SOCIAL ETHICS

INTRODUCTION
Social Ethics is defined as the application of ethical reasoning to social
problems. It is a branch of applied ethics and deals with social problems such as
Common Good, Globalisation, Bribery and Corruption, Examination
malpractice, Tribalism and Ethnicity, Social Inequality, Human Dignity etc…
As social ethics, this course uses the methodology of moral theology. It deals
with the goal of life and the means to achieve it. Social Ethics takes a look at or
takes a general view of these means including Justice, Freedom, responsibility,
conscience. It is concerned with the details of day-to-day living in society and
as such it is concerned, according to experts, with the highest good or absolute
good. Its scope includes whatever has to do with free human acts, whether as
principle or cause of action (law, conscience, virtue), or as effect or
circumstance of action (merit, punishment, etc…). What is crucial here is the
discussion of the nature of human freedom. Ethics investigates what constitutes
good or bad, just or unjust. As socio-religious science, it also deals with what
obligations are common to all. What makes a human act ethical (moral) or a
good act? In this sense, the issue of responsibility is very important. As such, it
has merely to do with the order which relates to human person as human being
and which makes of him/her a good person.
Ethics is essentially related to all branches of knowledge like sociology,
political science, jurisprudence, law and legal study, psychology, anthropology,
cultural study, ecology and environmental study, economy, religion, aesthetics
and other similar areas. But it is very important to mention that with the
emergence of new technologies the scope of ethics is getting bigger and bigger,
especially with new discovering in medical and agric sciences. That is why the
concept of ethics has become a very broad concept. Ethics could mean,
according to the context: philosophical ethics, professional ethics, cultural
ethics (defined community believes), social ethics, Christian ethics etc…They
all deal with right and wrong but have different principles.
Our journey will be interactive with group work and presentations. What we
basically need to achieve here is discovering our individual and collective call
to building our society as a human society characterized by the reign of justice
and peace.

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 Chapter I
DEFINITION AND CLARIFICATION OF CONCEPTS

A- WHEN DOES AN ACT QUALIFY AS MORAL?

To be ethical or moral a human act is assessed based on the goodness of these
three elements:
1- The object (and its goodness)
2- The intention
3- The circumstances
The goodness of all these three elements must be met. It suffices that one of
them is defective to declare the act as morally/ethically evil. The object, the
intention, and the circumstances represent the “sources”, or constitutive
elements of the morality of the acts. St. Thomas Aquinas said “An evil action
cannot be justified by reference to a good intention” (CCC 1759). From this
came the ethical saying “The end does not justify the means”. A morally good
act requires the goodness of its object, of its end, and its circumstances together
(CCC1760). There are concrete acts that are always wrong to choose, because
their choice entails a disorder of the will, i.e., a moral evil. One may not do evil
so that good may result from it (CCC 1761).
1- The intention
Moral intention has been defined as the desire to act ethically when facing the
responsibility to make a decision.
2- Human acts or Object
When we talk about Acts of man, we refer to those acts shared in
common by man and other animals. But we call human acts, acts which are
proper to human beings.
Examples of acts of man are sleeping, digesting, etc…
Examples of human acts are loving, singing, etc….
This course is concern with human acts as objects. Not acts of man. We
cannot judge a man based on acts of man.
3- Circumstances
What we refer to as circumstances “are secondary elements of a moral act.
They increase or diminish the moral goodness or evil of human acts. They also
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diminish or increase a person’s responsibility” CCC 1754. Factors like:
ignorance, fear, violence, excuse a person from sin. Freedom and sufficient
knowledge about the act and its consequences are important elements to watch
out for in judging the nature of an act.
Circumstances mitigates a bad act by making it more acceptable or less bad, or
it aggravates an act by heightening the consequences. For instance, the
consequences of stealing are aggravated or mitigated depending on what is
stolen, the parties involved, and the location. Circumstances, however, do not
diminish the moral quality of acts; they make neither good nor right an action
that is evil. Stealing is morally wrong regardless of the circumstances.
In the process of the assessment of a human act the subject of the act matters a
lot. This is because the subject’s faculty to know and or to have the necessary
information about the moral object is an important element in the judgement
process. In civil law it is said “ignorance of the law is no excuse”. In ethics the
discourse is different. The sinfulness of an act is not established on ignorance.
Responsibility here entails consciousness and awareness. This refers us to the
concept of conscience. It opens us to a better understanding of the necessity of
the education of conscience which is mandatory to all.

Assignment

Haven studied now the meaning, the importance of human acts, and the process
that leads to their judgement we shall look at, in the context of this course, the
concepts of wrong and right.
The concept of right
In Social ethics, societal approval is very important. Society sees as right human
acts, acts which are socially acceptable and in accordance with the social values.
The concept of wrong
Any human act or behaviour that is not socially accepted is declared as wrong.
Universal ethics turns its concern on the neighbours. So, universal ethics
considers as right any action which is not harmful to others. Consequently,
every human act which is harmful to others is classified as wrong by this school
of thought. Kant has the similar position when he defines as moral acts those
acts which can be universalized. In this Kant sees ethics as something separated
from the individual’s happiness. Like Kant, Rousseau also shares this view.

