Module 1 (Week 1) What Is Ethics?

MODULE 1 (WEEK 1)
WHAT IS ETHICS?
 It a special branch of philosophy which deals with the study of the principle
of right moral actions. It aims to study the principles underlying the
desirable types of human conduct and to prescribe the principles and
methods for distinguishing right from wrong, good from bad.
 Etymologically, it came from the Greek word “ETHOS”, which means

“CHARACTER”.
WHY WE STUDY ETHICS/MORAL PHILOSOPHY?
 It is to help man secure his moral elevation and to better this world. To help
us become a better member of the community.
FOUNDATIONS OF MORALITY
The tradition of Western ethical philosophy – if that is generally understood as
the search for a rational understanding of the principles of human conduct –
began with the ancient Greeks. From Socrates (469–399 BCE) and his
immediate successors, Plato (c. 427–347) and Aristotle (384–322), there is a
clear line of continuity, through Hellenistic (i.e., broadly, post-Aristotelian),
Roman, and medieval thought to the present day.
The study of the ancient texts, at least in the English-speaking world, is nowadays
largely the preserve of scholars who are themselves philosophers, and who
recognize in them an immediate relevance and vivacity which belies their age. The
process is two-way; on the one hand, modern insights repeatedly give an extra
dimension to our understanding of Greek thought; on the other, Greek ideas retain
the power directly to shape, or at any rate to sharpen, contemporary reflections –
and not least in the sphere of ethics.
Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle, who on any account are likely to appear as the most
influential representatives of Greek ethics, we are fortunately better off.
Greek ethics in all periods essentially revolves around two terms, eudaimonia and
arete; or, as they are traditionally rendered, ‘happiness’ and ‘virtue’.
Let us take eudaimonia first. ‘Happiness’, the English term, now perhaps primarily
connotes a subjective feeling of contentment or pleasure (as in ‘happy as a sand-
boy’). The Greeks, however, attributed eudaimonia to someone with reference
rather to what would normally be the source of such feelings, i.e. the possession of
what is thought to be desirable, which looks more like an objective judgement.
Thus someone may be called eudaimon because he or she is rich, powerful, has
fine children, and so on; if such things may very well make for contentment, the
ascription of eudaimonia need not strictly imply it.
The relationship between ‘virtue’ and arete is rather more complex. Firstly, things
as well as people can be described as possessing their appropriate arete
(‘excellence’?). But secondly, and more importantly, the list of the aretai (plural) of
a human being may include qualities which are not ‘virtues’ at all – that is, not
moral qualities: so for example Aristotle’s list includes ‘wittiness’, and the capacity
for successful philosophizing, both of which seem in themselves clearly to lie
outside the sphere of morality. On the other hand, most of what we do count as
virtues – though not all of them – are there, and indeed what Socrates and Plato
mean by arete seems largely to be restricted to these.
The importance of these issues about translation becomes obvious as soon as we

encounter the fundamental question which preoccupied all the Greek ethical
philosophers. It is first framed by Socrates (or rather by Socrates as reported by
Plato):
How should a man live, in order to achieve eudaimonia?
SOCRATES
-Knowledge leads to ethical action.
-Knowledge and virtue are one.

-A wise man knows what is right and will also do what is right. To live virtuously.
-“Unexamined life is not worth living”
PLATO
-Virtue is knowledge and the source of knowledge is virtue.
-Knowledge and ideas are inborn already present in the mind of man from birth.
-Happiness is attained by constant imitation of the divine exemplar of virtue,

embodied by his former perfect self.
ARISTOTLE
-Very goal of human life is happiness.
-To attain this is in moderation or the avoidance of extremes.
-Virtue is a habit (moral virtue) or trained faculty of choice (intellectual virtue)
-Virtue is a state of character concerned with choice, lying in MEAN (moderation).
THE REALM OF MORALITY
AGENCY/ MORAL AGENT

