INTRODUCTION TO

Module 1

Ms. Joy Concepcion Garcia

Instructor
Brent Hospital & Colleges Incorporated
Zamboanga City

Email: [email protected]
DEFINITION;
 Ethics is defined as a moral philosophy or
code of morals practiced by a person or
group of people.
 The study of standards of conduct and
moral judgment; moral philosophy.
 The system or code of morals of a
particular person, religion, group,
profession, etc.
 Ethics is the study of what is right or
wrong in human conduct. This is a branch
of Philosophy which studies moral
principles. Hence, Ethics is also known
as Moral Philosophy.
 To put it in simple terms,

Ethics = Morals + Reasoning.

 To have an ethical viewpoint, you should

be able to give some reason for it. Yes,
Ethics is Moral Philosophy, and
Philosophy is all about reasoning

 For example, you might feel that it is

morally wrong to steal, but if you have an
ethical viewpoint on it, it should be based
on some sets of arguments and analysis
about why it would be wrong to steal.
Dictionary defined ethics as;
1. noun:
moral principles that govern a person's behavior or the
conducting of an activity.
"medical ethics also enter into the question“
2.
the branch of knowledge that deals with moral
principles.
"neither metaphysics nor ethics is the home of religion“

3. the discipline dealing with what is good and bad and

with moral duty and obligation.
Ethics or moral philosophy is a *Which
branch of philosophy that "involves way
systematizing, defending, and should I
recommending concepts of right and
go?
wrong behavior“
The English word ethics is derived

ETHICS IS;
from the Ancient
Greek word ēthikós
meaning "relating to one's character", *Are they
which itself comes from the root rightful or
word êthos meaning "character, not?
moral nature". This word was
transferred into Latin as ethica and
then into French as éthique, from
which it was transferred into English.
 WHAT ETHICS ARE NOT
 Ethics are not the same as
feelings.
 Ethics are not about religion
 Ethics are not adhering to the
law.
 Ethics are not adoption of
culturally accepted norms.
 Ethics are not science.
 *MANY PEOPLE USE THE WORDS ETHICS AND MORALITY
INTERCHANGEABLY.
HOWEVER, THERE IS A DIFFERENCE BETWEEN ETHICS AND
MORALS.*
 Ethics is all about
reasoning about how one
 Determinants are the
should act in a given sources from which the
circumstance – ie. how to ethical standard arises.
do the right action. There are multiple
determinants of ethics
like:
 Ethics is the study of
morality. The essence of
Ethics (core of ethics) is to
 Religion
 Law
understand those
philosophies which guide  Society
us in determining what is  Individual
right or wrong.  Knowledge

 Time
 CONSEQUENCES OF ETHICS:
 Doing good with  However, being
proper reasoning unethical has
(being ethical) has many negative
many positive consequences
consequences like; like;

 Safeguarding the  Loss of trust.

society.
 Nepotism.
 Feeling good.
 Corruption.
 Creating credibility.
 Crimes etc.
 Satisfying basic
human needs etc.
 WHAT/
WHO ARE MAN/HUMAN?
 Man is a Rational Being, this means that
man is rational and acts with a purpose,
unlike brutes that merely act of instinct and
reflexes.

 Man is capable of knowing both the

intentions and the consequences of his/her
actions, and is capable of judging them as
right or wrong, or as good or bad.

 Man is Free, Ethics assumes that man is

free to act according to his/ her will and
he/she has the power to act, speak, think if
he/she chooses to without restrain.
 TWO ASPECTS OF HUMAN BODY

1. Higher Self 2. Lower self

 When you follow your  When you fulfill the
spirit desires of your body
 When you live for the  When you live for the
benefit of others pleasure of senses
 When you listen to your  When you care for your
voice of conscience own happiness
 When you live  When you exploit all
accordingly to ideals opportunities for self-
interest
 Descriptive Ethics Normative Ethics
BRANCHES OF ETHICS

 refers to what individuals  is prescriptive in nature

accepts to be right or as it seeks to set norms or
wrong and is about standards that regulate
various moral standards right and wrong or good
utilized over a wide span or bad conduct.
of time.
 Normative Ethics
BRANCHES OF ETHICS

1. VIRTUE ETHICS: 2. DEONTOLOGY

centers around one’s obligation morals or all
character and kindness. about objective good or
absolutism.
 Normative Ethics
BRANCHES OF ETHICS

3. CONSEQUENTIALISM :
it centers around the
outcome of the activity.
 Meta – Ethics Applied Ethics
BRANCHES OF ETHICS

 doubts the significance of  Is the utilization ofmoral

goodness, morals and hypotheses in various
profound quality open and private issues
including how individuals like medication.
can realize what is valid
or bogus.
 MORAL
STANDARDS
 NORMS- GENERAL RULES ABOUT ACTIONS OR BEHAVIORS.

