General Education 8: Ethics

General Education 8
ETHICS
Course Instructor:
Professor Richard .
Verdeflor
After reading this chapter, you should be
able to:
Identify the ethical aspect of human life and

the scope of ethical thinking;
Define and explain the terms that are

relevant to ethical thinking; and
Evaluate the difficulties that are involved in

maintaining certain commonly-held notions
on ethics
SENSES OF THE
SELF
SENSES OF THE SELF
It is sometimes thought that one should not rely on
any external authority to tell oneself what the
standards of moral valuation are, but should instead
turn inwards.
Self Concept
• The set of beliefs that we hold about who we are is called the self concept.
• It can also be defined as the sum total of an individual’s beliefs about his or her own personal
attributes.
• It is basically the individual’s image of the kind of person he or she is. This include the awareness
of being (What I am) and awareness of function (What I can do).
• The latter component of what we called as the idea self. The ideal self represents the self concept
that an individual would ideally want.
Self Concept
• Like other belief systems, the self concept includes:
1. Cognitive Aspect
2. Behavioral Aspect
3. Affective Aspect
Cognitive Aspect: SELF
SCHEMA
• Self schemas are cognitive generalizations about the self,

derived from the past experience, that organize and guide the
processing of self-related information.
Affective/Evaluative
Aspect: SELF ESTEEM
• Self esteem reflects the perceived difference between an individual’s actual self
concept (who I think really am) and some ideal self image (who I would really like
to be).
• William James(1890) expressed the relationship this way:
Self esteem is equal to success/pretension.
Pretension (ideals against which individuals assess their actual image)

Behavioral Aspect: SELF
PERCEPTION
• Darl Bem (19720) influential self perception theory reflects how we observe our
behavior and the situation in which it took place, make attributions about why the
behavior occurred, and draw conclusions about our own characteristic and
disposition.
• In other words, we come to understand ourselves the same way we perceive and
understand others.
UNDERSTANDING
SELF
• Understanding self represents the sum total of people’s conscious perception of their identity as
distinct from others. It is not static phenomenon, but continues to develop and change throughout
our lives ̶ George Herbert Head.
• The understanding self is thinking about what is involved in being and what distinguish you from
being an object, an animal, or different person- Richard Stevens.
• It is a subjective sense of the self and a complex mixture of both unconscious & conscious thoughts,
attitudes, and perceptions.
Three theories about ethics that center on the self:
ETHICAL
ETHICAL
SUBJECTIVISM
SUBJECTIVISM EGOISM
EGOISM
PSYCHOLOGICAL
PSYCHOLOGICAL
EGOISM
EGOISM
SUBJECTIVISM
SUBJECTIVISM
• The starting point of subjectivism is the recognition of individual thinking person

(the subject) is at the heart of all moral valuations.
• He/she is the one who is confronted with the situation and is burdened with the
need to make decision or judgment.
• The individual is the sole determinant of what is morally good or bad, right or
wrong.
SUBJECTIVISM
SUBJECTIVISM
Some cliché that would echo subjectivism:
• “No one can tell me what is right and wrong.”

• “No one knows my situation better than myself.”
• “I am entitled to my own opinion.”
• “It is good if I say that it is good.”
PSYCHOLOGICAL
PSYCHOLOGICAL
EGOISM
EGOISM
• Psychological egoism suggests that all behaviors are motivated by self-interest.

In other words, it suggests that every action or behavior or decision of every
person is motivated by self interest.
• Suppose a soldier falls on a grenade to save his buddies. The psychological

egoist would say the action can be said to be in the interest of the soldier.
ETHICAL
ETHICAL
EGOISM
EGOISM
• Is the normative ethical position that moral agents ought to act in their own self
interest. It differs from psychological egoism, which claims that people can only
act in their self-interest.
• For example, a cigarette smoker acts on his desire to smoke; even with the fact
that smoking causes health problems that are not in one’s best interest.

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General Education 8

Identify the ethical aspect of human life and

Define and explain the terms that are

Evaluate the difficulties that are involved in

• Self schemas are cognitive generalizations about the self,

• William James(1890) expressed the relationship this way:

Self esteem is equal to success/pretension.

Pretension (ideals against which individuals assess their actual image)

• The starting point of subjectivism is the recognition of individual thinking person

Some cliché that would echo subjectivism:

• “No one can tell me what is right and wrong.”

• Psychological egoism suggests that all behaviors are motivated by self-interest.

• Suppose a soldier falls on a grenade to save his buddies. The psychological

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