Ethics module for college students and senior high PDF

Preview

Summary

Module 1 Introduction to Ethics At the end of this module, you are expected t0: Understand the importance of Ethics to Philosophy to Higher Learning Learn its contribution to Man’s development Ethics and Philosophy What is Ethics? Why is it important to every society? First ofall, let us define Ethi...

Description

Module 1 Introduction to Ethics At the end of this module, you are expected t0:

1. Understand the importance of Ethics to Philosophy to Higher Learning 2. Learn its contribution to Man’s development Ethics and Philosophy What is Ethics? Why is it important to every society? First of all, let us define Ethics – simply put it is the Philosophy of Life. By critical thinking it discerns men form brutes making men decide better than mere a priori judgment. The quality of life men lived is a testament to man’s mental development. Ethics is the primary vehicle for men to reach the very purpose of life – the pursuit of happiness. Ever since civilizations began their baby steps, societies are created to ensure their security from predators – real or imagined, they have to create laws but of what use is it if not guided by reason, and that is where Ethics come in. The written law is used to ensure order but what is the ultimate source of it all – ethics no doubt. Ethics made men decide what is right or wrong guided by reason should ambiguity in the written law persists. As we all know nothing is perfect, everything has flaws, with that confusion comes in. Human Ethics are clouded by man’s self-interest that interpretation to law and order as muddled as needle in a haystack. As time goes by changes in the environment as well as the complexities of the human world as well as his thinking altered the understanding of Ethics. That is an undeniable fact. Sadly leaders of the modern world lack ethical standards that at times their morals are condescending. In the current world we are currently in, there are age-old questions that even baffled geniuses and they are: 1) what is the supreme purpose of human living?, 2) What is man’s greatest good and perfection?, 3) what is the ultimate objective of human strivings, is it attainable?, 4) what is the summum bonum (highest good) of human life and 5) what is the root cause and remedy to human suffering. Is man intrinsically good or evil? If we are to correlate man as part of the Animal Kingdom then men are bad. Take for example co-workers in an office who display “decency” in each other’s presence but invent stories behind their backs to discredit them to their boss and gain brownie points a sure sign of a lack of professional ethics. We might say this is immoral but logical just the same, we live in a dog-eat-dog world. Survival at all cost is the name of the game. Which brings us to another philosophical question, why are not moral acts are not legal and vice versa? Going to church is moral but why was this not legislated? In the same way, why is divorce considered immoral to us Filipinos is legally approved in other societies? The decadence of ethics is not just limited to the business world. It has even affected every aspect of society, such as sports and entertainment. Ethics and Human Development Humans are not born endowed with ethics as if it is an inherent charcterisitic; but their behavior jives with human development. Man initially behaves like brutes, and under human development, he behaves less morally and more ethically. Ethics and morality are interchangeable for they are both patterns of human behavior but in reality are different. Ethics refer to rules provided by an external source, such as laws, codes of conduct in workplaces or principles in religions. Morals on the other hand refer to an individual’s own principles regarding right and wrong. Ergo as man progressed he deviates from his clouded personal beliefs to a more socially acceptable norm. Ethical human behavior depend on two things: personal development and human development. Personal development, in general, is a process of internalization of values, judgement and thought; and morally, is a transition from what we should ought to do, to what is the best thing to do. Human development is the combination of -collective- personal development and social development. The ethics of human behavior ranges from the spectrum of low personal and human development to high personal and human development. In time, man’s ethical development will also serve as his transition from a self-indulging individual to a person endowed with knowledge that will aid him in his

