ETHICS

PHILO 1
WHAT IS RULE?

• A statement that tells you what is or is not allowed in a particular game, situation, etc.
• A statement that tells you what is allowed or what will happen within a particular system
(such as a language or science) :

• It is a piece of advice about the best way to do something.

 METAPHYSICS
- is the study of the
nature of reality.

EPISTEMOLOGY
– is the study of
knowledge
Branches of Philosophy
LOGIC
– a key dimension to
epistemology ETHICS
- It is the study of
values in human
AXIOLOGY behaviors.
–studies the nature of
values. AESTHETIC
-deals with the notion
of beauty and related
concepts.
WHAT IS GOOD LIFE?
ANCIENT TIMES

• People before the ancient times never considered the self and the other person as a
problem since they were living in a utopia. This state of life, being naturally good upholds
the welfare of one another.

• Their community was never yet tainted by individuality and personal politics.
• The early people were once living in a state of nature.
WHAT IS GOOD LIFE?
IN THE EASTERN WORLD

• Forthe eastern people, questions on goodness and beauty were never

considered a problem because harmony, meaning, freedom, and existence
were not yet an issue.
• They believe that man and nature were actually one and inseparable.
• Their aim in reasoning was not actually the attainment of material and even
intellectual greatness but their aim in philosophizing was the perfection of
the self.
WHAT IS GOOD LIFE?
IN THE EASTERN WORLD
• Normal activities that were being done were only for the purpose of daily
sustenance and not merely for the perfection of being.
• Metaphysical and epistemological truths were not much of their concern
because knowledge on such things could only make their existence more
difficult.
• Existence, in its highest consideration, was their utmost concern.
• Hence, philosophy and religion in the east became inseparable.
WHAT IS GOOD LIFE?
IN THE WESTERN WORLD

•Inasmuch as the early western people were living in a diaspora, they did not only
barter material goods.
•They were only bartering ideas or intellectual goods.
• Since they were coming from different regions and from different beliefs, people
started comparing one’s customs and beliefs with the others.
•They began to realize that their idea of the beautiful was not any more to be
considered beautiful when compared with others.
WHAT IS GOOD LIFE?
IN THE WESTERN WORLD
• People began to philosophize and think of the reason why there were lives
more beautiful that that of others.
• Because of their capacity to distinguish the beauty of one from that of the
others, discrimination arose.
• People begun to compare their own life with that of the others,
• and to investigate their social condition in relation to the conditions of the
others.
WHAT IS GOOD LIFE?
IN THE WESTERN WORLD

•Material evolution led the people to discriminate others and

look down on people whose lives were not as good as
theirs.
•In this case, we may say that when a man becomes
civilized, the more he actually becomes uncivilized.
WHAT IS THE IMPLICATION OF CIVILIZATION?
THE IMPLICATION OF CIVILIZATION

•Inasmuch as the human mind is linear, there is always an issue on

the “connected to”.
•Human beings will always look for the cause and effect in all their
actions; they will always seek for the result in all their plans and
activities.
THE IMPLICATION OF CIVILIZATION

• Goodness and beauty are considered always to be

connected with their daily activities.
•Goodness and beauty became linear. It becomes causal and
material.
 THE IMPLICATION OF CIVILIZATION

• In this regard, philosophy began to exist and started to flourish.

• “What was the cause of the existence of all things?”
• To question about himself and his capacity to think.
• “What makes a man a human person?”
• From this question arose the different philosophers.
 MAN AS A PERSON OF GOODNESS AND TRUTH
“What is the
purpose of my
existence?”
 MAN AS A PERSON OF GOODNESS AND TRUTH
• considered the human person as a
‘thinking intelligent being, that has reason
and reflection and
• can consider itself as itself, the same
thinking being in different times and
places. (Homderich 1995).
• He believed that every man will always
JOHN LOCKE search for the good. Everyone will have the
The concept of goodness will always be capability of distinguishing the good from
in reference to pain. When the human
person wills the good , then his action the bad.
is considered to be morally acceptable.
(Buenaflor, et al., 2017)
MAN AS A PERSON OF GOODNESS AND TRUTH
• Considers the human person as an autonomous self-
regulating will who is capable of making moral decisions by
and for himself.
• In this regard, every person has worth and dignity insofar as
they are ends in themselves and are capable of making their
own moral decisions.
Where do
What am I I come
living for? What must from?
I do to live
well and
Why am I
happy?
To where in this
shall I be world?
going?
What sort
IMMANUEL of thing What is
am I? my future
KANT and
destiny?
MAN AS A PERSON OF GOODNESS AND TRUTH
•The human person is a being who is in constant search for the
meaning of all his actions.
•He believed that a human being is ultimately self-determining.
•Is capable of distinguishing the good from the bad.
•This truth and goodness become the source of value for the
human person.
•Man’s orientation towards goodness binds him towards an
affirmation of the spiritual freedom and dignity of the other
person and thereby makes him responsible for the welfare and
Victor Frankl dignity of other persons as well.
Father of Logotherapy
MAN AS A PERSON OF GOODNESS AND TRUTH
•He believed that conscience enables the
person to know what ought to be done in
order to become his own self.

•Conscience became also the reason why the

human person becomes aware of the goals of
life, as well as the norms for the attainment of
such goals. (Timbreza 2000)
ERICH FROMM
MAN AS A PERSON OF GOODNESS AND TRUTH
• What constitutes the human person as a moral
subject is his conscience.
• The human person discovers the moral law because
of his conscience. Man’s conscience is also
responsible for making the human person aware of
the welfare and the dignity of the other persons.
• Conscience refers to the totality of the human
person.
• It is the conscience that makes human beings moral
St. Thomas Aquinas
persons.
THE NEED TO REDEFINE ETHICS

• THE GREATEST ISSUE IN THE MODERN TIMES NOW LIES ON THE PROBLEM OF MORALITY.
• With the human person’s inclination to pleasure, he began looking at things as moral if it
provides pleasure for the human person and if it prevents him from suffering pain.

• Morality does not anymore lie on the value of judgment, but on the measurement of
pleasure and pain.

In this modern times, there arose the need to redefine Ethics.

WHY DO WE NEED TO REDEFINE ETHICS
•because the human being’s desire for happiness has
led him to do activities that are contrary to what he
ought to do.
•due to the rise of major dilemmas concerning life,
health, and death.
Ethics As A Means Of Curing The Moral Maladies
That Were Afflicting The Humankind.

• PLATO ---- ETHICS ‘ THE SUPREME PHILOSOPHY’, THE SCIENCE PAR EXCELLENCE. BECAUSE ETHICS DEALS
WITH THE ATTAINMENT OF MAN’S HIGHEST GOOD – HAPPINESS. IT IS THE ONLY DISCIPLINE THAT DEALS
WITH THE ATTAINMENT OF THE ULTIMATE GOAL OF A HUMAN PERSON.
 SALUS POPULI EST SUPREMA LEX
-THE WELFARE OF THE PEOPLE IS THE
SUPREME LAW
THANK YOU!
AD MAIOREM DEI GLORIAM!

PREPARED BY: CHARMINE Q. MARCOS