Ethics is the formal study of moral standards and conduct.

For this
reason, the study of ethics is also often called ‘moral philosophy’.
What is good? What is evil? How should I behave - and why? How
should I balance my needs against the needs of others? These are
some of the questions asked in the field of ethics, a branch of
philosophy which has some of the most immediate and obvious
consequences for how we live our lives.
• What is the relation between philosophy and morality?
• What is morality?
• What are the different approaches to morality?
• How does morality differ from aesthetics, etiquette, law, religion or
custom?
• Where does morality come from?
• Why should you be moral?
 What is philosophy and ethics’ relationship to it?
• Philosophy – philia/sophia -means ‘love’ of wisdom.
• Ethics comes from the Greek ethos meaning character.
• Morality derives from the Latin moralis meaning customs or manners.
• Philosophical ethics is the study of what makes something moral or
ethical, good or right, and unethical or immoral bad or wrong.
• Philosophers try to be a friend of wisdom by asking questions and studying
why something is the case. Ethics seeks wisdom by asking about right and
wrong, good and bad.
Ethics, Morals, and Values
How do they relate?
One of the most important characteristics of moral judgments is that
they express our values. Not all expressions of values are also moral
judgments, but all moral judgments do express something about what
we value. Thus, understanding morality requires investigating what
people value and why.
There are three principle types of values which humans can have:
preferential values, instrumental values and intrinsic values. Each
plays an important role in our lives, but they don't all play equal roles
in the formation of moral standards and moral norms.
Three different ways of thinking about ethics:
Descriptive Ethics
It simply involves describing how people behave and/or what sorts
of moral standards they claim to follow. Descriptive ethics
incorporates research from the fields of anthropology, psychology,
sociology and history as part of the process of understanding what
people do or have believed about moral norms.
 Descriptive Ethics

Questions: Statements:
1. What do people claim as their 1. Most Americans think that
moral norms? racism is wrong.
2. How do people actually 2. Among certain cultures, there
behave when it comes to moral is no stigma attached to
problems? homosexuality.
Normative Ethics
The category of normative ethics involves creating or evaluating
moral standards. Thus, it is an attempt to figure out what people
should do or whether their current moral behavior is reasonable.
Traditionally, most of the field of moral philosophy has involved
normative ethics - there are few philosophers out there who haven't
tried their hand at explaining what they think people should do and
why.
 Normative Ethics

