Geceth Module 2: The Ethical Dimension of Human Existence

GECETH MODULE 2
THE ETHICAL DIMENSION

OF HUMAN EXISTENCE
Objectives
•. 1. Identify the ethical aspect of human
life and the scope of ethical thinking
• 2. Define and explain the terms that
are relevant to ethical thinking
• 3. Evaluate the difficulties that are
involved in maintaining certain
commonly held notions on ethics.
•When do we say
morality is absolute?
Kinds of Valuation
•AESTHETICS Valuation
• The word “aesthetics” is derived
from the Greek word aisthesis
(“sense” or “feeling”) and refers to
the judgments of personal approval
or disapproval that we make about
what we see, hear, smell, or taste.
Technical Valuation
• derive from the Greek word techne the
English words of “technique” and “technical”
which are often used to refer to a proper way
(or right way) of doing things, but a technical
valuation (or right and wrong technique of
doing things) may not necessarily be an
ethical one.
• Matters that concern human
well-being such as poverty,
inequality, or sexual identity are
often included in discussion of
ethics.
Descriptive study of ethics
• It reports how people, particularly groups,
make their moral valuations without making
any judgment either for or against these
valuations
• It is often applied in social sciences such as

history and anthropology.
Normative study of ethics
• It prescribes what we ought to
maintain as our standards or bases for
moral valuation.
• It is often applied in social sciences

such as philosophy and moral
theology.
Moral Issue
• refer to those particular situations that are often the
source of considerable and inclusive debate
• Examples: capital punishment and Euthanasia

Moral dilemma
• It happens when an individual can choose only one from a
number of possible actions, and there are compelling
ethical reasons for the various choices.
• Example: A mother may be conflicted between wanting to

feed her hungry child, but then recognizing that it would
be wrong for her to steal.
Reasoning
• The promise of rewards and the fear of
punishments can certainly motivate us to
act, but are not in themselves a
determinant of the rightness or wrongness
of a certain way of acting or of the good or
the bad in a particular pursuit.
Type of Reasoning
• 1.Reasoning by analogy - explains one
thing by comparing it to something else that
is similar, although also different. In a good
analogy, the similarity outweighs the
dissimilarity and is clarifying.
• 2. Deductive reasoning - applies a
principle to a situation. For
instance, if every person has
human rights, and you are a
person, then you have human
rights like every person.
• 3. Inductive reasoning - involves
providing evidence to support a
hypothesis. The greater the
evidence for a hypothesis, the
more we may rely on it.
SOURCES OF AUTHORITY
• the authority of laws
• the authority of one’s religion
• the authority of one’s own culture.
Authority of Laws
• 1. Law is an ordinance of reason promulgated for the

common good by one who has charge of society (St.
Thomas Aquinas). It is supposed that law is one’s guide to
ethical behavior.
• Laws are “ordinance of reason” because they are rational
deliberations intended to guide men towards what is good
for them and for society. They direct men to perform
certain activities as good for them and for society.
Classification of Law
• A. Eternal Law -Are those promulgated, or made known

to us, by special command of God/ Instituted by the will of
God. -Is the design of God, as a Supreme Creator, to
direct all created things to their respective proper ends.
Classification of Law
• B. Natural Law/Moral Law - ( God as the author - THE
ALL- WISE) - Is the Eternal law as known to man by his
reason. -Is recognized by all men regardless of creed,
race, culture or historical circumstances. - Man’s reason
shows him the natural order as a thing to be conserved
and not disturbed.
Properties of the Natural Law
• 1. It is universal- it is true wherever human nature
manifest itself.
• 2. It is obligatory- it is imperative because it is a duty that
ought to be fulfilled.
• 3. It is recognizable – it enables man to recognize self-
evident principles, such as: “ Do good and avoid evil”.
• 4. It is immutable or unchangeable – it is immutable
because man’s essential nature can never be lost as long
as man is man.
• 5. Indispensable- no one is dispensed or excused in the
observance of the natural law.
Positive law/human positive law
• It refers to the different rules and regulations that are
posited or put forward by an authority figure that require
compliance. It is law enacted by church or state. An
ordinance of reason, derived from the natural law, or
making a concrete and determinate application of the
natural law, promulgated for the common good by human
agency in charge of a society. These laws are intended to
preserve peace and harmony within a society and to
direct each member of that society to work towards the
common good.
Examples of Positive Law
• 1. The Laws of the State - embodied in the
Constitution. Example: Everyone must pay
his due taxes, obey traffic rules.
• 2. The Laws of the Catholic Church -

embodied in the Canon Law. Example:
Attend mass every Sunday, love God
above all.
Properties of Positive Law
• 1. Human laws must conform to divine
laws.
• 2. Human laws must promote the common
good.
• 3. Human law must be just and not
discriminatory of certain individuals or
groups.
Authority of Religion
• This is referred to as the divine
command theory.
• The divinity called God, Allah, or

Supreme Being commands and one is
obliged to obey her Creator.
Authority of One’s Culture
• What is ethically acceptable or unacceptable is
relative to, or that is to say, dependent on one’s
culture. This position is referred to as cultural
relativism.
• This teaches us to be tolerant of others from
different cultures, as we realize that we are in no
position to judge whether the ethical thought or
practice of another culture is acceptable or
unacceptable.
Categories of cultural relativism
• 1. Absolute:
• Everything that happens within a culture
must and should not be questioned by
outsiders.
• Examples: Nazi party’s point of view
justifying the Holocaust.
• Practice of female genital cutting in Africa.
Categories of cultural relativism
• 2. Critical:
• Creates questions about cultural practices
in terms of who is accepting them and why.
Critical cultural relativism also recognizes
power relationships.
Theories about ethics that center on the self
• 1. Subjectivism
• It is the recognition that the individual
thinking person (subject) is at the heart of
all moral valuations. She is the one who is
confronted with the situation and is
burdened with the need to make a decision
of judgment.
• 2. Psychological Egoism - is a theory that
describes the underlying dynamic behind
all human actions. It does not direct one to
act in a particular way. Instead, it points out
that there is already an underlying basis for
how one acts.
• The ego itself has its desires and interests,
and all our actions are geared toward
satisfying these interests.
• 3. Ethical Egoism
• It differs from psychological egoism in that
it does not support all our actions are
already inevitably self-serving.
• Instead, it prescribes that we should make
our own ends, our own interests, as the
single overriding concern.

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GECETH MODULE 2

THE ETHICAL DIMENSION

• It is often applied in social sciences such as

• It is often applied in social sciences

• Examples: capital punishment and Euthanasia

• Example: A mother may be conflicted between wanting to

• 1. Law is an ordinance of reason promulgated for the

• A. Eternal Law -Are those promulgated, or made known

• 2. The Laws of the Catholic Church -

• The divinity called God, Allah, or

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