CHAPTER 1

History of Ethics

As ethics is the philosophical treatment of the moral order, its history does not consist in narrating the views of
morality entertained by different nations at differnt times; this is properly the scope of the history of civilisation,
and of ethnology. The history of ethics is concerned solely with the various philosophical systems which in the
course of time have been elaborated with reference to the moral order. Hence the opinions advanced by the
wise men of antiquity, such as Pythagoras (582-500 B.C.), Heraclitus (535-475 B.C.), Confucius (558-479
B.C.), scarcely belong to the history of ethics; for, though they proposed various moral truths and principles,
they do so in a dogmatic and didactic way, not in a philosophically systematic manner. Ethics properly so-
called is first met with among the Greeks, i.e. in the teaching of Socrates (470- 399 B.C.).

Definition of Ethics

Ethics is the study of questions of morality, the search to understand what is right, wrong, good, and bad. It is
the branch of philosophy that systematically studies moral ideals and goals, motives of choice, and patterns of
good and bad conduct. The word ethics is derived from the Greek ethikos, meaning "character." Issues of
personal character, and the search for the best patterns for living, were at the core of Greek ethical philosophy.
In contrast, the word moral is from the Latin more (MOR-ay). The Romans used this term to describe the
customary ways that people tended to act. Thus, though the two terms are often used interchangeably today,
morality has evolved to mean the social norms that people are taught and conditioned to follow, while ethics
has come to refer to the rational investigating and questioning of these norms. This view of ethics is said to be
normative, since it assumes the existence of at least some universal moral principles and standards.

Importance of Ethics

For citizens, even for those of us with no aspirations in a career in law enforcement, morality and integrity are
important characteristics to demonstrate. We instinctively know that it is good to be moral and act with integrity,
but by coming to an understanding of the reasons for morality and integrity, we will be motivated to champion
such behaviour. Among the reasons to be moral and integral, regardless of occupation are to:

 It is a despensable knowledge.
 Moral integrity is the only measure of what man ought to be.
 Morality is the foundation of every human society
Ethics and Law

Morality- rules of right conduct concerning matters of greater importance. Violations of such can bring
disturbance to individual conscience and social sanctions.

Law- rules which are enforced by society. Violations may bring a loss of or reduction in freedom and
possessions.

In simple terms, the law may be understood as the systematic set of universally accepted rules and regulation
created by an appropriate authority such as government, which may be regional, national, international, etc. It
is used to govern the action and behavior of the members and can be enforced, by imposing penalties.

Many times the term law is juxtaposed with the term ethics, but there is a difference, as ethics are the
principles that guide a person or society, created to decide what is good or bad, right or wrong, in a given
situation. It regulates a person’s behavior or conduct and helps an individual in living a good life, by applying
the moral rules and guidelines.

BASIS FOR
LAW ETHICS
COMPARISON

Meaning The law refers to a systematic Ethics is a branch of

body of rules that governs the moral philosophy that
whole society and the actions guides people about the
of its individual members. basic human conduct.

What is it? Set of rules and regulations Set of guidelines

Governed By Government Individual, Legal and

Professional norms

Expression Expressed and published in They are abstract.

writing.

Violation Violation of law is not There is no punishment

permissible which may result for violation of ethics.
in punishment like
imprisonment or fine or both.

Objective Law is created with an intent Ethics are made to help

to maintain social order and people to decide what is
 BASIS FOR
LAW ETHICS
COMPARISON

peace in the society and right or wrong and how

provide protection to all the to act.
citizens.

Binding Law has a legal binding. Ethics do not have a

binding nature.

Not all immoral acts are illegal.

 Some immoral acts are legally permissible.

 Some immoral acts are legally obligatory.

Not all illegal acts are immoral.

 Some illegal acts are morally permissible.

 Some illegal acts are morally obligatory.

Essential Attributes of Human Acts

Human is defined as those actions which man performs knowingly, and voluntary. These are the action performed with the
presence of knowledge and the control of the will. It refers this action as deliberately, intentional, or voluntary.

Man is hold liable or responsible in all his actions. The essential attributes of human acts will explicitly elaborate how man will
be judged as responsible for his actions.

- An act must be performed by a conscious agent (doer) who is aware of what he is doing and of its consequences. Children
below the age of reason, the insane and the senile are considered incapable of acting knowingly.

- An act must be performed by an agent who is acting freely, i.e., by his own volition and powers. An action done
Under duress and against one’s will is not entirely a free action.

- an agent must perform willfully. The willfulness is the resolve to perform an act in the here and now, or in
somefuture time.

