What is ethics? What use is ethics?

At its simplest, ethics is a system of moral Ethics needs to provide answers.

principles. They affect how people make
decisions and lead their lives. If ethical theories are to be useful in
practice, they need to affect the way human
Ethics is concerned with what is good for beings behave.
individuals and society and is also
described as moral philosophy. Some philosophers think that ethics does do
this. They argue that if a person realises
The term is derived from the Greek word that it would be morally good to do
ethos which can mean custom, habit, something then it would be irrational for that
character or disposition. person not to do it.

Ethics covers the following dilemmas: But human beings often behave irrationally -
they follow their 'gut instinct' even when
· how to live a good life their head suggests a different course of
action.
· our rights and responsibilities
However, ethics does provide good tools for
· the language of right and wrong thinking about moral issues.

· moral decisions - what is good and bad? Ethics can provide a moral map
Most moral issues get us pretty worked up -
Our concepts of ethics have been derived
think of abortion and euthanasia for starters.
from religions, philosophies and cultures.
Because these are such emotional issues
They infuse debates on topics like abortion,
we often let our hearts do the arguing while
human rights and professional conduct.
our brains just go with the flow.
Approaches to ethics
But there's another way of tackling these
issues, and that's where philosophers can
Philosophers nowadays tend to divide
come in - they offer us ethical rules and
ethical theories into three areas: metaethics,
principles that enable us to take a cooler
normative ethics and applied ethics.
view of moral problems.
· Meta-ethics deals with the nature of
So ethics provides us with a moral map, a
moral judgement. It looks at the
framework that we can use to find our way
origins and meaning of ethical
through difficult issues.
principles.
Ethics can pinpoint a disagreement
· Normative ethics is concerned with the
of moral judgements and the criteria Using the framework of ethics, two people
for what is right or wrong. who are arguing a moral issue can often
find that what they disagree about is just
· Applied ethics looks at controversial one particular part of the issue, and that
topics like war, animal rights and they broadly agree on everything else.
capital punishment
That can take a lot of heat out of the
argument, and sometimes even hint at a
way for them to resolve their problem.
But sometimes ethics doesn't provide ETHICS, PEOPLE IN COMMUNICATION
people with the sort of help that they really AND PRINCIPLES
want.
1. Truthfulness, accuracy, honesty and
Ethics doesn't give right answers reason as essential to the integrity of
communication must be advocated.
Ethics doesn't always show the right answer
to moral problems. 2. Freedom of expression, diversity of
perspective, and tolerance of dissent to
Indeed more and more people think that for
achieve the informed and responsible
many ethical issues there isn't a single right
decision making fundamental to a civil
answer - just a set of principles that can be
society should be recommended.
applied to particular cases to give those
involved some clear choices.
3. Respect and strive to understand other
Some philosophers go further and say that communicators before evaluating and
all ethics can do is eliminate confusion and responding to their messages.
clarify the issues. After that it's up to each
4. Communication that degrades individuals
individual to come to their own conclusions.
and humanity through distortion,
Ethics can give several answers intimidation, coercion, and violence, and
through the expression of intolerance and
Many people want there to be a single right hatred must be condemned.
answer to ethical questions. They find moral
ambiguity hard to live with because they 5. People needs to be committed to the
genuinely want to do the 'right' thing, and courageous expression of personal
even if they can't work out what that right convictions in pursuit of fairness and justice.
thing is , they like the idea that 'somewhere'
there is one right answer. 6. Advocacy in sharing information,
opinions, and feelings when facing
But often there isn't one right answer - there significant choices while also respecting
may be several right answers, or just some privacy and confidentiality should be
least worst answers - and the individual implemented;
must choose between them.
7. Accept responsibility for the short or long
For others moral ambiguity is difficult term consequences.
because it forces them to take responsibility
for their own choices and actions, rather Ethics is concerned with other people's
than falling back on convenient rules and interests, with the interests of society, with
customs. God's interests, with "ultimate goods", and
so on.
Ethics and people So when a person 'thinks ethically' they are
giving at least some thought to something
Ethics is about the 'other' beyond themselves.
Ethics is concerned with other people Ethics as source of group strength
At the heart of ethics is a concern about One problem with ethics is the way it's often
something or someone other than ourselves used as a weapon.
and our own desires and self-interest.
If a group believes that a particular activity THE IMPORTANCE OF RULES TO
is "wrong" it can then use morality as the SOCIAL BEINGS.
justification for attacking those who practice
that activity. 1. Protect social being by regulating
behavior. It builds boundaries that place
When people do this, they often see those limits on behavior. It usually coupled with
who they regard as immoral as in some way means to impose consequences on those
less human or deserving of respect than who violate them
themselves; sometimes with tragic
consequences. One of the reasons people follow accepted
rules is to avoid negative consequences.
Good people as well as good actions
2. It guarantees each person certain rights
Ethics is not only about the morality of and freedom. Nations are generally
particular courses of action, but it's also nationswith lawand the governing principles
about the goodness of individuals and what are outlined in what is called
it means to live a good life. CONSTITUTION. The people has a certain
right the freedoms outlined exists. The
Virtue Ethics is particularly concerned with government is limited in its power to ensure
the moral character of human beings. that it does not become powerful enough to
suppress liberty. (freedom).
Searching for the source of right and
wrong 3. It produces a sense of justice among
social beings. Rules are needed in orneded
At times in the past some people thought der to keep the strong from dominating the
that ethical problems could be solved in one weak, that to prevent exploitation- ( the
of two ways: action or act of treating someone unfairly in
order to benefit from their work) Example:
· by discovering what God wanted people The exploitation of migrant workers.
to do Domination- power or control over other
people or things.
· by thinking rigorously about moral
principles and problems 4. It is essential for a healthy economic
system. Without rules regulating business,
If a person did this properly they would be power would centralize around monopolies.
led to the right conclusion. Rules are needed to ensure products
safety, employees safety and product
But now even philosophers are less sure quality. Rules and regulations also keep the
that it's possible to devise a satisfactory and banking system, stable as so to avoid
complete theory of ethics - at least not one depression and the like.
that leads to conclusions.
In short, the society would soundly
Modern thinkers often teach that ethics function without rules and regulations.
leads people not to conclusions but to
'decisions'.by MORAL VS. NON-MORAL STANDARDS