Questions: Statements:
1. What should be our moral 1. Do unto others as you would have
obligations? them do unto you.
2.What is Right and what is Wrong? 2. Act as if the maxim of your action
3. What should be our moral values? was to become through your will a
4. What is Good and what is Evil? universal law of nature.
3. That which God wills is the Good.
 Analytic Ethics (Metaethics)
1.How are moral judgments even possible?
2.Why be moral at all?
3.Do moral values exist objectively or only subjectively?
4. Are moral values relative to something, like culture or individuals?
5.Can morality exist independently of religion?
6.Do people have a free will which would make moral judgments
possible?
Descriptive Ethics
• What are our ethical values?
• Different societies have different moral standards.
• People tend to make decisions which bring pleasure or avoid pain.
Normative Ethics
• What moral standards should we use?
• This action is wrong in this society, but it is right in another.
• The moral decision is that which enhances well-being and limits suffering.
Analytic Ethics (Metaethics)
• Evaluating our premises.
• Morality is relative.
• Morality is simply a system for helping humans stay happy and alive.
Types of Ethical Systems
A. Deontology and Ethics
Deontological moral systems are characterized primarily by a focus
upon adherence to independent moral rules or duties. Thus, in order to
make the correct moral choices, we simply have to understand what our
moral duties are and what correct rules exist which regulate those
duties. When we follow our duty, we are behaving morally. When we
fail to follow our duty, we are behaving immorally.
• The word deontology comes from the Greek roots deon, which
means duty, and logos, which means science. Thus, deontology is
the "science of duty."
• Key questions which deontological ethical systems ask include:
What is my moral duty?
What are my moral obligations?
How do I weigh one moral duty against another?
B. Teleology and Ethics
Teleological moral systems are characterized primarily by a focus on
the consequences which any action might have. Thus, in order to
make correct moral choices, we have to have some understanding of
what will result from our choices. When we make choices which
result in the correct consequences, then we are acting morally; when
we make choices which result in the incorrect consequences, then we
are acting immorally.
• The word teleology comes from the Greek roots telos, which means
end, and logos, which means science. Thus, teleology is the
"science of ends."
• Key questions which teleological ethical systems ask include:
What will be the consequences of this action?
What will be the consequences of inaction?
How do I weigh the harm against the benefits of this action?
Type of teleological ethical theories include:
• Ethical Egoism: an action is morally right if the consequences of
the action are more favorable than unfavorable only to the moral
agent performing the action.
• Ethical Altruism: an action is morally right if the consequences of
the action are more favorable than unfavorable to everyone except
the moral agent.
• Ethical Utilitarianism: an action is morally right if the
consequences of the action are more favorable than unfavorable to
everyone.
C. Virtue Ethics
Virtue-based ethical theories place much less emphasis on which
rules people should follow and instead focus on helping people
develop good character traits, such as kindness and generosity. These
character traits will, in turn, allow a person to make the correct
decisions later on in life. Virtue theorists also emphasize the need for
people to learn how to break bad habits of character, like greed or
anger. These are called vices and stand in the way of becoming a
good person.
• Virtue theories promise that once we are successful in creating the
sort of person we want to be, arriving at the correct moral decisions
will come naturally.
• Key questions which virtue ethical systems ask include:
What sort of person do I want to be?
What virtues are characteristic of the person I want to be?
What actions will cultivate the virtues I want to possess?
What actions will be characteristic of the sort of person I want to
be?
 Approaches to the Study of Morality
Scientific or Descriptive Approach
-Emphasizes the observation of human behavior and the positing of
conclusions based on those observations. Psychologists, for example,
have claimed that human beings are basically selfish based on
observations of conduct. This approach is descriptive in that it is
‘value-free’ making no judgments about the rightness or wrongness
of the behavior.
 Philosophical Approach
“Normative or Prescriptive” “Metaethical”
• How should or ought we to act? • A metaethicist is committed to
the analysis of the language,
concepts reasons and
foundational structure of ethical
systems.
 Morality and its Applications
Aesthetics. Ethics like aesthetics is a part of philosophy concerned
with values. Ethics differs from aesthetics in that it is concerned with
moral value although moral value and aesthetic value connect and
overlap.
Non Moral Uses of Key Terms. Good, bad, right and wrong are often
used in a non-moral sense, e.g., good meal, bad tooth, etc. These uses
often refer to function. Aristotle argued that morality is tied to the
function of a human being. This should not be confused with any idea
that meals or teeth are directly linked to the moral.
Manners or Etiquette. Manners and etiquette are forms of socially
acceptable and unacceptable behavior. For example, swearing or use
of foul language is in most contexts considered unacceptable.
However there is no necessary connection between this and
immorality. Of course manners and morals overlap but care is
required to distinguish them when there is no obvious connection.
To whom or what does morality apply?
Morality may be applied to four areas:
1. Religion
2. Nature
3. Individuality
4. Society
Where does morality come from?
Subjective Objective
• Value is related to human beings. • Values are given by a supernatural
Without human beings, being.
subjectivist theorists argue, there • Values are part of the fabric of
would be no value. nature.
• Values are part of the ‘furniture’ of
the world, independently of human
beings.
Evaluation of objective and subjective positions.
1. Supernatural theories. Belief based on faith. Diversity of
traditions makes it unclear what values are best and why.
2. Natural law theories. So called ‘laws of nature’ are descriptive
Are there natural moral laws, i.e., laws that are prescriptive?
3. Objectivism. Can something have a value if there is no one there to
value it?
4. Subjectivism. Are values entirely subjective? Would the world
have value without the presence of humans?
Values perhaps best viewed as both subjective, objective and
emerging out of a context. Thus three variables:
A. Object value – thing of value or thing valued
B. Subject value – a conscious being that values
C. Situational value – context in which valuing is situated.
Where do values come from?
Values might be thought of then as originating in a complex
relation among the three variables: an interaction between
conscious human beings, things (variously material, emotional,
mental) and a specific context.
We can separate morality into two forms:
1. Customary or traditional morality. Traditional morality refers to the
moral systems handed down through custom from generation to
generation. We might call this static morality
2. Reflective morality. Reflective morality requires that moral ideas are
carefully examined and tested. Traditional morality can become
reflective and dynamic when those moral ideas that are simply handed
down and accepted are subjected to analysis and criticism.
Morality, Law and Religion
1. Morality and law. Morality and law are not the same although of
course they overlap. Law might be thought of as a public codification
of morality for a culture, although certain laws in that system, or even
the system itself, might be deemed immoral. Law is not a necessary
attribute of morality although morality may well be thought to be a
necessary attribute of law.
2. Morality and religion. Is morality dependent upon religion? Can
you be moral and non-religious?
Morality need not be based exclusively on religion for
five reasons.
1. Supernatural existence cannot be proven.
2. Non religious people can be moral.
3. Religious foundation for ethics is difficult to establish.
4. Which religion would be best ethically?
5. How could it be shown that one religion is best?
Therefore, no necessary connection between ethics and religion.
Why should human beings be moral?
Why should human beings do what is right?

1. Enlightened self-interest – I will be better off

JOANNA MARIE C. RODIL