1. Human acts – are action which man perform knowingly, freely, and voluntary
2. Acts of Human – are those actions which happen in man; They are instinctive and are not within the
control of the will
 • For an act to be considered a human act, it must possess the following characteristics:

• It must be performed by a conscious agent who is aware of what he is doing and of its consequences.
Children below the age of reason, the insane and the senile – are considered incapable of acting
knowingly

• It must be performed by an agent who is acting freely, that is by his own volition and powers. An action
done under duress and against one’s will is not entirely a free action

• It must be performed by an agent who decides wilfully to perform the act. This willfullness is the
resolve to perform an act here and now, or in some future time.
• Human acts must, therefore, be knowing, free and willfull. The lack of any of these attributes

Kind of Human Acts

An act that is performed only by a human being and thus is proper to man. Not every act that a human
being does is a distinctively human act. Some acts that human beings do are performed also by animals, e.g.,
vegetative acts and acts of perception and of emotion. When a human being does such acts, they are called
acts of man but not human acts. Acts of man, therefore, are acts shared in common by man and other animals,
whereas human acts are proper to human beings. What makes an act performed by a human being
distinctively a human act is that it is voluntary in character, that is, an act in some way under the control or
direction of the will, which is proper to man. One can therefore identify the human act with the voluntary act.
A voluntary act proceeds either from the will itself
 for example, an act of love or of choice,
 or from some other human power that can in some way be moved by the will, whether an act of the
intellect, of sense cognition, or of emotion; even an act of some bodily member as commanded by the
will can be a voluntary act.

• Human acts are either elicited acts or commanded acts. Elicited acts are those performed by the will
and are not bodily externalized:
• Wish is the tendency of will towards something whether this be realizable or not. The object of wishing
may include the impossible, or that which is remotely possible, such as winning the sweepstakes.

1. Elicited Acts –voluntary of uses understanding and will

2. Commands acts – are perfected by the action of mental bodily power under the control of the
will or so to spread under the orders from the will.

Classification of Actions

1. MORAL(Good)
2. IMMORAL(Bad)
3. AMORAL(Indifferent)

• Moral – refers to the action which are on the conformity with the norm of morality
 • Immoral – Actions which are not in conformity with the norm of morality
• Amoral – actions which stand neutral in relation to the norm of morality.

The Modifiers of Human Acts

 IGNORANCE
- The absence of knowledge
- Is the absence of knowledge that ought to be there (private)
- The absence of intellectual knowledge in man (negative)
- Negation of knowledge

A. Ignorance in its Object

- Ignorance of the Law – is the ignorance in the existence of a duty, rule or regulation
- Ignorance of Fact – ignorance of nature a circumstances of an act as forbidden

B. Ignorance in its Subject

1. Vinceble ignorance
– ignorance that can be supplanted by knowledge by the use of ordinary diligence
– Ignorance is due to lack of proper diligence
  Simply Vincible – some efforts has been done but not enough to dispel the
ignorance.
 Crass or Supine – result of total or nearly lack of effort to dispel it.
 Affected – if positive effort has been done to retain the ignorance.
 Past action cannot be judge by present

2. Invincible Ignorance – ignorance that ordinary and proper diligence cannot dispel.

 The person has no realization of his lack of knowledge

 The person whe realize his ignorance finds his effort in effective

Classification of Passion

 Passion
 Are either tendencies away, from under undesirable or harmful things.
 Positive emotions, the former include love, desire, delight, hope and bravery.
 Negative emotions, the latter include horror, sadness, despair, fear and anger.

 Fear

 is the disturbance of the mind of a person who is confronted by an impending danger or harm
to himself
 is an instinct for self - preservation

 Violence

- It refers to any physical force exerted on a person by another free agent for the purpose of
compelling said person to act against his will

 Habits

- It is lasting readiness and only facility, born of frequently repeated acts, for acting in certain
manner.
- Action is done by force by force of habits are voluntary in cause, unless a reasonable effort is
made to counteract the habitual inclination.

Action and Emotion

- Emotions are generally instinctive in origin. Neither the degree of their intensity, clarity or
awareness makes them human act to be judgedas good or evil. They become good or evil by
the attitude of the person of a person manifesting them.
- A person nourishes his feeling of hostility towards another is more prone to acquire the motive
for inflicting harms on the object of his hatred. This is not to say that man is helpless in the tide
of his emotions and that man’s responses to action are emotionally motivated it means simply
that man;s thoughts and actions are colored by his emotions.