LESSON 1 Ethics: Its Meaning, Nature

and Scope
What Will You Learn?
After studying this lesson, you should be able to:
1.explain the meaning, nature and scope of ethics as a philosophical discipline;
2.articulate the importance of ethics;
3.show the distinctive feature of ethics in relation to law, religion and other empirical
sciences;
4.describe the human person as a moral agent and the moral dimension of human
experience;
5.cite examples to simplify the characteristics of moral principles.
What Is This Lesson About?
Lesson One will shed light on the meaning, nature and scope of Ethics as the
science of right living. Ethics and morality will be distinguished as well as ethics and law
and religion. The human person as a moral agent will be described and human
experience  as to its moral dimension. Characteristics of moral principles will be
enumerated and explained along with the formal and material objects of morality.
Let’s Study:
The Meaning Of Ethics And Its Evolution
Etymologically, Ethics is derived from the Greek word ethos which means
custom,or a particular way and manner of acting and behaving.Thus,custom would also
mean here as a form of behaviour or character.The Latin equivalent for custom is mos
or mores.It is from this root word that the term moral or morality is derived.The two
terms ,ethics and morality,in this sense therefore,have literally the same meaning.That
is why ethics is usually taken as synonymous with morality.Also because of this,ethics is
also called morality or more precisely,the other name of ethics is morality.Thus in many
instances,we often hear people say:”What he did is moral or ethical.”
In its real sense,ethics as a philosophy is a fundamental discipline.it is concerned
with reflexive thinking for it seeks and examines core values,norms,principles and
traditions.Ethics is a discipline of higher order.
Normatively,ethics investigates the morality of human conduct.Morality is
concerned the rightness or wrongness of human actions.An act can be judged as right
or wrong based on the motive,the circumstances or the nature of the act itself.It is the
task of ethics to examine these in order to assess the morality of an act.
 In the perspective of meta-ethics,the study is primarily concerned with the
investigation on the meanings and epistemological foundations of moral
statements,frameworks.This branch of study attempts to answer non-moral questions
about morality.For instances,these refer to questions about the meaning of moral
statements(moral semantics),the nature and existence of moral facts(moral
metaphysics),and the question about knowledge and justification of moral
statements(moral epistemology).
Now,to study ethics means to inquire on the very notion of human responsibility.If
we are to to take up the history of human thought,ancient philosophy focused itself on
the idea of fate.There are things that are beyond the power of man.Natural events are
beyond human control.The forces of nature define for people what happens to human
life.In ancient times,human responsibility has played no role in the way things are.
During the medieval period,human responsibility had no definite role in terms of
what it is that becomes of the person.Medieval thought teaches us of God and divine
plan.The idea of divine providence promulgates to each man what it is that becomes of
the value of human life.This value is in finding oneself in God’s greater glory,which
means that each has to follow the will of God.
Today,however,we are aware of a vastly changing world. The problems of the
world today call upon each person to be responsible not only to himself, but to the world
as a whole.Having a world means to acknowledge one’s responsibilities towards one’s
fellowmen.The most urgent task at hand is not merely about knowing the moral good.It
is in doing it.This is because there is a kind of real urgency for each person to be
ethical.
Ethics and Morality Distinguished
Though ethics and morality,by virtue of their etymological construction,and on
how they are used in people’s daily conversations,share practically the same
meaning,there is still a slight difference between them.Generally,both ethics and
morality deal with the goodness or badness,rightness or wrongness of the human act or
conduct.But in ethics,we specifically study morality.Morality gives ethics a particular
perspective of what to study about-that is the rectitudeof wheter an act is good or
bad,right or wrong,MORALITY PROVIDES WITH A QUALITY THAT DETERMINES
AND DISTINGUISHES RIGHT CONDUCT FROM WRONG.
