Reaction Paper to Ethics Free Essay Example

In chapter 1 we discuss the study of “ETHICS”. Ethics came from the word ethos which means the characteristic way of acting and its Latin word is mos., mores which means the traditional line of conduct or custom. It is form this root word that the word moral or morality is derived. Example of ethos of man as man is revealed that he is able to distinguish between good and evil, right or wrong, moral and immoral. Ethics is defined as the “practical and philosophical science of the morality of human act”.

In science it is a body of systematized knowledge arranged with its accompanying explanation. In a practical science ethics consists of principles and laws that are applied in daily living. In philosophical science it presents and deliberates its subject matter. Ethics has an object material object to human, formula object to morality act, formula object quo to human reason, and formula. Ethics also has importance first is to sharpen the moral nature of the learners by inculcating the moral norms it means that to open to the mind to people that ethics is important.

Second is to make them aware of the moral principles and laws governing man’s action It’s importance to aware to man’s moral principles and laws to what are their limitation as a man. Third to help the students become aware of the intimate relation between their moral natures and law, student must know also their relations as a man and be aware what they’re doing as man are.

Fourth to show to the learners acting in accordance with the rational and moral nature could lead them supernatural destiny-God and fifth is to develop in the students in the students realize that people cannot live together harmoniously in society without the ethical norms and laws applied or followed. There are two types of ethical system. First is the Atheistic which he/she believes that God does not exist or we can say that this kind of man is an Anti-Christ. It’s characteristic that only matter exist, Man is responsible only to himself, morality is an invention of man to suit his requirements and top preserve his society, and moral truths are temporary and mutable depending on the situation.

The concept of good and evil is always relative and changeable. Their theories is that matter is the reality that man is matter and does not have spiritual dimension, man is free and must exercise his freedom to promote the welfare of society, and man is accountable only to state. Second ethical system is the Theistic that he/she believes that God is the supreme lawgiver. Man is free and must use his freedom to promote his personal and social interest along with his fellowmen, has an immoral soul which cannot die, and is accountable for his actions, both good and evil. In chapter 1 we also discuss that ethics has a relation to other sciences.

Ethics and logic that doing follows thinking as knowledge or right leads to doing of right. Ethics and psychology both deals with the study of man, human nature, and human behavior its difference is that psychology is not interested in the morality of human act, unlike ethics. Ethics and Sociology it deals with the moral order which includes the social order. Society depends on ethics for its underlying principles. And finally ethics and economics man is also an economic being because he has to support himself y earning a living this to aspects of one and the same human nature.

Chapter 2 we discuss “Man and His Existence” in this chapter we recognize some Greek thinkers (The founder of philosophy of man). First Socrates (469-399BC) his is a teacher of Plato he believes that man is made of body and soul. The soul is distinct from the body, and is likened to God in memory, understanding, indivisibility, immortality, and the highest value if man is happiness. Second Plato (427-347 BC) he believes that man is essentially a soul that souls are spiritual and immortal and death liberates the soul from the prison of the body. And third Aristotle (384-322) He also believes that man is made of body and soul.

Some Christian thinkers like St. Augustine of Hippo, St Anselm of Italy and St. Thomas Aquinas accepted the philosophical teaching of ancient philosophers in their view that man is composed of body and soul. But they incorporated the idea on the church’s teaching. They hold that the human soul is spiritual being essentially present in his body. Some Oriental philosophers Lao- Tse who encourages man to be virtuous in order to attain Tao The term Tao means “way”, “path” or “principle”, and can also be found in Chinese philosophies and religions other than Taoism.

Confucius who taught man with his “Golden Rule” Do not impose on others what you do not wish for yourself. Had order to attain happiness and self-protection. Gautama “Buddha” Siddharta who is “The Enlightened one” believes that man must strive for happiness, that can’t not be attained in this world for it is a state of peace. They hold the only way for man to reach happiness is liberate him from the slavery of sensual pleasures of this world and from selfishness. There some various notions of man. Man as body – soul composite

Man as a rational animal
Man as embodied subjectivity
Man is a being – in this world
Man as socius and interhuman
Man as a person and
Man as an absolute value.

We also discussed in chapter 2 the human existence the meaning of existentialism a reaction to the depersonalization, dehumanization, the loss of the uniqueness of the individual during the Industrial revolution. Rene Descartes a French philosopher (1956-1650) Father of modern philosophy. He started with his “methodic doubt” he claimed that everything was dubitable even hid own body. But doubting is an concludes that if we think therefore we exist “COGITO ERGO SUM” some of human existential experiences are.

The experience of the good Man experience the good things here on earth the experience of the beautiful the beautiful how we live the experience of love the love to each other the experience of existence of being a human and as a man and the experience of the of happiness while living here on earth. Socrates told that “Know thyself” and unexamined life is not worth living that soul is imprisoned in the body Plato tells death about liberation world of forms over idea which soul (real man) its parts is rational, appetitive, and spiritual. Aristotle tells that a rational animal of being a Hylemopshism- Being

In Chapter 3 we discuss “Man and his end” Man does not act without any motive or objective in view. He always acts to achieve something by the action. End is both termination and a goal of activity. It is that which completes of finishes a thing, and it is that for which the thing is finished. End as something good the end of human is apprehended as good desirable. If the end is desirable or attractable to the agent, then it must be good. There are three modes of perceiving and using the good. Good as to utility an object or act is perceived as good when it is useful for one’s proposed and satisfaction. Good as to beauty an object or an act is a thing of beauty when it satisfies their aesthetic appetite. The judgment if beauty remains both subjective and objective. And good as to nature or reality it is not accidental.

End has four classifications.

