Ethics is the study of moral principles that govern human behavior. It comes from the Greek word "ethos" meaning character or customs. Ethics examines concepts like good and bad, right and wrong, and provides norms for judging human actions. There are different definitions of ethics, including seeing it as a science that studies human acts and provides standards for their moral quality. Ethics deals with voluntary human conduct and provides norms for judging actions as good or bad. It also studies morality, which is a system of beliefs about what is good and bad behavior according to social conventions. The ultimate goal of ethics is determining the greatest good - what is best for humans to achieve well-being and fulfillment individually and in society.

1. ETHICS
MODULE 1

3. WHAT IS ETHICS?
• From the Greek word “ethos” which means customs,
usage or character. (CUSTOM = accepted or habitual ractice)
• A set of rules of human behavior which has been
influenced by the standards set by the society or by
himself in relation to his society (Reyes, 1989).
• It is also known as moral philoshy; the science of the
morality of human acts.
• It seeks to examine the meaning of moral terms and the
criteria by which we make moral judgements.

4. DIFFERENT DEFINITION OF ETHICS
1. pLato and Aristotle = “what constitutes the good life”,
associated it with hainess which in turn comes from living in
accordance with virtues such as temperance, courage, piety, and
justice.
• pLato = believed that “the good” was an abstract form, beyond the everyday world.
• Aristotle = saw virtue as natural to human beings.
2. Ethics as Science (Timbreza, 1993)
– it is based on reason which studies human acts and provides
norms for their goodness and badness.
– it is a systematic study about the grounds and norms of human
life (NORM= standard, model or attern regarded as tyical)

5. 3. ethics as a science
1. practical Science = deals with systematized body of knowledge
that can be applicable to human action; application of the human knowledge
and its practicality to human exerience; considered to be part of life; a part of
man’s daily existence.
2. Normative Science = sets a basis or a norm for the direction and
regulation of human actions; sets its rules and guidelines to maintain a sense of
direction to human actions.
THEREFORE, Human being is a rational being of moral decisions, caacity
to rationalize on whether a particular action is to be considered proper or
improper.

6. Ethics as Value Education
• In the classical tradition, ETHICS is Moral philosohy.
• it relies solely on human reason to investigate the truth.
• Ethics is the rational foundation of any attempt at value
education.
• Ethics goes deeper into the reasons why we must choose
certain values.
• Ethics explains human values in relation to the ultimate
purpose of human existence.
VALUE = something a person prizes, cherishes, and important such as
ideas, things or exeriences.

7. ETHICS deal with voluntary human conduct
• it includes all actions as well as non-actions.
• it includes involuntary activities that are unlikely
performed yet involved a degree of ersonal approval.
• thus, it provides norms for the goodness and badness of a
certain acts.

8. MORALITY
• denotes a system of belief as to what is good and bad.
• conformity to conventional standards of moral conduct.
• deliberate flouting of those standards is termed
“immorality”
• shared values (set of values) = Community holds
resonsibilities in their actions.
• MORALITY is the foundation of every human society.

9. ETHICS studies human acts
1. HUMAN ACTS = those acts that are done by human
being which is based on knowledge and the full consent of
the will (knowingly and willingly)
• an act which proceeds fom the deliberate freewill of man (Glenn, 1965)
• doing a human act if he knows what he is doing and he is doing it freely
and willingly irrespective of whether the action is good or bad.
• VIRTUOUS = a person who has the habit or inclination to do good.
• VICIOUS = a erson who is doing the habit of doing wrong.
• example: crimes

10. ETHOS OF MAN
1. He is able to distinguish between good and evil, right and wrong,
moral and immoral.
2. He feels within himself an obligation to do what if good to avoid
what is evil.
3. He feels accountable for his actions, expecting reward or
punishment for them.
• Man is expected that he conducts himself according to the “dictates of
reason”
• MORALITY = that aspect of the subject matter which primarily interests
ethics is the quality of human acts by which they are constituted as
good, bad of indifferent.
1. Moral = good 2. Immoral = bad 3. Amoral = indifferent

11. THE CONTEXT OF GOOD
• quality of goodness that is possessed by all the things
that we designate good.
• example: good person, good film, good deed, etc.

12. 2 ways to determine the concet of good in
philisohical Discourse
1. Intrinsic good = good for themselves
Example: A person pursuing to have a good health for his/her own sake.
2. Extrinsic Good = pursued for its own consequences.
Example: money, wealth, love, etc.

13. WHAT IS THE GREATEST GOOD?
• It is the highest of the abstract immaterial forms according
to plato.
• it is the highest goods for humans as the exercise of the
virtues by means of which they can achieve the good life
or well being.
• in terms of the fulfillment of God’s purpose, love,
happiness, pleasure, living in harmony with others and
with nature.