VALUES-ENDURING BELIEFS ABOUT WHAT IS GOOD AND DESIRABLE OR NOT.

NORMS +VALUES= MORAL STANDARD

NON-MORAL
STANDARDS
  refer to rules that are
unrelated to moral or ethical considerations. Either these
standards are not necessarily linked to morality or by
nature lack ethical sense. Basic examples of non-moral
standards include rules of etiquette, fashion standards,
rules in games, and various house rules.
1. Moral standards 2. Moral standards
involve serious ought to be
CHARACTERISTICS OF MORAL STANDARD

wrongs or preferred to other

significant values.
benefits. - Moral standards are not
- Moral standards deal with the only rules or
matters which can principles in society, but
seriously impact, that is, they take precedence over
injure or benefit human other considerations,
beings. including aesthetic,
prudential, and even legal
ones.
3. Moral standards 4. Moral standards
are not have the trait of
CHARACTERISTICS OF MORAL STANDARD

established by universalizability.
authority figures.
- Moral standards are not - it means that everyone
invented, formed, or should live up to moral
generated by standards. To be more
authoritative bodies or accurate, however, it
persons such as nations’ entails that moral
legislative bodies. principles must apply to all
who are in the relevantly
similar situation.
5. Moral standards are 6. Moral standards are
based on impartial associated with special
CHARACTERISTICS OF MORAL STANDARD

considerations. emotions and

vocabulary.
- Moral standard does -Prescriptively indicates the
not evaluate standards on the practical or action-guiding nature
basis of the interests of a of moral standards.
certain person or group, but  These moral standards are
one that goes beyond personal generally put forth as injunction
interests to a universal or imperatives (such as, ‘Do not
standpoint in which each kill,’ ‘Do no unnecessary harm,’
person’s interests are and ‘Love your neighbor’). These
impartially counted as equal. principles are proposed for use, to
advise, and to influence to action.
Retroactively, this feature is used
to evaluate behavior, to assign
praise and blame, and to produce
ACTIVITY: ROBINHOOD

WERE
ROBINHOOD’S
ACTION
ETHICAL?
 WATCH THE MOVIE
 WRITE THE SUMMARY

 THEN, ANSWER THE Q.

DO YOU REMEMBER A TIME WHEN YOU HAD TO MAKE A CHOICE AND
EACH OPTION WAS EQUALLY UNPLEASANT? PERHAPS YOU LIED, AND
SOMETHING TERRIBLE HAPPENED, OR YOU WERE FACED WITH THE
TASK OF DIVULGING THE TRUTH AND BEING PUNISHED FOR LYING.
DILEMMA
MEANING;
- is a situation
where a person is
forced to choose
between two or
more conflicting
options, neither of
which is
acceptable.
 a situation that challenges
an agreeable solution.
 In literature, dilemmas
form the central conflict
many protagonists
encounter. Many people
face all kinds of
dilemmas in life, and the
choice they make can
have long-lasting impacts.
Sometimes these
dilemmas have even
caused changes in society
and history!
 MORAL DILEMMAS

 is a situation in which a  . A moral dilemma often

person is torn between forces the individual to
right and wrong. A moral decide which option he or
dilemma involves a she can live with, but any
conflict with the very outcomes are extremely
core of a person’s unpleasant no matter
principles and values. what.
The choice the person
makes may leave them
feeling burdened, guilty,
relieved, or questioning
their values
 MORAL DILEMMAS
 Situation:
Maria is a deeply religious
person, hence, she considers
killing humans absolutely wrong.
Unfortunately, it is found out that
Maria is having ectopic
pregnancy.
 Are situations where
persons, who are called
“moral agents” in ethics are Q: Maria is faced with two
forced to choose between conflicting options:
two or more conflicting  A. Resort to abortion?
option neither of which  B. Does Not resort to abortion?
resolves the situation in a
morally acceptable manner.
 MORAL DILEMMAS
 Situation:
A husband learns he
has a terminal illness
and he decides to ask
his wife for assistance
 SITUATION:
 A train with broken brakes is in ending the pain
speeding towards a fork in the
tracks. On the left, there is a
before it gets too bad.
woman crossing with her two
children; on the right, there is a
man doing routine maintenance on
the tracks. The engineer must
decide which side to aim the
speeding train towards.
CONDITIONS OF MORAL DILEMMAS

PERSON OR COURSES OF MORAL

THE AGENT ACTION PRINCIPLES
 TYPES OF MORAL DILEMMAS

1. EPISTEMIC

 Epistemic’ means to do with  involve situations wherein

the knowledge of two or more moral
something. requirements conflict with
 there are two or more moral each other and that the moral
requirements conflict with agent hardly knows which of
each other the conflicting moral
requirements takes
 The moral agent hardly
precedence over the other. In
knows which one takes
other words, the moral agent
precedence over the other.
here does not know which
option is morally right or
wrong
 TYPES OF MORAL DILEMMAS

