ETHICS (w/ citation)
The term ethics is derived from the Greek word
“ethos”, which means “way of living”. Ethics is a subfield
of philosophy that deals with human conduct, particularly
how people behave in social settings. In order to
understand what is morally right or wrong, just or unjust,
ethics explores the intellectual justifications for our moral
judgment (Treasury Board – Canada, 2015). In addition, it
also considers freedom, accountability, and justice, as well
as how humans interact with both nature and other people.
PHILOSOPHERS ON THEIR ETHICAL THEORIES
TIME
ETHICAL THEORY
CONTROLLED IN
PHILOSOPHERS
ANCIENT
MEDIEVAL
What the world is?
God
Cosmo centric
Theocentric
MODERN
Man; who am I?
Anthropocentric
CONTEMPORARY
Existentialism
Phenomenology
Socrates, Plato, Aristotle
St. Augustine, St. Thomas Aquinas
Emmanuel Kant, D. Hume, Thomas
Hobbes
S. Kierkeegard, Karl Marx, Stuart
Mill, Nietzsche, J. Rowls
SOCRATES (469/470 – 399 BCE)
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Greek philosopher and considered the father of
western philosophy.
His father was the sculptor Sophronicus and the
mid-wife Phaenarete.
Studied music, gymnastics, and grammar in his
youth and followed his father’s profession as a
sculptor
He served with distinction in the army and, at the
Battle of Potidaea, saved the life of the General
Alcibiades.
ETHICAL THEORIES & APPLICATION
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Identifies knowledge with virtue
Believes “the unexamined life is not worth
living”
Socratic paradox
PLATO (428 – 348 BCE)
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Born in Athens, Greece towards the end of what is
known as the Golden Age of Pericles Athens.
Have come from the young Aristocles’ wrestling
coach due to his broad shoulders; platon is the
Greek word for “broad”
Student and disciple of Socrates; Aristotle was his
student
Founded the Academy around 385 B.C.
Father of western philosophy
His well-known ideas include: The forms or
platonic forms, concept of duality, beliefs on
ethics, concept of the soul, and the allegory of
the cave
ETHICAL THEORIES
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Virtue Ethics
“Human behavior flows from three main sources:
Desire, Emotion, and Knowledge.”
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The reasoning of what is moral is decided by the
person, instead of by rules or consequences; you
decide what’s moral and right, not by what
will happen.
Plato believed that the human soul is divided into three
parts:
1. Reason – thinking ability to judge
2. Spirit – emotional ability to feel empathy
3. Appetite – desires
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These three parts should be balanced to be able
to make good decisions and choices.
 Plato devoted his whole life to one goal: helping
people reach a state called Eudaimonia
(fulfillment)
EUDAIMONIA
 Condition of human flourishing or of living well
 Requires something extra/arete, or excellence and
pure knowledge
o Knowledge of all things is important, but
knowledge of itself is more important
o A person with arete/pure knowledge is
someone who would attain Eudaimonia or
fulfilling life
APPLICATION OF ETHICAL THEORIES
1. Live honorably – the man who is conscious of no
wrongdoing is filled with the comfort of old age.
Happiness is deeply connected to ethics, hence,
living virtuously is actually preventing you from
achieving Eudaimonia.
2. Be in charge of your own happiness – the man
who makes everything that leads to happiness
depend upon himself and not upon other men, has
adopted the very best plan for living happily.
Happiness is a form of personal growth; we
should not complain of unhappiness, waiting for
other people to make us happy.
3. Care about the happiness of others – in caring
for the happiness of others, we find our own.
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Plato linked happiness with being moral.
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Real happiness should include striving to
contribute to the common good of society.
ARISTOTLE
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The father of political science
Ancient green philosopher and scientist; one of the
greatest intellectual figures of Western history
Even after the intellectual revolutions of the
Renaissance, the Reformation, and the
Enlightenment, Aristotelian concepts remained
embedded in Western thinking
Founder of formal logic, devising for it a finished
system that for centuries was regarded as the sum
of discipline.
His writings in ethics and political theory as well
as in metaphysics and the philosophy of science
continues to be studied, and his work remains a
powerful current in contemporary philosophical
debate.
