Lesson 1: Introduction of Ethics
1. Familiarized the nature of Ethics
2. Identified the different character of man as a Person
3. Recognized and recalled a moral experience
4. Detected a moral dilemma
5. Identified the three levels of moral dilemmas
Definition, Scope and Method of Ethics

The word ethics comes from the Greek ethos which means customs or habits.
o
Ethics is also often called moral philosophy.
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The word moral is from the Latin mores which also means customs or habits.

Thus, ethics means the science of customs or habits of society.
o
While morals or morality refers to customs, ethics extend to mean habitual conduct or
character.
o
Morality deals with our reasoning and ethics with our doing.

Ethics can also mean ‘the science of rightness and wrongness of character and conduct.’

Ethics is also the ‘science of the highest good.’ It is the science of morality. It is the science of
the supreme ideal of human life.

Ethics is the study of what is right or good in human conduct or character.
The nature of Ethics


It is a normative science. Normative sciences seek to determine norms, ideals or standards, in
this case, of human conduct and character.
o
It is not a natural or positive science but a regulative science.
o
It is not a practical science nor does it teach us how to live amoral life, rather, it merely
ascertains the moral ideal.
Ethics is not an art. Art consists in the acquisition of a skill but morality consists in an attitude of
the will when there is no overt action. Ethics is a science because it aims at systematic
explanation of rightness and wrongness.
The Method of Ethics

The physical and biological method, in which morality is traced to the conduct of savages and
ultimately to the conduct of animals which seek pleasure and avoid pain.

The historical or genetic method, in which ethics is thought to evolve from the crude customs of
primitive people.

The psychological method, in which morality is deemed to be a phenomenon of human
consciousness.

The metaphysical method, in which morality is deemed Tobe a revelation of the divine and is
linked with spirituality and religion.

The true method of ethics is both empirical and transcendental. It is both scientific and
metaphysical. Ethics accurately observes the moral phenomena, classifies them according to
their similarities and differences and explains them. Just as other sciences systematize
judgments of commonsense relating to facts, so ethics systematizes judgments of common
sense relating to moral value, though supplemented by the metaphysical method.
The end of ethics

The objective of ethics is to define the nature of the highest good of humans or society.

It is the basis of moral reasoning and the root of all moral distinctions. Ethics attacks the
basis of popular morality, purges it of errors and inconsistencies, and places on a secure
footing all that is valid and essential in morality.
Doing ethics: a craft and a skill
 Doing ethics in journalism must be both learned and developed.
 Doing ethics in journalism is reasoned, principled and consistently thinking about how
journalists can maximize their truth telling obligations while minimizing harm to vulnerable
sources and audience.
 Doing ethics in journalism is about individual responsibility
 Doing ethics in journalism is about accountability and excellence in journalism references Sinha,
J.
The Moral Agent
“What is man that you should be mindful of him?” Ps. 8:5
Know thyself “
The unexamined life is not worth living!
Socrates
Fruits of Knowing Yourself

Self-awareness & Self Understanding

People are the most important organizational resource

Improving predictability and self-confidence
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Building relationships
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Effective utilization of human resources

