Professional ethics with values education week 6

Ethics - Origin
• Ethics is derived from the Greek word ethicos
or that which pertains to ethos the English
translation of which is
“custom”, “characteristic way of acting”, or
“habit”

• The Latin equivalent is mos, mores from
which come the word moral and morality

Ethics - Origin
• It was the Greek Philosophers who started the study of Ethics.
Among those notable are
 Socrates – “knowing what is right is doing what is right”; a person can
act correctly and well if he knows what is a good life; evil is done out
of ignorance
 Plato – the life of reason is the happiest and the best form of life; if
one wants to be happy, one should be a harmonious man: a man of
virtue; ethics is a matter of nature --- virtues are innate to us
 Aristotle – ethics is a matter of planning, purpose and decision: a
matter of character

 Socrates was regarded as the Father of moral Philosophy
 Aristotle has greatly influenced ethical thinking with three important
treatises – The Nicomachean Ethics, the Eudemian Ethics and the
Magna Moralia (Great Ethics)

Definition of Ethics
• There are several definitions of Ethics
• Ethics is defined as
– The practical science of the morality of human conduct
– The philosophical science dealing with the morality of
human acts
– The science of the morality of human acts
– The study of man as a moral being, one who is rationally
able to distinguish between right and wrong
– Ethics is concerned with morality, the quality which makes
an act good or evil, correct or wrong
– Ethics is concerned with the norms of human behavior

Ethics: The science of the Morality of
Human Acts
 Human act – are actions done intentionally and freely like
walking, reading, working, playing, shopping, joining a
contest or signing a contract
 Acts of man – are instinctive, such as the physiological and
psychological movements like breathing, feeling happy, or
falling in love
 Ethics does not study what man cannot control, but they
look at acts of man as factors affecting man’s judgment
and violations
 Ethics examines how man is accountable for his actions
and its consequences.
 Ethics proposes how man ought to live his life -
meaningfully

Professional Ethics with Values Education Week 1

Ethics: The Art of Correct Living
 Art provides what is orderly and harmonious in an art
work, Ethic does the same for our everyday lives
 Ethics is the art of correct living for Ethics teaches us how
we may put order and harmony in our lives.
 It is a practical science – it is beneficial only when its truths
are put into practice as rules of conducts
 Every one is expected to be decent and
trustworthy, deviating from it causes chaos and disarray
 Morality is not only necessary to a person but also to a
society “Without civic morality, communities perish;
without personal morality their survival has no
value”(Bertrand Russell) – when people do not accept the
rule of law society crumbles


Ethics and Religion
 Ethics and religion are both concerned with moral
education but they differ from each other
 Ethics is a science and relies on reasons for its
conclusion
 Religion is a system of beliefs and practices based on
faith and revelation or truths revealed to Man by God.
 Ethics teaches the value of religion, presenting it as a
duty of man towards the Supreme being
 Religion as an organized church or
institution, contributes to the development of ethical
thought.


Ethical Norms and Laws
 Laws
 Human laws regulate external actions, but not thoughts
or feelings
 Sometimes legalizes immoral acts hence “what is legal
is not necessarily moral”
 Ethical norms
 Covers thoughts and feelings thus a person could sin
because of what he thinks or desires.
 It is not sufficient to do good, one must be sincere in
doing what is good


Ethical Approaches
 ATHEISTIC APPROACH
 Assumes that only matter exists and man is responsible only
to the State since there is no God who rules the universe
 Morality is an invention of man to suit his requirements and
to preserve the society
 Moral truths are temporary and changeable depending on
the situation
 Some of its tenets are as follows
 Matter is the only reality
 Man is a matter and does not have spiritual soul
 Man is free and must exercise his freedom to promote the
welfare of society
 There is no life after death
 Man is accountable only to the state


Ethical Approaches
 THEISTIC APPROACH
 Assumes that God is the Supreme Lawgiver
 Everything must conform to God’s Eternal Plan of creation
 Man must exercise his freedom in accordance with God’s will
 There are absolute principles of morality which are not
changeable
 Man is accountable for his actions and deserves rewards or
punishments in this life or the next
 Some of their tenets are as follows
 God is the Supreme Creator and Law giver
 Man is free and must use his freedom to promote his personal
interest among with that of others
 Man has an immortal soul
 Man is accountable for his actions, both good and Evil


General and Special Ethics
 General Ethics – about the principles of morality. It
explains the norms with which the moral
significance of human act is determined
 Special ethics – the application of the principles of
General ethics into the problems and issues
confronting a person on account of his
circumstances in life, for instance as a
citizen, neighbor, worker, wife, husband or child


