HOLY VIRGIN OF SALVACION SCHOOL, INC.

Burayan, San Jose, Tacloban City

ETHICS
MODULE 1 – INTRODUCTION
I. Grade Level –College
II. Objectives/competencies:
At the end of the lesson, the students are able to:
1. Define and explain the definition of ethics
2. Discuss the importance of ethics in our lives
3. Differentiate human acts from acts of man
4. Evaluate or assess certain actions in terms of morality.
III. Content/Concepts/Generalizations:

DEFINITION OF ETHICS
Nominal Definition- (what the term means through its origin)
Ethics is derived from the Greek word “ethos” which means “a characteristic way of acting”.
Morality is a word related to ethics and is derived from the Latin word “mos” or “mor” which also
means “a characteristic way of acting”. The characteristic mark of human behavior or human conduct is
found in the free and deliberate use of the will.
Real Definition-(what the term actually means)
Ethics is the practical science of the morality of human conduct.
Science is a relatively complete and systematically arranged body of connected data together with
the causes or reasons by which these data are known to be true. It is a complete and systematically
arranged body of data which relate to the morality of human conduct. It presents the reasons which
show these data to be true.
Practical or applied science is a science with data which directly imply rules or directions for
thought or action. It presents truths to be acted upon. It gives us knowledge with defined guidance. On
the other hand, a speculative or theoretical science has data which enrich the mind without directly
implying rules or direction. It presents truths that are to be known. It enlarges our knowledge and
enhances our cultural equipment. Thus, the science of Ethics presents data which directly imply and
indicate directions for human conduct.
Human conduct or human act is a human activity that is deliberate and free. It is an act
performed with advertence and motive, an act determined (chosen and given existence) by the free will.
Acts of man are acts performed by human beings without advertence or without the exercise of free
choice.
Morality is the relation (agreement or disagreement) of human activity with the dictate of reason.
Ethics studies human activity to determine what it must be to stand in harmony with the dictates of
reason.

IMPORTANCE OF THE STUDY OF ETHICS

1. Ethics employs the faculty of human reason upon the basic and important question of what an
upright life is and must be. It is a noble and important science.
2. Ethics furnishes the norm or rules by which relations among men (juridical, political, professional,
social) are regulated. It shows what such relations must be and indicates the reasons that require
them to be so. Thus, Ethics is fundamental to the sciences of Law, Medicine, Political Economy,
Sociology, etc.
3. The principles in Ethics are in perfect harmony with the morality of Christianity, and this fact appeals
to many minds when employed as a means of approach to the demonstration of the truth of the
Catholic religion. Hence, Ethics has a large significance for the Catholics, for every educated Catholic.
4. Faulty ethical theories, as well as the lack of definite ethical principles, have been and are still the
cause of great social disorders in the social and the political world. This fact is apparent in such things
as Socialism, Communism, Birth Control, abortion, Eugenics, same-sex marriage, divorce, and other
issues. Sound Ethics supplies the scientific knowledge which evidences the unworthiness and
unreason of such things or issues.

HUMAN ACTS
A human act is an act which proceeds from the deliberate free will of man. It means any sort of
activity, internal or external, bodily or spiritual, performed by a human being. In Ethics, it calls human
only those acts that are proper to man as man. Man is an animal and he has many activities in
common with brutes or beasts. Thus man feels, hears, sees, tastes and smells and is influenced by
bodily tendencies or appetites. But man is more than animal, he is rational, he has understanding and
free will. Hence, it is only the act that proceeds from the knowing and free willing human being that has
the full character of a human act. Only such acts proper to man as man, Thus, Ethics understands by
human acts only those acts that proceed from a deliberate (advertent, knowing) and freely willing
human being.

Man’s animal acts of sensation (use of the senses) and appetition ( bodily tendencies) as well as
acts that man performs not deliberately or without advertence and the exercise of free choice, are
called acts of man. Thus, such acts as are effected in sleep, in delirium, in the state of
unconsciousness, acts done abstractly, or with complete inadvertence; acts performed in infancy; acts
due to infirmity of mind or the weakness of senility---all these are acts of man, not human acts.

Acts which are in themselves acts of man may sometimes become human acts by the
advertence and consent of the human agent or the one who does or performs the act. Thus, if I hear
words of blasphemy as I walk along the street, my act of hearing is an act of man, but the act becomes
a human act if I deliberately pay attention and listen. Again, my eyes may fall upon an indecent sight,
or upon a page of obscene reading material. The act of seeing and even reading and understanding
the words is an act of man, but it becomes a human act the moment I deliberately consent to look or to
read.

Ethics is not concerned with acts of man but only with human acts. Human acts are moral acts.
For human acts, man is responsible and they are imputed to him as worthy of praise or blame, of
reward or punishment. Human acts tend to repeat themselves and to form habits. Habits coalesce into
what we call a man’s character. Thus, “A man is what his human acts make him.”

MORALITY—THE RELATION OF HUMAN ACTS TO REASON

Human acts are either in agreement or disagreement with the dictates of reason and this relation
(agreement or disagreement) with reason constitute morality. In terms of morality, human acts are:
a. Good, when they are in harmony with the dictates of right reason
b. Evil, when they are in opposition to these dictates
c. Indifferent, when they stand in no positive relation to the dictates of reason. A human act that
is indifferent in itself becomes good or evil according to the circumstances which affect its
performance, especially the end, purpose or motive of the agent.

CONSTITUENTS OF THE HUMAN ACT

1. Knowledge

A human act proceeds from the deliberate will, it requires deliberation. Deliberation means
advertence or knowledge in intellect of what one is about and what it means. An act may be done in
the twinkling of an eye and still be deliberate. Example: A hunter sees the birds, the birds fly, the
 hunter fires his gun and hits a bird. The act of firing is the work of a split second and yet it is a
deliberate act. The hunter adverts/consents to what he is doing and so, wills and does it. The hunter
knows what he is doing. His knowledge makes the act deliberate. Deliberation means knowledge. A
human act is a deliberate act, a knowing act. No human act is possible without knowledge.

The will cannot act in the dark, for the will is a “blind” faculty in itself. It cannot choose unless it
“sees” to choose, and the light, the power to see, is afforded by intellectual knowledge. I cannot will to
go to a place if I am not aware of its existence. I cannot choose to eat or not to eat apples if I have
never seen nor heard about apples. Knowledge is an essential element of the human act.

2. Freedom
A human act is an act determined by the will and by nothing else. It is an act that is under control
of the will, an act that the will can do or leave undone. Such an act is a free act. Every human act
must be free.

3. Voluntariness
The Latin word for will is voluntas, thus the English words voluntary and voluntariness. For a
human act to be voluntary or must have voluntariness, it must be a will-act. For voluntariness to be
present, there must be both knowledge and freedom in the agent/doer. Voluntary act is synonymous
with human act.

IV. ASSESSMENT

Activity 1
Give 5 examples for each:
A. Acts of man:
1.__________________ 4. _____________________
2.__________________ 5._____________________
3.__________________
B. Human Acts
1. _________________ 4. _____________________
2. _________________ 5. _____________________
3. _________________

Activity 2
From your own understanding, discuss one importance of the study of ethics in this period of the
pandemic. You may use English or Filipino. (5 sentences only).
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________

Activity 3
A 3-year-old child is fond of saying bad words, unaware of the meaning of the words. (1) What kind of
act is his act? ________________(2) Is his act good or bad? ________Why?____________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
(3) Is he responsible for the words he said? Yes? No? _______Why? Why not?
___________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
Reference: Glenn, Paul. Ethics.

Prepared by: Editha C. Poculan, Ph.D.