pursuit for happiness. References and Supplementary Materials Books and Journals 1. Montemayor, Felix; Ethics the Philippines; Navotas Metro Manila; National Book Store Module 2 The Scope and Meaning of Ethics At the end of this module, you are expected to: 1. To understand the Definition of Ethics 2. Morality and other phases of Human Life 3. To learn about Human Acts A deeper understanding of Ethics Ethics is a branch of Philosophy that studies human acts and human conduct. Although there are subjects that study human conduct such as Psychology and Sociology. Ethics has a deeper meaning in its standpoint by further delving into the aspect of human acts. They are more concerned with the morality of human acts. Noted definition of Ethics 1. Ethics is the practical science of the morality of human actions 2. Ethics is the scientific inquiry into the principles of morality 3. Ethics is the study of human conduct from the standpoint of morality 4. Ethics is the science of human acts with reference of right and wrong Relation of Ethics with Other Sciences 1. Ethics and Logic – Logic is the science of right thinking and while Ethics is the science of right living. Thinking and Doing things go hand-in-hand, we cannot move without thinking right the same way every action is guided by reason. 2. Ethics and Psychology – The two subjects dealt with the study of man, human nature and human behavior but that is all their similarity ends. Psychology only tell us the causes of man’s actions that may be psychological or physiological but ethics tell us how man should react. Ethics is interested in moral obligation while Psychology ends there. 3. Ethics and Sociology – as we all know, Sociology deals with the study of society as well as the social order that regulates the society as a whole. But then what is the foundation of their social order if there is no basis of right and wrong which is Ethics. Any society is doomed to fail if devoid of correct basis of thinking. 4. Ethics and Economics – Napoleon once said that an army marches on its stomach, in relation to economics man has to fulfill is economic needs. The need for material wealth is inherent in man that there are instances that economic topics needed ethical principles such as capital-labor relations, profit, interests, money et al. The need to settle these conflicts must have ethical basis to incur equitable results. Morality and Other Phases of Human Life 1. Ethics and Education – Education whether formal or informal is a never-ending process and is the foundation of man’s moral, intellectual and physical capacities. But then again education is illicit if it is not supported by ethics, they say ethics is life the same way education is intertwined with life. Learning is good but learning supported by ethics is better inasmuch as ethics is living right. 2. Morality and Law – as mentioned in the previous module, not everything moral is legal and not everything legal is moral. Meaning there are good things that do not need legislation and immoral acts that the State may approve. But to further differentiate them laws only used external acts while ethics cover man’s “acts” that play in his mind that will not incriminate him in any statute. For example, a plan for a robbery if discovered is not criminally liable in any court of law but ethics said it is a fault for such “act” is intrinsically evil. 3. Ethics and Politics - Man in his constant search for happiness be it temporal or eternal is never ending. They say politics and ethics are poles apart – in a certain point that is correct it is the very reason why politics become dirty for they deviate from ethics. Man’s insatiable greed for wealth and power thru politics means absence of ethics. An ideal state should be an ethical state.

4. Ethics and Art – Ethics is about positive morality while art is beauty. Any work of art that is beautiful, will give a positive outlook to the looker that will be greatly appreciated. The purpose of art is for appreciation that is contributory to man’s ethics. 5. Religion and Ethics – Religion is ethics and ethics is religion, they are interchangeable for the any religious belief tends to ethical standards in relation to his most fundamental tenet. What unites them all boiled down to three things namely: a) belief in the Supernatural, b) man’s beginning and end and c) right living. Morality and Human Acts Morality is the quality of goodness or badness in a human act. In this case, we base judgement on any human act based on its ethicality. The quality of an act may be justified according to its gravity. An evil human act maybe considered “right” just as long as it can be justified which lead us to its norm of morality. By that term, we mean that the basis for determining its correctness are the standard of the judging party and the reason why an act is morally wrong or right. Human Acts just like the word itself means actions of men that are done willfully and willingly. Keep in mind that scenarios beyond human control are not human acts such as rainfall, sunset, earthquake even the beating of the heart or blood circulation are beyond human act for these are actions man cannot control. In the case of assassinations where the culprit pulled the trigger, the gun is not to blame but the doer of the action that caused taking the life of another man. Once questioned he has the right to justify his action as either morally right or wrong. References and Supplementary Materials Books and Journals Ethics The Scope and Meaning of Ethics 3 Course Module 1. Agapay, Ramon B.; Ethics and the Filipinos; Mandaluyong Metro Manila, National Book Store 2. Montemayor, Felix M.; Ethics, the Philosophy of Life; Navotas Metro Manila; National Module 4 Morality At the end of this module, you are expected t0: 1. To know the Two Fundamental Questions 2. To understand the Norms of Morality 3. To learn what are Defective Moralities The Two Fundamental Questions Two important questions are raised one is “What is Morality” and “What is the meaning of life?”. The first question pertains to the rightness or wrongfulness of an act and what is the basis of the judge concerned. These are ethical questions that up to this time, baffled sages and peons alike and remain unanswered. The second is about the summum bonum (ultimate good) of human existence, what is the very reason why man exists on this world? In a nutshell, those two questions are related – Ethics is about morality which is the basis of good, evreytime we decide on dilemmas using morality men experienced happiness and that is “good”. The more we attain happiness by being good – the closer we are to the Ultimate Good. To sum it up, both questions boil down to two words “goodness” and “purpose”, a thing that is of use is good for it has served its purpose. For example, a politician is good if he has fulfilled his promise to the people after serving his term of office in doing so by being useful to his constituent, he felt that he lived a worthy life. This will then be a step to reaching his ultimate goal – the ultimate good. A good life will ultimately lead to ultimate happiness. The Norms of Morality Rationally speaking man acts in accordance to his nature, that human nature quantify as justification as to why an act be it good or bad is performed. In doing so it conflicts with the higher intelligence endowed to men. Is man basically good? We can say yes but of what context of goodness is man supposed to follow? The morality of man follows a proximate norm and an ultimate norm so where does human nature come in? As mentioned earlier man has baser