While ethics (the theory) provides certain principles and guidelines as to what is
good and bad,right and wrong in human conduct,it is morality which actualizes the
theory.Ethics is the word while morality is the flesh.Morality is  here aptly understood as
the application (praxis) of ethics(theory).As ethics outlines theories of right and
wrong,good and bad actions,morality translates these theories into real action.
Let’s Study:
Ethics and The Law
St. Thomas Aquinas defined law as an ordinance of reason promulgated for the
common good by the one who has the care of the society.There are five features of the
law:
a-Rational:reason is for the preservation of the good;
b-Ordinance:laws are obligation,ought, and binding  on everyone who has right reason
to know the truth.
c-Promulgated:the precepts of the law are made-known, they are publicized.
d-Charged:in a democracy,authority resides in us.
e-Common good:for everyone.
Ethical rules are necessary even if we have the laws that are implemented by
civil authorities since legality is not identical morality. We can be good in terms of what
the law requires but we may fall short of becoming  a moral or ethical person. At times,
what is legal is not always moral. At other times, what is moral is not always legal.
Ethics is not identical with the law. For example, human positive laws are legislated,
they  are agreed upon by the majority.
Another reason why morality is still important even if we have laws to guide us in
our daily conduct is that laws are only concerned with actions that are usually public.
Morality does delve on the domain of the majority ,its not a numbers game but reflective
of what is true and good according to the nature of a thing or act.
Moreover,Ethics goes beyond the concern and parameters of law,for it includes
human motivations in its investigations.Ethics,in this respect,includes the thoughts and
feelings of individuals, not just their external conduct and actions,and subject them to
moral analysis and evaluation.Thus morality beyond legality in this respect.Even actions
that we do privately,are covered under the umbrella of Ethics.Morality includes things
that we do not directly harm others or even ourselves.Hence,our innermost motives and
intentions,even if they are not carried out in concrete,fall under the scope of morality.
Let us also be reminded  that our laws are usually the product of a collaborative
agreement of some sort-a kind of a social contract where people come together and
decide among themselves what’s good and bad.This means that laws,more often than
not,are decided by a majority vote.Morality is not all about how many people say that
something  is good or bad,or of how many individuals favour and decide that a certain
act is right or wrong.Morality is much deeper than that.WHAT IS RIGHT IS RIGHT
EVEN THOUGH NO ONE IS DOING IT.WRONG IS WRONG EVEN IF EVERYONE
DOES IT.
 Lastly,we still need Ethics even if we have laws because ethics serves as the
very foundation of our laws.It is because of ethics..that we have laws in the first
place,and we continue to need ethics in order to refine and perfect our legal system.
Thus,laws,in a sense,are not morally sensible without ethics.The only way for a
law to be enacted or repealed is for more people to make a mature,conscious and
reflective discussion and decision about right and wrong.Making a decision as to what’s
good and bad is not a popularity contest.
In brief,morality precedes legality.Its scope and implications are deeper and
wider than the law.
Ethics and Religion
Another important distinction that has to be made regarding Ethics as a
normative discipline is its intimate relation with that of religion or theology,an area of
knowledge which is also normative,just like law. While many people identify morality
with religion ,both being concerned with right and wrong behaviour. In fact, most
religions have  a long history of internal arguments and interpretations about the nature
and content of the moral law, the two are not synonymous.
Ethics as a philosophical discipline solely relies on natural reason,logic and
experience,especially in the justification and validation of certain theories and principles
concerning good and bad.Religion,on the other hand,relies primarily and mainly on
supernatural reason,that is-divine revelation or divine authority.
Moreover, the practice of morality need not be motivated by religious
considerations and moral principles need not be grounded in revelation as religious
teachings invariably are.Again,ethics grounds itself on reason,and the wisdom of human
experience,not on the supposed authority of any holy book and sacred writings.
