Prelims Flashcards
was taken from the Greek word ‘ethos’ which means ‘customs’, ‘usage’ ‘characteristic’,
Ethics
It is a branch of philosophy that is a philosophical enterprise that investigates and questions the way or the nature of human actions, see if it has a ground so that it supports its own moral claim
Ethics
investigates or studies morality, thus, the term ethics is expressed in various ways of understanding and examining the moral life of the person as it is cited by Beauchamp and Childress (1994).
Ethics
IS NOT JUST ANY ACTION OF MAN, RATHER, AN ACTION THAT IS GEARED TOWARDS WHAT IS CONSIDERED MORAL, NAMELY, HUMAN ACTION.
ETHICS
These are processes that do not require a decision-making action from a person. They happen naturally in the body, without a person being conscious about them.
Acts of Human
neither right or wrong.
Acts of Human
These are actions that require a person to hister conscience.
Human Acts
can be either right or wrong
Human Acts
● breathing
● Looking
● beating of the heart
● Seeing
● perspiration
● Dreaming
● growing of the hair
● Daydreaming
● growing of the nails
● Hearing
● Listening
● Walking
● Sleepwalking
Acts of Human:
● telling the truth
● giving money to the poor
● returning a lost item
Human Acts:
Human acts can be classified:
GOOD ACTION BAD ACTION
Acts of man is considered as:
AMORAL or INDIFFERENT ACTIONS
considerations and questions of etiquette are important facets of human life. But they do not necessarily translate into genuine ethical or moral value.
THE CHOICE OF CLOTHING THAT ONE IS TO WEAR, in general
AESTHETIC VALUATIONS
technique” and “technical” from the Greek word “techne,” commonly employed to denote the correct or proper method of performing tasks
TECHNICAL VALUATIONS
it is important to note that a ____________assessment, representing the right or wrong approach to doing things, might not inherently align with ethical considerations, as illustrated by this image
TECHNICAL VALUATIONS
They involve valuations that we make in a sphere of HUMAN ACTIONS, characterized by certain gravity and concern the human well-being and human life itself.
MORAL VALUATIONS
is an evaluative one, it is a way of generating and FORMULATING PRINCIPLES, RULES, STANDARDS THAT WILL GUIDE HUMAN CONDUCT OR ACTION.
NORMATIVE ETHICS
The former emphasizes any philosophical attempt to formulate and to defend basic moral principles and virtues governing the moral life, thus, it emphasizes ETHICAL THEORIES like natural law theory, utilitarianism, deontology, and virtue ethics etc.
normative ethics
The PRINCIPLES found in normative general ethics that are regarded to be of help to guide an action and are commonly applied to some specific moral problems such as in medicine, nursing and other medical sciences;
applied ethics.
This approach is a non-evaluative one.
NON-NORMATIVE ETHICS
IT SIMPLY CONSIDERS BY KNOWING WHAT IT IS AND DESCRIBES CERTAIN ACTIONS, PRACTICES AND EVENTS.
NON-NORMATIVE ETHICS
It is not expressed by categorizing that is right or that is wrong, rather IT SIMPLY EXPRESSED WHAT IS THE ACTION AND THE WAY AN ACTION WAS DONE.
NON-NORMATIVE ETHICS
simply reports through description and explanation of moral behavior and belief of a person. For example, development by Lawrence Kohlberg the stages of moral
DESCRIPTIVE ETHICS
analyzes the peculiarity of an ethical language, such as ‘ought’, ‘good’, ‘wrong’ or “bad’. It asks the question ‘what is’ and also analyzes the structure of logic and moral reasoning. These are investigated in metaethics. These are not the only forms of nonnormative ethics. There are other forms, such as those that consider the biological bases of moral behavior and the ways in which humans do not differ from animals.
METAETHICS
Origin: Derived from societal norms, legal systems, religious doctrines, or cultural traditions
External Authority:
Influence: Guides behavior through external rules, regulations, or expectations, often driven by fear of punishment or societal approval.
External Authority:
○ Law
○ Religion
○ Culture
External Authority:
refers to a system of rules, regulations, and principles established by a governing authority (such as a government) to regulate the behavior of individuals and groups within a society.
Law(State)
NOT ALL LEGAL IS MORAL, AND NOT ALL MORAL IS LEGAL
Law(State)
aesthetic differences, religious differences, etiquette differences.
cultural relativism
defines CULTURAL RELATIVISM AS THE POSITION THAT CLAIMS THAT THERE IS NO SUCH REANG AS OBJECTIVE TRUTH IN THE REALM OF MORALITY.
JAMES RACHELS (1941-2003)
The argument of this position is that since different cultures have different moral codes, then THERE IS NO ONE CORRECT MORAL CODE THAT ALL CULTURES MUST FOLLOW.
JAMES RACHELS (1941-2003)
He believed that this view could lead to moral stagnation because it discourages questioning and moral progress. If individuals unquestioningly accept their cultural moral beliefs, they may fail to recognize and correct morally problematic aspects of their
culture.
JAMES RACHELS (1941-2003)
Origin: Stems from an individual’s values, conscience, and sense of morality.
Internal Authority
Influence: Guides behavior based on personal convictions, moral values, and ethical beliefs, driven by an internal moral compass.