ETHICAL THEORIES
1. Virtue Ethics – a philosophy developed by
Aristotle and other ancient Greeks. The quest to
understand and live a life of moral character.
 an ethical theory that emphasizes an
individual’s character rather than
following a set of rules.
 This character-based approach to morality
assumes that we acquire virtue through
practice.
 Why do we need to be virtuous?
o Eudaimonia is a state or condition
of “good spirit”, which means
“happiness or welfare”. For him, it
is the highest human good.
 What exactly does it mean to be virtuous?
o Having virtue means doing the
right thing, at the right time, in the
right way, in the right amount,
toward the right people.
2. The Four Cardinal Values
a. Prudence – judge well about what the right
action is
b. Justice – disposes one to do what is right
and to want to do what is right
c. Temperance – seeking legitimate
pleasures at the right time and in the right
way
d. Courage – strikes the mean with regard to
feelings of fear and confidence
APPLICATION OF ETHICAL THEORIES
1. Virtue Ethics
o Practicing being honest, brave, just,
generous, and so on. A person develops an
honorable and moral character.
o Treating our character as a lifelong project,
one that has capacity to truly change who
we are.
2. Prudence
o Aristotle refers to the practical wisdom
that a person should develop as a part of his
personality. According to him, prudence is
a prerequisite to demonstrate the virtue of
courage. The latter requires practical
judgments before a person acts.
3. Justice
o Aristotle refers to actions that are
lawful and fair. Fairness involves the
demonstration of equity and redressal
of inequity in day-to-day life. Justice is
to give your enemy what is due to them
in the proper ways.
4. Temperance
o Aristotle means self-control, and
moderation demonstrated both in war
and peace, on a collective and individual
level, is a virtue.
5. Courage
o The demonstration of moderation with
respect
to
foolhardiness
and
overconfidence. To put it in simple
words, it is an observance of mean with
reference to feelings of fear and
confidence in daily life.
ST. THOMAS AQUINAS
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ST. AUGUSTINE
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Aurelius Augustinus, also called Saint Augustine
of Hippo or St. Augustine, was born in 354 at
Tagaste, Algeria, in North Africa.
He was the bishop of Hippo from 396 to 430 and
one of the Latin Fathers of the Church.
In Roman Catholicism, he is formally recognized
as a doctor of the church.
Baptized at the age of 33 by Bishop Ambrose of
Milan
Augustine’s decision to embrace the Catholic faith
was at the same time a commitment to spend the
reminder of his life as a “servant of God”, that is,
even though he had been living for years with a
woman who he deeply loved, and with whom he
had fathered a son, to whom he gave the name
Adeodatus.
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ETHICAL THEORY
 According to the book of “The Cambridge
Companion to Augustine,” Augustine regards
ethics as an enquiry into the “Summum Bonum:
the supreme good”. It says that it provides the
happiness that all human beings seek.
 He also developed the platonic idea of the rational
soul into a Christian view in which humans are
essentially souls, using their bodies as a means to
achieve their spiritual end.
 It was also through him that Christianity received
the platonic theme for the relative inferiority of
bodily pleasures.
APPLICATION OF ETHICAL THEORY
1. Man must seek to grow in virtue
2. Man must seek to grow in knowledge
3. Man must seek to grow in love
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Happiness is the bottom line of St. Augustine’s
theory, man’s pursuit of happiness through
participation in God.
Also called the angelic doctor; greatest Scholastic
philosophers
Produced a comprehensive synthesis of Christian
theology and Aristotelian philosophy that
influenced Roman Catholic doctrine for centuries
and was adopted as the official philosophy of the
church in 1917.
ETHICAL THEORY
“Good should be done or pursued, and evil (or
badness) avoided.”
APPLICATION OF ETHICAL THEORY
 For an action to be moral, the kind it belongs to
must not be bad, the circumstances must be
appropriate, and the intention must be virtuous.
 He believed that all actions are directed towards
ends and that happiness is the final end.
 Happiness is not equated with pleasure, material
possessions, honor, or any sensual good, but
consists in activities in accordance with virtue.
