Ethics

Quiz #1
“Be honest even if others are not; Be honest even if others
cannot; Be honest even if others will not. ”This is an example
of:
Answer: Moral Principle
In Ethics, students should understand and uphold moral laws:
Philosophy comes from two Greek words: Answer: False, moral standards
Answer: Philia and Sophia

We study the causes of things in Philosophy. Which of the It is the science of all things by their first causes as known in
following concepts help us understand better the causes of the light of reason:
things? Answer: Logic
Answer: Abstract
Jessica is jealous of Athena. Athena is the star of her class and
Which of the following is the goal of Philosophy? tops the dean’s list in her college. The feeling of Jessica is her:
Answer: Truth Answer: Moral problem

Which of the following describes acts of man: Biboy told his teacher, he didn’t know about the school rules
Answer: It is amoral regarding wearing proper uniform in school. Is biboy
accountable for ay consequences of his action?
To tell the truth is better than to please friends with lies. It shows Answer: Yes, being ignorant of the rules doesn’t destroy or
what moral trait? lessen the accountability of Biboy
Answer: Moral principle
Conversation to a friend is an example of:
It refers to the study of the morality of human acts: Answer: Human act
Answer: Ethics

The beat of the heart or breathing demonstrates:

Answer: Act of Man

Ethics helps the student to know the meaning and internalize

ethical or moral dilemmas.
Answer: False, moral principles

Knowing the what of things and why of things leads to:

Answer: Certitude

Corruption in the Philippines is a ______.

Answer: Moral issue

While collecting the garbage, Mang Zaldy found a bag that

contains a bundle of thousand bills and identification card. He
turned it over to a radio station to call the attention of the
owner. Is his action:
Answer: Voluntary act

Alex performs well his duty as a traffic aide while May sweeps
the street consistently. Their actions are assessed as:
Answer: Permissible

It refers to the quality of the goodness or badness in the human

act: Answer: Morality

The following are the elements that makes an act a human act,
except:
Answer: Imagination
 QUIZ 2 What evaluation terms are applied in the domain of
What evaluation terms are applied in the domain of character? consequences?
Answer: Both A and B Answer: All of the above (bad, good, and indifferent

What is the purpose of morality according to Louis Pojman? It is a situation where the individual is torn between two or
Answer: all of the above (to keep society from falling apart, to more conflicting options;
ameliorate human suffering and to resolve conflicts of interest Answer: Moral Dilemma
in just and orderly ways?
In many moral case, it need decision making
Responsibility will always be part in the exercise of human Answer: true
freedom:
Answer: True We either live a life of virtue or vide. And to live in either way
depends on our choices
Why shouldn’t we stop running away from our dilemma? Answer: true
Answer: if you are running from what you do not want to deal
with, it will keep following you and getting . What is the quality of goodness or badness in a human act?
Answer: morality
Which of the following refers to one in which neither of the
possible course of actions overrides the other?
Answer: Genuine Moral Dilemma

What are we going to do with human action in the domains of

ethical assessment?
Answer: Evaluate human actions

To act ______ is to act with the motive of Reason Atone.

Answer: Humanly

To Act autonomously is to Act motivated by _____

Answer: free will

It is not a dilemma at all since one of the agent’s seemingly

conflicting moral obligations overrides the other:
Answer: False Moral Dilemma

The indication of moral complexity in human actions shows.

Answer: unclear moral values

A moral dilemma consists of the following:

Answer: all of the above (agent, obligation to act on each of
the two or more options and the agent cannot do both or all-
possible options.

This refers to some people who act in the interest of promoting

flourishing human communities, prevent human suffering and
prevent the breakdown of society, yet their ideas go against
the beliefs held by the majority of people in the society. Who
are they?
Answer: Reformers

The ability of man to act in accordance with his/ her will, not
bound by restrictions or compulsions;
Answer: freedom

It is an argument against ethical relativism

Answer: the nature and purpose of morality

What evaluation terms are applied in the domain of motive?

Answer: Both B and C
ETHICS
PHILOSOPHY
Hi, I’m PYTHAGORAS. A Greek Philosopher. There are three types of Man: 1. A lover of pleasure 2. lover of success 3. lover of
wisdom. However, the third type is the SUPERIOR ONE!
• PHILIA – Love Sophia – Wisdom
• The Science of all things by their first causes as known in light of Reason

PHILOSOPHY AS A SCIENCE

• It seeks to acquire the knowledge of the causes of things(CERTITUDE).

