INTRODUCTION TO ETHICS Meaning and the General Concept of Ethics Module Overview: Welcome students to another important course in your journey to becoming a true human being, that is, to become a moral person. This module will assist and guide you in achieving that goal. It will broaden your understanding of living an ethical life despite the immoralities that are happening today. This module will open your mind to what should be done; hence, they are good and should not be done because they are bad. General Objectives: - Discuss the meaning of Ethics. Identify the Types of Norm Characteristics of Moral Principles. - and the Apply the knowledge of human activity through the use of Determinants of Morality and Modifiers. Objectives: At the end of the lesson, you can: 1. Discuss the importance of Ethics 2. Identify the basic ideas in the general context of Ethics, INTRODUCTION: Good day students. Welcome to an exciting topic that will lead you in understanding the meaning of Ethics in general. This will help you evaluate your actions and the moral issues that we are facing today. 1. Write down your meaning of Ethics 2. What is a moral act and amoral act? ETHICAL ABSTRACTION What is Ethics? ETYMOLOGICALLY! That is derived from the Greek word EOWO [Ethos], which means custom to mean the manner of acting ordinary to all persons of all locations and periods, according to the origin of the word and its meaning. Moral comes from the Latin word MOS or MORIS, which also means "custom." As a result, Ethics and Moral Philosophy/Moral Science are IDENTICAL/SIGNIFICANT. In a practical sense, ethics is the practical and philosophical science of the morality of the human act or human conduct. There are three critical points to consider based on this definition. a.] Ethics is a science - means Ethics is a body of knowledge together with its explanations b.] Ethics is practical - means Ethics present principles and rules to be acted upon [ to be arranged SYSTEMATICALLY practice/done]. c.] Ethics is Philosophical - means Ethics seeks to explain its subject matter in the light of its most profound principle through human reason alone. The Objects of Ethics: Every science has its proper objects [ the focus of study/subject matter] a.] Material object - Human Act/Human Conduct b.] Formal Object - a human reason which will give the moral rectitude of human act [ good or bad/ right or wrong] Division of Ethics There’s Two main division of Ethics. a.] General Ethics - the general principles of what is right or wrong/good or bad. b.] Special/Applied Ethics applies the general principles of good or bad to the particular field/area. Under this division Special Division] it has two kinds; a. Individual Ethics b. Social Ethics -- under this kind it has five types – a. in the family b. in the state c. in the church d. international society e. in various professions. The Importance of Ethics It has Four Basic Importance. a. Ethics only studies the morality of the human act through human reason alone b. It teaches man how to act following their rational nature by giving them the rules of human conduct. c. By providing rules of human conduct, Ethics enables men to live together in harmony. Thus Ethics make life in society possible. d. The principles of Ethics are in unison with the principles of Christian morality. These principles are also used as a means of approach to the demonstration of many truths of the Catholic Application: This time, it would be good for you to answer personally the following questions are below; 1. What is the role of Ethics in your life as a student of THE DAVAO MEDICAL SCHOOL FOUNDATION? 2. How would you relate Ethics to your day to day life activities? 3. In what way that you can demonstrate Ethics in every action that you are going to perform Lesson 2 Kinds of Valuation/Types of Norm and Characteristics of Moral Principle Objectives: At the end of the lesson, you can: -Identify the Kinds of valuation/Types of Norms and The Characteristics of Moral Principles Introduction: Good day, and Welcome to another important topic that will guide you in evaluating the rightness and wrongness of the human act. I know that you are very interested to know how to assess actions, specifically your actions. Activity. • List down three actions that are considered ethical/moral and three non-moral actions. 1. 2. 3. • Identify a specific action that you have done as ethical and non-moral, then justify that act. Kinds of valuation and Types of Norms One of the most important elements by which human activity is measured and determined in its morality is about a NORM. A norm is understood, as a rule, standard or measure. It means that it is something by which a human act or conduct is judged/assessed as right or wrong, good or bad. So by norms of morality, we mean the STANDARD OF RIGHT AND WRONG in human action a. technical norm - is concerned with the techniques of how certain things about survival be done or not; Because of these, every community prescribes certain proper ways of working and doing things. b. Societal norm - this norm has something to do with group cohesion and strengthening