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 B- ETHICS AND MORAL
The common point between ethics and moral is that both deal with right and
wrong. Sometimes people use them interchangeably but in principle they are
different and this difference is not obvious to the common people. Their
difference is at the level of their origin or respective source and what inspires
their actions. While ethics have external origins, moral on the contrary takes
inspiration from the individual’s conscience or believe regarding right and
wrong. We can rightly say that while ethics have external origins, moral has
internal origin (cf. Heb 10,16). Ethics are rules of conduct that regulate the day-
to-day life of a group of people who agree to live together on a social contract
or people sharing same cultural values(social system). Moral identifies and
elucidates principles that determine quality human behaviour or habits with
respect to right or wrong conduct. Like ethics, moral also prescribes dos and
don’ts but morality is ultimately a personal and religious compass of right and
wrong. Morality is inspired by the conscience and operates from the conscience.
A moral act is never a mechanical or external response of a person. It is the
product of a conscious effort in believing that something is right to do. Ethics
take the answer to the “why” from the society and enjoy unstable consistency
compared to moral. This is more characteristics of philosophical ethics. In some
cases, a person’s moral can change if he or she changes beliefs. As ethics are
usually governed by professional and legal guide lines, a person who is strictly
following ethical principles may not be moral at all. So also, a person could
violate ethical principles within a given system of rules to protect his or her
moral integrity. It is in this context that one can agree that although perhaps
bound by a higher covenant, a moral person may choose to follow a code of
ethics as it would apply to a system. A practical example of all this is when a
lawyer’s moral may tell him or her that murder is wrong and that murderers
should be punished, but his or her ethics as a professional lawyer, require him or
her to defend his or her client to the best of his or her abilities, even if she/he
knows that the client is guilty. We have another example that comes from the
medical field. In most parts of the world, a doctor may not euthanasia a patient,
even at the patient’s request, as per ethical standards for health professionals.
However, the same doctor may personally believe in a patient’s right to die, as
per the doctor’s own morality. These two examples illustrate for us the serious
conflict between moral and ethics.

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 C- EDUCATION OF CONSCIENCE
The second Vatican Council defines conscience in five important elements:
1- Conscience is a law written on your heart by God (Jr 31: 31-34)
2- Conscience always summons you to do good and avoid evil
3- Conscience must be obeyed
4- Conscience is the “most secret core and sanctuary” of your being when
you are alone with God
5- Conscience reveals divine laws that you fulfil by love of God and love
of neighbour.
It is in this line that Dignitatis Humanae recommends that: “No one must be
forced to act contrary to his conscience. Nor must he/she be prevented from
acting according to his conscience, especially in religious matters” 1.
This value conferred on conscience explains the obligation of its formation or
education. Another reason the document puts forward to support the necessity
of the education of conscience is that: in a world full of temptations, human
beings who are subjected to negative influence and tempted by sin, must prefer
their own judgement and reject authoritative teachings. In the context of this
course two types of conscience need to be mentioned:
1- Certain Conscience: It means a conscience which is convinced
without any doubt that an action is good or bad.
2- Doubtful Conscience: It is when you cannot choose between good and
bad.
A well-formed conscience is upright and truthful. The formation of conscience
is a life-long task and needs the collaboration of the individual. This necessary
exercise frees man/woman from the prison of ignorance and empowers him/her
for good discernment. This raises the issue of the content of the education
materials for the formation conscience. In can 795 of the catholic code of canon
law we read: “Since true education must strive for complete formation of the
human person that looks to his/her final end as to the common good of societies,
children and youth are to be nurtured in such a way that they are able to develop
their physical, moral, and intellectual talents harmoniously, acquire a more
perfect sense of responsibility and right use of freedom, and are formed to
participate actively in social life 2. The following number advices that: “Among
the means to foster education, the Christian faithful (and every person of good
will) are to hold schools in esteem; schools are the principal assistance to

1
Vatican II (1965). The Dignity of the Human person: Dignitatis Humanae.
2
Cf. canon 795.
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parents in fulfilling the function of education. Besides the obligation for parents
and those who take their place to possess the right of education of their
offspring, there is also the duty and right of choosing those means and
institutions through which they can provide more suitably for the catholic
(religious) education of their children, according to local circumstances.
This means that the conscience of the children and the youth must be fed with
selective and healthy information as they grow.

D- ETHICS AND ITS ROLE IN OUR SOCIETY

Ethics serves as point of reference to men and women’s day to day living. It
measures and judges the human act in the context of his or her living society.
Justification of the human act within his or her environment is measured by
social standards. Men and women are free to act but whatever they decide to do
is judged by rules, principles, values, and regulations laid down by society.
People who design their own rules are called deviants or rebels. These Norms
represent the basis of the ethics of the community and as such are bonding on
every member of the community. Individuals living in the community are
expected to base their social conducts on what has become for them all the
social guide line. Generally, the concepts directly associated with ethics are
truth, equity, honesty, fairness, respect and loyalty. Ethics plays a vital role in
companies and businesses. To be accepted in the community in which it
operates and in view of prosperity each company and business designs its own
ethics. Social ethics stresses the collective dimension of human conduct. In his
“Le Contrat Social” Jean Jacques Rousseau calls the collective grouping of all
citizens the “sovereign”, and claims that it should be considered in many ways
to be like an individual person. While each individual has a particular will that
aims for his own best interest, the sovereign only has authority over matters that
are of public concern, in this domain its authority is absolute: He recommends
the death penalty for those who violate the social contract. Individual finds his
true being and freedom only in submission to the “general will” of the
community. In the early 19th century, the German philosopher G.W.F. Hegel
argued that the individual realizes his true being and freedom only in
unqualified submission to the laws and institutions of the nation state which is
the highest embodiment of social morality (the catholic moral teaching has a
serious reservation towards both Rousseau and Hegel in their approach). For
Marx “It is not men’s consciousness which determines their being, but their
social being determines their consciousness.” DURKHEIM says: “a social fact,
as defined in rules, is “a category of facts which present very special

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characteristics: they consist of manners of acting, thinking, and feeling external
to the individual, which are invested with a coercive power by virtue of which
they exercise control over him”.
As society grows, social ethics can suffer. Social changes usually go hand in
hand with the creation of a new society with new people. In his wonderful work
“discourse on the Science and art”, Jean Jacques Rousseau argues that “morality
and virtue can actually be corrupted by progress”. And this was because he
understood the creation of civil society as source of the worst of human vices.

