ETHICS

BSCE241B | PROF. JHON ROLYN C. MANDALA

- It is from this root word that the term

ETHICS
“moral” or “morality” is derived.
● is a branch of philosophy that deals DIFFERENCE BETWEEN ETHICS AND
with questions of morality, MORALITY
focusing on what is right and wrong,
good and bad, and just and unjust. ETHICS
It involves the systematic - is the study of morality.
examination of moral principles and - addressed the systematic study of
values that guide human behavior underlying principles of morality.
and decision-making. - the science of morality.
● seeks to understand how MORALITY
individuals should act and why - the practice of ethics
they should act in certain ways, and - provides a quality that determines
it often involves evaluating the and distinguishes right conduct from
consequences of actions, the duties wrong conduct.
and obligations of individuals, and
the virtues that should be cultivated.

WHY DO WE STUDY ETHICS? AREAS OF ETHICAL STUDY

❖ allows you to live an authentic life.
❖ makes you more successful. Metaethics
❖ allows you to cultivate inner peace. - The study of the nature of ethics
❖ provides for a stable society. and moral reasoning.
❖ may help out in the afterlife. - The study of the nature, scope,
and meaning of moral
judgement.
TOPIC 1: ETHICS - It asks questions like "What is
Coverage good?" and "What do we mean
● Ethics when we say something is right
● Difference between ethics and or wrong?“
morality
● Philosophy Normative Ethics
● Areas of ethical study - The study of ethical action
establishes how individuals
should act. It involves creating or
evaluating moral standards.
PHILOSOPHY - It focuses on providing a
’phílosophia’ - means the love of wisdom framework for deciding what is
● The study of the ultimate nature right and wrong.
of existence, reality, knowledge
and goodness, as discoverable by Applied Ethics:
human reasoning. - The application of ethical
● is the study of knowledge, or principles to specific issues or
"thinking about thinking“. fields.
- It is the practical application of
dethical or moral theories to
WHAT IS ETHICS? determine whether ethical or
Greek: ethics is derived from the word moral acts are suitable in a
‘ethos’ meaning a custom or character. particular circumstances.
Latin: the equivalent for custom is ‘mos’ or
‘mores’;

1
ETHICS
BSCE241B | PROF. JHON ROLYN C. MANDALA

In this case, being nude is not considered

BENEFITS OF STUDYING ETHICS
as a sexual suggestion but an appropriate
bodily state.
Grey Areas: real life situations are not
always black and white. Gift Giving
Consonance in Life: can achieve - It is not usualy prohibited in most
congruence in our ideas, emotions, and cultures but for some giving a gift
behaviours by carefully studying ethics. may be ethical and unethical.
Structured Introspection: ethical person - In china, presentation of a small,
throughly considers and analyzes his carefully chosen business gift
circumtances before making any decisions. conveys a great deal of respect and
Trustworthy: people with strong values are is a sign that the business
always trustworthy to others than those relationship is valued by the giver.
who make decisions based on their desires - If there is a problem, it may rest
and whims. with the receiver who may not trust
the giver’s motives.
TOPIC 2: CULTURAL RELATIVISM In this case, the issue can be understood
as one of business etiquette.
Coverage
● Cultural Relativism
● Morality and Cultural Relativism MORALITY AND CULTURAL
RELATIVISM

Darius
CULTURAL RELATIVISM
- king of persia
- he was intrigued by the variety of
● one of the most important concepts cultures he encountered on his
in the field of sociology, affirming, travels.
and recognizing the relationship ➢ Callatians is a tribe of Indians
between social structure and the wherein they ate the dead bodies of
day-to-day life of an individual. their father.
● It is the idea that the system of ➢ Greeks practiced cremation and
moral and ethics, which varies regarded the funeral pyre as the
from one culture to another, are all natural and fitting way to dispose of
equal , and that no systems ranks the dead.
above other.
Different cultures have different moral
OPINION ON MORALITY / ETHICS codes; the key of understanding morality.
❖ It is dependent on a persons
cultural perspective. William Graham Sumner (1906)
❖ No particular positon can be - great pioneering sociologist
considered the best. The notion of right is in the
folkways. It is not outside of them,
Examples of Cultural Relativism: of independent origin, and brought
to test them.
Nudity - In the folkways, whatever is, is right.
- It is considered as an inherently They are traditional, and therefore
sexual thing with people interpreting contain in themselves the authority
it as a sexual indicator. of the ancestral ghost.
- In places dominated by Islam, a
thorough body covering is expected our own code has no special status; it is
but in some places, being nude in merely one among many.
public is normal.