• CERTITUDE - The natural result of knowing not only the facts(What of things) but also their causes(Why of things)

PHILOSOPHY AS A SCIENCE OF ALL THINGS

• Philosophy deals with CONCRETE, REAL, CONTINGENT THINGS. We make use of abstract concepts in philosophy to aid
us in our understanding of concrete things.

LIGHT OF REASON

• Seeks the first causes of things as far as they can be rationally established by the human mind unaided by divine revelation

Branches of Philosophy

Metaphysi
cs

Theodic
Ethics
y
Major
Branche
s of
Philoso
phy
Cosmolog Epistemolo
y gy

Logic

1. METAPHYSICS – Study of Reality. Beings and being.

2. EPISTEMOLOGY – Study of Human knowledge.
3. ETHICS – Study of the morality of human act.
4. LOGIC – Science of correct reasoning.
5. COSMOLOGY – Study of the universe.
6. THEODICY – Study of God

Epistemology

Knowledge

IDEAS INFORMATION EXPERIENCE

Ethics

• To steal an apple is morally wrong.

• To give an apple to a hungry person is morally right.
Logic

• All Stars are heavenly bodies; The Sun is a star; Therefore, the sun is a heavenly body.
• All Stars are heavenly bodies; Angel Locsin is a star; Therefore, Angel Locsin is a heavenly body.

METHOD OF PHILOSOPHY:

Human Reason - To acquire knowledge

- To understand the world
- To know the nature of things
GOAL OF PHILOSOPHY: The Truth

ETHICS
TOPIC:
1. Ethics
2. Origin & Meaning
3. Other Sciences
4. Importance
5. Fundamental concepts
6. Essential elements of human acts
7. Modifiers of human acts
• Is there a right and wrong way of living?
• Is there a pattern, a model, an ideal of the good life?
• If so, where can one find it?
• What is the good life for man?

ETHICS

Actions Meaning
Problems Purpose of
Experience human life
Aspirations
Destiny
“The unexamined life is not worth living.” – Socrates
“Ethics is the supreme science” “The apex in the hierarchy of human values.” – Plato
“Ultimately concerned with the attainment of life’s greatest good and goal - HAPPINESS.” – Plato
ORIGIN AND MEANING
• Ethos (Greek) – The fundamental character and spirit of a culture and custom.
• Custom is mos, pl. mores (Latin)
• Mores is the equivalent of Ethos
• From Mores, we derive the terms amoral and morality
• Ethics is also called Moral philosophy
What is Ethics?

• The scientific inquiry into the principles of morality.

• A branch of Philosophy dealing with actions and values relating to human conduct (rightness or wrongness of actions,
goodness and badness of motives and ends of such actions.)

ETHICS & OTHER SCIENCES

THE IMPORTANCE OF THE STUDY OF ETHICS

1. Helps every student to know the meaning and internalize ethical or moral principles.
2. Students should understand and uphold moral standards.
3. Seeks to inculcate among men the true values of living a good life.
4. Guide students to commit in right living and pursue the development of good moral character.

ETHICS AND FUNDAMENTAL CONCEPTS

Morality

• The quality of goodness or badness in a human act.

• Humans pass judgment on the morality of human actions.
• “What he did was wrong.” “What he did was right.”
• “His behavior was rude.” “She is not morally justified in doing such an act.”

Human acts

• An act which proceeds from the deliberate free will of man.

• Human acts are proper to man because She/he is a rational being and responsible for his/her acts.

Reason

• The power to evaluate various ethical theories.

• The faculty to judge the moral value of the actions & theories.
• “The good life is the life of reason.”

Right
 • That which squares with the norms of morality (morally good).
• The moral power to do, omit, hold or exact something.
• Limited by duty (the moral necessity to do or omit something).
• Three components: Subject, Term, Title.
• Subject – The one possessing the right.
• Term – The one bound to respect the right.
• Title – The reason why this person has a right to these things.
• Generally considered what is just.
• Natural rights are deduced from natural law. Natural law imposes obligations on man who must have moral power to
fulfill them and prevent others from interfering with this fulfillment.

Right versus Might

• All human beings have moral obligations.