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Chap II

SOME ELEMENTS OF ETHICS

A- SOCIAL ETHICS AND GLOBALISATION
Culturally, Globalisation refers to the global (universal) spread and
integration of ideas, values, norms, behaviours, and ways of life. Globalisation
works through interconnection between people. It is favoured by advances in
means of transportation, communication technology, immigration and
movement of people, the media, etc…All these come together to advance or
fast-track global integration and social changes. Social changes come along
with new philosophies and changes in attitudes. Men and women’s views
about the world and about themselves change. Their lives and their approach to
religion are positively or negatively influenced. How does this situation affect
social ethics? Globalization facilitates inter cultural encounters and through
that imposes cultural exchanges. Globalization cannot be seen as totally
negative. It has also many advantages for the society and contributes to the
birth of a new society and “new people”. Some of these advantages are
enumerated in our definition of the concept of globalisation. They are: the
availability of more sophisticated means of communication, the improvement
in means of transportation for free and fast movement of people, the media
network explosion, etc… These are all blessings for the gradual birth of a more
developed human society.
As much as we record advantages of globalisation, so also, we notice that
society seems impotent or powerless in controlling and managing the challenges
that come with it. The global world is fast changing. On relatively legal levels
countries have changed laws in favour of divorce and separation. The use of
contraceptives have been identified as a positive means to achieve development.
Abortion now is legal in many countries and deceitfully practised massively in
our countries. On unofficial levels, bribery and corruption, lawlessness, arm
robbery, laziness, examination malpractices, destruction of water bodies and
forests, Cohabitation in lieu of marriage, explosion of new family structures,
etc…are gaining grounds as normal ways of living. Society seems, through its
silence, to be accepting these social changes as normal stages of “development”.
Even the concept of family is being constantly changed to suit these social
mutations. In the context of globalisation social changes are in violent
competition with social ethics. Rousseau believes that “sciences were
responsible for the degradation of mankind, who were basically good by

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nature”. This statement of Rousseau goes in favour of those who have a
negative feeling towards globalisation and modernism. The degradation of the
social fabric is not to be shifted absolutely on globalisation. Many other factors
account for this social mutation. Some abusive and indiscriminate TV and radio
programmes are largely responsible for the degradation of social ethics,
especially among the youth. In the area of sexual ethics many years of bad
social monitoring have brought decency, civility, and decorum very low.
The past fifty years have seen a proliferation of the commerce of sex than ever
before. Along major streets, many shops make sex objects available in the
commerce for clients. They are called sex shops. Adverts on televisions and
radio are packaged with sex messages. Pornography has taken almost over the
internet. Across the world, prostitution networks have multiplied, exporting
vulnerable ladies and men, even teenagers, from poor countries to developed
countries. This shameful business that destroys the image of man (created in the
Image of God) is identified by many sociologists as one of the most lucrative
today around the world. Our society seems to have been trapped in a culture of
free and irresponsible sex. Experts call this sex revolution.
The consequences of the sex revolution are obvious in our society today. It
brought about the quasi collapse of the traditional ethics which existed as the
mirror of the people. In many countries, there is the elaboration of laws that
make it easy for people to access divorce. We assist at the proliferation of
cohabitation in place of or before marriage. there is pressure on states to legalise
the homosexual unions and give it the status of marriage. This, together with the
adoption of children by the homosexual couples. The mirage and permissive sex
education forced on adolescents by UNICEF and many other NGOs at the risk
of their traditional ethical and moral upbringing. Foreign assistance to
education, for poor countries, is being conditioned to the acceptance of such
programmes. The prostitutes are being given official recognition and the status
of sex workers in many western countries. The law is gradually prohibiting their
appellation as prostitutes. The continuous spread of the HIV and many other
sexually transmitted diseases may rightly be argued as one of the unfortunate
consequences of this revolution.
In the midst of all this, the diversity of moral opinions amongst civic
educators, policy makers, and sex education teachers makes social ethics
principles rather irrelevant or aquake for the new generation. While the
traditional social ethics holds it that; sex cannot be object of commerce and that
sexual act should be practised in a way that dignifies it and respects the human

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person, new philosophies left the discourse on sexual act in the hands and
judgement of the individuals.