the bonds that keep the community together. Ex. Particular manners of attire. Kinds of valuation and Types of Norms c. Aesthetic norm - refers to a typical perceptual appreciation of something beautiful and criticizing something ugly in terms of color, shape, space, movement, sound, feeling and emotions, touch and texture, taste, scent, and odor. d. Ethical and Moral norm - refers to some ideal vision of a human person; an ideal stage or perfection of their being serves as the ultimate goal of the norm. In this norm, the human person and their actions are judged to be right or wrong, good or bad about the ideal vision of a human person. This is what the community sometimes as the " NON - NEGOTIABLES. "Because of this idea, all other norms stated above are subordinated to Moral/Ethical norms. Characteristics of Moral Principles. Moral principle is an important feature of morality. Moral philosophers can develop a short list of specific characteristics that, taken as a whole, can be a good description of the distinctiveness of moral principles in particular and morality in general. Though there is no universal agreement on the characteristics of moral/ethical principles, there is a broad consensus that these are the traits. 1. Reasonability - means that when we judge right and wrong, it must be backed up by good reason and do not let our emotions influenced our reason. 2. Impartiality - means moral rule should be applied to anyone regardless of one's status and the situation in life. 3. Prescriptivity - it refers to the practical or action-guiding principle of morality. It is a command intended to direct people on what to do and avoid. 4. Overridingness - it means that moral standards/rules are over and above another standard of valuation. Characteristics of Moral Principles 5. Autonomous from arbitrary authority - means moral rules must/should stand on their 6. Publicity - means moral rules or laws must be made public (known to everybody) if they are to serve as clear guidelines to our actions. 7. Practicability - means moral rules/laws should/must be doable or attainable can be done own independent of the desire of the majority. by anyone. 8. Universalizability - moral rules/laws must apply to everyone without exception, provided of a course that all people are in the relevantly same context or situation. Application: Now that you have a better and deeper understanding of the Kinds of Valuation/Types of Norms and the Characteristics of Moral principles; you are now tasked to answer the following questions below; 1. What is the role of The Norms in your life as a student of Davao Medical School Foundation 2. How would you relate Norms to your day today life activities? 3. In what way can you demonstrate The Characteristics of Moral? LESSON 3 The Meaning of Human Acts Objectives: At the end of the lesson, you can: 1. Differentiate Human acts from Acts of man 2. Assess some issues by applying the principles governing the determinants of morality and Modifiers of Human Acts. Introduction: Human Act is the thing to be studied in ethics because it can be measured as good or bad, right or wrong. In addition, the Determinants of Morality and The Modifiers of Human Acts will give us a sufficient justification for the act to be good or bad. 1. Write down three actions that you think are under the domain of human act and three actions under the field of acts of man. Then provide your explanation for that. 2. List down at least two criteria that you have in mind in determining a good act and a bad act. 3. In your own opinion, identify at least one factor that would increase or lessen the morality of Human act The Nature and Meaning of Human Acts Human Acts (Actus Humani)- Actions that are done freely, knowingly, and voluntarily. voluntary acts. (e.g., Stealing, killing) Acts of Man - Actions that happen in the person ‘s naturally’; involuntary acts. (e.g., digestion, the beating of the heart, hearing) Basic Elements of Human Acts 1) Deliberate (knowingly) 2) Performed in freedom(freely) 3) Done involuntarily/voluntaryily(willfully) Types of Voluntary Acts (1)Perfect - Present in a person who entirely knows and intended the act. 2) Imperfect - Present in a person who acts without fully realizing what he means to do or fully intending the act. 3.) Conditional - Present in a person who is forced by circumstances beyond his control to perform an act which he would not do under normal conditions. 4.) Simple - Present in a person doing an act willfully, regardless of whether he likes to do it or not. Major Determinants of the Morality of Human Acts 1) Object of the Act (The Act Itself) -‘WHAT ‘the person does. 2) Motive ‘WHY’ the person does what he does 3) Circumstances - Various conditions outside the act. Four Types of Circumstances that Affects the Morality of an Act 1. Mitigating Circumstances - Diminish the moral good or evil.( To lessen the degree of behavior committed) 2. Aggravating Circumstances - Increase the degree of moral good or evil act (which could justify if the act is committed morally or not). 