Professional Ethics
A Mini-Course in Ethics
The Ethical Question is the question of the morality of free and responsible human conduct. It is the question of right, of wrong, and of duty, in man's conscious and deliberate activity. The department of philosophy which answers this question is called Moral Philosophy or Ethics.
This science grows out of the rest of philosophy. For when we have a philosophical grasp of the possibility of achieving certitude and of right formulas for reasoning out truth, then we are necessarily aware of the need of the true program for right human living.
General Ethics
Topics:
a. Human Acts;
b. Ends of Human Acts;
c. Norms of Human Acts;
d. Morality of Human Acts;
e. Properties and Consequences of Human Acts.
a) Human Acts
The term human act has a fixed technical meaning. It means an act (thought, word, deed, desire, omission) performed by a human being when he is responsible; when he knows what he is doing and wills to do it. An act is perfectly human when it is done with full knowledge and full consent of the will, and with full and unhampered freedom of choice. If the act is hampered in any way, it is less perfectly human; if it is done without knowledge or consent it is not a human act at all. An act done by a human being but without knowledge and consent is called an act of a person but not a human act. In the terminology of classical realistic philosophy, a human act is actus humanus; an act of a person is actus hominis.
The essential elements of a human act are three: knowledge, freedom, actual choice.
(1) Knowledge: A person is not responsible for an act done in ignorance, unless the ignorance is the person's own fault, and is therefore willed (vincible ignorance), in which case he has knowledge that he is in ignorance and ought to dispel it. Thus, in one way or another, knowledge is necessary for responsible human activity.
(2) Freedom: A person is not responsible for an act over which he has no control, unless
The Ethical Question is the question of the morality of free and responsible human conduct. It is the question of right, of wrong, and of duty, in man's conscious and deliberate activity. The department of philosophy which answers this question is called Moral Philosophy or Ethics.
This science grows out of the rest of philosophy. For when we have a philosophical grasp of the possibility of achieving certitude and of right formulas for reasoning out truth, then we are necessarily aware of the need of the true program for right human living.
General Ethics
Topics:
a. Human Acts;
b. Ends of Human Acts;
c. Norms of Human Acts;
d. Morality of Human Acts;
e. Properties and Consequences of Human Acts.
a) Human Acts
The term human act has a fixed technical meaning. It means an act (thought, word, deed, desire, omission) performed by a human being when he is responsible; when he knows what he is doing and wills to do it. An act is perfectly human when it is done with full knowledge and full consent of the will, and with full and unhampered freedom of choice. If the act is hampered in any way, it is less perfectly human; if it is done without knowledge or consent it is not a human act at all. An act done by a human being but without knowledge and consent is called an act of a person but not a human act. In the terminology of classical realistic philosophy, a human act is actus humanus; an act of a person is actus hominis.
The essential elements of a human act are three: knowledge, freedom, actual choice.
(1) Knowledge: A person is not responsible for an act done in ignorance, unless the ignorance is the person's own fault, and is therefore willed (vincible ignorance), in which case he has knowledge that he is in ignorance and ought to dispel it. Thus, in one way or another, knowledge is necessary for responsible human activity.
(2) Freedom: A person is not responsible for an act over which he has no control, unless