tendencies that is human nature equivalent to brutes that may come in the form of stimuli. The proximate norm there is to follow human nature which is the low end of a human being. On the other hand, the ultimate norm is to follow divine nature which are decisions that are based on morality. For example the stimulus of hunger based on proximate norm simply means to eat the food regardless as to whether it is for somebody else, spoilt or poisonous. Human nature dictates that man has to satiate his hunger no matter what and may be considered moral if we are to consider human nature. If man decides to study the situation by not initially grabbing the “opportunity”, then he acted in relation to the ultimate norm. However, we are not discarding human nature as a basis of human existence, man is a social animal which is the nature of man’s need for association. In truth we can never reach divine status but we must keep in mind that there is no conflict with the Natural law and the Eternal law (the Law of God). The Natural is patterned after the Eternal Law, man must adhere to his nature of man which is using his intellect unlike human nature that is only to follow his passions. Defective Norms of Morality Human Nature is a simple foundation of man but there are philosophies and they are: 1. Hedonism – this is also known as the Philosophy of Pleasure that pleasure alone is the primary purpose of man’s existence. It is true man desires for happiness but a happy life need not be composed of pleasure alone. True happiness is seeking good but wallowing in pleasure made man’s life baser than brutes. 2. Utilitarianism – is simply the ends of an action must be good, if it is not then the action is unjustified. From the word “utility” it means that anything that is of use to the agent is moral. There are two types of utilitarianism and they are individual utilitarianism and social utilitarianism – the first is known as egoism which is the definition given – the agent is the one who will gain. Altruism is the other term for social utilitarianism but the receiving factor is the society where the agent belongs. 3. Moral Rationalism – simply states that human reason is the only foundation of morality as postulated by German Philosopher Immanuel Kant which he dubbed as “Categorical Imperative”. However as Kant further explained we have to do good because we ought to be good in doing so he is implying blind obedience. In his philosophy “autonomy of reason”, inasmuch as reason creates the law, it is “reasonable” for men to obey it without question nor ambiguity. The general rule is that everyone thinks the same for men are reasonable so conflict is a remote possibility. 4. Moral Positivism – states that morality is adherence to State Laws as philosophizes by the English sage Thomas Hobbes. The State is the foundation of morality since laws are geared for the common good apparently, an act is moral if he obeys the law and evil if he disobeys it. Comparing to Moral Rationalism where reason is the law, Moral Positivism only has the State Law as its source of morality. 5. Moral Evolutionism – In relation to Sociologist Herbert Spencer, morality just like evolution is ever-changing until it reached its perfect form. Friedrich Nietsche added that man was born withj hardly any basis for right and wrong and their collective lives is a never-ending struggle for change until they reach perfection. 6. Moral Sensism – Contrary to Moral Evolutionism men are born with a special moral sense (not reason) that is comparable to the five senses. For example, man can easily differentiate noise from music, salty from sweet as well as pleasant and unpleasant that may also serve as means to moral judgment. 7. Communism - Although this is more of an economic theory its social implication cannot be denied and is geared for a classless society. They believed in the philosophy of material dialectics that means two material things are the only ingredients necessary for change. They deny the existence of God, the free will and immortality for they do not matter being immaterial. Ergo, anything that will lead to a classless society is good and moral and any thing otherwise is evil and immoral. References and Supplementary Materials Books and Journals Ethics Morality 3 Course Module 1. Agapay, Ramon B.; Ethics and the Filipinos; Mandaluyong Metro Manila, National