Moral standards pertain to the rules people

have about the kinds of actions they believe
are morally right and wrong.
 What is Ethics? Is from a Greek word
ethos which means “character”. Why is
there a need to study ethics at all as a
subject college? In fact, most students in an
ethics course (philosophy) major are
interested in philosophical questions
academically. Others think that such
endeavor is a waste of time and distracts
them from their major. Why then is it
important to take course in ethics?

Does not everyone already have a sense of

what is good and bad behavior?

Does not every one have an instinct about

what one’s ought to do, and what one’s
duties are? Why is there a need to spend
time thinking about what is already inherent
in everyone’s mind?

In our country and most Western-

influenced academic institutions, the
standard philosophers considered as basis
for ethical thinking are Aristotle, Thomas
Aquinas, Confucius and others utilitarian
philosophers.

This will be a useful guide for us to think

about complex questions of what is meant
to be good and what is meant to live as a
good persons.

THE IMPORTANCE OF RULES

Everywhere you go are rules – at home,

at school, in church in the barangay. Do this
rules make our life difficult and so should be
eliminated or these rules make our life more
peaceful and orderly?

Rules are meant to set order. (the

Philippines Constitution and other laws
included} The greatest Teacher, Jesus
Christ, preached emphatically, “ The
Sabbath is made for man and not man for
the Sabbath”. (spend your time in worships,
prayers, for his own good).

For the sake of order in the society,

everyone is subject to rules. In a democratic
country