ETHICS 1 Moral Accountability

ETHICS

Ethics
 under the branch of philosophy

which means the study morality of human acts.

of the

Morality


that which renders action right or wrong.

 the quality of human acts by

which they are constituted as good, bad, or indifferent.

Moral actions
-they are good actions and are permissible.

Immoral actions
-they are bad or evil and are not permissible.

Amoral actions
- they are neither good nor bad in themselves.
(But certain amoral actions may become good or bad because of the circumstances attendant to them).

Human Acts


are those actions performed by man, knowingly and freely. They are also called voluntary and intentional actions.

Human acts reveal the thoughts

and inclination of the person doing them.

Virtuous- a person who has a habit or inclination to do good.
Vicious- one who has a habit of doing bad.

Importance of Ethics
 Requirement for human life
 A means of deciding a course of

action
 Without it, our actions would be aimless George Washington
“Morality and religion are the two indispensable pillars to human prosperity and happiness.”
Socrates
“ the unexamined life is not worth living for man- the investigation of the meaning of life.”

Plato calls Ethics the supreme science that deals with the
Summum Bonum- the supreme purpose of human living.

Moral Accountability
Human Acts those actions which man performs knowingly, freely, and voluntarily.
Acts of man those actions that are instinctive and are not within the control of the will. examples: respiration, fear, anger, love and jealousy.

Essential Attributes
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, the senile- are considered incapable of acting knowingly.



It must be informed by an agent who is acting freely, that is, by his own volition and powers.

It must be performed by an agent

who decides willfully to perform the act. Extrinsic and Intrinsic