• Physical doer of an act, the material object of ethics,
• A human being endowed with reason and freedom
• a necessary condition or requirement of moral responsibility.
• can only be held morally responsible for an event if that something is an agent.
• Agency for many involves the exercise of freedom
• Freedom is usually taken to require the ability to act otherwise or in ways
contrary to the way one is currently acting or has acted in the past.
• “Free Will”, one can act independently of desires and chains of natural causes.
Other conditions of agency
-feelings and desires
-social conditions must be in place for moral agency to be possible
Types of Agent
-individual
-collective (ruling class, corporations, families, tribes and ethnic groups)
AUTONOMY
• the capacity to act in moral ways is the ability not only to choose and to act on
those choices but also to choose for oneself, to be the author of one’s own life.
• an absence of compulsion
• the word “autonomous” derives from the Greek for self (auto) and law (nomos)
and literally means self-legislating, giving the law to one’s self.
HUMAN ACTS VS ACTS OF MAN
HUMAN ACTS
• actions that are conscious, deliberate, intentional and voluntary

• product of rationality and freedom
• example: being honest or telling lie, saving one’s life or killing somebody
• It is an act that either ethical or unethical
ACTS OF MAN
• Types of actions That are naturally exhibited by man and as such, morally
indifferent (neutral) because they it cannot be judged whether it is ethical or
unethical.
• Example: eating, sleeping, walking
FORMS OF HUMAN ACTS

EXTERNAL ACTS
-Acts that are manifested or externalized,
-Also called as ELICITED ACTS
-Physically observable
INTERNAL ACTS
-Acts that are not bodily manifested

-Subjective and personal
CLASSIFICATION OF HUMAN ACTS
MORAL OR ETHICAL ACTS

• Human acts that may be in conformity to a standard or norm of morality
IMMORAL OR UNETHICAL ACTS

• Human acts that may be in violation of a standard or norm of morality.
AMORAL OR NEUTRAL ACTS

• Human acts without moral content, neither good nor bad in themselves
NON-MORAL ACTS
• Actions where moral categories (such as right and wrong) cannot be applied
(such as matters of fact in scientific descriptions) example accident and flexing
muscles
ELEMENTS OF HUMAN ACTS
• INTENTION OF THE ACT – the reason or motive why the act is being done
• MEANS OF THE ACT – the object employed or the medium used to carry out
the intention of the act
• END OF THE ACT – intention of the act is directed at a desired end or
perceived good.
• CONSEQUENCE OF THE ACT- the result, the outcome or the actual

conclusion of the moral act.

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MODULE 1 (WEEK 1)

 Etymologically, it came from the Greek word “ETHOS”, which means

WHY WE STUDY ETHICS/MORAL PHILOSOPHY?

The importance of these issues about translation becomes obvious as soon as we

How should a man live, in order to achieve eudaimonia?

-Knowledge leads to ethical action.

-Knowledge and virtue are one.

-“Unexamined life is not worth living”

-Virtue is knowledge and the source of knowledge is virtue.

-Happiness is attained by constant imitation of the divine exemplar of virtue,

-Very goal of human life is happiness.

-To attain this is in moderation or the avoidance of extremes.

-Virtue is a habit (moral virtue) or trained faculty of choice (intellectual virtue)

-Virtue is a state of character concerned with choice, lying in MEAN (moderation).

THE REALM OF MORALITY

AGENCY/ MORAL AGENT

HUMAN ACTS VS ACTS OF MAN

• actions that are conscious, deliberate, intentional and voluntary

FORMS OF HUMAN ACTS

-Acts that are not bodily manifested

CLASSIFICATION OF HUMAN ACTS

MORAL OR ETHICAL ACTS

IMMORAL OR UNETHICAL ACTS

AMORAL OR NEUTRAL ACTS

ELEMENTS OF HUMAN ACTS

• CONSEQUENCE OF THE ACT- the result, the outcome or the actual

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