• Rights are our moral safeguards against abuse of might.
• Rights concerning external matters due in justice imply the right to use might in their defense or recovery.

Conscience

• The sense of what is right or wrong in one’s conduct or motives impelling one toward right action.
• The intellect as the ability to form judgments about right and wrong of individual acts.
• The process of reasoning that the intellect goes through to reach such judgment.
• The judgment itself, which is the conclusion of this reasoning process.

ESSENTIAL ELEMENTS OF HUMAN ACTS

1. Knowledge
2. Freedom
3. Voluntariness

Knowledge

• A human act proceeds from the deliberate will.

• Every human act requires deliberation.
• Deliberation – Advertence or knowledge in intellect of what an act is about and what this means.

Will

• Blind faculty
• It cannot choose unless it sees to choose and the light, the power to see, is afforded by the intellectual knowledge.

Freedom

• An act determined (elicited or commanded) by the will.

• The ability of man to act in accordance with his/her will, not bound by restrictions or compulsions so that he/she can
choose from the alternatives that are available to satisfy his/her preference and initiate an action to accomplish his desired
goal.

Voluntariness

• A human act must be voluntary (will-act).

• The formal essential quality of the human act.
• An act becomes a will-act if there is knowledge and freedom.

THE MODIFIERS OF HUMAN ACTS

1. Ignorance
- The absence of intellectual knowledge in man.
A young freshman who committed ten consecutive absences in a month, not knowing that his action is a violation of the
university rules.
Ignorance of law is ignorance of existence of a duty, rule or regulation.
 A motorist who knows the speed limit when driving, but, unknowingly, violates it because of an inaccurate
speedometer.
Ignorance of fact is ignorance of the nature or circumstances of an act as forbidden.
Will Ignorance excuse a person from the unforseen consequences?
Ignorance neither lessens nor destroys the responsibility.

2. Concupiscence (Passion)
- Affects the voluntariness of an action.
A man kills another due to intense anger.
The consequences of concupiscence neither lessens nor destroy the responsibility.

3. Fear
- The shrinking back of the mind from danger.
- The agitation of the mind brought about by the apprehension of impending evil, which may or may not exist.
A girl did not tell the truth because she was afraid to be embarrassed in front of her barkadas.
The consequences of fear neither lessens nor destroy the responsibility.
4. Violence
- An external force applied by a free cause.
- It cannot reach the will directly. It may force bodily action, but, the will is not controlled by the body.
5. Habit
- A disposition according to which is disposed as either well or ill-disposed, and either in itself or with reference to
something else (Thomas Aquinas).
- They are destroyed either by disuse or by contrary acts.
- A quality difficult to change.
- Good moral habits are virtues; Morally evil habits are vices.
ETHICS
Module 2
Moral Dilemma False Moral Dilemma
The Accident • Not a dilemma at all since one of the
You are an emergency worker that has just agent’s seemingly conflicting moral
been called to the scene of an accident. obligations overrides the other
When you arrive you see that the car belongs
to your wife. Fearing the worst you rush over to
see she is trapped in her car with another man.
She sees you and although barely conscious,
she manages to mouth the words “I’m
sorry”…You don’t understand, but her look
answers your question. The man next to her is
her lover with whom she’s been having an
affair. You reel back in shock, devastated by
what her eyes have just told you. As you step
back, the wreck in front of you comes into
focus. You see your wife is seriously hurt and
she needs attention straight away…