B- BRIBERY AND CORRUPTION AND SOCIAL ETHICS

Bribery leads to corruption and renders both the giver and the receiver
corrupted persons. Bribery and corruption are the oldest sin in the history of
humanity (Gn 3,1…). “The consequences of sin perpetuate the structure of
sin”. The structure of sin destroys and steals away from the society its nature
as a congregation of reasonable persons. Bribery is usually defined as “giving
or receiving an unearned reward to influence someone’s behaviour, an
unearned reward following favourable treatment. And corruption is “any
unlawful or improper behaviour that seeks to gain an advantage through
illegitimate means”. There is no small corruption, it is corrosive, and just a
suspicion of it can severely damage a person’s reputation. The continuous
practice of bribery and corruption can kill a person’s conscience and make
these horrible sins a normal life style. This is also true of a whole society or
culture. If we hear the international community classifying countries or
continents as highly corrupted, it does not mean that these entities are at their
beginning of the practice of these vices. It means, bribery and corruption have
become their habit, their life style, their new culture. This trend affects their
social world view and for that matter their social ethics. According to the
Catholic social teachings, “These (the consequences of bribery and
corruption) are rooted in personal (and collective) sin and, therefore, are
always connected to concrete acts of the individuals (and communities) who
commit them, consolidate them and make it difficult to remove them. It is thus
they grow stronger, spread and become source of other sins, conditioning
human conduct. These are obstacles and conditioning that go well beyond the
actions and brief life span of the individual and interfere also in the process of
the development of people, the delay and slow pace of which must be judged
in this light. The actions and attitudes opposed to the will of God and the good
of neighbour, as well as the structures arising from such behaviour, appear to
fall into two categories today: “on one hand, the all-consuming desire for
profit, and on the other, the thirst for power, with the intention of imposing
one’s will upon others. In order to characterize better each of these attitudes,
one can add the expression: ‘at any price’”. So, social consciousness can
vanish as structures of sin reign and last. Communities and countries, in this
context, find themselves in a society of no rules and guide lines. There is a
relationship of conflict between bribery and corruption and social ethics. The

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 danger for the new generation is that the youth don’t have any good point of
reference. Social ethics becomes a philosophical ideology to many.
If government, like Jean Jacques Rousseau put it, attains it right to exist
and to govern by “the consent of the governed” it has the absolute duty to
protect and to grow that which is the cultural heritage of the people. The
education system should be made to incorporate in its syllabus at all levels civic
education. And civic education should be examinable subject also at all levels.
The concept of common good and the respect for common good should become
common knowledge. Rights and duties should be taught as intimately
connected.
C- EXAMINATION MALPRACTICE
Examination malpractice can be defined as acts which are not encouraged
before, during and after examination. It is expressed through all forms of
cheating and dishonest means employed to gain undeserved advantages to pass
an examination. Such practices may either take place inside (cheating, bringing
foreign materials into the exam hall) or outside the examination hall (having
access to exam materials, attempt to bribe lecturers, etc..). It has both short term
and long-term consequences on both individuals and society at large.
1- Some Reasons why students should be examined after lectures.
Students must be examined on the following grounds:
. To find out whether they have understood the lessons,
. help the lecturer know whether he/she is on track or not,
. evaluate whether the learning objective has been achieved,
. check whether the method and strategy used in the lesson delivery
is the best.
. bring out competitive spirit in students
. make students develop diverse problem-solving methods
. Examination helps identify the strength and weakness of students
and Reflect on how to help them.
2- Advantage of examination to students
Far from being a punishment for students, examinations offer them, their
respective institutions, and the society great advantages. Some of these
advantages are:
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 a- For students themselves
. Examination helps students evaluate their understanding of the
lesson,
. motivates them to put more effort into learning and enjoy the fruit
of their labour,
. gives them the opportunity to identify their strength and their
weakness.
b- For the Institutions (schools/universities)
. Examination helps institutions produce quality and hard-working
Labour force,
. helps institutions assess their work impact on society,
. helps institutions assess the effectiveness of their teaching methods
And work at improving or correcting them.
. It is through examination that institutions rank and select people
base on performance.

3- Consequences of Examination malpractice on the aims and advantages

Examination malpractice defeats the aims and advantages of examination and
has becomes a concern for social ethics. In a short or long term, it generates
consequences for both individuals and society.
a- Short-term consequences
Examination malpractice calls for the immediate cancellation of paper and
dismissal from school. It damages the reputation of those involved and awards
them with low esteem. They lose the trust society conferred in them because
they broke the existing social contract between them and the society. The rules
and regulations guiding examinations are social contracts designed to be
respected by all without favour and discrimination. Examination malpractice
gives birth to mediocrity and laziness as it discourages hard work and the sense
of responsibility which are the foundation for growth and development. It sows
in the hearts of students the seed of dishonesty which they carry in the long-
term into their work place. It kills in students their thinking capacity and the
intellectual growth of their brain. Examination malpractice defeats the purpose
of objective selection and ranking of student according to merit. This is because
it camouflages the real performance of students. It makes institutions produce
people with good certificates without knowledge.