Reading: WHAT IS ETHICS
by: Jovito R. Salonga
 Points raised
 Ethics is the discipline dealing with the right and wrong
 Common sense tells us that things that are right are the things
that help the people and the society at large
 It has a practical dimension – reciprocity; as reflected in the
Golden rule “Do unto other what you want others to do unto you”
or its negative “Do not do unto others what you do not want
others to do unto you”
 It has a spiritual dimension – why we feel shame or guilt ;
conscience
 Abe Lincoln said “ When I do good I feel good. When I do bad I feel
bad”
 Our best moments are not the times when we are a lot of money
but moments when what we did meant a lot good to others


Man as A Person
 Moral Character
 Character
 is the will of the person directing him towards a recognized
idea
 is not the product of a moment’s inspiration, but a disciplined
tendency to choose the right thing in any given circumstance

 When a person falls below the expectation he is said to have
bad character
 A person who lives up to the ideals of his humanity is said to
have good character or moral integrity


Social Dimension of a Person
 Society is but an extension of the person
 George Hegel teaches that man is fully developed
in his participation in family life, civic community
and in the State
 Thomas Hill Green expressed the conviction that a
person’s morality must identify itself with public
welfare
 Paul Tillich said that natural law is the demand for
us “to be a person in the community of other
persons”


Reading : Be Proud you Are Human
 From the beginning we found ourselves alone in this
universe – we realized this and turned our attention to
making something practical and useful out of this
unprecedented situation
 We found a Light, a God and we got a sense of direction and
a goal to work on
 We set up a standard for living together
 We created for ourselves governing systems covering vast
geographical spaces
 We have conceived the ideal of justice and plan it all for men
 we are persistent – we find ways to browse the water, air
and our neighboring planets


HUMAN ACTS
 Performed by a person who is acting
knowingly, freely and willfully
 These actions are deliberate, intentional or
voluntary
 These are differentiated from acts of man which
are instinctive and are not under the control of
the free will


Attributes of Human Acts
 Human act is done knowingly
 The doer is conscious and aware of the reason and the
consequences of his actions
 Every normal person of age is presumed to act
knowingly
 Children below the age of reason, the senile and the
insane – are considered incapable of moral judgement


 Human act is done freely
 The doer acts by his own initiative and choice without
being forced to do so by another person
 An action done under duress is not considered
voluntary


 Human act is done willfully
 The doer consents to the act, accepting it as his own
and assumes accountability for its consequences


Kinds of Human Acts
 Elicited Acts – those performed by the Will but are
not bodily externalized (no external manifestation)
 Commanded Acts – those mental and bodily
actions performed under the command of the Will


Elicited Acts
 Wish – the tendency of the Will towards an object without
considering whether it is attainable or not
 Intention – the tendency of the will towards an object
which is attainable without necessarily committing oneself
to get it
 Consent – the acceptance of the will to carry out the
intention
 Election – the selection of the will of those means
necessary to carry out the intention
 Use – the command of the will to make use of the means
elected to carry out the intention
 Fruition – the enjoyment of the will due to the attainment
of the intetion


Commanded Acts
 Internal action
 Those performed mentally such as
reasoning, recalling, imagining, and reflecting
 External action
 Those performed bodily, such as
walking, dancing, talking and writing


In summary

Philosophers speak of Human acts as “being first in
intention, but last in execution”


Moral Accountability
 Human acts, being voluntary acts are accountable
acts
 Actions are attributed on the doer as its pricipal
cause and therefore deserving of either rewards
or punishments


Subject of Human Acts
 The subject of a human act is any person who is
capable of acting intelligently and freely
 Business organizations, institutions, associations
or unions which are constituted by law as juridical
person are also subject of human acts


Modifiers of Human Acts
 A voluntary act is under the control of the intellect
and will of a person however there are factors
that may influence the intellect and the will so
that actions are not perfectly voluntary

 The Moral Axiom is:
 “The Greater the knowledge and the freedom, the
greater the voluntariness and therefore the
accountability”

Ignorance
 Ignorance - The absence of knowledge which a
person ought to possess
 Everyone normal person who has attained the age of
reason approximately seven years old is expected to
know the general norms of proper conduct and
behavior

 Vincible Ignorance – one which can easily be corrected
through ordinary diligence
 Not knowing time or your seatmate’s name

Types of Ignorance
 Ignorance
 Vincible Ignorance – one which can easily be corrected
through ordinary diligence
 Not knowing time or your seatmate’s name
 Invincible ignorance – the person is either not aware of his
state of ignorance or being aware of it does not have the
means to rectify such ignorance
 A waiter who served contaminated food because he is not aware
 Affected ignorance – a vincible ignorance which is
intentionally kept in an effort to escape responsibility
 An employee who refuses to heed the instruction of his
supervisor

