Ethics Notes2

7/31/2019 Ethics Notes2

1/47

CES 111: SOCIAL ETHICS


2/47

COURSE DESCRIPTION

The course will introduce students to theimportance of social ethics. Students will learnthat ethics is not a subject matter only for

Christians, Muslims and the religious people.Rather, ethics is for every rational individual inthe society, because it is about human behavior.

The term social refers to people in interaction.

People live in associations, groups and societies,and there must be peace, order and justiceamong them.


3/47

Contd

Ethics, on the other hand, has a number ofmeanings. But in its frequent usage, ethicsrefers to a code or a set of principles by which

people are expected to behave morally andshare justly in the common good.

There are different branches of ethics:Christian ethics, Jewish ethics, Islamic ethics,medical ethics, bioethics, legal ethics, moraltheology(ethics), and business ethics(etc).


4/47

Cont

Social ethics, however, embraces all aspects of

ethics because it deals with moral issues that

affect people in social institutions. Thus, social

ethics refers to the area of moral questions,

problems, and issues that arises from human

relations to social structures(institutions).

Examples of social institutions are: family,marriage, ethnic groups, business, trade,

school, hospital and government,(etc).


5/47

Contd

Social ethics looks at some social issues:

divorce, wife battering, child abuse, poverty,

rape, disease, famine, abortion, trafficking-in-

persons, oppression(social, political) business

and medical malpractice, war, discrimination

(racism, tribalism), male dominance, the right

to health care, the right to education, the rightto shelter, environmental hazard(toxic dump).


6/47

Contd

Ethics is about theory and practice. Therefore,

the theoretical scheme will be applied to

some of the social issues or problems. In doing

so, we shall be saying something about our

own positions on some of the ethical issues as

moral person.


7/47

REQUIREMENTS

Regular class attendance and participation.

Students will read materials on their own to

supplement lectures.

Students will do a mid-term examination.

There will be a short group position papers on a

given topic.

There will be a final examination.

The final grade will be bases on the requirements


8/47

UNIT I: THE NATURE OF ETHICS

Definition of Term

Sociological Background

The origin of ethics


9/47

UNIT II: THE SEARCH FOR MORAL

STANDARD

Moral development

Moral reasoning

Moral judgment Moral responsibility


10/47

UNIT III: THE SOCIETY(NATION) AND

HUMAN BEHAVIOUR

A human being and his/her purpose

A search for the good life: common good

What is happiness? How do we attain happiness?


11/47

UNIT IV: ETHICS AND JUSTICE

The role of Justice

Rights of Justice

Human dignity


12/47

UNIT V: ETHICS AND NATURAL LAW

What is natural law?

Ancient understanding

Modern understanding


13/47

UNIT VI: ETHICS METHODOLOGY

Normative motive: Prescriptive

The human act

Free will and determination Hedonism

Utilitarianism

Theory of self-realization Responsible ethics(Richard Niebuhr)


14/47

UNIT VII: PART II FROM THEORY TO

PRACTICE: ETHICS AND SOCIAL ISSUES

Divorce

Wife battering

Male dominance Child abuse

Ethic wars-migration(refugees)

Female mutilation Physical challenged(etc)


15/47

UNIT 1

There are two components: social and ethics.Social derives from the Latin word socius i.e.an ally, companion, and an association

Ethics derives from 2 Greek words: Ethos i.e.custom, behavior, conduct that can change e.gdressing and Ethika i.e customs, behavior orconduct that cannot change e.g respect forthe elderly, celebration of marriage as a socialcultural institution.


16/47

Contd

The basis for social ethics is society. Social

Ethics is the same as moral philosophy

because moral norms, regulations and values

are derived from society, and there are certainsocial thinkers, who are brains behind these

social values, norms, regulations(the think-

tanks).


17/47

Contd

Philosophers are professional thinkers. Philo-

love;Sophia-wisdom. In the pre-Socratic era,Thales,

Anaximenes and Anaximander who belonged to the

Milesian school of thought began to think about thenatural environment. They were known as exponents

of naturalistic monism; they were concerned about

one natural substance reality and the problem of

change. For Thales- the primordial substance iswater, Anaximander-boundless and Anaximenes- air.