Even if she gets attention there’s a very high

How to deal with dilemma?
chance she’ll die. You look at the seat next to
Stop running away from your dilemma
her and see her lover. He’s bleeding heavily
• If you are running from what you do not
from a wound to the neck and you need to
want to deal with, it will keep following
stem the flow of blood immediately. It will only
you and it will get bigger.
take about 5 minutes to stop, but it will mean.
• Just look at the dilemma that you have
and just handle it without fear and
Your wife will definitely die. If you tend to your
worry.
wife however, the man will bleed to death
Get to know your dilemma
despite the fact it could have been
• We cannot handle and deal with the
avoided.Who would you choose to work on?
dilemma if we do not have the
Dilemma
information. Take the time to
• A situation where the individual is torn
understand your dilemma by doing
between two or more conflicting options.
research on the situation and ask
• Places the moral agent in a situation that
questions to the people involved and
requires her to choose between two or
other people who understands your
more conflicting moral requirements.
dilemma.
• Moral requirement(The person is obliged to
Understand your options
do certain acts)
• Every dilemma that you face has
options and you must understand what
Moral Dilemma
all of your options are. Do not be afraid
Three(3) elements:
to consider every option available to
1. Agent;
you and the consequences involved
2. Obligation to act on each of the two or
with each one so that you are prepared
more options;
to make your decision and live with the
3. The agent cannot do both or all-possible
consequences involved.
options.
Make your decision and live with the
Two types of Moral Dilemma
consequences
Genuine Moral Dilemma
• This is the hardest part because the
• One in which neither of the possible
consequences may prove to be too
course of actions overrides the other
much to handle for the person making
 the decision and everyone that is Segment under normative ethics
affected by it. Virtue ethics- centers around one’s character
• When you feel like you have enough and kindness.
information to make your decision, have Deontology- obligation morals or all about
the confidence to make your decision, objective good or absolution.
have the faith in yourself that you made Consequentialism- it centers around the
the right decision, and have the outcome of an activity.
strength to live with the consequences
involved. 3. Meta-Ethics
• Meta-ethics is concerned with what we
Domains of Ethical Assessment mean when we use words like ‘good’
• Ethics concern itself entirely with rules of ‘bad’ ‘right’ ‘wrong’.
conduct based soley on evaluation of • It is not a normative system of ethics- its
actions. does not tell us we can and can’t do
Four domains of Ethical Assessment CCAMo • Doubts the significance of goodness,
• Action/Acts morals and profound quality including
• Consequences how individuals can realize what is valid
• Motive or bogus.
• Character • Abortion is wrong.
Freedom as foundations of moral acts • Honesty is a virtue.
Freedom • Slavery is evil.
• Power or right to act, speak or think • ‘Meta’ from Greek meaning ‘above’ or
• Freedom, defined as the act of doing ‘after’
something without any impediment, is
an important factor in doing moral 4. Applied Ethics
actions. Man is said to be highest of all • It is a discipline of Philosophy that
creations and in endowed with intellect attempts to apply ethical theory to real-
and free will. life situations
• In the Catechism of the Catholic • The utilization of moral hypotheses in
Church Part 3, Section 1, Chapter 1, various open and private issues like
Article 3, No. 1730 it is stated, “Man is medication, business and so on.
rational and therefore like God; he is
created with free will and is master over Purpose of Morality by Pojman L.P.
his acts.” • To keep society from falling apart
Branches of Ethics • To ameliorate human suffering
1. Descriptive Ethics • To promote human flourishing
• is concerned with how people behave. • To resolve conflicts of interest in just and
• Refers to what individual accepts to be orderly ways
right or wrong • To assign praise and blame, reward the
• and is about various moral standards good and punish the guilty
utilized over a wide span of time Domains of Ethical Assessment
• It seeks to describe the moral
experience in a descriptive way. Ethics concern itself entirely with rules of
conduct based solely on evaluation of actions.
2. Normative Ethics There are four (4) domains of ethical
