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Ethics & Public Administration

This document discusses the origins and development of ethics and morality. It begins by describing how early human societies developed specialized roles to meet basic needs like hunting and farming. As business activities emerged, the concept of profit motivated continued production. The document then defines ethics and morality, explaining that ethics involves studying moral principles while morality refers to judgments of right and wrong. It outlines several theories of how individuals and societies develop concepts of ethics, including through social relations, human nature, and the works of philosophers like Aquinas, Freud, and Kohlberg.

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Czerwin Juales
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134 views37 pages

Ethics & Public Administration

This document discusses the origins and development of ethics and morality. It begins by describing how early human societies developed specialized roles to meet basic needs like hunting and farming. As business activities emerged, the concept of profit motivated continued production. The document then defines ethics and morality, explaining that ethics involves studying moral principles while morality refers to judgments of right and wrong. It outlines several theories of how individuals and societies develop concepts of ethics, including through social relations, human nature, and the works of philosophers like Aquinas, Freud, and Kohlberg.

Uploaded by

Czerwin Juales
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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ETHICS & PUBLIC

ADMINISTRATION
BEGINNING OF HUMAN EXISTENCE

• MEN TOOK CARE OF


THEIR HUMAN NEEDS
• HUNTING ANIMALS
• CULTIVATE LANDS
FOR THEIR FOOD
 SOME PEOPLE BECAME PROFICIENT IN DOING ONE TYPE OF WORK
OR PRODUCING ONE OR SEVERAL TYPES OF WORK
 IN DOING SO, OTHER PEOPLE SOUGHT THEIR PRODUCTS AND
SERVICES
THE “MANUFACTURER” THEN FOUND OUT THAT HE COULD
CONTINUE SUPPLYING THE PRODUCT OR SERVICES IF HE HAD FUNDS
OR GOODS TO BARTER EARN A PROFIT FOR HIM TO CONTINUE
PROVIDING GOODS AND SERVICES
BUSINESS is an activity that is part and
parcel of the HUMAN SOCIETY. Society will not
exist without Business. And since business is an
integral part of society, activities must be
examined from its ETHICAL PERSPECTIVE in the
same way as society examines politics,
economics, government, culture and religion
from the MORAL POINT OF VIEW.
ETHICS
The term “ethics” is derived
from Greek word ethos
which means “characteristic
way of acting” which is
proper to man as rational
being.
The Latin word for ethos is
mos or mores, the reason
why Ethics is sometimes
called a Moral Science or
Moral Philiosophy
What influences our interpretation of
ethics?

 our interpersonal
relations with others,
such as our family,
friends, neighbors,
fellow workers, as well
as the media
 own human frailties of
competitiveness, love,
greed and ambition.
Ethical behavior is interpreted
differently from person to person. What
one person may consider right or wrong
may be different for the next person
Bottom-line, ethics is about people and trust.
Consequently, we should be sharpening our
people skills as opposed to avoiding it. We don't
need more maxims of how we should conduct
our lives; we need to lead by example.
Definition of ETHICS

Cf. Felix Montemayor, (1994), Ethics: The Philosophy of Life.


Mandaluyong City: National Book Store, pp 8-9)
Ethics is the practical science of the morality of human acts.
Ethics is the study of human conduct from the standpoint of morality.
Ethics is a normative science based on reason which studies human
conduct and provide norms for its natural integrity and honesty.
Ethics is a practical science that guides us in our actions that we may
live rightly and well.
Ethics is the science which lays down the principles of right living.
Ethics is the science of human acts with reference to right and wrong.
Ethics is the scientific inquiry into the principles of morality.
ETHICS AND MORALITY

ETHICS MORALITY
• Involves the study of standards and • quality of goodness or badness
judgments which people create in a human act good as moral
• Investigates the nature of moral and bad as immoral
principles, ethical systems and • It means conformity to the rules
moral norms that people use to
of right conduct
justify their moral judgement
• Ethics is used to refer to the study • It implies judgement and refers
of those standards and conduct to what we call moral standards
and moral conduct
Ethics is a branch of philosophy and is
considered as a normative science because it
involves a systematic search for moral
principles and norms that are used to justify
our moral judgements
CATEGORIES OF GENERAL ETHICS

