ROXAS, JOHN PAUL D.

SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY 12 (ETHICS)

BSED IV-F (DAY)

CHAPTER 1: THE ETHICAL DIMENSION OF HUMAN EXISTENCE

 Ethics-about matters such as the good thing that we should pursue and the bad thing
that we should avoid.

KINDS OF VALUATION

 Aesthetics-derived from the Greek word aesthesis (sense or feeling)

-judgments of personal approval and disapproval that we make about what we see,
hear or taste.
 Etiquette-concerned with right and wrong actions but those which are not quite grave
enough to belong to discussion on ethics.
 Technique and Technical-came from the Greek word techne.
-Technical Valuation means right and wrong technique of doing things

ETHICS AND MORALS

 Morals-refer to specific beliefs and attitudes that people have or to describe acts that
people perform. Example: Moral Judgment and Moral Reasoning
 Ethics-discipline of studying and understanding ideal human behavior and ideal ways of
thinking. Example: Professional Ethics
 Philosophy-rooted in the Greek words that translate to “love of wisdom”
-Philia means friendship or love while Sophia means wisdom
 Metaphysics-reality
 Epistemology-study of knowledge
 Axiology-study of values

DESCRIPTIVE AND NORMATIVE

 Descriptive Study-reports how people make their moral valuations without making any
judgments either for or against these valuations.
 Normative Study-prescribes what we ought to maintain as our standards or bases for
moral valuation.

ISSUE, DECISION, JUDGMENT AND DILEMMA

 Moral issue-situations that call for moral valuation

 Issue-particular situations that are often the source of considerable and inconclusive
debates
 Moral decision-involves choosing what act one will perform
 Moral judgment-act of making an assessment on the actions or behavior of someone
 Moral Dilemma-complicated situation wherein one is torn between choosing one of two
goods or choosing between the lesser of two evils.

REASONING

 Principles-rationally established grounds by which one justifies and maintains her moral
decisions and judgments.
 Moral theory-systematic attempt to establish the validity of maintaining moral principles.
 Framework-theory of interconnected ideas and a structure through which we can
evaluate our reasons for valuing certain decision or judgment.
 Plato-credited as one of the pioneers of philosophy
 The Apology of Socrates-written by Plato whereas in this book Socrates makes the claim
that it is the greatest good for a person to spend time thinking about and discussing with
others.
SOURCES OF AUTHORITY

1. Law

 Law-one’s guide to ethical behavior

 Positive law-refers to different rules and regulations that are posited or put forward by an
authority or figure and requires compliance.

2. Religion

 Divine Command Theory-foundation for ethical values; The Divinity called God, Allah or
Supreme Being commands and one is obliged to obey her Creator.

3. Culture

 Cultural Relativism-what is ethically acceptable or unacceptable is relative to or

dependent on one’s culture.
 James Rachels-he presents some of the difficulties related with cultural relativism namely:
o The argument of cultural relativism is premised on the reality of difference.
o Under cultural relativism, we are in no position to render any kind of judgment on
the practices of another culture
o Under cultural relativism, we realize that we are in no position to render judgment
on the practices of even our own culture
o We can maintain cultural relativism only by following the presumption of culture as
a single, clearly defined substances or as something fixed and already determined.

SENSES OF THE SELF

 Subjectivism-recognition that the individual thinking person is at the heart of all moral
valuations.
 Psychological Egoism-theory that describes the underlying dynamic behind all human
actions.
 Ethical Egoism-prescribes that we should make our own ends and interests as the single
overriding concern.
o Platos’ Republic-a response to the assertion that one should only care about one’s
own interest.
o Socrates-one of the character in the book “The Republic” whereas he answered
the question regarding justice and the need to be just.
o Glaucon-provides a powerful restatement of the case for egoism by way of a myth.

CHAPTER 2: UTILITARIANISM

 Utilitarianism- ethical theory that argues for the goodness of pleasure and
determination of right behavior based on the usefulness of the action of
consequences.
 Utility- as root word utilitarianism refers to the usefulness of one action and
consequence.

TWO FOREMOST UTILITARIAN THINKERS

1. Jeremy Bentham
2. John Stuart Mill
  Jeremy Bentham- Born on Feb. 15, 1748
-teacher of James Mill
-Father of John Stuart Mill
-one of the two foremost utilitarian thinker
-first wrote about the greatest happiness principle of ethics and was known for a
system of penal management called panopticon.

 2 Sovereign Masters:
1. Pleasure
2. Pain

 The Principle of Utility- about the subjection of two sovereign master.

 Felicific Calculus- framework for evaluating pleasure and pain.
 John Stuart Mill- argues that quality is more preferable than quantity.
-he asks whether a human person would prefer to accept the highly pleasurable life of
an animal while at the same time being denied of everything that makes him a
person.
 Principle of the Greatest Number-about the pleasure of the greatest number affected
by the consequences of our actions.
 Utilitarianism- cannot lead to selfish act
-interested with the best consequence for the highest number of
people.

Justice and Moral Rights

 Justice- respect for the rights directed toward society’s pursuit for the greatest
happiness of the greatest number.
 Rights- are a valid claim on society and are justified by utility.
 Legal rights- are neither inviolable nor natural but rights are object to some exceptions.
 Moral Rights- take precedence over legal rights.
-are only justifiable by considerations of greater overall happiness.