• Is prescriptive in nature as it seeks to set assessment:
norms or standards that regulate right 1. Action/Act
and wrong or good and bad conduct - Is it right (obligatory) or wrong
• Respect to Autonomy (forbidden)?
• Beneficence - Permissible or not permissible (right or
• Non-Maleficence wrong)
• Justice 2. Consequences
- Good/Bad/Indifferent
 3. Character wrong if it does not satisfy the five conditions,
- Virtuous (virtue), Vicious (vice) thus showing that ethical relativism cannot be
4. Motive true.
- Good will, Evil will Page 9//Module 2 GE 8
In order to show that Pojman's essay can be
Introduction used as an argument against ethical relativism,
It is best to know that human actions are done it has to be shown that the claims made in the
with a purpose. It becomes more meaningful essay disprove ethical relativism. Since
and productive. Keep in mind that not all our Pojman's essay argues that morality has five
motives are right all the time. We need a clear purposes, all of which aim to "create happy
guide to find out the morality behind the and virtuous people" (Pojman, 2000), then an
intention. It is always first initiated before an act that is committed by an individual or group
action. In this Lesson, we will study the aims of can be judged to be right or wrong whether or
morality. not the act is acceptable within the
community to which the individual or group
Purpose of Morality belongs. For example, Hitler's persecution of
the Jews was acceptable within the society to
Pojman's claim that morality has five purposes which he belonged, the Nazi government.
can be used as an argument against ethical However, Jews were forced to suffer
relativism. The idea that morality has five unbearable conditions in concentration
purposes, as presented in the essay "On the camps during World War II and many were
Nature and Purpose of Morality", can be used sentenced to die. More recently, the terrorist
as an argument against relativism. In the essay, attacks on the US were considered just within
Louis Pojman claims that morality has the the terrorist organization itself, even though
following five purposes: "to keep society from these attacks resulted in a great deal of
falling apart", "to ameliorate human suffering", damaged property and death. According to
"to promote human flourishing", "to resolve Pojman's arguments, the acts of Hitler and
conflicts of interest in just and orderly ways", these terrorists can be considered morally
and "to assign praise and blame, reward the wrong because they also brought about
good and punish the guilty" (Pojman, 2000). human suffering.
This paper will regard these five purposes of
morality as conditions that must be satisfied in There are also some people who act in the
order for an act to be morally right and these interest of promoting flourishing human
conditions aim to bring about flourishing communities, prevent human suffering and
communities. Ethical relativism will be defined prevent the breakdown of society, yet their
as stated by John Ladd in page 160, wherein ideas go against the beliefs held by the
any act committed by an individual or group is majority of people in the society. Such people
morally right if it is acceptable within the are called reformers (Pojman, 2000). Malcolm X
society to which the individual or group and Martin Luther King opposed the
belongs (Ladd, 1973; Pojman, 2000). This shows oppression of African-Americans in the United
that an act cannot be considered right or States during the 1960's. Their acts can be
wrong because there are no universal moral considered morally right because they fought
principles that govern an act committed by an for the equality of different ethnic groups in
individual. America, which indeed promotes growth in the
Furthermore, one statement will be considered community, even if it meant going against the
to be an argument against another statement racist mentality that most of the people held
if and only if the first statement can provide at during that time. This logically implies that
least one instance when the second statement ethical relativism is wrong. Thus, an individual's
will not hold. In this case, Pojman's claim on the or a number of people's actions can be
five purposes of morality can be considered as judged to be right or wrong regardless of the
an argument against ethical relativism if it can fact that the act may or may not be
show that an act can be considered right if it acceptable within the society to which he or
satisfies the five conditions stated earlier, or
she belongs. The only thing that matters in
judging