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 b- Long-term consequences.
One of the most serious long-term consequences of examination malpractice is
that it prepares square pegs for round holes; first-class students who cannot
stand responsibilities in future. The future employer has a false impression of
the intellectual and skill capacity of the aspirants. This could be very dangerous
for businesses because there are discrepancies between certificates and
capabilities. People simply put it as incapability of defending one’s certificate.
This is a result of dishonesty vis-à-vis society. It is a concern to social ethics
and it needs to be addressed for a moral society. Competence and qualification,
to a large extend, must enjoy compatibility. People who use examination
malpractice to acquire certificates lack confidence in whichever position they
found themselves. If they happen to be teachers, they are living poisons in the
classrooms for students. Examination malpractice in long-term cripples people’s
critical thing capacity and produces for the society people without initiative and
incapable of creativity. They slowdown development and progress. The worse
will be if they become or are health agent dealing with people’s life.
D-THE TONGUE IN SOCIAL RELATIONS
The tongue as we know, is one of the most powerful tools the creator blessed
human beings with. It can remain a blessing or a curse according to its use.
Pr18:21 remarques that the tongue has the power of life and death. It is the same
as saying that the tongue has the power to build or destroy. In human relation,
the tongue can speak life or can speak death. The same way it has the power to
build others up, the same way it can tear them down.
The tongue is a precious tool for communication. When it speaks it must convey
a message of life, a message of consolation, peace, and education. As much as
the tongue can build peace, so also it can spark war and division among people.
We still have fresh in our mind the experience of Rwanda, a country with
100%100 of catholic population. Wise men always advice: “Never say what you
don’t mean in anger, because a word that is spoken cannot be taken back”. The
tongue has always been at the origin and the end of every conflict. If the tongue
has the power of mediation, it surly also has the power of prevention. Men and
women can powerfully prevent conflict if they learn to talk respectfully to each
other. This is relevant to every human society including the family, work places,
schools, and the world of politics. The world can still be a peaceful and lovely
place to be if men and women learn to exorcise their tongue any word or
sentence. The holy bible summarises this when it says: “What comes out of a
man is what makes him unclean. For from within, out of men’s hearts, come

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evil thoughts….” Mt15,11. We earn social respect through what we say either in
public or private. When society categorizes some people as wise, it is because
of the product of their tongue, how they talk and what they say and how they
say it. In African traditional set up, it is said that in a society where people
throw words at each other and any how people die mysteriously. They call it a
curse. But psychologists will see it as the psychological effect of the word on
the human person. Words have the power to kill tear down and kill
psychologically. If we define ethics as the application of ethical reasoning to
social issues, it includes also the positive application of the tongue in
communication. In line with this, blackmailing in view of material gain appears
as a fundamental damage to the dignity of the neighbour, an evil and selfish
means of exploiting one’s brother or sister. Another expression of wrong use of
tongue is defamation of character, which simply consist in libelling someone
with the intention of tearing him down or tarnishing his image and dignity.
Among other things, jealousy comes as one of the immediate causes of this
unfriendly human behaviour. The human society can still enjoy harmony if love
and honesty become the dynamic force in-charge of our tongue. It is the only
condition in which we can be proud of having a human society governed by
courtesy.
E - THE COMMON GOOD
“The universal right to use the goods of the earth is based on the principle of the
universal destination of goods. Each person must have access to the level of
well-being necessary for his development. The right to the common use of
goods is the first principle of the whole ethical and social order… it is first of all
a natural right”. The realisation of this kind of society is a dream which calls for
a global change in mentality and attitude. Greed and lack of social equality
come as the potential enemies of this dream. When people know the absolute
origin and the plan of the creator for the goods of the earth their will begin to
adjust their behaviour to fit this understanding. The Catholic church teaches that
“Among the numerous implications of the common good, immediate
significance is taken on by the principle of the universal destination of goods”.
The Church then said: “God destined the earth and all it contains for all men
and all peoples so that all created things would be shared fairly by all mankind
under the guidance of justice tempered by charity”. This principle is based on
the fact that “the original source of all good is the very act of God, who created
both the earth and man and woman, and who gave the earth to man so that he
might have dominion over it by his work and enjoy its fruits (Gn1, 28-29). God
gave the earth to the whole human race for the sustenance of all its members,
without excluding or favouring anyone. This is the foundation of the universal
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destination of the earth’s goods. Because man and woman cannot do without the
material goods, God gave them the earth in its productive capacity so that
making good use of it, man and woman can peacefully respond to their divine
call or vocation. This means that the common good of society is not an end in
itself; It has value only in reference to attaining the ultimate ends of the person
and the universal good of the whole of creation. It is in this light that greed and
social inequality are wrong and selfish interpretations of the right to private
property.
One of the sources of bad behaviour is greed. In a culture where greed is
people’s common way of living, the growing temptation for more desirable
outcome pushes people to act unethically. This unethical behaviour could lead
to a very disturbing rising of the cost of living. Ideologies might call it
competitive market. But where the market has no concern or consideration for
the consumer there is injustice. In this case greed is rightly seen or defined as a
selfish tendency of accumulation of wealth or power than a person actually
needs, and is practiced to the detriment of others. It is usually one of the major
causes of public up-rising. Experts say that “In human association, the central
element in the control of greed has been morality (take morality here to mean
social ethics) and the power of the moral community or moral order over the
behaviour of its members”.
The Catholic social doctrine teaches that “To ensure the common good, the
government of each country has the specific duty to harmonize the different
sectoral interests with the requirement of justice. The proper reconciling of the
particular goods of groups and those of individuals is, in fact, one of the most
delicate tasks of public authority. Moreover, it must not be forgotten that in the
democratic State, where decisions are usually made by the majority of
representatives elected by the people, those responsible for government are
required to interpret the common good of their country not only according to the
guidelines of the majority but also according to the effective good of all the
members of the community, including the minority”. This means access to work
or other social right should not be on political partisanship.

