Ethics

midterm lecture 3
Dr. Maria Eller Isabel K. Tacud-Collantes, DMD, DHPEd
 Pre Activity (10 mins only)

• Guide to determine your

values
• Write down your values.
• Consider the people you
most admire.
• Consider your experiences.
Objectives

• Understand the ideas of values, ethics, and morality in a

multicultural context
• Understand how universal values can be uncovered by different
means, including scientific investigation, historical research, or
public debate and deliberation (what some philosophers call a
dialectic method)
• Understand that values arise from lived experiences, but need to
be justified to others
• Discuss the difference between Legal Rights and Moral Rights
• Something that an individual or
community believes has a worth
that merits it being pursued,
promoted, or privileged
• Basic and fundamental beliefs
that will guide or motivate
attitudes or actions
• General guidelines for conduct
 • Value • Desire
• Originate in a desire • Wanting a thing
or a series of desires without much
• Arises after reflection on it
reflection on • From instinct, urge or
whether or not the physical need
thing that is being
desired is good.
Good
• no standard against which we can discover what goodness means
• inability to define evaluative terms “the naturalistic fallacy”
because it assumes that there is something in nature or in reality
that evaluative terms can match.
• By: G. E> Moore

• Good was a non naturalistic quality, because it cannot be verified

by science3
• By: Baldwin, 2010
Scientific approach
• Prof Hans Kung – catholic theologian
• Sri Sri Ravi Shankar – hindu spiritual leader
• Scientific, historical and dialectic
• Aristotle
• Mencius
• Jurgen habermas
• Plato, ethics and values should be understood through the idea of virtues, or
the standard of excellence within particular activities as a guide for how to act
• Aristotle, to understand the virtue of the human person means looking for
those activities which the best people do and which make them happy.
• wo types of activity: critical reflection and political activity
• Intellectual virtues and practical virtues
Historical and traditional approach

• Mencius – student of Confucius

• ren, or benevolence to others
• being a good person means understanding one’s place in
society and understanding the traditions and rules that
arise from that place
• respect for one’s elders, a respect that would then radiate
outward to respect for the leaders of a society
• four virtues: benevolence, righteousness, propriety, and
wisdom
 Aristotle Mencius
Critical reflection on human life to be central

Intellectual values Virtue of wisdom

Politics

Practical virtues – Did not emphasis because

cultivating life in which or respecting ones elders
one can participate and place in society
directly in politics

Human person flourishes when educated

Dialetic approach

• Engaging in debate and dialogue with others who come from

different perspectives in order to come to some consensus about
what we all agree upon
• By: German Jurgen Habermas
• Ideal speech situation
• to find some consensus by which the community can advance its
ideas and values
Predicting the future behavior of any individual or organization, belief,
mutuality and predictability are always associated with trust

Honesty Integrity

Reliability Loyalty
• Facet of moral character that connotes positive
and virtuous attributes such as integrity,
truthfulness, straightforwardness, including
straightforwardness of conduct, along with the
absence of lying, cheating, theft, etc.
• Honesty also involves being trustworthy, loyal
fair and sincere.
Ability to upkeep promises
SENSORY VALUES
- values that are objects of Values
sensory feelings, and their
corresponding subjective states
are delight and pain

VITAL VALUES
- these value are noble and
vulgar. The feeling-stares of this
feeling of life: feelings of health,
sickness, aging, exhaustion,
energy, vigorous and other

SPIRITUAL VALUES
- values correspond to spiritual
feelings, more appropriately
• Universalism
• Understanding, appreciation, tolerance and protection
for the welfare of all people and for nature
• Benevolence
• Preservation and enhancement of the welfare of
people with whom ones is in frequent personal contact
• Tradition
• Respect, commitment and acceptance of the customs
and ideas that traditional culture or religion provide
the self
• Security
• Safety, harmony and stability
• Power
• Social status and prestige, control or dominance over
people and resources
• Achievement
• Personal success through demonstrating competence
according to social standards
• Hedonism
• Pleasure and sensuous gratification for oneself
• Stimulation
• Excitement, novelty and challen ge
• Self direction
• Independent thought and action
• Esteem
• Positive feeling or action
shown towards someone or
something considered
important, or held in high
esteem or regard
• Conveys a sense of admiration
for good or valuable
• Concept in sociology, law and generally in society
• Something should be equal and not be a contradiction
to accepted standards
• Related to justice in both the legal and sociological
sense
• Treating others equally of in a way that is considered
right or reasonable
 Happiness Peace

justice Love

Universal
human
Quality values
Freedom

Respect
Intelligence Safety
Importance of Become a
positive role
model
Achieve
peace of
mind
Strengthen trust

having a
strong moral Build a solid reputation
Reduce
anxiety
Live a purpose
driven life

character
Increase
Build a strong leadership Build confidence
business effectiveness
 Attract the
trust and
respect of
other people

