Module 1: WHAT IS ETHICS?

Unit 1: DEFINITION AND SCOPE OF ETHICS

Etymologically, ethics is derived from the Greek word “ETHOS” which means custom. It is a
customary or acceptable ways of acting. Ethics is a branch of philosophy that deals with
questions about morality, right and wrong conduct, and principles of good and bad behavior. It
involves examining concepts such as justice, virtue, duty, and responsibility, often in the context
of how individuals and societies should act.

Ethics is a branch of philosophy, like philosophy itself, ethics has no univocal definition. It can
be and has been, defined in different ways. Ethics does not have a fixed definition because ethics
differ from person to person. If there are ten people and they are asked “What is ethics”, their
answer would be differ as well.

 Ethics can be defined as a branches of philosophy which deals with the morality of
human actions or as the branch of philosophy which study the norms of human behavior.
 It is the systematic study of the fundamental principle of the moral law.
 Ethics, is the philosophical study of moral judgments- value judgment about what is
virtuous or base, just or unjust, morally right or wrong, morally good or bad or evil,
morally proper or improper.
 Ethics is a philosophical study of the activities that secure the good life for man. It
concerns itself with judgment of approval or disapproved judgment about the rightness
and wrongness, goodness or badness. Virtue or vice, desirability or wisdom of actions,
dispositions, ends, objects or state of affairs.
 Ethics is a systematic approach to understanding, analyzing, and distinguishing matters of
right and wrong, good and bad, admirable and deplorable as they relate to the well-being
of and the relationships among sentient beings.

 Ethics is the philosophy that tries to understand a familiar type of evaluation: the moral
evaluation of people’s character traits, their conduct, and their institutions. It is concerned
with what bothers us about good and bad, the morally right and the morally wrong thing
to do, just or unjust regimes or law, how things ought and ought not to be, and how
people should live
  Ethics can be regarded as the study of the concept involved in practical reasoning: good,
right, right, duty, obligation, virtue, freedom, rationality, choice. It is also the second
order study of the objectivity, subjectivity, relativism, or skepticism that may attend
claims made in these terms.

SCOPE OF ETHICS

There are three scopes of ethics, they are

1) Meta-ethics

2) Normative ethics

3) Applied ethics

1. Meta-Ethics: Meta-ethics comprises the area of situational ethics and deals with logical
questions like ‘What do we mean by ‘freedom’ and ‘determinism’ etc. It delves into the nature of
ethical properties, attitudes and judgments. For example, a media critic’s description of a TV
series as ‘good drama’ does not necessarily denote that the program is morally sound. It is the
function of meta-ethics to define such vague concepts in ethical terms. Some of the theories of
Meta-Ethics are Naturalism, Non-Naturalism, Emotivism1 and Prescriptivism.

2. Normative Ethics: Normative ethics deals with standards or norms by which we can judge
human actions to be right or wrong. It deals with the criteria of what is morally right or wrong.
For example, if someone murders a person, everyone will agree that it is wrong. The question is:
Why is it wrong to murder someone? There are a lot of different answers we could give, but if
we want to specify a principle that stated why its wrong, the answer might be: Murder is wrong
because when we kill someone, we violate their right to live. Another perspective might be – To
inflict unnecessary suffering on the person being murdered or their family is wrong, that’s why
to kill a person is wrong. There are three elements emphasized by normative ethics:

 The person who performs the act (the agent)

3. Applied Ethics: Applied ethics is the problem-solving branch of moral philosophy. It uses the
insights derived from meta ethics and the general principles and rules of normative ethics in
addressing specific ethical issues and cases in a professional, disciplinary or practical field.
Applied ethics is the vital link between theory and practice, the real test of ethical decision-
making. Applied ethics often requires not only theoretical analysis but also practical and feasible
solutions.

Some of the key areas of applied ethics are:

 Decision Ethics

 Professional Ethics

 Clinical Ethics

 Business Ethics

 Organizational Ethics

 Social Ethics
Applied ethics takes into consideration issues such as abortion, euthanasia, capital punishment,
drug decriminalization, gay marriage, etc

Unit 2: The Concept of Good and Bad

In philosophy, the concepts of "good" and "bad" are central to ethics and moral philosophy. They often
refer to evaluations of actions, character traits, or consequences based on moral principles.

In this chapter we will attempt to discover of what nature is the concept of ‘good’. Is it a mental
construct or does it have an extension in the external world? Is it real or is it man-made and
conventional? Is it a quiddity or is it one of the philosophical concepts? What is good? What kinds of
things are attributed with goodness? Is goodness simply a quality of ethical actions or does it also
include non-ethical things and individuals? How can we distinguish the ethical usage of this term from its
non-ethical one? What is the cause of ethical goodness and evil? Does it have a root in personal
inclinations and tastes? Or is it connected to the commands and prohibitions of society? Or does it find
its source in the commands and prohibitions of God? Or should we search for its source in the existential
connections that lie between the actions of man and his ultimate perfection?

Based on one terminological meaning, ‘good’ means perfection while ‘bad’ means deficiency.
An ethic – a set of moral principles or values – based on goodness applied to concerns about
choices between courses of action will ask questions about the anticipated or hoped-for
benefits of one course of action as opposed to another. An ethic based on goodness applied to
concerns about character will ask questions about the anticipated or hoped-for effects on one's
habitual way of approaching life of one course of action as opposed to another.

