Ethics
By: Miguel Orellana
What are the ethics?
• Ethics refers to a set of standards that ought to tell an individual
what is wrong or right
• Ethics are what they are because they are based and supported
on consistent and well-founded reasons.
• By revising and analyzing one’s ethical values, one can change or
try to modify them in order to make them righteous and
therefore, making oneself a better person.
• We need to check our ethical values to make sure they are not
badly influenced by external causes, such as:
– Religion: Religion can actually increment the level of ethics, but
ethics cannot be bound for only religious people or considered
as a religion.
– Feelings: Feelings and emotions can detour one’s ethical values,
someone driven by emotion can do what is NOT right.
– Society/Politics: The points of views of society should not
always be applied to one’s ethical values. Take as an example
abortion, many governments and societies have made lawful
abortion, but it is not obligatory to accept it. Another example
is Nazi Germany, a morally corrupt society.
• Ethics also refers to the analysis we make of our own ethical
values.
History of the ethics
Ethics in ancient Greece
• Socrates: the ultimate object of human
activity is happiness, and the necessary means
to reach it, virtue.
• Plato: Virtue enables man to order his
conduct, as he properly should, according to
the dictates of reason, and acting thus he
becomes like unto God. Virtue consists in
justice, temperance, and fortitude.
• Aristotle: Man seeks happiness, and this
consist basicaly in acting rightly.
Ethics: History of Christian
Morality
• Ancient paganism never had a clear and definite
concept of the relation between God and the world,
of the unity of the human race, of the destiny of man,
of the nature and meaning of the moral law.
• God has written his moral law in the hearts of all men,
even of those outside the influence of Christian
Revelation; this law manifests itself in the conscience
of every man and is the norm according to which the
whole human race will be judged on the day of
reckoning. In consequence of their perverse
inclinations, this law had to a great extent become
obscured and distorted among the pagans;
Christianity, however, restored it to its pristine
integrity. Thus, ethics received its richest and most
fruitful stimulus.
Ethics in education
• “Character education means creating a culture
that calls for everyone in the school community
to be the best people they can be. Character
education programs that work are, in fact, a
giant mutual-improvement process involving
students, teachers, administrators, parents, and
other stakeholders.”
• Ethical decision-making is taught in schools, but
it is supplemented by reflection, coping skills,
and cooperation.
• This helps to maintain a dialogue with children,
helps him or her connect with their friends.
Problems with ethics
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There are many problems with ethics, because this area of knowledge has to do with
different perspective of what is ethical or not all around the world. As each has its own
opinion we have our own view of what is wrong and right. It mostly consists of your
culture and a belief that affects your decision of what is ethical
Major Problems with Ethics:
Moral Relativism
According to Ms. Dickson power point moral relativism is: values are determined by
the society that we grow up in and there are no universal values.
This is a problem because of the variety of cultures, so there is more practice of
moral relativism, and therefore we cannot chose one.
Self-Interest Theory
According to Ms. Dickson power point self-interest theory is : human beings are
always selfish and will never be different
This is a problem because being selfish may affect the decision of what is ethical,
and to care about other not only you.
bibliography
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http://tok-bible.wikispaces.com/Ethics
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http://www.scu.edu/ethics/practicing/decision/whatisethics.html
http://www.scu.edu/ethics/practicing/decision/whatisethics.html
http://open-site.org/Society/Philosophy/Ethics/History
http://www.scu.edu/ethics/publications/iie/v10n1/education.html