18/47

TYPES OF ETHICS

Social Ethics- is about moral behavior,Traditional moral ethics, Christian ethics,Islamic ethics, Business ethics, Legal ethics,

and medical ethics. We are ethical people because we live in

society and want to live good moral lives notbecause we are Christians but our Christianprinciples can enhance or inform our ethicalbehaviors even further.


19/47

NATURE OF ETHICS

The concept nature is from the Latin word naturawhich denotes what is given by birth. It refers to theprinciple directing our inner development or growth.

Nature can also mean the biological heritage which

turns towards growth and maturity. The nature of aperson is a being in becoming and it belongs tohuman essence to have a conscious life. Humans arebody and soul and they have and live an ethical life ingroups, association in society. Hence, Man lives insocial aggregation with fellow men.


20/47

Contd

The nature of ethics refers to the elements

and understanding of ethics as a moral

discipline and humans are supposed to be

ethical or moral in their behavior by choosingbetween options. A person is always making

decision or choices between a right action and

wrong action.


21/47

Contd

Thus, ethics deals with human conduct or

behaviors that are right. Since people live in

groups and are constantly interacting among

themselves, they must have knowledge ofcertain actions that they ought to avoid or

perform. Therefore, that which is good and

true are essential elements of ethics and areconstitutive of the nature of ethics.


22/47

DEFINITION

Ethics is a branch of philosophy called moralphilosophy. Philosophy is the love of wisdom ore thepursuit of wisdom, a critical thinking about andanalysis of things.

Ethics is a philosophical or critical thinking aboutmorality, human conduct, and moral problems. As ahumanist (a person who is a religious believer) he orshe does so of his/her own reason. First andforemost, morality is a human consideration. Andethical problems have been with humans from thebeginning of life independent of Christianity or Islam.


23/47

Contd

The word ethics comes from the Greek word

which is custom, the sum total of human

behavior, the early Greek philosophers

observed that some customs, behaviors aremore stable and unchangeable than others.

For example, changing customs are the way of

dressing (fashion), methods of preparing foodand eating by various ethnic groups.


24/47

Contd

Some stable or unchanging customs are truth-

telling, respect for life, respect for the elderly

and the celebration of marriage. Generally,

the Greek called all customs-ethos, but theycalled the stable customs-ethika- hence the

English term ethics.


25/47

Contd

The Greeks also called ethics the proper way

of behavior, moral philosophy(i.e philosophia

moralis). And the English words moral and

morality are from the Latin words: moralismoralitas. The Romans on the other hand,

called customs mores which is the plural form

of the word mos-moris. Mores meansmanners or morals i.e. moral behavior.


26/47

Contd

Ethics is about the rightness or wrongness of

human conduct, which could also be called

good or bad action. According to Norman J.

Bull, morality is the generally accepted code ofconduct in the society (Moral Education,

1969:1). This point leads us to the

consideration of the sociological backgroundof Ethics.


27/47

Sociological Background of Ethics

Sociologically speaking, a society is a networkof interrelationship. And as humans live ingroups, social aggregations, there are bound

to be problems which are socially defined bysocial authorities.

Social ethics deals with the questions andmoral issues within a given society. In anygiven society, some actions are consideredpraiseworthy and others bad or wrong.


28/47

Contd

And the society defines what is good for itsmembers, and what must be avoided by them.Since there are so many societies there arebound to be various value systems. Social valuesis what each society or members of the societyconsider as important and desirable.

The problem we have is what one society

considers a value or acceptable behavior may notbe considered valuable by another society. This isthe problem of ethical or cultural relativity.


29/47

Contd

E.g: puberty rites are culturally relative to

Ghana, but ethics deals with universal

standards. And there must be a universal

understanding of what is good or bad. Thus,social ethics tries to establish universal

principles or standards which are acceptable

by every culture or everybody.


30/47

Contd

So societies establish norms to guard humanbehavior. In all cultures, truth-telling is acceptedas an important social value. E.g. the Golden Ruleis accepted as an important rule of conduct.

