HUM003 USI Vincentian Learning Module

LESSON 1: INTRODUCTION TO ETHICS

Overview

This lesson is an overview of the whole subject matter to apprise the students of
what they will expect in the whole duration of the course. This starts with acquisition
of students’ simple understanding of the term Ethics and will be followed by sifting
and integrating all their ideas to come up with their general idea of Ethics. After
coming up the general idea this will be used to as a jumping point to introduce to
them Ethics as a branch of Philosophy and the “why” human ventured to ethics as a
subject matter in understanding life.

Learning Outcomes

At the end of this lesson, students can:

1. Intellectualize their own understanding of Ethics;
2. Arrive in an understanding why Ethics should be studied;
3. Make an informed understanding of Ethics as part of Philosophy.

Learning Experience and Self-Assessment Activity

I. Why we need to study Ethics?

It is part of everyday human life from the time we wake up until we close our eyes we
make choices. This freedom to choice puts us in a dilemma especially when we are
confronted with life’s situation that we need to choice between good and bad /evil or
between two good choices and when all choices are harmful.

Since men learned the concept of a good life it seeks to establish the general idea of
good. Good became the reference of his /her notion of existence. Men think back of
himself and reflects back on what is the point of existence, his purpose and where he/she
naturally drawn to either towards good or evil or simply drawn to what is pleasurable.

MODULE 1: INTRODUCTION TO ETHICS

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II. Law of nature vs natural law

Law of nature, or natural law; in its most extended sense, refers to certain
principles inspired only by nature that are common to men and to animals: on
this law are based the union of male and female, the procreation of children and
concern for their education, the love of liberty, the conservation of one's own
person, and the effort each man makes to defend himself when attacked by
others (Law of nature, or Natural law (umich.edu))

Which law that relates to instincts and impulses of men and to the universal order and
which law that governs rational behviour of man?

III. Man according to Philosophers in relation to Ethics

Philosophers that believes men can rationalize truth and choices:

John Locke
Locke's theory of mind is often cited as the origin of modern conceptions
of identity and the self, figuring prominently in the work of later philosophers
such as Jean-Jacques Rousseau, David Hume, and Immanuel Kant. Locke was
the first to define the self through a continuity of consciousness. He postulated
that, at birth, the mind was a blank slate, or tabula rasa. Contrary
to Cartesian philosophy based on pre-existing concepts, he maintained that we
are born without innate ideas, and that knowledge is instead determined only by
experience derived from sense perception, a concept now known as empiricism
(wikepedia).[1

Hence, Johh Locke considers man as a thinking being. He has the capacity to reason out
and reflect over his thoughts and actions or thinking itself by itself. Man can know whether
his actions/decisions is good or evil. Hiwever, such goodness or badness has a reference
to pain. If man wills towards the good, then his mind will on it so as his actions.

Immanuel Kant

Kant‟s opinion about personhood is more in line with an

ontological perspective, based on three things: his idea of
reason and human knowledge, an emphasis on moral duty,
and the Humanity Formula. Each individual is valued, not on
what they can do, but on that fact that they are persons.
Treating them as means to an end does not give them the
individual freedom they deserve (Human Personhood from a
Kantian Perspective (cedarville.edu))

He considers man autonomous and self-marshalling, hence can make moral decisions.
Kant’s treatment of men we can say that he promotes human dignity or as end itself.
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Victor Frankl

According to Frankl, "We can discover this meaning in life in three different ways: (1) by
creating a work or doing a deed; (2) by experiencing something or encountering
someone; and (3) by the attitude we take toward unavoidable suffering" and that
"everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to
choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances".( Viktor Frankl Institute of Logotherapy Box
15211, Abilene, Texas 79698-5211, USA | Telephone: +1 (325) 692-9597 | Fax: +1 (325) 692-9188 (logotherapyinstitute.org)

He argued that, while we cannot control what happens to us in some circumstances, that
we can — through acceptance and search for meaning — cultivate an attitude that will
enable us to endure the most difficult of life's situations. According to Frankl,
the meaning of life is different for each individual.( A Reflection on the Meaning of Life |
Psychology Today)

Human being for Victor Frankl can stand and fight for his values and ideals. He likewise
believed like other philosophers that men is self-determining and does not simply exist
but decides what kind of existence he wanted to live. Being a thinking being he must
strive towards the truth and goodness (Unraveling the Absolute Morale Principle p 4)

Erich Seligmann Fromm (/frɒm/; German: [fʁɔm]; March 23,

1900 – March 18, 1980) was a German social

psychologist, psychoanalyst, sociologist, humanistic philosopher, and democratic

socialist. He was a German Jew who fled the Nazi regime and settled in the
US.(wikepedia)