EMMANUEL KANT
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Highly influenced German philosopher
Born into an artisan family of modest means
Kant’s famous work, the critique of pure reason,
published in 1781, when he was 57 years old. He
published rather prolifically and his work gained
attraction across Europe. He wrote other two
critiques: the critique of practical reason and the
critique of the power of judgment.
ETHICAL THEORY
 Deontology
o An ethical approach centered on rules and
professional duties
o Derives from the Greek word deont, which
refers to that which is binding Kant’s
deontological philosophy stemmed from
his belief that humans possess the ability
to reason and understand universal
moral laws that they can apply in all
situations.
o He divided his deontological beliefs
between hypothetical and categorical
imperatives.
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Hypothetical
Imperatives
–
actions we ought to take, but only if
we have a goal; depends on some
condition; it should only be obeyed
if you wish to achieve some specific
goal.
Categorical Imperatives – actions
we ought to take regardless of
whether doing so would enable us
to get anything we want; it should
always be obeyed, regardless of
your goals.
APPLICATION OF ETHICAL THEORIES
APPLICATION OF ETHICAL THEORY
1. Reason is the slave of passion
2. The delicacy of taste and passion
3. The is/ought problem
THOMAS HOBES
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1. The will
2. The categorical imperative
3. Kingdom of ends
DAVID HUME
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Scottish enlightenment philosopher who is best
known today for his highly influential system of
philosophical empiricism, skepticism, and
naturalism
Argued the existence of innate ideas
Argued that inductive reasoning and belief in
causality cannot be justified rationally.
Influenced utilitarianism, logical positivism, the
philosophy of science, early analytic philosophy,
cognitive science, theology, and many other fields
of thinkers
ETHICAL THEORY
 Commonly known for his philosophical
skepticism and empiricist theory of knowledge
 His ethical though grapples with questions about
the relationship:
o Between morality and reason
o The role of human emotion in thought and
action
o The nature of moral evaluation
o Human sociability
o What it means to live a virtuous life
 His ethical theory continues to be relevant for
contemporary philosophers and psychologists
interested in topics such as metaethics, the role of
sympathy and empathy within moral evaluation
and moral psychology, as well as virtue ethics.
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English philosopher, scientist, and historian.
Known for his 1651 book, Leviathan
Considered to be one of the founders of modern
political philosophy; justified wide-ranging
government powers on the basis of the selfinterested consent of citizens
Became a member of several networks of
intellectuals in England and also became
acquainted with the circle of scientists,
theologians, and philosophers presided over by the
theologian Marin Mersenne
Hobbism became a byword for all respectable
society ought to denounce
ETHICAL THEORIES
1. Social Contract Theory
 Method of justifying political principles or
arrangements by appeal to the agreement that
would be made among suitably situated rational,
free, and equal persons
 People live together in society in accordance with
an agreement that establishes moral and political
rules of behavior
 We can live morally by our own choice and not
because a divine being requires it
2. Psychological Egoism
 The position that we always do that act that we
perceive to be in our own best self-interest
 All behaviors are motivated by self interest where
every action or behavior or decision of every
person is motivated by self-interest.
APPLICATION OF ETHICAL THEORIES
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Social contract theory says that people live
together in society in accordance with an
agreement that establishes moral and political
rules of behavior.
It sets out what the government can and
cannot do.
People who choose to live in certain place agree
to be governed by the moral and political
obligations outlined in the social contract.
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Social contract provides a valuable framework
for harmony in society.
SOREN KEIRKEEGARD
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Danish philosopher who imposed restrictions on
his own love and emotions and declared the idea
of subjectivity as truth, is now recognized as the
founder of existentialism, an influential author in
psychological, and an important figure in
postmodernism
His father, Michael Pedersen Keirkeegard, was
regarded as the father of existentialism and
existential psychology.
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German philosopher, economist, historian, and
socialist revolutionary
Studies law and philosophy in University of Berlin
Involved in radicalism at a young age through the
Young Hegelians
In 1847, the newly founded Communist League
in London, England, drafted Marx and Engels to
write “The Communist Manifesto”, published
the following year
ETHICAL THEORIES
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ETHICAL THEORY
 Divine command from God and transcends
ethics.
o The choice is to obey God
unconditionally is a true existential
decision faced by every individual
o Either one chooses to live in faith (the
religious stage) or to live ethically (the
ethical stage)
o She clearly advocates for choosing the
religious stage of living as the ultimate
goal.