1. Descriptive Ethics –studying and describing


the morality of a people, culture , or
society. It also makes comparisons and
contrasts on the different values, principles,
code of ethics, beliefs, and practices of
people.
Ex. Psychological Egoism – says nothing
about what is good or bad or right or wrong
but rather it simply declares results based on
various scientific studies.
Cultural Relativism – does not
prescribe how people should act, but rather it
describes how people, when grouped and
observed in their own cultural realities,
actually differ in their behavior.
2.Normative Ethics – involves
judgment based on ethical norm or
theory.
This consists both of the basic moral
principles and values and the
particular moral rules that govern
people’s behavior which is right or
moral and wrong or immoral.
Three tasks of Normative Ethics:
a. To form into a related whole
the various norms, rules and
values of the society’s
morality
b.To find the basic principle from
which the particular norm can
be derived
c. To justify an ethical norm or
moral principle
3. Metaethics - a branch of Normative Ethics
concerned with the analysis of the meaning of
words and the logic of moral reasoning.
Ex. It analyzes moral terms like good, bad, moral,
immoral, moral obligation, and the like. It does
not describe moral beliefs of people, does not
evaluate the process of moral reasoning but simply
analyzes the usage and meaning of words
FOUR APPROACHES TO MORAL
DIFFERENCES

1. There is no Moral Truth (Moral


Nihilism) – no ultimate right or
wrong; akin to moral skepticism
which holds that we cannot know
whether or not there are moral
truths. Moral Subjectivism, on the
other hand, holds that moral views
differ from one person to another.
This results to a subjective morality,
in which case, what is good to one
person maybe bad for another.
2. There is no Universal Moral
Truth - each culture has its
own set of rules that we are
valid for that culture, and we
have no right to interfere with
our rules. This view is known
as ethical relativism. This
ethical paradigm maintains that
there are moral truths that
exist but these truths are
relative and dependent on
cultures and beliefs of the
people.
3. Deep Down, We Can Find
Basic Moral Truth - This
philosophical perspective
believes that despite
differences, people in
different cultures can still
agree on certain moral
basics. People find some
common ground on basic
moral principles. This is
called soft universalism.
4. There is One Universal
Truth - This view is also
known as hard universalism
or moral absolutism. This
moral paradigm maintains
that there is only universal
moral code that everybody
must follow. Because this
moral code is universal and
objective, moral problems
and moral conflicts can be
solved through proper moral
reasoning.
THE “MORAL
SENSE” IN US
THEORIES ON HOW PEOPLE DEVELOP THEIR
CONCEPT OF MORALITY

1. The
Synderesis
of Man
According
to St.
Thomas
Aquinas
 Italian philosopher
 Theologian and priest
 Prince of Scholastics
 Wrote 25 books including Summa Theologica and
Summa Contra Gentiles
 Was invited by Pope Gregory X to attend a General
Council in Rome but died on the way to the Vatican at
the age of 49
 Canonized as St. Thomas Aquinas, the Angelic Doctor of
the Church, 49 years after.
MORAL SENSE IN A MAN IS
MANIFESTED AND EXPRESSED IN THREE WAYS:
1. Man is able to
distinguish or to
know what is good
and what is bad.
Of all creaures,
only man has the
capacity to know
the difference
between a good and
bad action
2. Man is always
obligated to do
good and avoid evil.
In any given
circumstance, man
is the only creature
who feels this
primary duty to do
what is good and
avoid evil.
3. Man knows that he is
accountable for his actions---
good or bad. Of all creatures,
only man realizes that the
performance of an action
entails rewards and
punishments. If he does a
good action he expects
rewards. If he does an evil
action he expects
punishment.
FREUD’S THEORY
THE ID, EGO AND THE SUPEREGO
SIGMUND SCHLOMO FREUD (1856 -1938)

 Founding Father of
Psychoanalysis Theory
(Theory of the Psyche)
- Believes that the human
mind has three
important components;
the preconscious,
conscious and the
unconscious
Freud’s Theory of the Psyche

SUPEREGO – reflects social rules and values of the society that govern our
behavior
EGO – rational self or the conscious self.
- “reality-principle”
- the constant pressure to fight off the pleasure-seeking desires of the id
and at the same time, the ego is pressured by the reality forces of the
environment and the moral dictates of one’s upbinging – the superego.
ID – irrational part in us or the unconscious instincts
- “pleasure-principle”
- being irrational, does not know the meaning of postponement
LAWRENCE KOHLBERG (1927-1987)

• Became an engineer on a freighter


• Taught at University of Chicago
• Later moved to Harvard University as
professor of Education and Social Psychology
• Contracted a tropical disease and rumored
to have committed suicide at Boston Harbor
THANK YOU!!!

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