3. Justifying Circumstances-Show adequate reason for some acts done. 4. Specifying Circumstances - Give new and distinct species of moral good or evil. Specific types of Circumstances that Affect the Morality of Human Acts 1. WHO (doer) 2. WHERE /place (setting of action) 3. BY WHAT MEANS o WHY (motive) 4. HOW (manner of the act) 5. WHEN (time of the action) 6.TO WHOM (receiver of the action) Specific types of Circumstances that Affect the Morality of Human Acts 1) Ignorance - Absence of knowledge Types of Ignorance a. Vincible - This type of ignorance can be corrected b. Affected - Pretending to be ignorant to escape blame c. Invincible. This type of ignorance is no correctable 3) Fear (special kind of passion) The disturbance of a person's mind is confronted by an impending danger of harming himself or his loved ones. 1. Act done with fear (voluntary) The person acting with fear is acting despite his fear and still very much in control of his conduct; it doesn’t exempt a person from moral and legal responsibility. Specific types of Circumstances that Affect the Morality of Human Acts 2) Passion Strong feeling or emotion. Classification a. Antecedent - Weaken the willpower of a person without completely obstructing his freedom; it will diminish the accountability of the resultant’s act. b. Consequently, the person who willfully acts following his passion and allows himself to be entirely controlled by it; it will increase accountability. Specific types of Circumstances that Affect the Morality of Human Acts 3) Fear (special kind of passion) The disturbance of a person's mind is confronted by an impending danger of harming himself or his loved ones. 1. Act done with fear (voluntary) The person acting with fear is acting despite his fear and still very much in control of his conduct; it doesn’t exempt a person from moral and legal responsibility. Specific types of Circumstances that Affect the Morality of Human Acts 4. Act has done ‘out’ of fear (involuntary) The person is acting because of intense fear and panic is doing something involuntarily and without his consent; exempts a person from moral and legal responsibility. Violence Refers to any physical force exerted on a person by another free agent to compel the said person Summary Ethics as an academic discipline guides us on how to do good and avoid evil As a major area in the field of philosophy, it tries to investigate and examine critically as well as systematically through the use of reason, certain principles, and codes of right and wrong, specifically those about human action Human conduct or the human act is the subject matter of Ethics as a specific field of study. Ethics tries to asses and determine whether the actions are moral and worth living, or immoral, and have to be avoided. References: Bulaong, O. et al. 2018. Ethics: Foundations of moral valuation. Quezon City: Rex Book Store. Fernandez, A. 2018. Ethics deciding what’s right and wrong. Davao City. SMKC Printshoppe Publishing. Pasco, M.et.al. (2018). Ethics. Quezon City: C & E Publishing Inc. http://Pegasus.cc.uef.edu/ncoverst/Kolhlberg’s%20stages%200f%20Moral%20D evelopment. [accessed 9 April 2018] Retrieved: July 7, 2021 Natural Law according to Aristotle, stoic, and St. Thomas Aquinas Natural Law of Ethics Ethical theories and principles serve as the foundations of ethical analysis because they provide perspectives from which to seek guidance along the path to a decision. Each theory emphasizes different points to reach an ethically correct decision, such as predicting the outcome and following one's duties to others for an ethical theory to be useful, the theory must be directed towards a common set of goals. Ethical principles are the common goals that each theory tries to achieve to be successful. Activity ABSTRACTION: THE NATURAL LAW ETHICS The Origins of Natural Law Aristotle's writings on ethics are the first to identify the natural with the good. All things “aim at some good,” he writes at the start of his ethics treatise, “and for this reason, the good has rightly been declared that at which all things aim The study of the goal, end, or purpose of human life for individuals is known as ethics. On the other hand, politics is a study of society's good, goal, end, or purpose BUT, WHAT EXACTLY IS GOOD? ABSTRACTION: THE NATURAL LAW ETHICS Real goods meet natural needs and are beneficial to us regardless of our desires. Real goods include food, clothing, and shelter . Apparent goods satisfy acquired desires and are referred to as goods because we desire them. Shrimp, designer clothes, and mansions are obvious commodities. A good life consists of acquiring all of the real (natural) goods over the course of a lifetime. Food, clothing, shelter, health, vitality, and vigor are examples of external and bodily goods, as are "soul goods" such as love, friendship, knowledge, courage, justice, honor, and skill. . A person of good character demonstrates moral virtues such as temperance, courage, justice, and intellectual virtues such as wisdom and prudence. ABSTRACTION: THE NATURAL LAW ETHICS A person of good character demonstrates moral virtues such as temperance, courage, justice, and intellectual virtues such as