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He said that, just as man transforms the world around him, so he transforms himself in
the process of history. He is his own creation, as it were. But just as he can only transform
and modify the natural materials around him according to their nature, so he can only
transform and modify himself according to his own nature. What man does in the process
of history is to develop this potential, and to transform it according to its own possibilities.
The point of view taken here is neither a “biological” nor a “sociological” one if that would
mean separating these two aspects from each other. It is rather one transcending such
dichotomy by the assumption that the main passions and drives in man result from
the total existence of man, that they are definite and ascertainable, some of them
conducive to health and happiness, others to sickness and unhappiness. ( The Sane Society:
The Great Humanistic Philosopher and Psychologist Erich Fromm on How to Save Us From Ourselves –
Brain Pickings)

He believed that conscience enables man to know what ought to be done in order to
become his own self. Conscience what leads man to his goals in life. Moreover, it leads
man to aspire what is good and respect the dignity of persons. (Unraveling the Absolute
Morale Principle p 5)

St. Thomas Aquinas

Thomas Aquinas was an Italian Dominican friar,
philosopher, Catholic priest, and Doctor of the Church.
An immensely influential philosopher, theologian, and
jurist in the tradition of scholasticism, he is also known
within the latter as the Doctor Angelicus and the Doctor
Communis.(Wikepedia)

The moral philosophy of St. Thomas Aquinas (1225-

1274) involves a merger of at least two apparently
disparate traditions: Aristotelian eudaimonism and
Christian theology. On the one hand, Aquinas follows
Aristotle in thinking that an act is good or bad
depending on whether it contributes to or deters us from our proper human end—
the telos or final goal at which all human actions aim. That telos is eudaimonia, or
happiness, where “happiness” is understood in terms of completion, perfection, or well-
being. Achieving happiness, however, requires a range of intellectual and moral virtues
that enable us to understand the nature of happiness and motivate us to seek it in a
MODULE 1: INTRODUCTION TO ETHICS
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reliable and consistent way.( Aquinas: Moral Philosophy | Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy
(utm.edu))

He postulated that man discovers moral law through his conscience as well as the his
own dignity and the welfare and dignity of others. As a whole conscience can affirm
man’s spiritual freedom and makes him moral person or moral subject of his own
conscience (Unraveling the Absolute Morale Principle p 5)

Self-Assessment Questions

Question: Integrating our lesson, draft or postulate your own concept of man as endowed
with intelligence and conscience and how you can apply in your daily existence.

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Key Points

⚫ Philosophy is Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about
reason, existence, knowledge, values, mind, and language (wikepedia)

⚫ Freedom- generally, is having the ability to act or change without constraint. Something is "free" if it
can change easily and is not constrained in its present state (wikepedia).

⚫ Intellect is the power or faculty of the mind by which one knows or understands, as distinguished from
that by which one feels and that by which one wills; the understanding; the faculty of thinking and
acquiring knowledge (Intellect | Definition of Intellect at Dictionary.com)

⚫ Empiricism in philosophy, the view that all concepts originate in experience, that all concepts are
about or applicable to things that can be experienced, or that all rationally acceptable beliefs or
propositions are justifiable or knowable only through experience (Britannica)

MODULE 1: INTRODUCTION TO ETHICS

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⚫ Rationalism is a method of thinking that is marked by being a deductive and abstract way of reasoning.
In ordinary usage rationalism is a basic sense of respect for reason or to refer to the idea that reason
should play a large role in human life (in contrast, say, to mysticism)(. Rationalism (cuny.edu)

End of Lesson Assessment

Name: ___________________________________________________________________ Score: ____________

Year & Section:_________________________________ Date: _____________________________________

Compare and contrast any two philosophers position about man. 10pts

References

Books
Bustamente, Juvy et al. (2018). Unraveling the Absolute Moral Principle: Ethics for Filipino Students

Online:
Rationalism (cuny.edu)
Intellect | Definition of Intellect at Dictionary.com)
Wikepedia
Aquinas: Moral Philosophy | Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy (utm.edu))
The Sane Society: The Great Humanistic Philosopher and Psychologist Erich Fromm on How to Save Us
From Ourselves – Brain Pickings)
A Reflection on the Meaning of Life | Psychology Today)

Viktor Frankl Institute of Logotherapy

Law of nature, or Natural law (umich.edu)

Looking Ahead

Definition of Ethics and how it is different from morality

MODULE 1: INTRODUCTION TO ETHICS

HUM003 USI Vincentian Learning Module

MODULE 1: INTRODUCTION TO ETHICS