 Teleological suspension of the ethical
o The event that a command from God
take precedence over all moral and
even rational obligations.
o Fulfilling one’s purpose (telos) justifies
actions that contradict social ethics.
However, knowing when this situation
may apply to one’s ethical dilemma is
not always clear.
o Faith allows one to believe that an
unethical action will actually result in
a better end.
APPLICATION OF ETHICAL THEORIES
 Philosophical counseling and psychotherapy
o Adapted and applied by mental health
professionals whom he feels cannot do
his job if she uses a textbook to shield
herself from the personal and
experiential tool of empathy.
KARL MARX
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Marxism
o The political and economic theories of
Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, later
developed by their followers to form the
basis for the theory and practice of
communism
 Communism advocates for a
classless system in which all
property and wealth are
communally (rather than
privately) owned
 A global movement, inspiring
and
expediting
inevitable
working-class
revolutions
throughout the capitalist world
o Posits that the struggle between social
classes – specifically between the
bourgeoisie, or capitalists, and the
proletariat, or workers
o The main goal is achieving a classless
society throughout the world
Socialism
o Not a society of regimented,
automatized individuals, regardless of
whether there is equality of income or
not, and regardless of whether they are
well fed and well clad
o A political and economic system in
which property and the means of
production are owned in common,
typically controlled by the state or
government.
o Based on the idea that common or public
ownership of resources and means of
production leads to a more equal
society.
o For Marx, it permits the actualization
of man’s essence, by overcoming his
alienation.
STUART MILL
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The son of James Mill and Harriet Barrow
Philosopher and economist; learned Green and
Latin, calculus, and economics at a young age.
His wife, Harriet Hardy Taylor, helped turn Mill’s
attention to the progressive ideals which she was
passionate about: socialism, women’s rights,
individual liberty, and a “utopian” view of
humanity improvability.
ETHICAL THEORIES
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Great Happiness Principle
o Determine whether an individual’s
action is good or bad.
Utilitarianism
o A normative ethical theory that
defines good in terms of overall
happiness.
 Actions that increase pleasure
and decrease suffering are good.
 Actions that decrease pleasure
and increase sufferings are bad.
o He defines “utilitarianism” as the creed
that considers a particular “theory of
life” as the foundation of morals.
APPLICATION OF ETHICAL THEORIES
1. Utilitarianism is one of the most popular normative
theories in modern philosophy.
a. Effective in the field of animal ethics
i. Many ethicists argue that eating
and using animal products causes
more suffering to animals than
pleasure to human; therefore, it is
morally wrong.
b. Utilitarian reasoning can be used for many
different purposes
i. It can be used both for moral
reasoning
ii. Rational decision-making
iii. Applying in different contexts, it
can also be used for deliberations
about the interests of different
persons and groups
iv. Vaccinations
v. Charity work rather than staying
and chilling at home
FRIEDRICH NIETZCHE
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German philosopher and cultural critic
Used his psychological analyses to support
original theories about the nature of the self and
provocative proposals
Also objects to the content of our contemporary
moral commitments
The birth of tragedy our of the spirit of music
(1872)
Famous for compromising criticisms of traditional
European morality and religion, as well as of
conventional philosophical ideas and social and
political pieties associated with modernity.
ETHICAL THEORIES
 Morality – Master-Slave Morality; for him, the
world was divided into two realms:
o Masters
 The minority groups
 Wealthy, powerful, nobles
 Follows the master morality
o Slaves
 Majority of people
 No power/wealth/strength
 Follows the slave morality
APPLICATION OF ETHICAL THEORIES
1. Origin of master-slave morality
 From the Judeo-Christian History
 The enslavement of the Jews in Egypt
developed and internalized a moral code
suitable for surviving slavery
2. Slave morality
 Believes that slave morality is everywhere
 Anytime people ground their morality to some
master rather themselves
 Christians to Christianity, Nazis to the National
Socialist German Party, soldiers to their
commanders
3. Master morality
 Believes that the only time master morality is
being practiced is when a person thinks for
himself/herself and lives by his/her own
rules.
