GOOD

GOVERNANCE
AND SOCIAL
RESPONSIBILITY
LESSON # 1
Table of Contents v2.

Introduction to Philosophy 3

Branches of Philosophy 5

Introduction to Ethics 10

Definition of Ethics 11

Branches of Ethics 16

Morals and Morality 38

PHILOSOPHIA
Greek word meaning “LOVE OF WISDOM”
PHILOSOPHY
The academic study of anything
 PHILOSOPHY
The study of general and fundamental problems concerning matters such
as existence, knowledge, values and reason
 PHILOSOPHY
It provides the principles that develop skills for critical thinking to better
understand and evaluate the world.
BRANCHES OF
PHILOSOPHY
METAPHYSIC
S
THE STUDY OF REALITY or EXISTENCE.
Looking for answer on the question: What is the
meaning of life? And what is our place in the
universe?
EPISTEMOLOG
Y
THE STUDY OF UNDERSTANDING &
KNOWLEDGE.
Looking for answer on the question:
1. HOW DO WE ACQUIRE KNOWLEDGE?
2. WHAT ARE THE LIMITS OF
KNOWLEDGE?
 AXIOLOGY
THE STUDY OF PRINCIPLES AND VALUES
Looking for answer on the question:
1. WHAT ARE VALUES AND WHY ARE THEY
IMPORTANT?
2. WHAT IS BEAUTY?
 AESTHETICS
~ THE STUDY OF THE NATURE OF BEAUTY
and ART.
 LOGIC
SEEKING TO ORGANIZE REASONING
Looking for answer on the question:
1. WHAT IS THE VALIDITY OF IDEAS?
2. WHAT DO OUR ARGUMENTS MEAN?
 LOGIC
~ it is about reasoning and giving strong arguments
that don’t fall victim to FALLACIES.
 FALLACY
~ a failure in reasoning or flawed reasoning that
leads to an invalid or unsound argument.
Example: Tigers and lions are ruthless killers.
House cats must also be ruthless killers.
ETHICS
Is it wrong to kill 1 human to save several lives?

Is it right to take revenge against a psycho murderer

who killed your family?
THERE IS NO ABSOLUTE
DEFINITION OF ETHICS
 ETHICS
Comes from the Greek word: “ethos” which means CUSTOM
 CUSTOM
A characteristic or a habitual way of doing things, or action that is
properly derived from one’s character.
 CUSTOM
If something has been done a certain way for a long time and has become
generally accepted, it’s a custom.

Example: The Annual Feast of the Black Nazarene from January 9, 1787
to Present Day
 ETHICS
The studies of wrongness and rightness of a human action.
 ETHICS
A branch of philosophy is concerned with questions of HOW HUMAN
PERSONS OUGHT TO ACT?

And WHAT IS RIGHT CONDUCT AND THE GOOD LIFE?

 ETHICS
~ can also refer to RULES or GUIDELINES that establish what conduct
is RIGHT and WRONG for INDIVIDUALS and for GROUPS.
 ETHICS
EXAMPLE: CODES OF CONDUCT
 ETHICS
~ it provides a FRAMEWORK for understanding and interpreting
RIGHT and WRONG in society.
ETHICS
It is also called MORAL PHILOSOPHY

~ a branch of philosophy concerned with CONDUCT AND CHARACTER.

~ it is a SYSTEMATIC STUDY of the principles and methods for distinguishing

what is RIGHT or WRONG and GOOD or BAD.
BRANCHES OF
ETHICS
 “WHAT IS MORALITY?”

META ETHICS
~ “META” means about the thing itself
~ attempts to determine the meanings of
terms such as right, good, virtue, and
justice.
~ deals with questions:
a. WHAT IS MEANT BY BEING
RIGHT/WRONG?
MAJOR THEORIES OF META
ETHICS
 COGNITIVISM
~ maintains the moral judgment can be
true or false and can be a subject of
knowledge or cognition.
~ a learning theory that focusses on how
information is RECEIVED,
ORGANIZED, STORED, and
RETRIEVED by the mind
 INTUITION
~ is that feeling in your gut when you instinctively know that something
you are doing is right or wrong.
 INTUITION
~ “learned responses that are not the outcomes of deliberate processes”
(Hogarth, 2010)
 INTUITIONISM
~ a philosophical theory that basic
truths are known intuitively.
~ it suggests that human knowledge of
what is considered good and bad is
immediate and self-evident.
~ moral statements can be known to be
true/false immediately through a kind of
rational intuition
 “GOOD” is a natural fact in the world