Internal Authority
The starting point of subjectivism is the recognition that the individual thinking person (the subject) is at the heart of all moral valuations.”
SUBJECTIVISM
“THE INDIVIDUAL IS THE SOLE DETERMINANT OF WHAT IS MORALLY GOOD OR BAD, RIGHT OR WRONG.”
SUBJECTIVISM
“Human beings are naturally self-centered, so all our action are always already motivated by self-interest.”
PSYCHOLOGICAL EGOISM
All People are Selfish in Everything They Do
PSYCHOLOGICAL EGOISM
● we should make our own ends, our own interest, as the single overriding concern.
● An act is right for a person to perform if and only if that act is in the person’s best interest.
● We may act in a way that is beneficial to others, but we should do that only if it ultimately benefits us.
ETHICAL EGOISM
We should add that “issue” is also often used to refer to those particular situations that are often the source of considerable and inconclusive debate (thus, we would often hear topics such as capital punishment and euthanasia as moral “issues”).
MORAL ISSUE
When one is placed in a situation and confronted by the choice of what act to perform
MORAL DECISIONS
When a person is an observer who makes an assessment on the actions or behavior of someone.
MORAL JUDGMENT
one is torn between choosing one of two good or bad choosing between the lesser of two evils. when an individual can choose only one from a number of possible actions, and there are compelling ethical reason for the various choices.
MORAL DILEMMA-
Frequently ethical dilemmas can be resolved simply by clarifying the facts of the case in question. In those cases that prove to be more difficult, gathering the facts is the essential first step prior to any ethical analysis and reflection on the case. In analyzing a case, we want to know the available facts at hand as well as any facts currently not known but that need to be ascertained. Thus one is asking not only “What do we know?” but also “ What do we need to know?” in order to make an intelligent ethical decision.
GATHER THE FACTS
The ethical issues are stated in terms of competing interests or goods. It’s these conflicting interests that actually make for an ethical dilemma. The issues should be presented as ______versus _________ format in order to reflect the interests that are colliding in a particular ethical dilemma. For example, in business ethics there is often a conflict between the right of a firm to make profit and its obligation to the community. In this case, the obligation pertains to the environment.
DETERMINE THE ETHICAL ISSUES
In any ethical dilemma, there are certain moral values or principles that are central to the conflicting positions being taken. It is critical to identify these principles, and in some cases, to determine whether some principles are to be weighted more heavily than others. Clearly, biblical principles will be weighted the most heavily. There may be other principles that speak to the case that come from other sources. There may be constitutional principles or principles drawn from natural law that supplement the biblical principles that come into play here. The principles that come out of your mission and calling are also important to consider
WHAT ETHICAL PRINCIPLES HAVE A BEARING ON THE CASE
Part of the creative thinking involved in resolving an ethical dilemma involves coming up with various alternative courses of action. Although there will be some alternatives that you will rule out without much thought, in general the more alternatives that are listed, the better the chance that your list will include some high-quality ones. In addition, you may come up with some very creative alternative that you had not considered before.
LIST THE ALTERNATIVES
At this point, the task is one of eliminating alternatives according to the moral principles that have a bearing on the case. In many instances, the case will be resolved at this point, since the principles will eliminate all alternatives except one. In fact, the purpose of this comparison is to see if there is a clear decision that can be made without further deliberations. If a clear decision is not forthcoming, then the next part is the model that must be considered. At the least, some of the alternatives may be eliminated by this step of comparison.
COMPARE THE ALTERNATIVES WITH THE PRINCIPLES
If the principles do not yield a clear decision, then a consideration of the consequences of the remaining available alternatives is in order. Both positive and negative consequences are to be considered. They should be informally weighed, since some positive consequences are more detrimental than others.
WEIGH THE CONSEQUENCES
Deliberations cannot go on forever. At some point, a decision must be made. Realize that one common element in ethical dilemmas is that there are no easy and painless solutions to them. Frequentlythedecisionthatismadeisonethatinvolves the least number of problems or negative consequences, not one that is devoid of them.
MAKE A DECISION
Deliberations cannot go on forever. At some point, a decision must be made. Realize that one common element in ethical dilemmas is that there are no easy and painless solutions to them. Frequentlythedecisionthatismadeisonethatinvolves the least number of problems or negative consequences, not one that is devoid of them.
MAKE A DECISION
PUNISHMENT AND OBEDIENCE
1
INDIVIDUAL AND INSTRUMENTAL EXCHANGE
2
MUTUAL AND INTERPERSONAL
CONFORMITY
3
LAW & ORDER
4
SOCIAL CONTRACT AND INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS
5
UNIVERSAL ETHICAL PRINCIPLE
6
I want to avoid punishment
1
I want to have a reward or in exchange of something
2
To gain the approval of others
3
It is according to the law and rules
4
It will be for the common good
5
It is the good thing to do
6
Morality is based on avoiding punishment.
1
Morality involves pursuing one’s own interests while respecting others’ interests.
2
Morality is defined by social approval, maintaining relationships, and conforming to societal expectations.
3
Morality is about following laws and upholding social order.
4
Morality transcends individual perspectives and considers societal agreements and individual rights.
5
Morality is guided by universal ethical
principles, even if they conflict with societal laws or rules.
6