Book Store Inc. 2. Babor, Eddie R.; Ethics – The Philosophical Discipline of Action; Manile, Rex Book Store 3. Montemayor, Felix; Ethics the Philippines; Navotas Metro Manila; National Book Store

Module 3 Moral Standards and Human Freedom At the end of this module, you are expected t0: 1. To understand moral standards in relation to human life 2. To learn the issue of voluntariness in human acts Moral Standards Morality it must be noted, is present only in humanity. Meaning man can only be moral if he is fully aware of his actions. Brutes have no morality for they are not guided by reason hence they are not responsible for their actions and are not classified as human acts. Let us be guided based on these principles: 1. Man is the only Moral Being – due to three things: a) man is capable of action, b) man has intellect and c) man has free will. Being capable of action man can employ his bodily activities to perform actions. With man’s intellect he can discern the good or evilness of his actions and at the same time equate the repercussions of his actions once asked to justify them. Free will is present and inherent in men unless they are idiots and with that they have the freedom of choice whether to perform or not the action at hand. 2. Man is a the highest form of Animal – endowed with intellect, man can decide what’s best for him although their desires are the same with brutes such as hunger, thirst, pain and sensual needs; man moves based on reason while their lower counterparts have only instinct. Sentient beings like animals rely on instinct which are natural biological drives, while men can decide whether an act is moral or not. 3. Man is a rational animal – Ratio is the Latin term for reason that means man has the power to discern things based on his previous knowledge of things. Unlike brutes, man has the power of abstraction – this is his ability to correlate ideas previously based on his mind as well as his understanding of the situation at hand, thereby giving him a logical or correct decision. 4. The intellect and the will – they are correlative with each other because the intellect is the agent of knowing while the will is the agent of choice. From intellect – knowledge is stored this will then guide the will to decide which is basically “good”. They co-exist and from their partnership “virtue” is born. Voluntariness of Human Acts A voluntary act is under the control of the intellect and the will and must be answerable for their actions. As mentioned in the previous module, only human acts are valid in ethics and at the same time possess moral significance. There are four types of voluntary acts and they are: 1. Perfect voluntariness – when a person acts with full knowledge and complete freedom – we are fully aware of what we are doing 2. Imperfect voluntariness – when a person acts without full understanding and no freedom – we are made to perform acts we did not like 3. Simple voluntariness – it is the disposition of a person doing the activity regardless to his liking or not – this may be positive or negative. The former is by making him to do something while the other is to prevent or stop him from doing things. 4. Conditional voluntariness - it is the situation when the person was forced by circumstances or under duress which he would not do under normal circumstances. Example is being extorted money by a neighborhood toughie in exchange for his “protection”. But what modifiers may cloud the intellect and the will that may either reduce or increase accountability: Modifiers of Human Acts: 1. Ignorance – this simply means absence of knowledge. A doer’s responsibility for his actions may be increased or decreased due to this. A person may have committed an act for he is unaware of it. There are three types of ignorance and they are: Vincible

ignorance that can easily be corrected such as calling a person with a wrong name or entering the wrong classroom. On the other hand Invincible ignorance – cannot be rectified an example is a waiter who gave the wrong food to the customer or a killer that claimed the life of a wrong ...