What is good has to do with benefits. Something that benefits something or someone else is
called good for that thing or person. We can think of this instrumentally or biologically.
Instrumentally, a hammer is good for pounding nails, and what is good for the hammer is what
enables it to do so well. Biologically, air, water, and food are good for living beings.

Instrumentally, what is good for a thing enables that thing to serve its purpose. To make sense,
an instrumental usage of the term "good" requires reference to somebody's purpose or
intention. This approach is also sometimes called a consequentialist approach or an effect-
oriented approach because both usages give meaning to the term “good” by reference to the
consequences or effects of an action or event. That whole grains are good for humans means
that the effect of eating them is healthful. That a hammer is good for pounding nails means that
using it for that purpose is likely to have the effect you want, namely that the nails go in easily
and straight.

The Goodness approach to ethics uses the terms "good" and "bad" and their variants and
synonyms to evaluate actions, things, people, states of affairs, etc., as well as maxims or
guidelines for conduct. Some synonyms for "good" in this context are "helpful," "nourishing,"
"beneficial," “useful” and "effective." Some synonyms for "bad" are their opposites:
"unhelpful," "unhealthy," "damaging," “useless” and "ineffective."
Unit 3: Why Should I be Moral?

Morality refers to the most vital code of conduct set and recognized by a society and accepted
by the people of that society. It also entails a structure of behavior regarding the standards of
being right or wrong. Morality involves the concept of moral standards which regards the
behavior of people, moral responsibility which refers to their conscience and moral identity
meaning one who is capable of doing right or wrong (Harris, 2018). It describes the values that
govern people’s behavior such that without these values’ society cannot survive well. Morality
affects the decisions of the people daily. Where they decide for themselves where the
conscience originated. Most of the people believes that conscience is a matter of their hearts,
programming the concepts of rights and wrongs differently. We should be moral, so as to live in
peace and harmony in the society without conflicts arising among people. This discussion
therefore focuses on the importance of moral values, morality and its applications and finally
morality, law and religion.

Moral values are very important in life. This is because they help people to distinguish between
good and bad. This hence affect their decisions in doing what is right or wrong. These values
reflect the character and spirituality of a person. They also help in building admirable
relationships in personal and also in professional lives. Moral values include: firstly, is the
honesty. In this, every person is encouraged to maintain honesty in all aspects. All people are
supposed to remain honest to each other at all times. Secondly, it is maintaining justice. People
are supposed to practice fairly to each other without discrimination. This eliminates
discriminating people according to their status for example old and young, poor and the rich,
and also according to race. When all people are treated fairly, they feel equal and have a sense
of belonging. Lack of justice promotes fight among people and consequently lack of peace
among them.

Thirdly, is the value of respect. This is vital in all circumstances and promotes unity among the
people. Young children also are taught of respecting the old and everyone in the society. When
people live in respecting each other, they live and work together peacefully and in harmony.
This hence help in building and strengthening their relationships. Fourthly, is patience.
Everyone should be patient with each other, forgiving at all times while controlling the anger
that leads to conflict. Fifthly, is the keeping integrity and loyalty while they live with each other.
Lastly, is being responsible to people and also to the environment while maintaining hard work
all day. All these values are important in the society since people live calmly while upholding
them.

Morality and its Applications

Morality can be applied to different areas. The first one is the religion. In this, morality is
determined by the relationship between the human being and the supernatural being. What
people believe about creation affect their moral thinking and behavior (Hausman,2016). Also,
they behave according to what their religion dictates regarding the action as right or wrong. If
they tend to do contrary to the teachings of their religion pertaining that behavior they are
regarded as lacking good morals. The second one is the nature. This is determining molarity by
the relation between the nature and human being. This reflect how human reacts to the
nature. Some people are careless while handling physical properties given freely by the nature.
For example, if they do not maintain the environment they are living in, they are said to lack
morals. Therefore, this encourages them to handle properly everything the nature gives
including rivers and trees.

The third one is the individuality. This is where morality is determined by the relation the
individual has to himself or herself. Human beings have principles that guides them on what to
do or not. Sometimes, they go against them willingly or unwillingly and hence affected later.
Also, they tend to engage themselves in an illegal behavior which can bring harm to their
bodies. This hence brings the issue of lack of good morals. A good example is when they indulge
in drug abuse where its known that the behavior is not accepted by the society and also it
affects their health as well. This hence calls for people to maintain good morals so as not to
bring harm even to themselves.

The last one is the society. This is where molarity is determined by relation between the society
and the human. Basically, the society guides the behavior of its people and ensure that they
adhere to the set cultural values and regulations which are acceptable. These values bring them
together and helps in controlling people’s behaviors. At times, people behave against these
societal values and hence are said to be lacking of morals. For example, when one member
become a thief is said to have bad morals and he or she becomes liable for punishment. This is
because stealing behavior is not acceptable in the society and it is an act that deprives peace
and harmony of the people. People therefore are encouraged to avoid any behavior that can
destroy the peace and unity of a society