Principles of Ignorance
• 1) Invincible Ignorance renders an act involuntary
• - a person is not liable or cannot be culpable if he is not aware of his
ignorance or when there is no means of rectifying his ignorance
•
• 2) Vincible Ignorance does not destroy but lessens voluntariness and the
corresponding accountability over the act
• - when a person becomes aware of one’s ignorance, he/she has the moral
obligation to rectify it- and to act with this is a form of imprudence
•
• 3) Affected Ignorance though it decreases voluntariness, increases the
accountability over the resultant act
• - it interferes intellect – decrease voluntariness
• - it is willed to persist – increases accountability
• - refusing to rectify ignorance is malicious – and malice is graver if
ignorance is used as an excuse for not doing the right thing

Passion
• - Either tendencies towards desirable objects
(positive emotions like
love, desire, delight, hope, bravery etc) or
tendencies away from undesirable or harmful
things (negative emotions like
horror, sadness, hatred, despair, fear, anger
etc)

Types of Passion (related to Action)
• 1) Antecedent Passions
• - precedes the act
• - predisposes a person to act
•
• 2) Consequent Passions
• - those that are intentionally aroused and kept
• - voluntary in cause; the result of the will
playing the strings of emotion

Principles of Passion
• 1) Antecedent Passions do not always destroy voluntariness but
they diminish accountability for the resultant act
• - they weaken the will power without obstructing freedom
completely
• - therefore, crimes of passion are always voluntary although
accountability is diminished because it interferes with the freedom
of the will
•
• 2) Consequent Passions do not lessen voluntariness but may even
increase responsibility
• - consequent passions are direct results of the will which fully
consents to them instead of subordinating them to its control

Fear
• - disturbance on the mind of the person –
being confronted by an impending danger or
harm to himself, to his loved ones or to his
property
• - one is compelled to decide to perform an act
so as to avoid threat of future or imminent
evil

Types of Fear
• 1) Act done with fear
• - certain actions which by nature are dangerous or risky
• - in theses cases, fear is a normal response to danger
• - these actions are voluntary because the doer is in ful control of his faculties and
acts inspite of fear
• - fear here is an instinct for self-preservation (we even fear new experiences or
situations) ex. Being left alone in a strange place, being asked to speak before a
group of people
•
• 2) Act out of fear or because of fear
• - fear here becomes a positive force compelling a person to act without careful
deliberation
• - fear modifies the freedom of doing, inducing the person to act in a certain
predetermined manner, even without his full consent
• Ex. A child – studies/reads his books – out of fear of his mother
• A man – stops smoking – fear of contracting cancer

Principles of Fear
• 1) Acts done with fear are voluntary
• - acting inspite of his fear and is in full control of himself
•
• 2) Acts done out of fear are simply voluntary although conditionally
involuntary
• - simply voluntary = person remains in control of his faculties
• - conditionally involuntary = if it were not for the presence of something
feared, the person would not act or would act in another way
• - Intimidating or threatening as person with horror is an unjust act
• - Legally speaking, acts done out of fear – invalid acts
• Ex. Contract – made out of fear – voidable – later be annulled
•
• 3) Acts done because of intense fear or panic are involuntary
• - panic – obscures the mind – in this mental state, the person is not
expected to think sensibly

Habit
• - permanent inclinations to act in a certain
way
• - lasting readiness and facility born of
frequently repeated acts or for acting in a
certain manner
• - acquire the role of second nature – moves a
person to perform certain acts with relative
ease

Habit
• Voluntary Habits
• - those caused by the repetition of voluntary
acts

• Involuntary Habits
• - a habit becomes such if the will is resolved to
remove it and there is a struggle to overcome
it

Principles of Habit
• 1) Actions done by force of habit are voluntary in
cause, unless a reasonable effort is made to counteract
the habitual inclination
• - Bad Habits – voluntary in cause because they are
results of previously willed acts done repeatedly
• - as long as the habits are not corrected, evil acts done
by force of habit are voluntary and accountable
• - can be not accountable – if a person decides to fight
his habit. For as long as the effort towards this purpose
continues, actions resulting from such habit may be
regarded as acts of man because the cause of such
habit is no longer expressly desired

Violence
• - any physical force exerted on a person by
another free agent for the purpose of
compelling the said person to act against his
will
• Ex. Bodily
torture, maltreatment, mutilation, etc

Principles of Violence
• 1) External actions or commanded actions performed by a person
subjected to violence, to which reasonable resistance has been
offered, are involuntary and are not accountable
• - active resistance should always be offered to an unjust aggressor
• - if resistance is impossible and there is a serious threat to one’s
life, a person confronted by violence cab offer intrinsic resistance
•
• 2) Elicited acts, or those acts done by the will are not subjected to
violence and are therefore voluntary
• Will – a spiritual faculty – therefore, not within the reach of
violence

Professional ethics with values education week 6

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