Avoiding or managing conflicts

Improving the quality of life and work environment
Point of Reflection
1. Have you ever faced a person whom you failed to understand?
2. Have you ever been misunderstood (as a person)?
3. Have you ever been frustrated by people who looked, behaved, thought or felt very different
than you?
4. Have you ever looked down on someone who behaved, thought or felt differently
Discussion:
Conception is when human life begins.
a. Metaphysically, the embryo is already a human person, created in the image and likeness of
God.
b. Operationally (biologically, socially, morally, intellectually, emotionally), the human person has
yet to grow.
What makes us a Human Being?
 Metaphysical (level of being), fundamental, radical, substantial, the act of being.
 Operational (level of doing), accidental
 Our being human & even our fundamental dignity lies in the level of being (substantial), not in
the level of operation (accidental).
a. MAN IS RATIONAL ANIMAL
 Man is an organism composed of a material body and a spiritual soul.
 Human Nature - Is made up of man’s biological, psychological and rational powers.
o
Biological power – are nutrition, locomotion, growth and reproduction
o
Psychological power –are senses, such as smelling, tasting, seeing, hearing, perceiving,
imagining and remembering; those act of emotion, such as love, hatred, desire, disgust,
sorrow and etc
o
Rational powers are those of the intellect and the will – comprehension and volition
 Natural law – all human powers or faculties are operational tendencies towars what is good to
man as a rational animal. Human Nature is the law.
o
Natural law is differs from the law of nature which are the forces governing the material
universe, including man while Natural law applies only to man as a rational being
b. MAN AS MORAL BEING
 Man by natural insight is able to distinguish between good and evil, right and wrong,
moral and immora
 Man feels himself obliged to do what is good and to avoid what is evil
 Man feels himself accountable for his actions so that his good deeds merit reward, while
his evil deeds deserve punishment.
Cosmic Perfection The awareness that Reality is a process, moving with direction and purpose, and
within this movement each moment is connected by the process with the goal, and so is perfect.
c. MAN AS A PERSON
 Man is born as an individual, or person.
 The word “person” comes from the Greek “prosophon” which is the mask worn by stage
actors. The Latin “personare” alludes to the mask which is constructed so as to project
forcefully the voice of the actor.
 Person “as an individual, existing separately and independently from others, capable of
knowing and loving in an intellectual way, and of deciding for himself the purpose or
end of his actions.”
Personality and Character
 Personality - Is the sum of those physical attributes and tendencies which define a person’s
distinctive behavior.
 Character - Refers the person’s choice of values and his intelligent exercise of his freedom.
Habits - Is the readiness, born of frequently repeated acts, for acting in a certain manner.
Intellectual and Moral Virtue
 Intellectual Virtue - are character traits necessary for right action and correct thinking.
 Moral Virtue - are acquired by human effort concerning our appetites and will.
Vices - is a practice or a behavior or habit generally considered immoral, depraved, or degrading in the
associated society.
SOCIAL DIMENSION OF THE PERSON
George Hegel teaches that man is fully developed in his participation in family life, civic community, and
in the State
Likewise Thomas Hill Green (1836-1882) expresses the conviction that a person’s morality must identify
itself with public welfare
Paul Tillich puts it more clearly and emphatically when he says natural law is the demand for us, “to be a
a person in the community of other persons.
Reading
BE PROUD YOU ARE HUMAN
I admire the human race. I do, indeed. Everybody is busy running us down, these days, for the mess they
say we have made here and there and everywhere. That’s short-range stuff, a worm’s-eye view of our
world. Over the marching and abundant centuries, we haven’t made any mess. We have done and are
doing a better job than anyone has any right to expect. We’re all right!
From the beginning, we found ourselves alone in a vast universe, and not only alone but the only living
thing on this planet which could realize its loneness. We realized it, gave it a good close look, and then
turned our attention to making something practical and useful out of an unprecedented situation.
First of all, we found for ourselves a Light, a God, and we got a sense of direction, a goal to work toward.
This was pretty clever of us, if you think of it carefully. We proceeded to set up standards for our living
together. Early in our experience we made the revolutionary discovery that gentleness and kindliness
were more practical than brute strength. No other species has ever found that out and used it as a model
and practical code of conduct. We have in actual fact no one we need answer to, beyond ourselves, and
yet we observe our ideal standards in remarkable degree. We are honest and trustworthy one with
another so that it is the exception, it is news, when we commit a theft. We are de cent 99 per cent of the
time, when we could easily be vile.
With silence and mystery behind us and ahead of us, we make up gay little songs and whistle them, and
our feet keep jig time to them. We look life and fate in the eye, and smile. I like that, and I admire the
people who doit. Alone among all living things, we have discovered Beauty, and we cherish it, and create
it for eye and ear. Alone among living things, we have the power to look at our environment and criticize
it and improve it.
Finding it necessary to live together by the millions, we created for ourselves governing systems covering
vast geographical spaces. we have conceived and created the ideal of justice and plan it for all men.
Finding that we have to work to stay alive, we work with ability beyond imagining. Out of the earth we
take food, and improve that food year by year; we take heat, and light. We enjoy all the myriad products
of our unparalleled ingenuity. Every morning the necessity for the day’s work faces us. And we go and do
a day’s work.
If persistence, a daring and in-ingenuity impossible to surpass, we ways to move easily under the and
through the air. Now we speculatively eye our neighboring planet. How shall I not admire such creature?
Whenever he comes to an impassable obstacle, an apparently final he goes to work at it and, in due
time, surpasses it. If he has limits, I see where they are. I do not thin has limits. I think he is a child
universe who inherits eternity. I think he is wonderful, I am his partisan, and I am proud indeed be one of
him.
Exercise 1. (Write your answer in a short clean band paper and write it (encoded is not allowed) legibly
with NO ERASURE. Follow the format )
Name: _________________________________
Date: __________
Course/Section ___________________
Score
Exercise No.1
1) In what sense is human nature a natural law?
2) What is the significance of human action wit regards to character.
3) What is the demand of natural law according to Paul Tillich?
4) Differentiate between personality and character.
5) From the reading, list five achievements why the author says we ahould be proud as human
being
(2009). A Manual of Ethics. Kolkata: New CentralBook Agency (P) Ltd.Black, J., Steele, B., and Barney, R.
(1999). Doing Ethics inJournalism: A hand book with case studies. Third edition.Mass.: Allyn & Bacon.
Jimi Kayodejimikayode@gmail.comhttp://facebook.com/jimi.kayodeAdebola Adegunwa School of
Communication,Lagos State University, Lagos, Nigeria
https://www.slideshare.net/33534894/what-is-ethics-21404689