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Module 1

This document provides an introduction to key concepts in ethics, including: 1. Ethics is the branch of philosophy that studies morality and human conduct, focusing on what is right or wrong. Morals are specific beliefs and behaviors derived from ethics that are judged as good or bad. 2. There are important features of morals and ethics, including that ethical decisions always involve other people, affect others' lives, and have no definite conclusions. People need choices to make ethical judgments. 3. There are different types of ethical inquiry - normative ethics examines what is right/wrong, meta-ethics analyzes ethical concepts/theories, and descriptive ethics observes how people actually behave.

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84 views

Module 1

This document provides an introduction to key concepts in ethics, including: 1. Ethics is the branch of philosophy that studies morality and human conduct, focusing on what is right or wrong. Morals are specific beliefs and behaviors derived from ethics that are judged as good or bad. 2. There are important features of morals and ethics, including that ethical decisions always involve other people, affect others' lives, and have no definite conclusions. People need choices to make ethical judgments. 3. There are different types of ethical inquiry - normative ethics examines what is right/wrong, meta-ethics analyzes ethical concepts/theories, and descriptive ethics observes how people actually behave.

Uploaded by

Astxil
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Module 1

INTRODUCTION: KEY CONCEPTS IN ETHICS


OBJECTIVES:

At the end of the lesson, you should be able to:

• Define the terms „ethics‟, and „morality‟


• Understand the different features of morals and ethics

Ethics

This is the branch of philosophy that studies the concept of morality or the rightness or wrongness of
human conduct. The term „ethics‟ is derived from the Greek word „ethos‟, which means „character‟.
As ethics deals with human actions and the reasons for such action, it is also concerned with character
(De Guzman et al., 2017).

As a philosophical discipline of study, “ethics is a systematic approach to understanding, analyzing,


and distinguishing matters of right or wrong, good and bad, and admirable and deplorable as they
relate to the well-being of and the relationships among human beings” (Rich and Butts, 2008)

Morals

Morals are specific beliefs, behaviors, and ways of being that are derived from ethics. Through a
systematic ethical analysis, morals are judged to be good or bad. Immorality, the reverse of morality,
means the opposition to accepted societal, religious, cultural, or professional ethical standards and
principles. There are acts that are considered to be non-moral because there are no moral standards
that apply to the acts; for example, choosing between cereal and toast and jam for breakfast is a non-
moral decision (Rich and Butts, 2008).

Important Features of Morals and Ethics (Billington 2003 as cited in Rich and Butts, 2008)

• No one can avoid making moral or ethical decisions because the social connection with others
necessitates that people must consider moral and ethical actions.
• Other people are always involved with one’s moral and ethical decisions. Private morality does
not exist.
• Moral decisions matter because every decision affects someone else’s life, self-esteem, or
happiness level.
• Definite conclusions or resolutions will never be reached in ethical debates.
• In the area of morals and ethics, people cannot exercise moral judgment without being given
a CHOICE; in other words, a necessity for making a sound moral judgment is being able to
choose an option from among a number of choices.
• People use moral reasoning to make moral judgments or to discover right actions.

Questions asked in Ethics:

1. What is good?
2. Who is a moral person?
3. What makes an act right?
4. What duties do we have to each other?
Types of Ethical Inquiry (Rich and Butts, 2008)

1. Normative Ethics
• This approach attempts to decide or prescribe values, behaviors, and ways of being that are
right or wrong, good or bad.
• When using this method, inquiries are made about how humans should behave, what ought to
be done in certain situations, what type of character one should have, or how one should be.
2. Meta-ethics
• This approach is concerned with understanding the language of morality through an analysis of
the meaning of ethically related concepts and theories, such as the meaning of „good‟,
„happiness‟, and „virtuous character‟.
3. Descriptive Ethics
• This approach is often referred to as a scientific rather than a philosophical ethical inquiry as it is
used when ethicists want to describe how people actually behave. (Example: identifying the
attitude of nurses regarding telling patients the truth about their terminal illnesses.)

“But ethics is a deep well, and once you start to lower the bucket down, there comes no obvious jolt
to tell you that at last it has reached the bottom. Instead, we find that we are plumbing the depths of
the human psyche, and no, it is not a pretty sight.”

(Cohen, 2003)

References:

• Butts, J. & Rich, K. (2008). Nursing ethics: across the curriculum into practice: Jones and Bartlett
Publishers.
• Cohen, M. (2003). 101 ethical dilemmas. Routledge.
• De Guzman, J. M. et al. (2017). Ethics: Principles of ethical behavior in modern society: Mutya
Publishing House, Inc.

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