Download - Ethics Notes2
-
7/31/2019 Ethics Notes2
1/47
CES 111: SOCIAL ETHICS
-
7/31/2019 Ethics Notes2
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.
-
7/31/2019 Ethics Notes2
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).
-
7/31/2019 Ethics Notes2
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).
-
7/31/2019 Ethics Notes2
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).
-
7/31/2019 Ethics Notes2
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.
-
7/31/2019 Ethics Notes2
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
-
7/31/2019 Ethics Notes2
8/47
UNIT I: THE NATURE OF ETHICS
Definition of Term
Sociological Background
The origin of ethics
-
7/31/2019 Ethics Notes2
9/47
UNIT II: THE SEARCH FOR MORAL
STANDARD
Moral development
Moral reasoning
Moral judgment Moral responsibility
-
7/31/2019 Ethics Notes2
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?
-
7/31/2019 Ethics Notes2
11/47
UNIT IV: ETHICS AND JUSTICE
The role of Justice
Rights of Justice
Human dignity
-
7/31/2019 Ethics Notes2
12/47
UNIT V: ETHICS AND NATURAL LAW
What is natural law?
Ancient understanding
Modern understanding
-
7/31/2019 Ethics Notes2
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)
-
7/31/2019 Ethics Notes2
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)
-
7/31/2019 Ethics Notes2
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.
-
7/31/2019 Ethics Notes2
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).
-
7/31/2019 Ethics Notes2
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.
-
7/31/2019 Ethics Notes2
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.
-
7/31/2019 Ethics Notes2
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.
-
7/31/2019 Ethics Notes2
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.
-
7/31/2019 Ethics Notes2
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.
-
7/31/2019 Ethics Notes2
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.
-
7/31/2019 Ethics Notes2
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.
-
7/31/2019 Ethics Notes2
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.
-
7/31/2019 Ethics Notes2
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.
-
7/31/2019 Ethics Notes2
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.
-
7/31/2019 Ethics Notes2
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.
-
7/31/2019 Ethics Notes2
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.
-
7/31/2019 Ethics Notes2
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.
-
7/31/2019 Ethics Notes2
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.
-
7/31/2019 Ethics Notes2
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.
-
7/31/2019 Ethics Notes2
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.
-
7/31/2019 Ethics Notes2
33/47
-
7/31/2019 Ethics Notes2
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).
-
7/31/2019 Ethics Notes2
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).
-
7/31/2019 Ethics Notes2
36/47
-
7/31/2019 Ethics Notes2
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.
-
7/31/2019 Ethics Notes2
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.
-
7/31/2019 Ethics Notes2
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.
-
7/31/2019 Ethics Notes2
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.
-
7/31/2019 Ethics Notes2
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.
-
7/31/2019 Ethics Notes2
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.
-
7/31/2019 Ethics Notes2
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.
-
7/31/2019 Ethics Notes2
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
-
7/31/2019 Ethics Notes2
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
-
7/31/2019 Ethics Notes2
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.
-
7/31/2019 Ethics Notes2
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.