1.

o A set of rules of human behavior, which has been influenced by the standards set by the sociely or by
himself in relation to his society is called ethics.
o Standards of Etiquette are non-moral standards by which we judge manners as good or bad.
o standards of Law are non-moral standards by which we judge an action to be legally right or wrong.
o Standards of Language are non-moral standards by which we judge what is grammatically right and wrong.
o Standards of Aesthetics are non-moral standards by which we judge good and bad art.
o Standards of Athletics are non-moral standards by which we judge how well a game is being played.
o Ethics comes from the Greek word "ethos" which means customs, usage, or character.
o Meta-ethics deals with the nature of moral judgment.
o Meta-ethics prescribes moral principles or maxims for us to follow if we are to live moral lives.
o Normative ethics is concerned with the content of moral judgments and the criteria for what is right or wrong.
o Normative ethics attempts to answer our questions regarding the practical ends of human action
o Applied ethics involves examining specific controversial issues, such as abortion, infanticide, animal rights,
environmental concerns, homosexuality.
o A human act is a conscious, voluntary and free act. It does not force nor coerced a person to perform an act.
o Freedom is the foundation of morality and depends on truth and makes you responsible for your actions.
o We experience hedonistic lifestyle when we begin to look at things as moral in their capacity to provide
pleasure and prevent pain.
o The set of rules or customs that determine the accepted and proper behaviors in a particular social group is
called etiquette.
o Is Etiquette concerned with proper behavior that makes us show respect and courtesy to others.
2.
o Law is an ordinance of reason, promulgated by legitimate authority for the purpose of the common good.
o The sense of the good serves as a moral power in each person to actualize a world that is just.
o Moral standards are not established by the decisions of authoritarian bodies nor solely appealing to
consensus or tradition.
o Moral standards have universal validity that they apply to all who are in the same situation. This is
exemplified in the golden rule: "Do not do unto others what you would not have them do unto you."
o According to Aristotle, moral virtue is attained by means of habit.
o According to Aristotle, having virtue means doing the right thing, at the right fime, in the right way, in the right
amount, toward the right people.
o Aristotle, a Greek philosopher is the one who developed the Virtue Ethics Theory.
o Virtue Ethics reflects the ancient assumption that humans have a fixed nature.
o Virtue ethics theory focus on the determination of what makes a person, or character, good rather than what
makes an action good.
o Aristotle's virtue ethics recognizes that eudaimonia or happiness is the ultimate purpose of a person.
o Natural Law Ethics is developed by St. Thomas Aquinas.
o The three determinants of moral action are The Object or The End of An Action (Finis Operas), The Intentión
of the Agent (Finis Operantis), The Circumstances (Circumstantiae).
o Natural rights are inalienable rights.
o Teleological Ethiical Theory claims that what makes an action right or wrong are the consequences of the
action.
o Deontological theory places special emphasis on the relationship between duty and the morality of the
action.
o Deontological Ethical Theory claims that our motivations to do good come from our idea of "duty."
o The most prominent Deontological Theory was propounded by Immanuel Kant, a German philosopher.
3.
Based on Kant, the only correct motive for moral actions is duty in which he calls acting from duty i.e., one
acts with a good will if s/he does the right thing for the right reason/motive.
Hypothetical imperatives are commands that we should follow if we want something.
Categorical imperative are commands we must follow, regardless of our desires. It is the source of "moral
from within."
o An action is considered to be good if it passes through the principles of categorical imperatives namely;
Universalizability Principle, Humanity Principle or Principle of Respect for Person, Autonomy Principle, and
Kingdom of Ends Principle.
 o A dilemma is a situation where a person is forced to choose between two or more conflicting options, neither
of which is acceptable.
o When dilemmas involve human actions which have moral implications, they are called ethical or moral
dilemmas.
o Moral dilemmas are experience in the individual, organizational and systemic levels.
o Epistemic moral dilemmas involve situations wherein two or more moral requirements conflict with each
other and that the moral agent hardly knows which of the conflicting moral requirements takes precedence
over the other.