 They only think that things are good is because
they believe and desire it to be good
JOHN RAWLS
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American political and ethical philosopher
Best known for his defense of egalitarian
liberalism in his major work “A Theory of
Justice” (1971)
Widely considered the most important political
philosopher of the 20th century
Enlisted in the army and served with the infantry
in the South Pacific until his discharge in 1945
Strongly influenced by traditional social contract
theories expounded by Locke and Rousseau
 Justice as fairness is sort of social glue that
binds society together
 Social and economic inequalities are to satisfy
two conditions:
1. They are to be attached to offices and positions
open to all under conditions of fair equality of
opportunity
2. They are to be the greatest benefit of the leastadvantaged members of society
APPLICATION OF ETHICAL THEORIES
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ETHICAL THEORY
1. Utilitarian principle – greatest happiness of
the greatest number
2. Intuitionist principle – those considered
appropriate or acceptable by the citizens
3. Egoistic principle – society is ordered, if at all,
for the sole benefit of the individual
Rawls proposes his own principles by which a just
society could be guided:
1. There must be basic freedoms (freedom of
speech, association, religion)
2. The inequalities which inevitably result from
freedom are so arranged to bring most
benefit to the worst-off, including full
equality of opportunity
 The veil of ignorance as a path to justice –
eliminates prejudices because each person is
blind to their station in life
 Justice as fairness – the heir to the social
contract theory but distinct from utilitarian
forms of justice
o Social justice involves the appropriate
distribution of the benefits and
burdens of social cooperation
Two Principles of Social Justice Concerns Political
Institutions
1. First principle
 Each person has the same and indefeasible
(permanent) claim to a fully adequate scheme
of equal basic liberties, which scheme is
compatible with the same scheme of liberties
for all
2. Second principle
Theory of justice
o Resolve the problem of distributive
justice in society
o Create a conception of justice as
fairness that can apply in a
constitutional democracy
o Disadvantages are neutralized and
everyone receives the same benefits of
justice
o Fairness as a corporate doctrine can be
applied to all stakeholders and define a
culture of trust and openness, with all
the
corresponding
benefits,
in
marketing,
advertising,
board
development, client relations, and so on
ALBERT CAMUS
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3.
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French philosopher, author, dramatist, and
journalist
Received the 1957 Nobel Prize in Literature at
the age of 44 for his important literary production,
which with clear-sighted earnestness illuminates
the problems of the human conscience in our
times
The three novels published during his lifetime:
The stranger
The plague
The fall
His two major philosophical essays
1. The myth of Sisyphus
2. The rebel
His belief was that the absurd – life being void of
meaning, or man’s inability to know that meaning
if it were to exist – was something that man should
embrace
He defined the absurd as the futility of a search for
meaning in an incomprehensible universe, devoid
of God, or meanings
ETHICAL THEORY
 Absurdism
o Human beings exist in a purposeless,
chaotic universe
o One way to deal with absurdity of life is
acceptance
o Two life lessons from Camus which can
help us appreciate the absurdity of life:
1. Create your own meaning
of life
2. Don’t make happiness a
distant goal
APPLICATION OF ETHICAL THEORY
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The Myth of Sisyphus
o He uses the Greek legend of Sisyphus
o Condemned by the Gods for eternity to
repeatedly roll a boulder up a hill only
to have it roll down again once he got
it to the top, as a metaphor for the
“individual’s persistent struggle
against the essential absurdity of life.”
o A man overcomes struggles by
accepting life is absurd and (efforts are
pointless) while also grasping that he
alone gets to decide how to live and
feel within.
o “The realization that life is absurd
cannot be an end, but a beginning.”
o By realizing it all absurd, a man could
have the opportunity to rebel against
the meaninglessness.
o One of the only coherent philosophical
positions is REVOLT, and revolt is a
constant confrontation between man
and his own obscurity.
CAROL GILIGAN
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Received an A.B. with highest honors in
English literature from Swarthmore College, a
master’s degree in clinical psychology from
Radcliffe College, and a Ph.D. in social
psychology from Harvard University
Developed psychologist best known for her
research into the moral development of girls
and women.
