Chapter Two

Ethics and Morality

 Definition of Ethics
 Ethics’ → ‘ethos’ which means manner, behavior or character.
 Different scholars defined the term ethics differently. Some of these include:

 the branch of philosophy concerned with moral principles. i.e. it is a set of

principles concerning right and wrong and how people should behave.
 branch of philosophy that deals with how we ought to live, with the idea of the
“good”, “right” or “wrong”. (Pojman, 2002).
 Ethics is a branch of philosophy which deals with morality or morals.
 Ethics is a discipline that studies morality itself.
 Ethics stress a social system in which those morals are applied.
 Ethics point towards the application of morality
 Importance of Ethics
 The purpose of ethics is to help answer the ‘how should I live’ question for
humanity. “We should do to others what we would want others to do to us”.
 to identify good and bad behaviors, right and wrong deeds.
 to make harmonious (healthy) the day- to- day social contact (relationship)
 to ensure the promotion of common good
 to shaping the behaviors of individuals and groups in a society
 to serve as bond that defines the roles and functions of members of a society
 to make member of a society to be charitable and just towards others
 Definition of morality

• Morality is derived from the Latin word, ‘mores’ which can be defined
as the customs of a community accepted as the standard or principles of
good behavior
 Morality deals with the study of the actual patterns of behavior.
 Morality is also seen as a way of looking at, an attitude towards and a
manner of behavior regarding people, things and ourselves.
• Morality says, “do this, don’t do that”, “act this way, acting the other
way is wrong”, “follow these principles, if not it is wrong.”

• Morality sets out norms and customary rules to judge the actions,
intentions of individuals and groups in the society
Where does morality come from?
Parents
Religion
Peers
Technology
 Importance of morality

 Morality is what we expect people to do so that we can live together in

peace and harmony.
 Morality has a lot of importance at individual as well as at societal level:
These include:
• Personal happiness and well-being
• Better personal relationships with other people
• A more peaceful and happy society
 Moral values

•Moral values are socially accepted valuations of objects of the

surrounding world.
•They are general idea or a standard that people share about what is
good and bad, right or wrong… etc.
What you observe Ethical or Un Ethical behavior ?
 The difference between Ethics and Morality

 Morality is concerned with the right and wrong of human actions; whereas Ethics
provides the basic principles for justifying and determining the rightness or
wrongness of the human actions.

 Where an action is said to be right or wrong in morality, ethics steps in, using its
ethical principles (ethical theories) to prove or justify the wrongness or goodness of
that action.

 Ethics is the philosophical thinking or systematic study about morality, moral

problems and moral judgments. In other words, ethics is a critical reflection on
morality.
 similarities between Ethics and Morality

Both are concerned with providing the basic guidelines and framework to
determine human existence in its real form. For any society to live in peace
and harmony, certain rules of behavior or conduct must be provided to
regulate existence, and this is the responsibility of ethics and morality.
 Ethical School of Thought
There are two ethical schools of thought
1. Ethical Relativism
2. Ethical absolutism or Universalism
 Ethical Relativism

 It believes that moral values and principles are created by, or, are
relative to, the people who hold the beliefs. (Boss, pp 29).

There are two main types of ethical relativism; namely

 Ethical Subjectivism and
 Cultural Relativism
 Ethical subjectivism

• It states that morality is simply the expression of individual

opinions.

• What is right for you may be wrong for me, depending on

our respective feelings.
 Cultural relativism

 It claims that societal norms, rather than the opinion of isolated individuals,
form the basis of morality.

 According to this view, morality not only differs from culture to culture but
may also change within a culture over time

 there are no universal values by which we measure the rightness or

wrongness of an action or beliefs

 Ethical relativism, particularly cultural relativism can be considered as the

bed-rock of multiculturalism
 Analyzing a case

Mr ``X`` after graduating from one of the University, has been placed by the
Ministry of Health to maintains or restores human health in the area where
kidnapping has for long been practiced. As he is single, he tried to have life partner
but failed. Over time Mr `x` realized that love marriage is some thing un -common
to the community. So, he decided to have a partner through the widely practice
way-kidnapping. He did not regret because kidnapping is moral in the community
in which he lives. Do you think that Mr ``X`` is Ethical or un ethical person? Why?
 Ethical Universalism
• This view believes that moral principles exist independently of cultural
context of societies.
• It assumes that moral value and principles are not culture specific, rather
it is argued that moral principles transcends across societies
It holds to three main positions:
First, moral values are objective in the sense that they are not created
by humans and are independent of subjective human thought processes.
Second, moral values are unchanging in the sense that they do not vary
over time and from place to place.
Third, moral values are universal in that they apply to everyone.
 Cont…
 Among the advocates of Ethical Universalism, Immanuel Kant’s contribution is
dominant.

 Kant goes on identifying absolute moral rules that guides human beings as:

Not Killing, Not stealing, not harming Human beings, respecting and
treating human beings with dignity, not lying and the like.
 Why To Be Ethical?

Ensuring the promotion of the common good is the very reason why one
has to be ethical.

So, moral regulations are what makes society a society.

 Why should we do right acts?
Self- Interest

We may behave morally to gain

material benefits,

social approval, or

to escape group sanction ….