o Ontological moral dilemmas involve situations wherein two or more moral requirements conflict with each
other but neither of these conflicting moral requirements overrides each other.
o Self-imposed Moral Dilemma is caused by the wrongdoing of the moral agent.
o World-imposed Moral Dilemma means that certain events in the world place the agent in a situation of moral
conflict.
o Obligation dilemmas are situations in which more than one feasible action is obligatory.
o Prohibition dilemmas involve cases in which all feasible actions are forbidden.
o Single Agent Dilemma moral agent is compelled to act on two or more equally the same moral options but
she cannot choose both.
o Multi-person Dilemma involves several persons like a family, an organization, or a community who is
expected to come up with a consensual decision on a moral issue at hand.
4.
o Moral dilemmas arise due to inconsistency in our principles.
o Morality is concerned about the rightness or wrongness of human action.
o Lawrence Kohlberg is the proponent of Moral Development Theory.
o Reasoning of individuals undergoing the preconventional level of Kolberg's moral development theory is
centered on the pain and pleasure of the consequences of the action/s performed.
o During the conventional level of Kolhberg's moral development theory, an individual learns to follow rules
and conform to the expectations of the society in which s/he belongs to.
o Post-conventional level is the highest level of Kohlberg's moral development theory wherein an individual
realizes that the ethical principles are not only based on the rules or conventions that his society dictates but
based on using one's free will and how he understands a situation using his full rationality.
o Consequentialism is the ethical theory which claims that the consequences of an action are the ones that
ultimately matter
o A philosophy advocating the greatest happiness of the greatest number is called utilitarianism.
o Utilitarianism embodies the principle of utility which states that: "we should always act so as to produce the
greatest happiness for the greatest number of people."
o Jeremy Bentham, a British philosopher is regarded as the founder of utilitarianism particularly quantitative
hedonistic utilitarianism.
o Considered as the spiritual father of University College London is Jeremy Bentham because of his support
of extending education to people of all classes and religion.
o Bentham provides a framework for evaluating pleasure and pain commonly
called hedonistic calculus or calculus of felicity.
o Hedonism is the belief that morality is determined by the acquisition of pleasure.
o John Stewart Mill refined the original Utilitarianism of Bentham and he is known for his short exposition of
the theory of individual liberty and the right to freedom of speech.
o John Stewart Mill is known for the Qualitative Hedonistic Utilitarianism which focuses on the qualitative
differences among types of pleasures.
o Justice is concerned with the equitable distribution of benefits and burdens to
individuals in social institutions.
5.
Distributive justice refers to the fair distribution or allocation of certain things which are generally classified
as burdens, when they are regarded as undesirable, or as benefits when they are desirable.
Egalitarianism is a theory under distributive justice which claims that distribution is fair if every member of a
group receives an equal share of the distribution
o Every citizen should enjoy the same basic legal rights (such as rights to suffrage, education, and due
process) guaranteed by the state according to political egalitarianism.
o Economic Egalitarianism claims that all citizens should enjoy the same basic socio-economic goods or
resources guaranteed by the state.
o Capitalist Justice is contribution-based Justice. Benefits should be distributed according to the degree of
contribution that each person provides.
o In socialist justice, a needs-based justice, distribution is fair if every member of a group receives his share in
the distribution according to or in proportion to his needs.
o John Rawl is an American philosopher who is known for his Theory of Justice as
o Fairness.
o Freedom of movement, free choice of occupation is one of the five basic goods that every person needs as
a citizen of the state according to John Raw.
o According to John Rawi, basic rights and liberties are basic goods that every person needs as a citizen of
the state.
o John Rawl defines justice as a virtue of social institutions, measured by fairness in allocating benefits and
burdens, defined by two basic principles: liberty and difference.
o Entitlement theory claims that distributions are fair when no moral rights are violated in acquiring and
transferring ownership of the goods to be distributed.
o Robert Nozick is an American philosopher who is known for his Libertarian Justice or also known as
Entitlement Theory.
o Justice in distribution is achieved when a person is entitled to it according to the principle of justice in
acquisition, the principle of justice in transfer, or the principle of rectification.