Worked alongside leading psychologists Erik
Erikson and Lawrence Kohlberg who
influenced her
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In 1982, Giligan published “In a Different
Voice: Psychological Theory and Women’s
Development”
ETHICAL THEORIES
Giligan’s work on moral development outlines
how a woman’s morality is influenced by relationships
and how women form their moral and ethical foundation
based on how their decisions will affect others.
 Level of Moral Development
1. Preconventional morality – there is a
strong focus on survival and self-interest
2. Conventional
–
women
prioritize
selflessness and caring about others
3. Postconventional – women emphasize taking
responsibility for the consequences of their
choices and gaining control of their own
lives
 Levels of Thinking
1. Care-based morality – kind of thinking
found in women (mother); more
emphasize is given to inter-connected
and universality
2. Justice-based morality – kind of
thinking found in men (father); view the
world as being composed of autonomous
individuals who interact with one
another
APPLICATION OF ETHICAL THEORY
 Ethics of Care
o Living in relationship with one another
 Moral orientations
o Care-based morality – based on real
relationship
o Justice-based morality – based on
abstract principle
 Three stages of moral development
o Pre-conventional Stage: I love me (selfinterest)
 Caring for one’s self
 Individual survival
o Conventional Stage: I love you more
than me (selflessness)
 Caring for others
 Self-sacrifice
 Selfishness to responsibility
towards others
o Post-conventional Stage: I love me and
you (balanced)
 Caring for self and others
 Non-violence
 Transition to balance and
interdependency
HUMAN ACT VS. ACT OF MAN
1. Human Act
 Knowledge
 Freedom
 Voluntariness
2. Act of Man
 Sleepwalking
Consequence
Responsibility
UTILITARIANISM
 An ethical theory known as utilitarianism
establishes right from wrong by emphasizing
results. It embodies consequentialism in some
way. According to utilitarianism, the decision that
will result in the greatest good for the largest
number of people is the most morally right one.
DEONTOLOGY
 An ethical theory that distinguishes between right
and wrong using rules. Immanuel Kant, a
philosopher, is frequently linked to deontology.
Kant held that moral behavior must abide by
general moral principles, such as “don’t lie, don’t
steal, don’t cheat.” In other words, an ethical theory
that asserts that behaviors are good/evil in
accordance with a certain set of guidelines. Deon,
which means duty in Greek, is where it gets its
name. These guidelines define what constitutes
ethical behavior, and what does not.
ETHICS OF CARE
 Feminist ethics is approached through the lens of
ethics of care. It criticizes conventional moral
theories as flawed and male-centric to the extent
that they were remove/minimize traits and
qualities typically associated with women or with
the rules that are frequently portrayed as
“feminine”.
VIRTUE OF ETHICS
 Arguably the oldest ethical theory in the world,
with origins in Ancient Greece.
 Defines good actions as ones that display embody
virtuous character traits, like courage, loyalty, or
wisdom
HEDONISM
 The word “hedonism” is derived from the Greek
word for pleasure. According to psychological or
motivational hedonism, we are exclusively
motivated by pleasure or suffering. In addition,
according to ethical or evaluative hedonism, only
happiness has value and only suffering has
disvalue, which is the polar opposite of worth.
EUDAIMONIA
 The highest and ultimate aim of both moral and
thought and behavior (Plato).
 A broad concept to describe the highest good
humans could strive toward – or a life “well
lived” (Aristotle).
MORAL EVALUATION
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Moral Agent
o A person who has the ability to discern
right from wrong and to be held
accountable for his or her own actions.
o Have a moral responsibility not to cause
unjustified harm.
o By expecting people to act as moral agents,
we hold people accountable for the harm
they cause others.
 Moral Act
o An act is morally good when we make
choices coherent to our true good and
brings us closer to God.
o The goodness of a moral act is assessed
based on three conditions:
1. Object (and its goodness)
2. Intention (or end as expressed by St. Thomas
Aquinas)
3. Circumstances
ELEMENTS FOR ACTS TO BE CONSIDERED
JUSTIFIABLE