As a matter of fact,most contemporary philosophers  believe that ethics does not
necessarily require a religious grounding.It is commonly observed that even those
people for whom morality is religiously based may also want to examine some of their
views using reason,reflection and common sense.Also,a lot of religious believers ,want
to be able to engage in constructive dialogue with non-believers and evaluate their
moral claims.In fact even religious believers themselves regularly make moral Michael
judgments that are not based   strictly on their religious views but rather on reflection
and common sense.
Why Do We Need Ethics?
1.Since ethics, as a practical science,is the study of the choices people make regarding
right and wrong, and since most of us make a number of moral choices in our everyday
lives,it is quite obvious why the study of ethics is important.Big and small,the choices
and decisions that we make everyday affect the kind of life we live to a lesser or greater
extent.We become good or bad because of our choices. Ethics equips us with the
knowledge essential to make the right choice.
2.Making moral decisions is oftentimes difficult. This is very true when we are
confronted and come face to face with moral dilemmas. In here,there is a need for us to
pause and reflect as to what particular course of action to take. The study of ethics can
provide us with certain moral paradigms or perspectives that will,in a away,guide us in
determining what’s right and what’s wrong under such condition.
3.The study of ethics will also enable us to reason out our moral beliefs and of why we
hold them.It is not enough to have certain beliefs on what’s right or wrong.Our moral
views should be backed by good and sound arguments.If one doesn’t have a good and
defensible reasons for his moral opinions,why should he pay attention to them.It is
imperative that we have to know the reason why we have them.Ethics as a critical
discipline will enable us to examine more closely the ground and foundation of our
moral beliefs and claims.
4.Relatedly and more specifically,apart from its practical benefits,ethics can deepen our
reflection on the ultimate questions of life.Life’s ultimate questions involve questions
regarding the meaning of life and what it means to be truly human.These and other
similar questions necessarily deal in one way or the other to a significant degree with
the question of what kind of life is worth living,as the great Socrates famously said:”an
unexamined life is not worth living.”
THE HUMAN PERSON :A MORAL AGENT
WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE MORAL?
According to the French philosopher Jean Paul Sartre,”everything has been 
figured out,except how to live.”The German thinker Friedrich Nietzsche,provides a very
clever response,telling us that “he who has a why in life can always bear any
how.”Truly,the business of philosophers is to introduce us to great ideas.But the point of
the matter is that humans have to live their individual lives.The brilliance of great
thinkers,notably Plaro,Aristotle,and Kant,is not in their moral prescriptions but rather,it is
in the path they have opened for us.
We are not moral atoms.The hardest matter at hand on earth is human life.But it
is not life as a biological phenomenon.It is not our task here to seek the origin of human
existence,for the  ultimate question one asks in life is not where or when did life
originate,but      it is this-why does a person ought to be good?Or perhaps,why can’t we
be good?Now,it is real challenge,for Nietzsche declares “God is dead!”Is God really
dead?Or are we just living in a world where God is nowhere and the selfish human ego
is everywhere?Is the moral life really possible?
What is the moral good?In response  and unarguably,while the human mind
seeks to discover the reality of the infinite universe beyond us,there exists a deep and
serious feeling inside of us.Being human,we desire to live well,to act justly  and to live
morally upright lives.People in the past were concerned with a divine plan.Things of
course have changed.Today,our foremost concern is life-life and what that life truly
essentially means.The idea here is this,There is a human person behind this life.Thus,to
respect life fully means to respect the human person who is the ultimate bearer of the
value of life.
Being human,we are conscious of a world around us that demands our serious
moral attention.In this regard,as human subjects,our conduct should always be
governed by moral principles,by notions of right and wrong,by ideas of what is good and
just.We have to be aware of the presence of other beings who suffer.This awareness
implies that we carry the burden of being human.We can be  liable because we know
the whys and the hows of things.Being human is never easy because we have to act in
moral ways at all times.
