Promoting
Human Welfare
Prepared by:
Mr. Rozell G. Magsombol, LPT
Doing Good to
others
ETHICS
• study of morality
• moral principles that govern a
person’s behavior or the conducting
of an activity
Three General Kinds of Ethics
•Normative Ethics
• Meta Ethics
• Applied Ethics
Normative Ethics
• Which studies the principles or
standards used as bases for making
moral judgements (judgements that
actions are good or bad)
• investigates the set of questions that
arise when considering how one
ought to act, morally speaking
Meta Ethics
• which studies the nature of moral
judgements in terms of how they
known and acquire their meanings
• explores the status, foundations and
scope of moral values
Applied Ethics
• which examines controversial ethical
issues in some specified areas such as
medicine, law, business, computing
and the environment
• practical application of moral
considerations
Three standard in normative
ethical theories
• Consequentialism
• Deontology
• Virtue Ethics
Consequentialism
• Theory claims that a good action is
one that results in good or desirable
while a bad action is one that results
in bad or undesirable
• focus on the status of the action,
rule, or disposition itself
• argues that the morality of an action
is contingent on the actions outcome
or result
Two General Classifications of
Consequentialism
• role of pleasure and pain
• role of the agent of the action
role of pleasure and pain
• Hedonistic
• Non-Hedonistic
Hedonistic
• When good consequences are define
in terms of the experience of pleasure
and avoidance of pain
Non-Hedonistic
• When good consequences are
defined not solely in terms of
experience of pleasure and avoidance
of pain but also in terms of other
desirable things such as acquisition of
knowledge and power, establishment
of good relationships and satisfaction
of needs
role of the agent of the action
• Agent-relative (egoistic)
• Agent-neutral (non-egoistic)
Agent-relative (egoistic)
• Defined solely in terms of the good or
welfare of the agent (doer of the
action)
• the belief that the moral person is
the self-interested person
• holds that an action is right if it
maximizes the good for itself
Agent-neutral (non-egoistic)
• Defined not in terms of the good or
welfare of the agent but in terms of
the good or welfare of all affected
persons
Four Kinds of Consequentialism
•Agent-Relative Hedonism
• Agent-Neutral Hedonism
•Agent-Relative Non-Hedonism
• Agent-Neutral Non-Hedonism
Agent-Relative Hedonism
• An actions is good if it brings pleasure
to its agent.
Agent-Neutral Hedonism
• An action is good if it brings the
maximum pleasure to the greatest
number of affected persons.
Agent-Relative Non-Hedonism
• An action is good if it brings any form
of benefits to its agent.
Agent-Neutral Non-Hedonism
• An action is good if its brings the
maximum benefits of any form to the
greatest number of affected persons.
Utilitarianism
• Claims that an action is morally good
if it maximizes the aggregate good or
welfare of all affected persons
• Most influential and ideal form of
consequentialism
• what considers to be morally relevant
is the maximum aggregate or sum
total of welfare
Deontology
• referred as duty-based or right ethical
theories
• argues that decisions should be made
considering the factors of ones duties
and ones right
• It can be religious or rational
Religious Deontology
• defines good rules as the rules of laws
of God
• a good action as one which follows
the laws of God and a bad action as
one which violates laws
Rational Deontology
• defines good rules as the laws of
reason
• a good action as one which follows
the laws of reason and a bad action as
one which violates these laws
• the laws of reason may coincide with
the laws of God, but it formulate its
moral principles independent of
religious considerations.
Immanuel Kant on deontology
• First clarifies that moral commands, laws, or
imperatives are categorical and not hypothetical;
meaning, they ought to be done out of respect
for these laws and not out of the desire for the
consequences of following them.
• he provides two major formulas for determining
whether a given moral law is a good law or not.
Universalizability
Respect for persons
Principle of Universalizability
• States that an action is morally good if
its maxim can be made universal, or
as a law for everyone, without
contradiction.
• a maxim is a rule that we make for
ourselves when we have decided to
perform an action.
Virtue Ethics
• this ethical theory was first given a
systematic explanation by Aristotle.
• he first notes that the ultimate end or
goal of humans is to be happy or to
flourish.
• for him, of all the goals of humans,
happiness is the ultimate for it is self-
sufficient, final, and attainable.
• he considers the capacities of a reason
and will as their proper functions.
• The excellence of reason requires
intellectual virtues, while that of the will
requires practical or moral virtues.
• Intellectual virtues are acquired through
study or instruction and are manifested
through knowledge.
• Moral virtues are acquired through
practice and habit-forming activities and
are manifested through practical actions.
- are character traits which would enable
us to live a happy or flourishing life.
Principle of golden mean
• the good character trait is that which
lies in between two extreme traits
relevant to the situation: one is in
excessive form; the other is a
deficient form.
Being Just to others
Justice
• Giving what is due to a person or
what a persons deserves to receives
Three General Kinds of Justice
• Distributive Justice
• Retributive Justice
• Compensatory Justice
Distributive Justice
• distribution of benefits (referring to
any desirable things such as rights
and socio-economic goods like wages)
• burdens (referring to any undesirable
things such as sacrifices, obligations,
and work load or assignments)
Retributive Justice
• concerns the justice in imposing
punishments and penalties on those
who have been found guilty of doing
something wrong
Compensatory Justice
• Concerns the justice in compensating
or paying people for what they have
lost as a result of being the recipient
of wrongful acts
• can easily be seen when we try to
understand what one possibly means
• “I demand justice”
Theories of Distributive Justice
• Egalitarianism
• Capitalism or Capitalist Justice
• Socialism or Socialist Justice
• Justice based on fair opportunity
• ‘ Justice as fairness
• Libertarianism
Egalitarianism
• is one which every member of a
group receives an equal share in the
distribution
Two versions of Egalitarianism
• Political Egalitarianism
• Economic Egalitarianism
Political Egalitarianism
• Which argues for equality in the
distribution of rights
• all citizens should enjoy the basic
legal rights
Economic Egalitarianism
• Which argues for equality in the
distribution of socioeconomic good
• the people who do the same kind
and amount of work should be
compensated equally
Capitalism or Capitalist Justice
• Which every member of a group
receives his according to or her share
in the distribution according to or in
proportion to his/her contribution to
the success of the goals
• where wages are determined by
merit or contribution to the success
of the goals of the company
Socialism or Socialist Justice
• which every member of a group
receives his/her share in the
distribution according to the
proportion of his/her needs
• amount of work that people should
be given should be based on their
natural work
Justice based on fair opportunity
• Which every member of a group
receives his/her share in the
distribution according to or in
proportion to the effort he/she
exerted in achieving the goals of the
group.
Justice as fairness
• which is the principle that governs
the distribution is chosen in a fair
manner