These arguments presented by Pojman, some

of which are implied, disprove the theory of
ethical relativism, so the essay "On the Nature
and Purpose of Morality" can be used as an
argument against ethical relativism. The essay
provided instances when ethical relativism can
be wrong. Pojman asserts that an act indeed
has certain conditions that it must satisfy and
he further states that morality has goals that it
must meet in order for an act to be considered
morally right, more specifically, it must "create
flourishing communities" (Pojman, 2000).
Ethics
Module 3

Relativism in Ethics: Cultural Relativism Relativism versus Absolute values

Introduction ü Ethical absolutism holds that moral commands are true all
In the world today, we need to cope up with standards in times
making a judgment whether an act is right or wrong. In order ü They are true in all cultures and situations. In contrast,
for us to fully understand why people do things according to moral relativism views moral values as entirely relative to
their culture. We cannot just come up with an absolute different societies and context.
standard to evaluate all actions done by human beings based ü Ethical relativism is the proposal that each of these
on his/her culture as acceptable also to other cultures. In this different standards is equally valid.
context we must study our moral behavior. ü Moral absolutism reject both relativism and subjectivism.
ü Absolutism is doctrine that some normative moral claims
are true apart from their being endorse by any individual
or group.

William Graham Sumner

He proposed a version of moral relativism. In his 1906
folkways. He was a classical liberal American social scientist,
and taught social sciences at Yale. He was one of the most
influential teachers at Yale or any major school. He wrote
widely within the school sconces with numerous books and
essay, On American history political theory, sociology and
anthropology. He adopted the term “ethnocentrism” to
identify the roots of imperialism and in favor the “forgotten
man” of the middle class, a term he coined.
Relativism
MORAL BEHAVIOR
• Is the idea that views are relative to differences in
v Action or actions that produce good outcomes for the
perception and consideration
individuals as members of a community, or society. It can
• Is a philosophical theory that is simple in foundation but
be applied to the whole global society.
broad in implication:
• All opinions, beliefs religions, and moralities are equally
v Schulman defines moral behavior as “acts intended to
good(moral relativism)
produce kind and/or fair outcomes.
• All beliefs, truth, statements, world views, and theories
are equally true( cognitive or epistemic relativism.
INFLUENCE /AFFECT OF CULTURE TO MORAL BEHAVIOR
• It is the process through which a human being acquires
POSSIBLE IMPLICATIONS
sensibilities, attitudes, beliefs, skills and dispositions that
Positive Relativism
render him or her a morally mature or adequate human
a. No one has a better morals system, beliefs, system or
being.
truth claim.
• One culture would differ from another in terms of its
b. The ultimate philosophical theory of tolerance.
principle, beliefs, tradition, etc. Consequently the culture
of a particular society in very integral to the development
Negative Relativism
of the human person.
a. No one has the truth or the knowledge of what is
• A culture would not always be absolute in raising its
good.
members into its full development.
b. Truth doesn’t exist or it can never be reached.
c. There is no good or bad, and no action can be
condemned.

INFLUENCE OF CULTURE TO RELATIVISM:

Ø Is the principle of regarding the beliefs, values and
practices of a culture from viewpoint of that culture itself.
Ø Originating in the work of Franz Boas in the early 2oth
century cultural relativism has greatly influenced social
sciences such as anthropology.

Cultural Relativism is related to but often distinguished from

moral relativism , the view that morality is relative to a
standard, especially a cultural standard.
UNIVERSAL VALUES, STAGES OF MORAL DEVELOPMENT lesson will orient us about the essence of universal values that
are present in different cultures that can help us act ethically.
Introduction
In our previous lesson, we learn about the influence of culture
in the moral behavior of human beings. Our next

Stages of Moral Development

 IMPARTIALITY, REASON AND FEELINGS BABY THERESA
Theresa Ann Campo Pearson, an infant known to the public as
Introduction “Baby Theresa,” was born in Florida in 1992. Baby Theresa
Reason and feelings make us different from irrational animals. had anencephaly, one of the worst genetic disorders.
In the social media, we have observed reactions coming from Anencephalic infants are sometimes referred to as “babies
people from all walks of life commenting on certain animal without brains,” – the cerebrum and the cerebellum – are
behavior that exhibits more humane than many human beings missing, as is the top of the skull. The brain stem, however, is
who are expected to be more reasonable and moral than still there, and so the baby can still breathe and possess a
these animals. Let this topic guide us to understand the nature heartbeat. Theresa Ann Campo Pearson, an infant known to
of impartiality and her applications as well as the vital role of the public as “Baby Theresa,” was born in Florida in 1992.
reason and feelings in our decision-making. Baby Theresa had anencephaly, one of the worst genetic
disorders. Anencephalic infants are sometimes referred to as
Fred is a father of five. He earns a living by driving a “babies without brains,”– the cerebrum and the cerebellum –
pedicab on their street. But aside from being a pedicab are missing, as is the top of the skull. The brain stem, however,
driver, he has been selling illegal drugs to help support his is still there, and so the baby can still breathe and possess a
family. Since the government has been very vocal of their heartbeat.
promise to eradicate drugs, and Fred has been tagged on
their area as a drug dealer. He was “Tokhang” but still he Baby Theresa’s story is remarkable only because her parents
continued to sell illegal drugs. One day, Fred was found made an unusual request. Knowing that their baby would die
dead on the street with a placard saying he was drug soon and could never be conscious. Theresa’s parents
peddler. volunteered her organs for immediate transplant. They thought
her kidneys, liver, heart, lungs, and eyes should go to other
IMPARTIALITY children who could benefit
ü Individual’s interests are equally important; no one from them. But Theresa’s organ was not taken, because Florida
gets special treatment or condemned in forms of law forbids the removal of organs until the donor is dead. By
discrimination without supporting reasoning. the time Baby Theresa died, nine days later, it was too late –
Impartiality forbids treating one person worse than her organs deteriorated too much to be harvested and
another when there is no reason to do so. transplanted.