Restorative Justice is a theory of justice that emphasizes repairing the harm caused by criminal behavior.
o Crime causes harm and justice should focus on repairing that harm.
6.
o In restorative justice, the responsibility of the government is to maintain order and of the community to build
peace.
o is morally impermissible intentionally to punish the innocent or to inflict disproportionately large punishments
on wrongdoers is one of the principles of retributive justice.
o Procedural justice is concerned with making and implementing decisions according to fair processes.
o Rules or procedures must be consistently followed and impartially applied in procedural justice.
o Justice and fairness are sought by most people but the interpretation of what is just and what is fair varies.
o Punishment is warranted as a response to a past event of injustice or wrongdoing.
o Rules or procedures must be consistently followed and impartially applied in procedural justice.
o Culture includes all features of a society’s way of life.
o Subjective culture or non-material culture is viewed as something invisible that resides in people's minds.
o Objective culture can be conceptualized as created by individuals and it is also known as material culfure,
o An act can be judged as right of wrong based solely on the nature of the act itself.
o Moral relativism is the idea that there is no universal or absolute set of moral principles.
o Cultural relativism is the practice of assessing a culture by its own standards rather than viewing it through
the lens of one's own culture.
o Ethnocentrism is a belief or attitude that one's own culture is better than all others.
o Xenocentrism refers to the belief that another culture is superior to one 's own
o Cultural Imperialism is the deliberate imposition of one's own cultural values on another culture.
o Culture Shock refers to the disorientation and frustration a person experiences when encountering cultures
different from their own.
7.
o Practicing cultural relativism requires an open mind and a willingness to consider, and even adapt to, new
values and norms.
o Cultural moral relativism is the theory that moral judgments or truths are relative to cultures.
o Culture unifies people in ways that only those who belong in the society understands.
o Pakikipagkapwa-tao results in camaraderie and a feeling of closeness one to another.
o Starting out projects with full vigor and interest which abruptly die down. leaving things unfinished is an
example of ningas cogon.
o One of the weaknesses of the Filipino character is the so-called crab mentality which uses leveling
instruments of tsismis, intriga and unconstructive criticism to bring others down.
o Toleration presumably means refraining from using force to impose the moral beliefs of one's own culture on
other cultures.
o One of the characteristics of a moral person is open and relational, that is "No man is an island" meaning we
grow into our full selves as persons only in relating to others.
o A moral person is a conscious being possessing self-awareness through our knowing and free will.
o A moral person embodied spirit. This stresses the unity between our body and soul,
o Moral person is an entity having moral status or understanding.
o Moral persons are moral agents when they act as sources of morally evaluable actions, in that they are the
doers of such actions.
o When a person's rights are respected, they act as moral patients.
o All moral persons are moral patients but not all can be moral agents.
o Moral agents are beings that are capable of reasoning, judging and acting with reference to right and wrong.
o Moral agents are beings that are expected to adhere to standards of morality for their actions.
o Moral agents are morally responsible for their actions and accountable for their consequences.
8.
o Environmental ethics is a system of values that people express in relation to each other and to nature.
o Anthropocentrism refers to the view that only humans have moral status or are intrinsically valuable.
o St. Thomas Aquinas view of the natural environment as created at the service of human beings.
o Sentientism grounds moral status not on an individual's rationality: individual's capacity to experience
feelings and sensations.
o Biocentrism means life-centered ethics and views all life as possessing intrinsic value whether it is a human,
an animal, or a plant.
o Ecocentrism view that recognizes intrinsic value in all life forms and ecosystems themselves.
o Ramon C. Reyes, a Filipino philosopher identifies four cross-points to one's identity which are the physical,
the interpersonal, the social, and the historical.
o Values are anything that can be desired and something chosen from alternatives acted upon and enhances
creative integration and development of human personality.
o Cultural value includes poetry, music, painting, and unique characteristics important to a culture.