The fact that we are rational beings enable us to know the truth,from
conventional to ultimate realm.We then have the power to direct our will to the
good.Sadly for some,what happens now is this, the power of the divine seems to be
debased whenever we choose not to do what right reason dictates of us to do.This
obviously is the most unfortunate dimension of human faculty of reason and will.The
presence of evil only implies the failure,misuse or abuse of human freedom on the part
of some people.It does not mean that because there prevalence of evil,we should stop
our search for justice and the good life.This does not tell us that we have lost the moral
battle ahead of us.AS RATIONAL BEINGS,WE ARE MORALLY BOUND TO DO WHAT
OUR NATURE TELLS US-GOOD.

THE DIGNITY OF THE HUMAN PERSON and its  conceptual development

Let’s begin with a short historical itinerary.For Aristotle and the Stoics,the
concept of human dignity was associated with freedom and human abilities.it concerns
the freewill of the human being which empowers him to make decisions.Because
humans are free beings,violating this capacity for free decision-making violates human
dignity.
During the medieval period,the dignity of the human person was associated with
the notion of being God’s creature.Since God as a Being is a Person,one who is     most
fully in being,the human being as a creature of God manifests this personhood.And later
during the modern period,the advent of modernity    and the realities of social and
international conflicts gave the concept of human dignity a  secular connotation.The
concept of human dignity became associated with human rights.To be human means to
possess certain rights and to violate these rights      means to violate the very dignity of
the person.A human rught implies an entitlement,which suggests that one can pursue a
moral claim on something.
The human person is whole.This means that the human person cannot be
subordinated to anything in the world.No person should be used as a mere means to
further ends of other men. As persons,we are all entitled to the actualization of our very
selves.It is incumbent upo us to mutually respect each other.Ethics in this sense is a
basic respect for each to achieve the good life,to practice his faith and to nourish the
values that enhance his well-being.       
 The basic idea is that respect for human rights  should serve as the moral norm
in a just society. People can do the things in pursuit of the good but they must not in any
way harm the dignity of the person. Without our dignity, we are less than human,less
than who we really    are,and less than what we shall have achieved for ourselves.

THE MORAL DIMENSION OF HUMAN EXISTENCE

“The  experience of morality is part of every person’s life.”( Moga,1993.1)It is
found in the various obligations that arise, the experience of actions which should be
either performed or avoided.
But it can be asked whether the whole of human experience fall under the ambit
of morality.Are all areas of human life covered by ethical evaluation and judgment?ARE
ALL HUMAN CONDUCT AND ENTERPRISE SUBJECT TO MORAL PRAISE OR
CONDEMNATION?Or are there some aspects in human experience not within the
domain of ethics and morality?Or are we to conceive of morality as an integral part of
every human experience?(Moga,1993.1)
Moga cites and explores two basic positions to the above questions in his book 
Toward Authentic Morality:An Ethics Textbook for the Philippines(1993.2-3):
           (1)A-Morality Position,in here morality is understood as occupying just one area
among the many diverse areas in human life.Morality’s scope is simply confined to a
specific and limited area in human existence.Hence the rest of the other areas in human
experience are not subject to ethics and morality.
(2)The second position is quite the opposite of the first.This claims that practically
all of human life is under the domain of morality.That morality is everpresent and is
necessary for man to be truly human. This would affirm that there are clear-cut moral
rules  for every situation in life.It insists that to be human means that one recognizes 
these rules and strictly follow them since they are the basic guides for everything man
does.This position totally considers morality as permeating all facets of human
experience.
     AFTER EVALUATING THESE TWO EXTREME POSITIONS, Moga says that
morality is not just limited to a few select areas of man’s life. but is found in every
situation in various ways...as there are situations in life where the focus of human
experience is a moral obligation or value, when we are concentrating on what should be
done.
  However, there are other situations in life where morality is more in the
background. While morality is not explicitly thought about ,it serves as a horizon or
context which gently and implicitly guides us. Morality may not take the form of clear
moral rules or precise  moral actions. There may be no clear guidelines given to us  but
it is present as an awareness of a moral dimension which subtly evaluates a given
situation.