F- SOCIAL EQUALITY
The ethics that is initiating and sustaining equality in every given society
is more attitudinal than legal. It is people’s concrete approach to mutual respect
that gives real substance to the concept of social equality. The UN’s voluminous
declaration on human right has succeeded in influencing practically in state-

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state relationship or in a fair rapport between individuals and institutions. We
may even think of the way individuals among themselves treat one another. The
right to social equality comes from the fact that all men and women are created
equally. They derive their right to equality from their human nature. The
Catholic Church “has striven above all to defend human dignity in the face of
every attempt to redefine or distort its image; moreover, she has often
denounced the many violations of human dignity. History attests that it is from
the fabric of social relationships that there arise some of the best possibilities for
ennobling the human person, but it is also there that lies in wait the most
loathsome rejections of human dignity”. The caste systems, where they exist
should be educated to awake themselves to this very truth about mankind. What
is known in many societies today as discriminatory justice is the fruit of a
corrupted social ethics that classifies some persons as more important than
others.Very good things have been said about social equality by the constitution
of all the countries but very little is being lived. Unless the ethics that govern
our societies change, we will remain in the stagnant stage of theory for ever.
Social inequality is the main source of social injustice and a serious enemy of
development.
It is advisable that the education system, at all levels, pays special
attention to its curriculum in order to nurse and grow practical attitude of
citizens in that domain. Social equality is a value every community must have
the desire to achieve for a harmonious and peaceful development.
G- TRIBALISM AND ETHNOCENTRISM
The expression of group consciousness is conceptualised as Ethnicity. It is a
state of strong feeling carried by human beings as they begin to be aware of
themselves. When they allowed themselves to move from that passive
awareness to its active and negative expression that closes the gate to others
they fall into tribalism. That is when a particular ethnic group feels strongly that
it is the centre of the world. This is also defined as ethnocentrism. It blindly
enslaves people of a particular ethnic group and makes them harbor a strong
feeling of loyalty or exclusive attachment to their tribe.
Some sociologists identify ethnic conflicts as one of the most critical problems
related to ethnicity. Ethnic conflicts present a gross human rights abuse. In
many cases they are even expressions of genocides and serious crimes against
humanity. They kill social harmony and maintain rancour and division among
people. Tribalism and ethnicity are serious obstacles to social development.
They disturb and prevent team-work and lead important development projects to
abysmal failure. They are enemies to peace and social unity. They fuel hatred

16
and discrimination and steal away from people of the same society mutual trust
and the sense of oneness. Rapid development is fuelled or powered by
consensus building in dialogue. It is therefore clear that development cannot
take place in a conflictual environment where there is no chance for dialogue.
In today’s global world people need to know as a matter of obligation that we
are all strangers on earth. Nobody, no ethnic group “owns” creation. The earth
is entrusted to human beings as custodians to develop and take care of. This
noble mission can only be achieved when human beings see one another as co-
tenants. The human race is journeying through this earth and anything on it is a
means not an end. We made use of the material world around us to climb the
mountains of our common journey. Brotherly love and collaboration are what
we need today than ever. Tribalism and ethnicity are distractions to peace and
development. The earth and what it contains belongs to the creator. Let human
beings not fight over perishable things. All the “big” religions teach about the
ultimate goal of life and this is what our pilgrimage is taken us to. We gather
strength in unity to get there or we fail to get there divided. For as we often say:
“together we stand, divided we fall”.
A fight against tribalism and ethnocentrism is not just a collective fight but also
and before everything an individual one.
H- ENVIRONMENTAL RESPONSIBILITY AND ETHICS:
BUSH FIRE, GALAMSEY AND IMMIGRATION
The absence of fertile land for farming causes rural unemployment. In a
context where the rain pattern has been seriously disturbed by climate change,
bush fire and galamsey add respectfully to the degradation of the farming land
and the loss of harvest. They lead to famine and consequently to immigration
and rural migration. We all witness the massive movement of young and
energetic men and women from our rural areas to our cities and to foreign
countries, even to the extent of losing sometimes their lives in the desert. This
situation calls for ethical debates, both at the level of our various states and at
individual levels as far as the concept of responsibility is concern.
1- State Responsibility
The responsibility of the state and its institution cannot be stressed
enough as far as the protection of natural resources is concern. Government and
for that matter state institutions are custodians of the common good, natural
resources the nation is blessed with. Good governance entails the protection and
maintenance

17
of the forests and water bodies as part of natural resources of a country. State
institutions mandated to carry out this mission on behalf of the nation must be
educated to do it with a sense of professionalism that inspires patriotism and
honesty. Bribery and corruption, also in this context are serious crimes to be
avoided. Institutions of monitoring must be equipped with the necessary
resources for mobility and efficiency. Today, Ghana government in its attempt
to fight galamsey took the drastic measure of burning excavators and other
instruments people use for their work. It is courageous and laudable. But as a
nation, do we need to get to where we are now if state institutions were
working? Through which port did these heavy-duty machines pass? Who
allowed them into the country and for which purpose? These are few questions
to awake our sense of patriotism and commitment. Somebody’ selfish interest
can cost the entire nation. Who doesn’t know the importance of water? Who
doesn’t know that the chemicals discharged in our water bodies are dangerous
for our health? Can Ghana afford importing potable water from outside its
borders? Why did it take this long for the environmental protection agency to
react? What was the ministry of land and natural resources doing for the
situation to get to where we are now? Our environment is God given treasure
we have the obligation to protect and maintain for our own good and the good
of the future generation.
2- Individual Responsibility
The duty to protect our environment is a civic responsibility and it is
fundamental. According to experts:
“…, contaminated groundwater «and surface water are» very difficult and expensive
to clean up. Solutions can be found after groundwater “or surface water” have been
contaminated but this isn’t always easy. The best thing to do is to adopt pollution
prevention and conservation practices in order to protect important groundwater and
surface water supplies from being contaminated or depleted in the first place”3.