End of the act it is the natural termination of an activity, thus, what is good and desirable is also the end of the act. End of the agent it is a personal purpose intended by the person performing the relax himself. Temporal ends, intermediate ends this is intermediary in that they are used as means to attain other ends. And Ultimate end this is the last final goal of a human act and human agent. It is the end of all ends. This is a permanent and absolute one. End also has two aspects first is the subjective ultimate end is the subjective possession of the objective ultimate end by the person. The possession results to enjoyment or happiness. Second is objective end gives the agent happiness by possession thereof. There are some ultimate goals of life chosen by certain thinkers. First is materialistic ethics holds that the supreme good of man are human pleasures and satisfaction. It has three kinds hedonism holds that the highest end of man is found in sensual pleasures and bodily satisfaction.

Utilitarianism insist that the ultimate end of man is the possession political power through conquest of the other nations Social Utilitarianism claims that the greatest value of man consists the maximum welfare of the entire society Second is the Ultra-spiritualism takes spiritual matters and virtues in this life as ultimate end. And it has two kinds of it Greco Roman stoicism believes that the virtue and abstinence from sensual pleasures as the highest end of man. Humanistic Personalism holds that the ultimate end of man consist of human perfection through knowledge, virtue, honor which must be acquired. Last is the Progressive ethics the final goal of man is the continuous acquisition of all temporal goods which may be socio-economic political and moral progress, taken as a while as general or individual well-being in society. We also discuss the Christian ethics came from the Greek word Christus this simply shows us about the history of salvation from eternity to eternity. Ethical Ultimate Goal of Chrisitanity are to glorify to God (God’s glory) that Christians worship God through prayers and by attending a mass and listening to pastors or priest to the word of God by the Bible.

And Salvation of Mankind by spreading the word of God to mankind especially when you read John 3:16 : For God so love the world that he gave his only begotten son for whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have an everlasting life” In chapter 4 we discuss “Human Acts” is an activity that man wants to obtain. In wide sense, human act means any sort of activity, internal or external, bodily or spiritual done by a human being. Acts of man is an activity of man as animal. There are three signs of acts of Man they act are done in deliberately, they are not done freely, and they are done involuntary. Acts of man are instinctive, and are not within the control of the will. Human act is an act which proceeds from the deliberate free will of man. In order that an act is human, it must possess three essential qualities.

There are three essential attributes of human acts. First an act which is deliberately done, it must be performed by conscious agent who is aware of what he are doing and of its consequences Second an act which is done freely or with freedom, it must be performed by an agent who is acting freely and the act must not be done out of far. And Last one is an act is done voluntarily on voluntariness the act must be performed by the agent who decides willfully to perform the act, it emanates from the bottom of his heart. Human acts must be done knowingly, freely and voluntarily. There are also kinds of human act and its classification.

First is an Elicited act it is that begins and are perfected in the will itself. These acts find their adequate cause in the will alone. Wish the first tendency of the will towards a thing, natural, inclination of the will towards an object. Intention the purposive tendency of the will towards a thing regarded as realizable. Consent the acceptance of the work of the means necessary to carry out intention. Election is the selection by the will of the precise means to be employed in carrying out intent. Use the employment by the will of powers to carry out its intention by the means selected. And fruition the enjoyment of a thing willed and done.

We also discuss in his chapter the will and freedom. Wills is man’s natural tendency of being attracted to what is good and beautiful and be repulsed from what is evil and ugly after they have been presented by intellect. Moral distinctions is the human acts may either be in conformity or not with the dictates of season shows what is permissible in a given situation, the best option as a matter of facts. Moral actions are those actions which are in conformity with the norm of morality. Immoral actions are those actions which are not in conformity with the norm of morality. and Amoral action are those action which stand neutral in relation to the norm or morality. Ignorance is the absence of the intellectual knowledge in a man. There are some aspects of ignorance.

Ignorance of the law is the absence of knowledge of a person ought to possess Ignorance of the fact is the ignorance of nature of circumstances of an act that is generally forbidden in the community. Ignorance of penalty is the lack of knowledge of the sanction imposed by low to violators. And ignorance it its subject it lies in the agent who has no knowledge of the law, fact or penalty. In chapter 5 we discuss “The Norms of human act” Norm is a standard of measurement. It is an instrument or which the quality or quantity of a thing is determined. It is something we distinguish the goodness and evilness of the man act. Norm has two human acts.

First is Law is an ordinance of reason, promulgated for the common good by one who has charged of a society. Law is an ordinance an order coming the legitimate authority law is an ordinance of reason its result of the law gives reasonable wills it should not contrary to higher law. law is promulgated it made known to those bound by it and made it publicly. Law is promulgated for the common good it must serve for the public good. And law is promulgated in a society it is applicable only to those the social institutions, society and community and pertains to the legitimate lawgivers. There are also norms of morality

Eternal law it is the divine reason and will commanding that the natural order of things be preserved and forbidding that it disturbed. Natural law or the law of nature (Latin: lex naturalis), is a system of law that is purportedly determined by nature, and thus universal. Classically, natural law refers to the use of reason to analyze human nature—both social and personal—and deduce binding rules of moral behavior. Natural law is contrasted with the positive law (meaning “man-made law”, not “good law”; posit) of a given political community, society, or nation-state, and thus serves as a standard by which to criticize said positive law. And last we discuss about kinds of conscience.

Corrects or true conscience it discerns and dictates to the person that is good as good what is evil as evil. Erroneous or False Conscience it mistakes what is good as to evil and what is evil to good. Scrupulous Conscience this is extremely cautious or fearful to the point that the person refuses to do or judges the act. Lax conscience this finds excuses for an evil act to be no sinful. Certain Conscience a person acts in the state of good faith

And Doubtful Conscience he is not sure on the goodness or badness of an act.