beyond physics.

Epistemology as a discipline analyses the conditions and limits of our knowledge. Its main concern is on how it is possible for us to know and how can we know that we know.

Ethics, the focus of the whole course, studies what it means to act as a human being, that is, what actions are proper to being human. This field of philosophy certainly engages in practical thinking as it examines our practice.

It is worth noting that philosophical thinking entails argument construction.

INTRODUCTION AND OVERVIEW OF ETHICS

Ethics

→ comes from the greek word “ethos” meaning a way of life; and latin “mos” (pl. mores) meaning custom (where morals or morality originated from).

→ study of human custom

→ is a branch of philosophy that deals with questions of the meaning of the good, and the rightness and wrongness of actions.

Significance:

1 help us live or actualize being a rational being

2 enlightens us to live life with moral integrity

3 directs us to do our tasks right as workers/professionals

4 helps us build a strong foundation for our society

*Moral issues & dilemmas

Sub-branches of ethics:

1 Normative Ethics- sub-branch of ethics that provides answers to the general question of what makes an action right or good (e.g. deontological ethics, utilitarian ethics, natural law ethics, and virtue ethics); employed in everyday affairs

2 Applied ethics- the application of principles of normative ethics to specific contexts (Questions in biomedical ethics, such as whether it is ethically permissible to have mandatory HPV testing and vaccinations in all primary schools, or in the case of computer ethics, such as the moral issues that arise in the implementation of a national ID system)

3 Metaethics - “step back” from the situation opened up by normative ethics; interrogates the more basic premises and foundations to which normative ethics stand on; may be loosely defined as ““the attempt to understand the metaphysical, epistemological, semantic, and psychological, presuppositions and commitments of moral thought, talk, and practice” hence why it claims to be the most abstract and general in its inquiries.

4 Descriptive ethics- describing facts about ethical systems instead of prescribing norms; branch of ethics that observes, records, articulates, and discusses the facts about ethical systems in societies. (The work of Ruth Benedict, particularly her Patterns of Culture (1934), is an example that employs descriptive ethics by observing and recording different practices from different pre-industrial societies)

*cultural relativism

abstract to most concrete: metaethics, normative, applied (& descriptive)

CULTURE AND ETHICS

Any discussion on ethical relativism requires an understanding of cultural relativism.

Culture

→ originated from the latin infinitive “colere” meaning “inhabit, cultivate, protect, honor with worship”

In the essay, the analysis of culture (1961), Raymond Williams summarizes the complexity of culture in three clustered definitions:

1 ideal definition of culture → “a state or process of human perfection, in terms of certain absolute and universal values”

2 documentary definition of culture → the body of intellectual and imaginative work, in which, in a detailed way, human thought and experience are variously recorded

3 social definition of culture → a description of a particular way of life which expresses certain meanings and values not only in art and learning but also in institutions and ordinary behavior (serves as the basis of the relation between culture and ethics)

Ethical Relativism, accdg. to John Ladd, is the doctrine that the moral rightness and wrongness of actions varies from society to society and that there are no absolute universal moral standards binding on all men at all times. Accordingly, it holds that whether or not it is right for an individual to act in a certain way depends on or is relative to the society which he belongs.

People with different cultures have different values. This is called cultural relativism.

Ruth Benedict’s Theory on Ethical Relativism (cultural mn ata ni)

→ values of right/wrong and good/bad are relative to one’s culture

→ ethical relativism implies cultural relativism; thus there is no singular standard in determining ethical values

→ theorizes that ethical and moral values, which vary in different societies and cultures, are really just “convenient terms for socially approved habits.”

Ethical relativism is dependent on the normal-abnormal categories of society, which show social acceptability in relation to what is good and bad in a given culture.