In Ethics, you have ethical relativity and moralabsolute. Ethics is about good behavior. Mr.Anthony Osei is a good soccer player. Mr. Yaw is a

good man. The former is a relative usage/non-moral usage. The latter is an absoluteusage/moral usage.


31/47

Contd

Ethical decisions are individual decisions even

if the society sets up the rules. It is the

individual who has to make a decision and to

take responsibility for his/her actions. Socialethics or moral philosophy or morality looks

for solutions to social conflicts.


32/47

THE ORIGINS OF ETHICS

In asking such a question, we are asking why

we should obey rules. Can we imagine how

life will be without some or any rule. Ethics

(Morality) is social in origin because it is notan invention of the individual for his/her own

guidance.


33/47


34/47

Contd

THREE ANSWERS CAN BE GIVEN: Hobbes state

of nature> the law of the jungle where might

is right/survival of the fittest.

One answer is provided by a British social

thinker/Philosopher, Thomas Hobbes(1588-

1679). Hobbes envisioned a pre-ethical state

in which there were no rules, and called it astate of nature(civitas natura).


35/47

Contd

Hobbes says that, the state of nature life was

short, nasty and brutish. So prudent people in

the society realized that there was a need for

ruler who saw to it that the rules were obeyedand he called such a state a

commonwealth(Leviathan).


36/47


37/47

Contd

Contrary to what Hobbes said, Rousseau

taught that people in the state of nature did

what was naturally good, and they were not in

the state of war against one another. However,he accepted the basic premise that men and

women are selfish by nature.


38/47

Contd

And he then affirmed that selfish interest was

transformed into moral obligation by the

social contract. The social contract is based on

the agreement which is made between themaster-servant relationships. The contract

stipulates that the Lord/Master or the King

will defend the people in exchange for theirobedience.


39/47

Contd

Within the Contract, the general will of the

people is expressed by the ruler. This means

that the ruler makes sure that the norms/rules

of the society are observed to bring aboutorder and peace to society.


40/47

Contd

There is also a third attempt at explaining or

understanding the origins of ethics from

Christian perspective or point of view. The

Christian explains morality as a necessaryattempt to bring out imperfect nature in line

with the will of God.


41/47

Contd

The Christian says that since the fall of man,

there has been an imperfection in human

nature. And we need ethical code or principle

to guide our behavior. Humans need rules toavoid falling into a state of helpless conflict

and confusion. Thus, the origin of ethics is

social because it was human effort at findingsolutions to social problems and human

conflict.


42/47

The search of moral standard

A search for a good moral standard is towardsthe realization of fully human life. A humanbeing has a task of developing all his/her

qualities and capacities. In other wordshumankind must become more human atevery moment of his/,her existence. The morehe/she develops in proper way, the human

qualities, the more he/she would be the livingimage of the creator.


43/47

Contd

The proper understanding of human

development does not only mean physical and

psychological development. Rather, the full

meaning of human development also includesconstructive or proper interpersonal

relationship.


44/47

Contd

The total human purpose is concretely

realized when a person acts in a truly human

way. A person acts in a truly human way;

he/she interacts with others to determinehimself/herself


45/47

PURPOSE OF NORMS AND VALUES

Norms and values must be set or establishedfor human activities and three factors mustbe taken into consideration, namely,

1. A contribution to the good of mankind.2. Respect for the individual as a unique

human being

3. Respect for the individual as a member ofsociety


46/47

MORAL DEVELOPMENT

Conscience is the first principle of moral

development. The word is from the Latin word

conscientia - conscientiae which means

knowledge within oneself. Conscience is theinner judge which reviews past actions and

gives judgement of praise or blame.


47/47

Contd

The Greek equivalent of the term conscience

is synderesis which means consciousness of

past actions, of one having done wrong.

Synderesis also means a guide to futureactions. Therefore, conscience is a moral

guide. Conscience is the basic and moral

principle of right and wrong.

Ethics Notes2

Documents

Transcript of Ethics Notes2