Some chemical elements such as metals, radioactive compounds, micro-

organisms, among others, have a potential to be hazardous to humans. This
means that the protection of water bodies is vital. Now that the harm has been
caused in many places already, individuals have to stop their harmful activities
and allow the restoration of the ecosystems. This simply means doing things
differently. Individuals need not to be policed before they do things that are
good for their own health care.

3
Protecting Our Water, in «wdhopperwaterwells.com» [accessed: 13-06-2021].
18
 Bush fire is another threat to environmental stability. Ghana experienced
in history a devastating effect of bush fire. A country wide bush fire that apart
from destroying people’s farms has killed almost all snakes and rodents. While
the farming season that followed the incident was promising a good harvest
there was an army of insects that came to decimate all farms. Why? Because
snakes and all the rodents which should balance nature by swallowing or eating
the insects according to nature’s own ration were burnt by the bush fire. This
imposed again another famine on people. If we count the loss some of our
actions cause to ourselves it comes clear to us that the respect and the protection
of nature are to our own advantage (read Laudato si, “care for our common
home” of Pope Francis).
One of the immediate outcomes of the bush fire and galamsey is the
famine. And scarcity is one of the main causes of internal and external
migration and even immigration. If we look at the massive and frequent
migration of Fulani herdsmen today, compared to their movement in the past,
we objectively tell ourselves that apart from the influence of climate change on
nature something else went wrong. The thousands of Africans dying in the
desert in their attempt to cross to Europe is another indicator of how far our
actions and inactions can take us to. The debate on the respect and protection of
the environment cannot be politicized. It is a natural and divine responsibility
we all have towards nature and towards God. The loss the country and
individuals experience with bush fire is huge. UNDRR’s report on bush fire
testify that “the difficulties of eliminating bushfire completely means that there
is the need for a clear understanding of the causes and effects of bushfire so that
bushfire policies can address the undesirable effects with respect to forestry,
arable agriculture, rangeland, soil conservation and wildlife” (read UNDRR
report on bush fire in Ghana)4.

4
UNDRR, Ghana: Bushfire in Gana (IFFN N°. 15- September 1996), in https://gfmc.online [accessed: 15-06-
2021].
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Chap III
FACTORS MILITATING AGAINST ETHICS

A- INCONSISTENCY IN THE EDUCATION SYSTEM

Till recently education in Africa and for that matter in Ghana had a more
holistic character. It was a system where cultural values were really present in
the education process. As a result, the products of our schools were good
because they displayed high sense of ethical values. The indiscipline in our
schools today could have been avoided if the curricula were not quasi left in the
hands of foreign donors. Our Ghanaian education system seems to have been
suffering from a hold-up that makes it quasi-inefficient and irrelevant for our
development. Education cannot be denied its importance in the development
process of a nation. Like AFRICAE MUNUS No 134 (Commitment of Africa)
put it: “…schools are a precious resource for learning from childhood how to
create bonds of peace and harmony in society, since they train children in
African values that are taken up by those of the Gospel”. The document in fact,
saw schooling as a fundamental matter of justice for each child and indeed the
future of Africa and stresses that on that right depends the future of Africa. If
education carries such importance, it means that living education in the hands of
politicians is not the best thing to do. Every Ghanaian who had the opportunity
of good education should make it as their civic duty to facilitate good education
system in the country. In fact, the drop in our sense of patriotism and social
responsibility depends largely on the drop in the quality of our education today.
It is the strong invitation of Africae munus that “… Young people in particular,
should study the educational sciences with a view to passing down knowledge
full of truth: not mere know-how but genuine knowledge of life, inspired by a
Christian consciousness shaped by the Church’s social doctrine”.
This argument opens another sensitive and important question: the just
remuneration for agents of education. Countries like: Ivory Coast, Mali, Gabon,
etc… have a very good policy for the remuneration of their teachers. Ghana is
not poor than these countries. It all goes down to good planning. The number of
times teachers go on strike in a year is very damaging for teaching and learning.
Schools are public places where both children and adults are taught the value of
man and woman, the family, work, economy, politics, peaceful cohabitation,
mutual respect, tolerance, etc… A quality and holistic education is the soul of
national and harmonious development.

20
 To achieve a relevant educational goal, government must always involve
all stakeholders who matter in education at every level and every stage of
educational planning. A good budget allocation for the educational sector is
never enough and can never be a waste. Let the one who says education is
expensive, try ignorance.

B- LACK OF MONITERING AND SUPERVISION

“LA CONFIANCE N’EXCLUE PAS LE CONTROLE” is a French
expression to mean “trust does not exclude control”. Monitoring and
supervision are policing in the sense of watching, checking. They are social
mechanisms designed to see to the smooth running of affairs. Private and
state institutions are in one way or the other entrusted with these essential
duties. Their honesty and faithfulness to duty can never be negotiable. Both
state and society are looking up to them to achieve result. Where laziness
and selfishness seem to take control of institutions nothing works.
Experts defend the necessity of monitoring and supervision saying that
they exist to track implementation and outputs systematically, and measure
the effectiveness of programmes and policies. they help determine exactly,
after evaluation, when a programme or a policy is on track and when
changes may be needed. They saw them as tools for identifying and
documenting successful programmes and policies and tracking progress
toward common indicators across related projects or programmes. This
service demands constant and objective reporting to appropriate policy
making quarters for proper actions to be taken. It keeps all stakeholders on
their toes. That is to cause them to be alert and prepared to deal with
problems on time and without delay. The difficulty with monitoring and
supervision in Africa and for that matter Ghana is that it has been overcome
by bribery and corruption. People and individuals who are paid to render this
service to society allowed themselves to be bribed. The situation of some of
the people paid by tax-payer’s money to check our boarders for our security
is just one example among many. Many sectors of our economy are
paralysed because of lack of proper supervision. Sometimes it even surprises
that some of the people who are paid to save life at hospitals or health
centres are not always at post or come late to work. One questions the
efficiency of the monitoring and supervision system in those places. An
honest civil servant does not need to be policed to do his/her work
successfully. What is it that is missing in our education system? What have
become our traditional values? What is the role of conscience today? Many