 Moga contends that if we are to be fully human, we must somehow manage to
maintain a sort of balance in all of these areas of our lives without neglecting any. We
have to avoid  to simply focus in one area  and fail to give justice to the others. Human
existence is too rich and complex to confine ourselves to a single or few dimensions
only.Life challenges us to live fully in all areas,balancing a mature moral sensitivity with
a well-rounded involvement in other areas of life.
Let’s Read!
CHARACTERISTICS OF MORAL PRINCIPLES
Experts in moral philosophy have been unable to find any single element or
feature that will truly separate moral or ethical judgments and statements from other
areas where value judgments are also present,though there is a wide consensus as to
what these traits are.(Rachels & Rachels 2015,10-13):
(1)REASONABILITY-This means that primarily,moral judgments must be backed up by
good reasonsor arguments if we want to discover the truth about what’s good and
bad,we must let our feelings be guided  as much as possible by reason.This is the
essence of morality.The morally right thing to do is always the thing best supported by
sound arguments.In this way,moral judgments are different from expressions of
personal taste.Thus,we can be confident that something is right if it is reasonable.If it
does not appeal to reason,and common sense/experience,then it has to be viewed with
suspicion and reservation.
(2)PRESCRIPTIVITY-This refers to the practical, or action-guiding nature of
morality.Moral principles are intended to advise people on what to do and to avoid.It
tries to influence the way we act in accordance with certain rules of conduct.
(3)IMPARTIALITY-This means that ethical or moral rules should be neutral when it
comes to the question as to who will be its recipient.Moral standards are supposed to
apply to everyone regardless of one’s status and situation in life.Moral rules should not
advance the interest of the few or worse,of one person alone.Self-interest does not
have a place in a proper moral standard.Moral thinkers insist that ethical rules are
grounded on the reason of an ideal observer,an impartial spectator.Thus,if we want to
make a genuine ethical claim,we must not allow our own vested interst to prevail and
decide on matters of right and wrong.
(4)OVERRIDINGNESS-Moral standards must have hegemonic authority.This means
that they should tower over all the other standards  or norms of evaluation,whatever
they may be.They are not the only standard where human actions can  be judged or
assessed but they  should take  precedence over others.They have to be of prime and
ultimate importance.
(5)AUTONOMOUS FROM ARBITRARY AUTHORITY-Moral standards should stand on
their ownlogic independent of the arbitrariness of the majority.We can always challenge
on logical grounds the tyranny of numbers and the tide of public opinion on matters of
right and wrong.Something is right or wrong regardless of what the majority decides or
says.Thus,moral rules are not subject to the whims and caprices of those in power.
(6)PUBLICITY-This simply means that moral rules and principles must be made public if
they are to serve as guidelines to our actions.The obvious reason for this is that
principles are made and promulgated to render advice  as well as assign praise or
blame to certain behaviors.It would be self-defeating therefore to just keep them from
public knowledge.If moral principles are indeed impartial and of primordial value,then by
all means,they have to be made public.Keeping them in secret  defeats  the very
purpose why they are created.You do not hide something that you really think is
genuinely good and noble. 
(7)PRACTICABILITY-Moral rules should not be impossible to achieve or else they are
not for men but for angels.This further means that ethical standards must not be over
what any  ordinary human  is capable of doing.It should not lay a too heavy burden on
people.For what practical use is a norm if it is simply impossible for anyone to
follow.Any moral norm must be workable or practical to a reasonable extent.
(8)UNIVERSALIZABILITY-A moral rule or principle must be applicable to everyone
without exception,provided of course that all people are in a relevantly similar situation
or context.
Again,even as moral philosophers among themselves do not fully agree all the
time about the above characteristics,at least the aforementioned  discussion provides
an invaluable  idea of the general features of moral principles that will also enable us to
have a deeper understanding as to what the discipline of ethics is all about.