Ethics WK2 1 1
Ethics WK2 1 1
PHL 1B
WHAT IS ETHICS?
*take note: The 2 terms (ethics and morality), especially their adjective form
(ethical and moral) are used interchangeably.
Importance Of Ethics
Montemayor (1994) proclaims that the importance of the study of ethics follows immediately from
the importance of ethics itself. His idea is manifested in the following:
1. Ethics means right living and good moral character and it is in good moral character that man
finds his true worth and perfection. All the great teachers of the ages maintain that the
supreme purpose of human living lies not in the acquisition of material good or bodily
pleasures, nor in the attainment of bodily perfections such as health and strength; nor even in
the development of intellectual skills but in the development of the moral qualities which lift
man far above brute creation.
2. Education is the harmonious development of the whole man-of all man’s faculties: the
moral, intellectual, and physical powers in man. Now then highest of man’s power are his
reason and will. Hence, the primary objective of education is the moral development of the
will.
Questions that are ethical in nature:
What is good?
Who is a moral person?
What are the virtues of human being?
What makes an act right?
What duties do we have to each other?
I. The importance of RULES
I. The importance of RULES
In short, society could not soundly functions without rules and regulations. Rules
are necessary to protect the greater good. Even the freest societies ought to
have rules in order to avoid exploitations and tyranny.
II. MORAL STANDARDS
VS. NON-MORAL
STANDARDS
Non-moral Standards
Only human beings can be Ethical (lifted from the book of De Guzman, (2017) -Ethics:
Principles of Ethical Behaviour in Modern Society)
a. Only human beings are rational, autonomous, and self-conscious
b. Only human beings can act morally or immorally
c. Only human beings are part of the moral community
Culture is a ‘way of life’ of a group of people and this so-called ‘way of life’ actually includes
moral values and behaviors, along with knowledge beliefs, symbols that they accept, “generally
without thinking about them, and that are passed along by communication and imitation from
one generation to the next”.
People learn morals and aspects of right and wrong from transmitters of culture: respective
parents, teachers, novels, films and television. Observing or watching them, people develop a
set of ideas of what is right and wrong, what is acceptable and what is not.
Social Learning is the process by which individuals acquire knowledge from others in the groups
to which they belong.