Devine Command
The Common Interest
 Categories of Ethics
1) Personal Ethics

2) Professional Ethics

3) Developmental Ethics

4) Environmental Ethics

5) Applied Ethics

6) Meta Ethics

7) Normative Ethics
 1. Personal Ethics
 Are values which are expected to be possessed by all human beings as rational creature…
 Contribute a lot for a smooth interaction between and among individuals and peaceful co-
existence of a society.
•Some of the principles of personal ethics include:
Helping those in need of help (e.g. elders, disabled persons, children etc.)
Keeping promise
concern for the wellbeing of other,
honesty, respecting elders
Keeping secret, fairness, kindness….
2. Environmental Ethics

Moral Actions
 Environmental Ethics
 Environmental ethics is a philosophy that studies the moral relationship
of human beings to, and also the value and moral status of, the
environment and its nonhuman contents.

 Environmental ethics is the discipline that broadly studies the moral

relationship of human beings to the environment.
•It is discipline that can be the basis of adequate environmental policy.

•Environmental ethics is theory and practice about appropriate concern

for, values in, and duties regarding the natural world.

•Hence, Environmental ethics is necessary for quality Environment and

quality Environment is necessary for quality of human life.
 3. Developmental Ethics
•Development ethics is a field of studies that reflects on both the ends and the

means of economic development.

•It answering questions about

 the nature of ethically desirable development

 what ethics means for achieving development and

 discusses various ethical dilemmas that the practice of development has led to.

•In short its aim is to ensure that value issues are an important part of the discourse

of development.
•Development ethics can be considered as a field of attention, an agenda of
questions about major value choices involved in processes of social and economic
development. In this case the questions include:

What is good or ‘real’ development?

What is the good life which development policy should seek to facilitate,

Which developmental theories really benefits human life? ……

 4. Professional Ethics:

what is profession ?
Profession :
In simple terms profession means a type of job that requires special
training.
 Is an occupation, vocation or career where specialized knowledge of a
subject, field or science is applied.
 A profession requires acquisition of knowledge, range of skills and
their application in service of humanity.
 Cont…

Profession is the systematic totality of the following conceptual

elements
 Training:
 Specialty/expertise
 Full time activity and source of lively hood
 Experience pp\all 1.pptx
 Essential Features of Professions

The following commonly cited criteria will be taken to distinguish a

profession from other occupations.
o Knowledge
o Professional Code of Conduct or Ethics
o Professional Organization
o Legal Recognition by the Government and the Public
o Freedom of Practice
o Entry into the Profession is Strictly Controlled
o A long period of specialized, systematic & formal training
o A unique, definite and essential service
o An emphasis upon intellectual techniques in performing its service
 Professionals Vs Non-professionals / Amateurism/
 A professional is the one who has skills, competence, expertise, know-
how, proficiency, efficiency, experience, effectiveness, ability in his/her
line of work, job, career, etc.
 Non professional is some one who does not have Training, Specialty
,skills……
 What is professional Ethics?

 Professional ethics are principles and standards that govern how

members of a profession or workers and employees make decisions.
 Professional ethics refers to the system of principles or rules that
regulate acceptable behaviors for the members of a given profession.
 Professional ethics refers to guidelines in which the actions of
professionals in each profession can be evaluated as right or wrong.
 What is professional Ethics ?

Every professions have their own Professional Ethics. For Example

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 What is the importance of professional ethics?

• Inspiring and guiding

• Support for responsible conduct
• Disciplining unethical and unprofessional conducts like corruption.
• Education and promotion of mutual understanding
• Contributing to positive public image of the profession
 Basic standards of professional Ethics

•Some of the basic standards/principles that should guide the behaviors of every
professional are the following:
• Impartiality: objectivity
• Openness; full disclosure
• Confidentiality
• Due diligence/ hard working
• Avoiding potential or apparent conflict of interest
 The qualities that are most required in the work environment:

• Attendance: arrive on time and give advance notice of absence

• Character: displays loyalty, honesty, trustworthiness, dependability,
reliability, initiative, self discipline, and Self-responsibility
• Team work: cooperative work
• Appearance: Displays appropriate dress, grooming, hygiene and etiquette
• Attitude: demonstrate a positive attitude
• Productivity
 Cont…

• Organizational skills: manifest skill in personal management, time

management, prioritizing, flexibility, stress management

• Communication: displays appropriate verbal and non verbal skills

• Cooperation

• Respect
 Fundamental Principles Professional Ethics

Principles are the base for general foundation of professional ethics. These principles include:

1.Integrity

2.Loyalty

3.Transparency

4.Honesty

5.Confidentiality
 -

6.Accountability

7.Serving public interest

8.Proper use of power

9.Impartiality

10.Respecting law

11.Being responsive to the public

12.Being role
 Quiz
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 Group Assignments ( From Chap.3 )
Briefly discuss the following :
1. The Evolution and Structure of Ethnic Federalism
in Ethiopia.
2. The Success and Challenges of Ethiopian
Federalism
 Group Assignments ( From Chap.4)

1. Briefly discuss The Challenges of Democracy in Ethiopia.

2. Briefly discuss Good Governance and its challenges in
Ethiopia.
 Group Assignments ( From Chap.5)

1. Briefly discuss the success and challenges of the 1995

FDRE
 Group Assignments ( From Chap.6 )

1. Briefly discuss Major Contemporary Global Issues except

globalization
 Group Assignments (From chap.6)

Briefly discuss the following

1. conceptual meaning of globalization

2. The aspects of globalization

 Group Assignments (From chap.6)

Briefly discuss the following

1. The main actors of globalization

2. The impacts of globalization Developing countries