An unexamined

life is not
worth living.
Socrates
 INTRODUCTION

I. Video Clips on Definition, Branches,

and Origin of Philosophy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nRG-
rV8hhpU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aR-
QETBbnB0
 INTRODUCTION

I. Video Clips on Definition,

Branches, and Origin of Philosophy
II. Definition of Ethics

Etymological Meaning
Greek word – ‘ethos’
- custom or habit
- a characteristic way of acting
Real Meaning
- a practical science of the morality of
human conduct
- also a philosophical science that studies
the rightness or wrongness of a human
action
- Ethics is concerned with questions of how
human persons ought to act, and the search for
a definition of a right conduct and the good life
Science
- a complete and systematically arranged
body of data which relate to the morality
of human conduct and presents the
reasons which show these data to be
true
- If the data of a science directly imply rules
or directions for thought or action, it is
called practical science.
- If the data of a science enrich the mind
without directly implying rules or directions,
it is called speculative science.
Practical
- presents truths that are to be acted upon
- Ethics presents data which directly imply
and indicate directions for human
conduct.
 Material Object- human act/human
conduct
 Formal Object- morality of human act
 Formal Object Quo- Human Reason
Human Conduct
- refers only to such human activity as is
deliberate and free
Human Act - a deliberate and free act, an act
performed with advertence and
motive, an act determined by the
free will
Acts of Man - acts performed by human beings
without advertence, or without
exercise of free choice
Human Conduct
- human acts make human conduct

Morality
- refers to the agreement or disagreement
of human activity with the dictates of
reason
 ETHICS vs. MORALITY

ETHICS
- theory of right action and the greater
good
- the systematic study of the
underlying principles of morality
 ETHICS vs. MORALITY

MORALITY
- prescriptive in nature
- tells us what we ought to do and
exhorts us to follow the right way
 TYPES OF ETHICS

1. Normative Ethics
- prescriptive in nature as it seeks to
set norms or standards that regulate
right and wrong or good and bad conduct
- normally attempts to develop guidelines or
theories that tell us how we ought to
behave
2. Metaethics
- descriptive in nature
- aims to understand the nature and
dynamics of ethical principles
- asks questions about the nature and origin
of moral facts, as well as the way in which
we learn and acquire moral beliefs
3. Applied Ethics
- the actual application of ethical or moral
theories for the purpose of deciding which
ethical or moral actions are appropriate in
a given situation