CHAPTER 3: NATURAL LAW

THOMAS AQUINAS
  THOMAS AQUINAS- a Dominican friar who was the preeminent intellectual figure of the
scholastic period of the Middle Ages contributing to the doctrine of faith more than
any other figure for this time.
 SUMMA THEOLOGIAE- Aquinas magnum opus, is voluminous work that
comprehensively discusses many significant points in Christian Theology.
 Unnatural- LBGT community and to judgement that two people at the same sex being
together.
 Natural Law- part of larger discussion
 Moral Theory- part of larger project

3 PARTS OF VOLUMINOUS WORK

1. Aquinas speak of God and although we acknowledge that our limited human
intellect cannot fully grasp him, we nevertheless are able to say some recognizing his
goodness, his might and his creative power.
2. Deals with a man or the dynamic of human life.
3. Focuses on Jesus is our savior.

 The Christian Life-is about developing the capacities given to us by God into a
disposition of virtue inclined toward the good.
 Command Theory- urges a person toward in thinking obedience to religious precepts.
 Neoplatonic Good- God Creates
 The Republic- Plato’s work, is often to supposed that Plato is trying to envision the ideal
society.
 Idea of the Good- a good which a prior to all being will become a source or
fascination and inspiration to later thinkers went to this day.
 Neoplatonists-later scholar at Neoplatonic Good
 “One and the Beautiful”-oneness that will give to rise to tie multiplicity of everything
else in the cosmos.

ARISTOTELIAN BEING AND BECOMING

4 CONCEPTS

1. Material cause
2. Formal cause
3. Efficient cause
4. Final cause
 Material cause- certain materiality of physical “stuff”.
 Formal cause- “shapes” makes as being particular kind can be called its form.
  Efficient cause- there is something which brings about the presence of another
being.
 Final cause- purpose, apparent end or goal “for that the sake of which”.
 New Pair of Principle-refer to the potency and act
 Nature-particular from the materiality makes a being certain kind of being, the unique
way that we have been created.

THE ESSENCE AND VARIETIES OF LAW

 Ends of Actions- goods and act in a certain way to pursue good.

 Common Good- consider what is good for the community as well as our own good.
 Promulgation- necessary for rules or laws to be communicated to the people
involved in order to enforced them and better ensure compliance.
 Eternal Law- involves the assertion that the divine wisdom that direct each being
toward its proper end.
 Legislator- made the law

2 CATEGORIES OF HUMAN LAW

1. Civil Law
2. Criminal Law

 Irrational- participating in the eternal law (ex. plants and animals)

 Natural Inclinations- given to us by God, we can determine the rule and measure that
should be directing our acts.
 Human Law- reflecting on our human nature will provide us to precepts of the natural
law.

-Actual operation of human acts.

-human beings construct and enforce laws in their communities.

 Matter of Violence- ideal sense of directing us to common good but instead is unjust.
 Divine Law- refers to specifically to the instances where we have percepts or
instructions that come from divine revelation.
 Ethical Issue-hotly contested in some parts of the world is whether abortion is
acceptable.
 Epistemic Concern- know we pursue the truth and social concern which is that we
know we live in a relation to others.

3 INCLINATIONS

1. Preserving the self is good

 2. Sexual inclination
3. Sexual act

 Natural Law Theory- instrumental to an ethics that is rooted in the Christian Faith.
 “post-truth”- more and more becoming habituated disregard or at least to do the
truth.

CHAPTER 4: DEONTOLOGY

DEONTOLOGY

 Deontology-refer to the study of duty and obligation.

- the moral theory that evaluates actions that are done because of the duty
-comes from the Greek word deonwhich is “being necessary”
 Immanuel Kant-he was a German Enlightenment philosopher who wrote one of the
most important works on moral philosophy, Ground towards a Metaphysics of Morals.
 Ground towards a Metaphysics of Morals-in this work, Kant brings our attention to the
fact that we, human beings, have faculty called the rational.
 Rational Faculty-our capacity to act according to principles that we determine for
ourselves.
 “supreme principle of morality”- it is supposedly supreme because basing it on the
faculty of the reason, it becomes binding for all creatures that have that faculty.

AUTONOMY

 Kant claims that the property of the rational will is autonomy, which is the opposite of
heteronomy.
 autos, heteros, nomos which mean “self”, “other” and “law”.
 Autonomy means self-law and heteronomy means other law.
 Free choice- the choice that can be determined by pure reason.
 Animal Choice or Arbitrium Brutum-human freedom in connection with its capacity to
intervene or to mediate.
 Human choice-is a choice that may indeed be affected but not determined by
impulses.

UNIVERSALIZABILITY

 substantive moral theory- it identifies the particular duties in a straightforward manner

that the adherents of the theory must follow.
 Formal moral theory- does not supply the rules or commands straightaway.
 categorical imperative- which provides a procedural way of identifying the rightness
or wrongness of an action.
4 KEY ELEMENTS OF CATEGORICAL IMPERATIVE

1. Action
2. Maxim
3. Will
4. Universal Law

 False promising-this is specific act under the general category of acts

 Rational permissibility-it refers to the intrinsic quality of an action that is objectively and
necessarily rational.
 Universalizability-a method where we can validate and adopt the rules and laws that
are right and reject the irrational ones.