BANAGEN, PHILIP B.

18-6650-963
General Ethics
Dr. Godfrey G. Mendoza, RPT The Importance of Ethics
Maestro - The importance of the study of ethics follows
immediately from the importance of ethics itself.
1. Ethics means right living and good moral character;
and it is in good moral character that man finds his
worth and perfection.
2. Education is the harmonious development of the
whole man – of all man’s faculties: moral,
intellectual, and physical powers in man.

“Knowledge is good, bodily health and strength are

good, but first and above all – good character.”

3. According to Socrates, “the unexamined life is not

worth living for man.” Now ethics, as we already
said before, is the very investigation of the meaning
Morality
of life. That is why Plato calls and considers ethics
 Morality is the differentiation of intentions, the supreme science, the science par excellence,
decisions, and actions between those that are as it is this science that deals with the Summum
"good" and those that are "bad".
Bonum, the supreme purpose of human living.
 The philosophy (viewpoint) of morality is ethics.
A moral code is a system (structure)
of morality and a moral is any one practice or
teaching within a moral code. Relationship of Ethics with other
Sciences:
1. Ethics and Logic
 Logic is the science of “right thinking”. Ethics is
the science of “right living”. But right living
presupposes right thinking. Doing follows
thinking.
 To think right often means to do right, as
knowledge of right leads to the doing of right.
Both ethics and logic aim at rectitude: the former
aims at right doing; the latter, at right thinking.
 “In order to live right, you have think right.”
 The reason for this is that because when an
individual think right means he/she will do the
right. This is how Logic is related to Ethics. Logic
tells us how to think right so that an individual
Philosophy can do the right and doing the right with the
 Is the study of general and fundamental basis of morality is what we consider as Ethics.
problems, such as those connected with Ex: Stealing
2. Ethics and Psychology
existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind and
 Both deal with the study of man, human nature,
language.
and human behavior. There is, however, a basic
 Is the rational attempt to formulate, understand
difference. Psychology is not interested in the
and answer fundamental questions.
morality of human behavior, unlike ethics.
Ethics  Psychology studies how man behaves; ethics
 Generally defined as the principles of morally studies how man ought to behave. The word
acceptable conduct of individuals. “ought” is emphasized to show the difference:
 An individual’s personal belief about right and Ethics is concerned with moral obligation while
wrong behaviors. psychology is not.
3. Ethics is related to Sociology
 Ethics is the practical science of the morality of
human actions.  Ethics deals with the moral order which includes
 Ethics is the scientific inquiry into the principles the social.
of morality.  Society depends on ethics for its underlying
 Ethics is the science of human acts with principles: Sociology deals with human relations
reference to right and wrong. in a society, but human relations are based on
 Ethics is the study of human conduct from the proper order and proper order comes only with
standpoint of morality. the proper observance of moral laws and
 Ethics is the practical science that guides us in principles which regulate the actions of men in a
our actions that we may live rightly and well. community.
4. Ethics and Economics 3. Ethics and Art
 Man is also an economic being because he has  Ethics stands for moral goodness; art, for
to support himself by earning a living. He has to beauty. But as transcendental (inspiring) the
live by bread (though he does not live by bread beautiful and the good are good. “What is good
alone). Economics and morality are two aspects is beautiful.”
of one and the same human nature.  Evil always implies ugliness or defects and the
 Economics deals with such topics as wages, good is always beautiful since it is the very
labor, production and distribution of wealth. But object of desire and therefore, like beauty,
what will determine the relations between pleases when perceived.
employer and employee, for instance? 4. Ethics and Politics
 This and all other relations in business must be  Man owes allegiance to the State. Politics aims
based on justice and charity which, after all are at good government for the temporal welfare of
moral principles. the citizens. But between the temporal and the
5. Ethics and Biology spiritual and eternal welfare there is no conflict.
 Bioethics is a reflective effort to clarify the ethical The two are inseparable in man’s present state
implications of biomedical progress. Biologists of existence, where the material and the
participate with many other scientists and spiritual, the body and the spirit, form one
physicians to the production of new biomedical person.
knowledge, which translates more or less rapidly  Politics has often become very dirty and the
into novel technological possibilities. Among reason is precisely because it is divorced from
many other things, these entail new ways of ethics.
"manipulating genes", of deciphering genetic  Disorder and confusion inevitably follow in a
information, thus generating predictive state from such violations of ethical principles,
information about human beings and opening as: electoral frauds, bribery, graft and
new medical options; they give rise to corruptions, blackmail, intrigue, etc.
techniques that make possible the production of 5. Religion and Ethics
materials and organisms not present as such in  True ethics can never be separated from God.
nature; they open up new ways of intervening in Reason: Ethics implies morality and morality
human reproduction. Ex: Bioethical issues in presupposes a distinction between right and
medicine wrong in human actions. But what is the ultimate
ground of distinction between right and wrong?
Relationship of Ethics with other Phases  If there is a morality, there must be a moral law,
and if there is a law, there must be a lawgiver
of Human Life and ultimately a first lawgiver. But who is the first
Introduction lawgiver, who is the source of all moral laws and
 Life is a “many-splendored thing”. It is a unity of obligations?
many aspects: the social, the economic, the
moral, the physical, the religious, etc.
 Morality is the basic element of human life and
cannot be separated from the other phases of
human activity.
1. Ethics and Education
 Education develops the whole man; his moral,
intellectual and physical capacities.
 Since man, however, is primarily a rational moral
being (endowed with reason and will, which
ranks him above brute creation), the primary
objective of education should be the
development of these powers in man, which
consists his true perfection.
 This recognized in our constitution when it
mentions “moral character” as the first and
primary aim of all education. “All schools should
develop good moral character, personal
discipline, civic consciousness, etc.”
2. Morality and Law
 Morality and Law are intimately related. Right
and wrong, good and bad in human actions
presuppose a law or rule of conduct.
 There is, however, a striking difference between
what is moral and what is legal. The legal only
covers the external acts of man; the moral
governs even the internal acts of man, such as
the volitional and the intentional activities of the
will and mind, i.e. man’s thoughts and desires.