Download Topic: Introduction

Topic: Introduction
Sub-topic: Basic Concepts
1. Ethics:
(a) Ethics is the principles of conduct governing
an individual or a group.
An individual may have personal ethics. This will
be the rules by which that individual lives his
life.
A group such as a Physicians Association may
have a code of ethics that is applied to the
behavior of its members.
Topic: Introduction
Sub-topic: Basic Concepts
1. Ethics:
Ethics is thus a mechanism to control or regulate
the behaviors of individuals or groups.
(b) Ethics is also the study of morality. In other
words, ethics studies or investigates the morality
of some conduct.
2. Morality: It is the standards that an individual
or a group has about what is right and wrong,
or good and evil.
Topic: Introduction
Sub-topic: Basic Concepts
2. Morality (Cont.)
•
Moral standards include
(a) Norms: the kinds of actions we believe are morally
right and wrong. These norms are usually expressed
as general rules or statements.
Examples: “Always tell the truth.”
“It is wrong to kill innocent people.” “It is wrong to steal.”
(b) Values: These are the judgments, in terms of good
and bad, we put on objects.
Examples: “Honesty is good.” “Injustice is bad.”
Topic: Introduction
Sub-topic: Basic Concepts
2. Morality (Cont.)
• Sources of Moral Standards: Where do moral standards
come from?
We learn about these standards through the socialization
process as we grow up from childhood to adulthood.
When we become adults, experience, learning, and
intellectual development may lead us to revise these
standards. We may even discard some moral standards
and adopt new ones as we mature.
• Notice that we do not always live up to the moral
standards we hold. In other words, we do not always do
what we believe is morally right. Also, we do not always
pursue what we believe is morally good.
Topic: Introduction
Sub-topic: Basic Concept
Salient Characteristics of Moral Standards (Morality):
These characteristics distinguish moral standards from non-moral
standards. An example of non-moral standards is standards of
etiquette such as table manners.
a. Moral standards deal with matters that can seriously injure or benefit
human beings.
Examples: a drug company does not tell its clients the side effects of
some of its medications. Murdering people, raping people
b. Moral standards are not established or changed by the decisions of
particular authoritative bodies.
c. Moral standards are preferred to other values, particularly selfinterest.
Example: Consider a business firm (a drug company) that lies about
the side effects of one of its medical drug.
Introduction
Characteristics of Moral Standard (Cont.)
d. Moral standards are based on impartial
considerations. This means one should
not be biased or prejudiced when making
a decision. For example, A judge should
not judge on the basis of friendship. He
does, then his judgment will be partial, not
impartial.