2
ETHICS
BSCE241B | PROF. JHON ROLYN C. MANDALA

CLAIMS MADE BY CULTURAL

THE BASIC IDEA OF ETHICAL
RELATIVIST:
SUBJECTIVISM
1. Different societies have different
moral codes.
2. There is no objective standard that ● People have different opinioins.
can be used to judge one societal ➢ morality is concerned
code better than another. ➢ There are no facts and no one is
3. Our own code has no special right.
status; it is merely one among
many. THE EVOLUTION OF THEORY
4. There is no “universal truth” in
ethics; no moral truths that hold for
David Hume (1711-1776)
all people at all times.
- morality is a matter of sentiment
5. The moral code of a society
rather than a fact.
determines what is right within that
- As objections were raised to the
society;
theory, the defenders tried to
➢ If the society says it is right
answer the objections, the theory
then that action is right, at
became more sophisticated.
least within that society.
6. It is mere arrogance for us to try to
THE FIRST STAGE: SIMPLE
judge the conduct of other peoples.
SUBJECTIVISM
➢ adopt an attitude of
● When a person says that
tolerance toward practices
something is morally good or
of other cultures.
bad, this means that he or she
approves of that thing, or
remember: an action is good if it is socially
disapproves of it, and nothing more
approved.
OBJECTION TO SIMPLE SUBJECTIVISM
WHAT ARE THE CHALLENGES OF
1. Simple subjectivism cannot account
CULTURAL RELATIVISM?
for disagreement.
2. Simple subjectivism implies that we
1. We could no longer say that the
are always right.
customs of other societies are
morally inferior to our own.
THE SECOND STAGE: EMOTIVISM
2. We could decide whether the
actions are right or wrong just by
Charles L. Stevenson (1908-1979)
consulting the standards of our
- Moral language is not fact-stating
society.
language; it is not used to convey
3. The idea of moral progress is called
information or to make reports.
into doubt.
- Stevenson: "Any statement about
any fact which any speaker
considers likely to alter attitudes
TOPIC 3: SUBJECTIVISM may be adduced as a reason for or
against an ethical judgment."
Coverage
● Ethical Subjectivism
Moral language is instead used as a
● Evolution of Theory
means of influencing other people's
● Role of Reason in Ethics
behavior or expressing one's own
attitudes.

● Accordingly, we may agree in all our

judgments about our attitudes, yet
disagree in our attitudes.

3
ETHICS
BSCE241B | PROF. JHON ROLYN C. MANDALA

● For the emotivist, moral

disagreements are disagreements
in attitudes, not about attitudes.
They are disagreements in which
one's desires (rather than beliefs)
conflict with those of another.

SIMPLE SUBJECTIVE vs. EMOTIVISM

● Simple subjectivism interprets

moral judgments as statements that
can be true or false, so a sincere
speaker is always right when it
comes to moral judgments.
● Emotivism, on the other hand,
interprets moral judgments as either
commands or attitudes; as such,
they can be neither true nor false.

ROLE OF REASONS IN ETHICS

The flaws of emotivism cast doubt on the
whole idea of ethical subjectivism.

Reason is important in ethics.

● Values are not tangible things like
planets, trees, and spoons.
However, this does not mean that
ethics has no objective basis.
● People have not only feelings but
also reason, and these two are
fundamentally distinct.

Moral truths are truths of reason. They are

objective in the sense that they are true
independently of what we might want or
think.

TOPIC 3: MAIN POINT

Moral thinking and moral conduct are a

matter of weighing reasons and being
guided by them.

Being guided by reason is very different

from following one's feelings.

If we ignore reason and merely go with our

feelings, we opt out of moral thinking
altogether.

Thus, ethical subjectivism seems to be

going in the wrong direction.