ETHICS

ETHICS
Program Learning Outcomes

1. Engage in lifelong learning and be cognizant of the need to keep abreast
of the developments in the specific field of practice.
2. Effectively communicate orally and in writing using both English and
Filipino.
3. Work effectively and independently in multidisciplinary and multi-cultural
teams.
4. Recognize professional, social, and ethical responsibility.
5. Appreciate Filipino historical and cultural heritage.
Course Learning Outcomes

1. Differentiate between moral and non-moral problems.
2. Describe what a moral experience is as it happens in different levels of
human existence.
3. Explain the influence of Filipino culture on the way students look at moral
experiences and solve moral dilemmas.
4. Describe the elements of moral development and moral experience.
5. Use ethical frameworks or principles to analyze moral experiences.
6. Make sound ethical judgments based on principles, facts, and the
stakeholders affected.
7. Develop sensitivity to the common good.
8. Understand and internalize the principles of ethical behavior in modem
society at the level of the person, society, and in interaction with the
environment and other shared resources.
Definition of Ethics
Ethics is the discipline dealing with what is good and bad and with moral duty
and obligation.
Ethics refers to the principles of conduct governing an individual or a

group (example: professional ethics).
How Ethics can be viewed

It is about matters such as the good thing that we should pursue and the bad
thing that we should avoid; the right ways in which we could or should act and
the wrong ways of acting.
It is about what is acceptable and unacceptable in human behaviour.
It may involve obligations that we are expected to fulfill, prohibitions that we
are required to respect, or ideals that we are encouraged to meet.
Terms/Points to Understand
 Not all value judgements fall under the realm of ethics.
Examples:
1. aesthetics: good or bad movie, good or bad color combination, good or bad
product
2. etiquette: not offering a bus seat to the elderly is bad, being the first in line
for the food in a party
3. technical valuations: wrong way to cook, good way to shoot a ball
 Ethics & Morals
- Various thinkers and writers posit a distinction between the two, but there is
no consensus as to how to make the distinction.
- Ordinary conversation presents a much less rigid distinction between these
terms.
- In our class, we will be using ethical and moral or ethics and morality
interchangeably.
 Descriptive & Normative

A descriptive study of ethics reports how people, particularly groups, make
their moral valuations without making any judgment either for or against these
valuations.
A normative study of ethics, as is often done in philosophy or moral theology,
engages the question: What could or should be considered as the right way of
acting?
A philosophical discussion of ethics engages in critical consideration of the
strengths and weaknesses of the two theories.
 MORAL Dilemma/s
A situation when one is faced with many bad choices , and a moral decision
has to be made
Example: A poor mother’s child is dying due to starvation. Having no means

to send the child to a hospital, she decides to steal.
Are situations in which there seems to be either no correct action or, from
another perspective, too many correct but conflicting actions.
Can be used to test ethical theories and to develop ethical insights because of
the acute challenges they pose.
In a moral dilemma, at least two mutually exclusive actions have a clear moral
rationale for them or there is simply no moral answer at all.
Example: A kidnap victim is forced (a)to kill another victim, or else his/her
kidnappers will (b)kill three or more victims.
Act of killing a person

Act of allowing the killing of three persons
 What is not a moral dilemma?

Two Situations:
1. Cheating on a difficult exam
2. Stealing office supplies from an employer
Choices: a course of action we know to be morally correct and a course of
action that will bring us great benefit
Dilemmas, but not moral dilemmas
With clear moral answers
 Three Levels
1. Personal
2. Organizational
3. Intercultural
 What if a Person has no formal Background in Ethics?

What would be his basis in making or judging ethical/moral decisions?
Sources of Authority (1)
1. Authority of the law
Universal: Murder is illegal.
Ethics? It’s easy. Just follow what the law says.

Not universal: Divorce is legal in some countries.
2. Authority of one’s religion

Universal: Do not steal.
Ethics? It’s easy. Just follow what your religion says.

Not universal: Only members of the religion will be saved.
3. Authority of one’s culture
Universal: Respect for the elders.
Ethics? It’s easy. Just follow what your culture says.

Not universal: Fixed marriage
 Problem: Double Standard

- Double standard is a rule or principle that is unfairly applied in different ways
to different people or groups.
 Culture & human behaviour
 Frameworks in Making Ethical Decisions

ETHICS

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ETHICS

Program Learning Outcomes

Course Learning Outcomes

Ethics refers to the principles of conduct governing an individual or a

How Ethics can be viewed

 Descriptive & Normative

Example: A poor mother’s child is dying due to starvation. Having no means

Act of killing a person

 What is not a moral dilemma?

 What if a Person has no formal Background in Ethics?

Ethics? It’s easy. Just follow what the law says.

2. Authority of one’s religion

Ethics? It’s easy. Just follow what your religion says.

3. Authority of one’s culture

Universal: Respect for the elders.

Ethics? It’s easy. Just follow what your culture says.

 Problem: Double Standard

 Culture & human behaviour

 Frameworks in Making Ethical Decisions

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