wisdom and prudence. A virtue-filled life is a good, happy, and fulfilling life. It is a way of life that is in accordance with our nature. Aristotle called teleology the idea that everything has a goal or purpose based on its nature. (From the Greek telos, which means "goal," "end," or "purpose.") Examples: A pen that writes well is useful; it serves its purpose The eyes are designed to see Whatever fulfills its teleology is fulfilled; whatever does not is defective ABSTRACTION: THE NATURAL LAW ETHICS The doctrine was developed by the Stoics, who coined the phrase "natural law." Stoicism flourished in the third century BCE in Athens and later in the Roman Empire, with figures such as Seneca, Epictetus, Marcus Aurelius, and Cicero. The Stoics, unlike Aristotle, believed that human happiness could be attained without the acquisition of external or bodily goods. They also emphasized logic and emotional control. The Stoics believed that nature, particularly our rational nature, should be followed rather than convention ‘’Logos’’, it is the universal power or energy personified in nature's laws, was the source of natural law. ABSTRACTION Natural laws should take precedence over cultural conventions, which led the Stoics to the concept of the cosmopolitan citizen. Because it needed to create rules to deal with different cultures, Roman jurisprudence adopted the concept of natural law for all of the world's citizens. St. Thomas Aquinas (12251274) created the classic formulation of natural law by combining Aristotelianism, Stoicism, and Christianity. Aristotle's natural virtues were supplemented by the theological virtues of faith, hope, and charity. He also added eternal beatitude to earthly happiness . Thus, natural law is God's law as it is known to human reason. Unlike lower animals, we can understand nature's laws and have the choice to obey or disobey them. ABSTRACTION The basic tenet of natural law ethics is that good should be done, and evil should be avoided. This general principle can be expressed in moral axioms such as "Do not kill!" “Be steadfast!” “Save your life!” “Take care of your children!” “Do not steal or lie!” As Aristotle pointed out, natural inclinations and tendencies are good, and we fulfill them by acquiring the elements that constitute human happiness, such as life, procreation, friendship, and knowledge. The moral law requires that we develop our cause and act in accordance with the dictates of reason On the other hand, natural law requires that we develop our talents and be just in order to realize our human potential fully. If we fail to do this, then we violate the natural law. WHAT IS LAW? A law is an ordinance of reason for the common good issued by the person in charge of the community” (St. Thomas Aquinas, STh I-II, 90, 4; CCC 1976). Law is first and foremost a reasonable plan of action, “a certain rule and measure of acts by which man is induced to act or restrained from acting” (S.t., 1–2, q. 90, aa. 1, 3; S.c.g., 3, 114). KINDS OF LAW ETERNAL LAW DEVIDE LAW NATURAL LAW HUMAN LAW HIERARCHY OF LAW ETERNAL LAW God's Divine Wisdom is in charge of overseeing the common good and governing everything. Eternal law is God's plan to bring all of creation to God's eternal salvific plan of being holy and blameless in His eyes through Jesus Christ (Ephesians 1:4–5) Everything that reflects in nature of a man(final good) DEVINE LAW It is the historical laws of Scripture revealed to us by God through selfrevelation. The Bible's Old and New Testaments correspond to the Old and New Testaments of Divine Lawq91, a5). he Old Law, which God revealed to Moses, is the "first stage of revealed Law." Its moral compass is encapsulated in the Ten Commandments” (CCC 1962). NATURAL LAW It is defined as the “participation of the rational creature in eternal law” (ST I-II, Q. 91, A. 2.). “The highest standard of human life is divine law, which is eternal, objective, and universal, and by which God governs us in accordance with His wisdom and love. God makes a man a partaker of His law in order for him to recognize the unchanging truth” (DH 3). The natural law is based on a desire for God and submission to Him, as well as a sense that the other is one's equal,” says the author (CCC 1955). It is “natural” because it is made up of Reason given to us by the divine Lawgiver's “higher reason HUMAN LAW It is the application of natural law in various contexts Natural law serves as the foundation for both moral and civil law. Government laws are dictates of practical reason derived from Natural Law precepts. Individual morality has no place in the law The general moral precepts of nature should be specified in State laws by rulers of the state. For example, the repugnance of murder is legislated into punishments. HIERARCHY OF LAW Human laws, according to Aquinas, are derived from natural law, which is a participation in the eternal law. As a result, eternal law comes first, followed by natural law and then human law. Divine law is God's revealed law to man, whereas natural law is the imprint of eternal law on men's hearts.
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