NATURALISM
~ a philosophical doctrine which holds
the belief that MATTER IS THE
ULIMATE REALITY.
~ believes that THE MATERIAL
WORLD IS THE ONLY REAL WORLD
and that is GOVERNED BY NATURAL
LAWS
 NATURAL LAWS
~ the SYSTEM OF RIGHT or JUSTICE
held to be common to all humans and
derived from nature rather than from the
rules of society or positive law
 NATURALISM
~ suggests that MORAL TERMS are
COMPLEX matters and can be
established through SCIENTIFIC
INVESTGATION.
 SCIENTIFIC
IDENTIFY THE
INVESTIGATION/METHOD

INVESTIGATION
PROBLEM
MAKE
HYPOTHESIS
CONDUCT AN
EXPERIMENT
DRAW
CONCLUSION
REPORT
RESULTS
 SUBJECTIVISM
~ holds that moral judgments are
SUBJECTIVE and that there are no
objective moral truths.
 SUBJECTIVISM
~ the theory that perception or
consciousness is reality.
~ it does not claim that “ALL IS
ILLUSION” or that “there is no such
thing as reality”
 SUBJECTIVISM
~ It claims that the nature of reality is
dependent on the CONSCIOUSNESS OF
THE INDIVIDUAL.
~ it may hold that the NATURE AND
EXISTENCE OF EVERY OBJECT
depends solely on someone’s
SUBJECTIVE awareness of it.
 NORMATIVE
ETHICS
~ the STUDY OF ETHICAL ACTIONS and
questions the STANDARDS of what is
considered morally good or bad.
~ concerned with questions such as WHY
SHOULD ONE BE MORAL? HOW CAN
ONE TELL WHAT IS RIGHT OR WRONG?
 NORMATIVE
ETHICS
~ evaluates the STANDARDS for the
RIGHTNESS and WRONGNESS of actions.
MAJOR THEORIES OF
NORMATIVE ETHICS
CONSEQUENTIALIS
M
~ the moral worth of an action is
determined by its potential
consequences.
~ an act is considered MORALLY
GOOD if it produces POSITIVE
OUTCOME
~ the BEST ACTIONS are the ones
produces the BEST RESULTS
 UTILITARIANISM

~ an example of
CONSEQUENTIALISM
~ key idea: PLEASURE is GOOD,
PAIN is BAD
Meaning: ALL OUR ACTIONS
SHOULD BE DESIGNED TO
MAXIMISE PLEASURE AND
MINIMISE THE PAIN
 DEONTOLOGICAL
ETHICS
~ comes from the Greek word “DEON”
= DUTY
~ actions are either GOOD or BAD,
RIGHT or WRONG based on whether
they are consistent w/ moral duties.
~ THE STUDY OF RIGHTNESS AND
WRONGNESS of the actions themselves
regardless of their consequences.

STUDY OF DUTY
 VIRTUE ETHICS
~ begins with the insight that our actions
shape our CHARACTER.
~ WHAT WE DO DETERMINED WHO
WE BECOME.
~ the STUDY OF A PERSON’S
CHARACTER and the virtues for
determining or evaluating ethical
behavior.
DESCRIPTIVE
ETHICS
~ the study of people’s belief about
morality
~ analyses people’s moral values,
standards & behavior.
~ DESCRIBE how people behave
~ example question that it deals: WHAT
DO PEOPLE THINK IS RIGHT?
 APPLIED
ETHICS
~ also called PRACTICAL ETHICS
~ the application of ethics to REAL
WORLD PROBLEMS
~ attempts the question of how people
should act in specific situations.
BRANCHES OF APPLIED ETHICS
 MEDICAL ETHICS
~ also called BIOETHICS

~ a set of MORAL PRINCIPLES, BELIEFS &

VALUES that guide us in making choices about
medical care.

~ concerned with the obligtations of the doctors

and the hospital to the patient along with other
health professionals and society.
 BUSINESS ETHICS
~ the study of appropriate business policies and
practices regarding potentially controversial
subjects including corporate governance, insider
trading and corporate social responsibility.

~ THE STANDARDS FOR MORALLY RIGHT

AND WRONG CONDUCT IN BUSINESS
 ENGINEERING
ETHICS
~ the study of values, issues and decisions that
are involved with the work of engineers.
 MORALS
~ the prevailing STANDARDS OF BEHAVIOR that enable people to live
cooperatively in groups.
 MORALS
~ one’s own personal sense of RIGHT and WRONG.
 AMORAL
~ people or entities that are indifferent to right and wrong.
IMMORAL
~ those people or entities who do evil acts.
DIFFERENCES
ETHICS MORALITY

“THEORY” of right “PRACTICE”, rightness or

wrongness of human action
action and the greater
good.
(subjective)
(objective)
MORALITY
“Is characterized as an ‘end-governed rational
enterprise’ whose object is to equip people with
a body of norms that make for peaceful and
collectively satisfying coexistence by
facilitating their living together and interacting
in a way that is productive for the realization of
the general benefit.”

- Terrance McConnel (1994)

Thank you!
Do you have any questions?