2. ONTOLOGICAL

 ‘Ontological’ means the nature of

something or the relation between things.  This means that neither
 there are two or more moral of them supersedes the
requirements that conflict with other. They are
each other, yet neither of these fundamentally on the
conflicting moral requirements same ethical level.
overrides each other Therefore, the individual
 neither of the moral requirements is cannot choose between
stronger than the other; hence, the the two.
moral agent can hardly choose
between the conflicting moral
requirements
 TYPES OF MORAL DILEMMAS
3. SELF- IMPOSED 4. WORLD-IMPOSED

 -caused by moral agent’s  certain events in the world

wrongdoings place the moral agent in a
situation of moral conflict.
 The moral dilemma
 A world-imposed dilemma
is self-inflicted. This can is a situation where events
that we can’t control have
cause a number of
created an unavoidable
complications when
moral conflict.
attempting to
make a decision.
 TYPES OF MORAL DILEMMAS
5. OBLIGATION 6. PROHIBITION

 -more than one feasible  all feasible actions are

action is obligatory forbidden
 Obligation dilemmas are  Prohibition dilemmas are
situations where we feel the opposite of obligation
we are obliged to opt for dilemmas. The choices
more than one choice. We that are offered to us are
feel we are obliged to all, on some level, morally
carry out an action from reprehensible.
a moral or legal
standpoint.
 TYPES OF MORAL DILEMMAS
7. SINGLE AGENT 8. MULTIPLE PERSON

 The agent “ought, all 

One agent, PI, ought to do A, a
things considered, to do
second agent, P2, ought to do B,
A, ought, all things and although each agent can do
considered, to do B, and what he ought to do, it is not
she cannot do both A and possible both for P1 to do A,
and P2 to do B.
B”.
 requires more than choosing
what is right; it also entails that
the person involved reached a
general consensus.
 HOW TO RESOLVE THEM?

 Be reasonable, not
emotional
 Choose the greater good
or the lesser evil
 Is there an alternative?

 What are the

consequences?
 What would a good
person do?
 MORAL
DILEMMA
noun: a situation in which a difficult choice has to be made
between two courses of action, either of which entails
transgressing a moral principle.
a story about an ethical dilemma faced by a character named Heinz that was
used by Lawrence Kohlberg to assess the moral reasoning skills of those he
asked to respond to it. Having exhausted every other possibility, Heinz must
decide whether to steal an expensive drug that offers the only hope of saving
his dying wife.
 HEINZ DILEMMA
Q: Should Heinz
break into the
laboratory to steal
the drug for his wife?
 He expanded Piaget's theories on children's sense of
morality, though his ideas were not without controversy.
 The six identifiable stages of development (divided into
the three major levels) are:

III
II

I
 3 LEVELS OF MORAL DILEMMAS

 Individual - conflict arrives when a person is asked to

choose between two important values for him or her for
example, choosing between one’s duties to his or her
family one’s love for another person.
 3 LEVELS OF MORAL DILEMMAS
 Organizational - encountered by institutions, business,
or organizations in their decision-making process, at this
level the dilemmas that the organizations’ experiences
usually affect more than one person and they can be part
of the internal group or part of an external stakeholder.
 3 LEVELS OF MORAL DILEMMAS
 Structural - affect a network of institutions and
operative theoretical paradigms like universal care,
juvenile laws, and immigration. this type of dilemma can
affect a community and even a society at large.
 FOUNDATION OF
MORALITY;

FREEDOM –
RESPONSIBILITY FOR
ONE’S ACT AND TO
OTHERS
FREEDOM IS THE POWER
OR RIGHT TO SPEAK, TO
ACT OR THINK AS ONE
WANTS WITHOUT
HINDRANCE OR
RESTRAINT.
DIFFERENT TYPES OF FREEDOM

 Freedom to be  Freedom to choose

alive one’s state in life
 Freedom of  Freedom to
association Talking each
 Freedom of Belief other
 Freedom of Speech  Freedom of

 Freedom to religion
express oneself  Freedom from

 Freedom to press bondage and

slavery
People have its own freedom and there
are no limits onto it, and it is the main
reason why freedom is based on the
moral act. It is to just to give limit to
the people, limit to know what would
be the right or wrong decision to be
made.
 MORAL DIMENSIONS OF FREEDOM
 The moral dimensions belong
to the realm of human
freedom.

 The moral dimensions refers

to the concern for good and
happy life

 The moral dimension speaks

to our sense of moral
responsibility.