EMOTION
ü A response to a stimuli based on past experience
which is made instinctively. When emotions takes
over it is hard to think of the consequences of one’s
actions.

REASON
A form of personal justification which changes from person to
person based on their own ethical and moral code, as well as
prior experience. When removed from emotion, it allows a
person to make conscious decisions based on fact, with no
reference to personal involvement. The use of reason as a way
of knowing, allows for the knower to see the consequences of
their actions throughout the decision-making process. There
are limitations to decisions made based on reason alone,
perception of situation is not questioned as it may be with an
emotional decision.

EMOTION AND REASON

The role of emotions in ethical decisions:

Emotion can be used to form an initial opinion on a situation.
It allows the knower to connect with the subject on a person
level.

The role of reason in ethical decisions:

Reason can be used to justify the initial opinion. It allows the
knower to understand the consequences of this opinion or
other actions taken with regards to the ethical issue.
Ethics
Module 4
AQUINAS’S NATURAL LAW THEORY AND VALUE OF • It is to do good and avoid evil. Here it is worth noting
NATURAL LAW THEORY that Aquinas holds a natural law theory of morality:
what is good and evil, is derived from the
Thomas Aquinas Natural Law Theory and the value of rational nature of human beings.
Natural Law Theory
• The natural law tradition has a long and venerable
Introduction history. Hints of its beginning can be found in the writings
The way we dress up, and perform fancy stuff in the social of the ancient Greek philosophers Plato and Aristotle,
media for comments and likes are examples how conventional and natural law was the dominant view of the Greek
we are as human beings. The feelings of sympathy posted in stoics.
the comment section to the death of a loved one in the social
media can be a window to understand the concept of natural. • Natural law, as traditionally understood, has sometimes
A human person by nature is intelligent. The word stupid is also been called higher law, and for good reason.
conventional. You are an intelligent being, however, how do Traditional natural law theorists typically believed that
you use it depends on you. Let this lesson teach us the there is a source of law beyond human creation. The
principles behind the natural law of Thomas Aquinas. dictates of natural law have their source in divine
command, human nature, or the order of nature itself.

FOUR KINDS OF LAW:

• Eternal Law
• Natural Law
• Divine Law
• Human Law
Eternal Law
• That law which exists because of God’s Divine
Providence. As God created the Universe, the
universe is governed by His laws. Eternal Law is the
basis for all other kinds of law.
• Eternal law is identical to the mind of God as seen by
God himself. It can be called law because God stands
Thomas Aquinas to the universe which he creates as a ruler does to a
• He is an Italian Dominican theologian community which he rules. When God's reason is
• He was one of the most influential medieval thinkers of considered as it is understood by God Himself, i.e. in
Scholasticism its unchanging, eternal nature, it is eternal law.
• The father of the Thomistic school of theology. • Examples: God loves all of his creations and all of his
• A prolific writer and wrote the famous treatise: Summa children, perfectly. All of God’s creations must have
Theologica the right to choose to do right or wrong. Obedience
is God’s law that includes consequences for
NATURAL LAW disobedience.
Something is natural if…
• It is found in nature and not involving anything made or Natural Law
done by people • The rational creature’s participation in Eternal law.
• It is natural ability or characteristic is one that you were Rational creatures derive their acts and ends from
born with natural law. Basic formulation: “do good, avoid
evil.”
Law: • Natural law is more perfect than human laws,
• Directed towards specific ends; because of the variable subject-matter of human laws.
• Something that induces us to act in a certain way;
• Something that restrain us from acting certain ways. Divine Law
• Specific formulations of eternal law. Necessary for
Natural Law: the directing of human conduct.
• The belief that certain laws of morality are inherent by
human nature, reason, or religious belief, and that they Human (Positive) Law
are ethically binding on humanity. • Formulations of human reason concerning particular
• Natural law is the philosophy that there are moral laws determinations of natural law. Concerned with
found in nature and discernable by the use of reason. transient/contingent realities. A means to enable
man to live virtuously.
Why do we need the divine law?
• Man’s faculties are insufficient to direct him to his
proper end. Human judgment is uncertain. Some law
must exist to govern internal actions. All evil deeds
must be punished.

When are laws just?

• It is based on right reason and ordained towards the
common good. It must not exceed the power of the
lawgiver. The burden of abiding by the law must be
commensurate to the attainment of the common good.