21
are the questions we should be for answers for, both individually and
collectively. Everybody seems to be saying: “the system is not working” but
nobody seems to be asking why. Maybe the question Why would have called
for a sense of self-examination at all levels. Nobody throws a paper on the
ground in the city of Kigali, the capital of Rwanda. Not because somebody
may be necessarily monitoring, but because people have learnt to do the
right thing. What went into the moulding the patriotic attitude of the people
of Rwanda which Ghanaian don’t have? Can we agree to see self-disciple as
a necessary ingredient of ethics?

CONCLUSION
“The dignity of the human person is rooted in his creation in the image and
likeness of God. Endowed with a spiritual and mortal soul, intelligence and
free will, the human person is ordered to God and called in soul and in body
to eternal beatitude” CCCC 358. The concept of responsibility that has its
root in freedom has been very important in this course. This is because,
freedom makes people responsible for their actions to the extent that they are
voluntary, even if the imputability and responsibility for an action can be
diminished or sometimes cancelled by ignorance, inadvertence, duress, fear,
inordinate attachments, or habit (cf CCCC364). The right to exercise
freedom is ontological to every human being. For this right is inseparable
from the dignity of the human person. It must therefore be respected,
especially in moral and religious matters. Civil authority must recognise and
protect this right always within the limit of the common good and just public
order (cf. CCCC 365).
In a context of globalisation, it is very important to differentiate ethics and
moral in a strict sense. If ethics suffers a rapid social mutation due to
globalisation, moral, by virtue of its origin and sacred character remains a
point of reference for human dignity. Practices like: Bribery and corruption,
examination malpractice, galamsey and bush fire, tribalism and ethnicity,
etc… are obstacles to the respect and protection of the common good and for
that matter to development. Man/woman is the only creature God has wished
for himself. He/she must be aware of this privilege and constantly work to
protect it. The consciousness that we are each other’s keeper maintains us on
our toes and cultivates in us a great sense of charity and responsibility.

22
Bibliography:
African Bible (1999). Nairobi: Paulines Publications, Africa

John Paul II, (1993). Encyclical letter on the Splendor of the of the truth: Veritatis Splendor.

Francis, (2020). Querida Amazonia: Post-synodal Apostolic Exortation to the People of

Good will. Città del Vaticano: Libreria Editrice Vaticana.

(2005). Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church. Takoradi: St. Francis Press
Ltd.

(1984). La Foi des Catholiques: Paris: Le Centurion.

Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace (2004). Compendium of the Social Doctrine
of the Church: Vaticana: Libreria Editrice.

Vatican II, (1965). The Pastoral constitution on the Modern World: Gaudium et Spes.

Vatican II (1965). The Dignity of the Human person: Dignitatis Humanae.

De Cuellar, J.P. (1996). Our Creative Diversity: Report of the Commission on Culture and
Dvelopment. NewYork: UNESCO Publishing.

Cranston, M. (1968). Rousseau, Jean-Jacques: The Social Contract. England: Penguin Books.

Filibeck, G. (1994). Human Right in the Teaching of the Church: from John XXIII to John
Paul II. Vatican: Libreria Editrice Vaticana.

UN Office for Risk Reduction (UNDRR). Ghana: Bushfire in Ghana

(IFFN N°. 15- September 1996), Retrieved June 15, 2012 from https://gfmc.online.

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https://www.viannews.com
https//www.andrews.edu

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 COURSE OUTLINE
TITLE: SOCIAL ETHICS
Introduction
Chap I
DEFINITION AND CLARIFICATION OF CONCEPTS
A- WHEN DOES A HUMAN ACT QUALIFY AS MORAL?
1- The object
2- The Intention
3- The Circumstances

B- ETHICS AND MORAL

C- EDUCATION OF CONSCIENCE

D- ETHICS AND ITS ROLE IN OUR SOCIETY

Chap II
SOME ELEMENTS OF ETHICS

A- SOCIAL ETHICS AND GLOBALIZATION

B- BRIBERY AND CORRUPTION AND SOCIAL ETHICS

C- EXAMINATION MALPRACTICE
1-Some Reasons why students should be examined after lectures
2- Advantage of examination to students
a- For students themselves
b- For the Institutions (schools/universities)
3- Consequences of Examination malpractice on the aims and advantages

25
 a- Short-term consequences
c- Long-term consequences.

D- THE TONGUE IN SOCIAL RELATIONS

E- TRIBALISM AND ETHNICITY

F- ENVIRONMENTAL RESPONSIBILITY AND ETHICS: BUSH FIRE,

GALAMSEY AND IMMIGRATION

G- THE COMMON GOOD

H- SOCIAL EQUALITY

Chap III
SOME FACTORS MILITATING AGAINST ETHICS

A- INCONSISTENCY IN THE EDUCATION SYSTEM

B- LACK OF MONITORING AND SUPERVISION

CONCLUSION

26