Creates a
Allows you
foundation
to influence
for happy,
others
healthy life

Some good
character
traits to
practice
Improves
Changes
your self-
your
esteem, self
perspective
respect and
about failure
confidence
Sustains you
through
difficult
times or
opposition
Activity on Values

• Write down your values. Review the list of examples

of core values above and write down every value that
resonates with you.
• Consider the people you most admire.
• Consider your experiences.
• Categorize values into related groups.
• Identify the central theme.
• Choose your top core values.
Rights

• Rights are legal, social, or ethical principles of freedom or entitlement; that is,
rights are the fundamental normative rules about what is allowed of people or owed
to people, according to some legal system, social convention, or ethical theory –
freebase dictionary
Human rights Legal rights Moral rights
• Emphasize the • Refer to the rights a • Emphasize the
universal rights any particular person is universal ethical
person can enjoy entitle to enjoy legally rights/ guidelines the
as enforced by the people can follow
government
 The United Nations defines human rights in
the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights charter as the ‘Human rights are
rights inherent to all human beings,
regardless of race, sex,
nationality, ethnicity, language, religion, or
any other status. Human rights include the
right to life and liberty, freedom from
slavery and torture, freedom of opinion and
UNIVERSAL HUMAN RIGHTS expression, the right to work and
•The right to education and the education, and many more. Everyone is
enjoyment of the benefits of cultural
entitled to these rights, without
freedom and scientific progress
•The right to work in just and favorable discrimination.”
conditions
•The right to social protection, to an
adequate standard of living and the
highest attainable standards of physical
and mental well-being, etc.
A set of rights formulated by the
legal system of a government.
They are given as privileges to the
citizens of that particular state.

These liberties/right are created

and enforced by the legal system
of governments, which also means
that they can also be redefined or
altered by the same parties

Formulated by the state or

government according to the
majority’s desire for the common
good of its citizens.
Rights that are accorded according to
the universal ethics or moral code.

Morality – religious and moral

teachings for mankind, which create
the system of ethics in human
societies.

Moral rights stand as the fundamentals

for the identification of rights to
humans as well as animals.
Negative rights Positive rights
• Right not to be interfered with in • Right to certain goods that society should help
certain ways to provide
• Wrong to take the life, freedom or • Right to health care
property of another. • Right to a decent standard of living, to
education to adequate housing
 Activity on RIGHTS

Where, after all, do universal rights begin? In small places, close to home – so close and so small
that they cannot be seen on any maps of the world. Yet they are the world of the individual
person; the neighborhood he lives in; the school or college he attends; the factory, farm or office
where he works. Such are the places where every man, woman, and child seeks equal justice,
equal opportunity, equal dignity without discrimination. Unless these rights have meaning there,
they have little meaning anywhere. Without concerned citizen action to uphold them close to
home, we shall look in vain for progress in the larger world.

Eleanor Roosevelt
The Great Question, 1958

ANSWER THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS:

•What do you think Eleanor Roosevelt means by "universal rights"?

•Some people feel that universal values or standards of behavior are impossible. What do you think?
•Why do you think the UN chose the word universal instead of the word international when naming the UDHR?
•Paraphrase the final sentence of the quotation. What does it say about individual responsibility for human rights? What do
you think Eleanor Roosevelt means by "concerned citizen action to uphold" rights close to home?
INSTRUCTIONS

• Typewritten, arial font 12 double spaced.

• Write the question first before stating your answers.
• 2 Activities for today – values & rights
• Both activities should be submitted online
• Deadline today (3/28/2023) @ 6:00pm
• For this activity please be ADVISED:
LATE SUBMISSION WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED.
Good
luck!