5. 5
Create a t-chart as shown below…
Michael Bregar (mbregar@gmail.com)
Morality Ethics
From the Greek
word “ethos” –
meaning “character”
Thought of as a code
From the Latin word
‘moralitas’ - having
to do with the
customs, manners,
and habits shaping
human life.
Actions and
principles
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Morality Ethics
The principles of
“right conduct”
Principles on which
you make personal
judgements.
External or something
higher?
Your own principles?
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Morality Ethics
Focuses on the good
that human beings
tend toward.
Ethics lead us to a
better good. A
search for “the
higher good”.
Good
acts/judgements
which we make.
Morality translates
our “Search for
Good” driving our
actions.
So our morality is
11. 11
Think of ethics as a
paintbrush, gives us
vision to our action.
Ethics guides morality
Michael Bregar (mbregar@gmail.com)
12. 12
Music Example:
Ethics is understanding of musical theory.
Morality is playing the music. The
performance.
People can still play music without musical
theory, but you may not always make good
decisions.
Michael Bregar (mbregar@gmail.com)
13. 13
Group Work: Partner into groups of 4. You
must:
Define morality & ethics.
(Ethics is….), (Morality is….)
Create a metaphor for how the two concepts
relate.
Michael Bregar (mbregar@gmail.com)
14. 14
Scenario Activity: Partner into groups of 4.
You will be assigned a scenario. Read it carefully.
Discuss the scenario as a group.
Brainstorm answers to the guiding questions.
Record your answers into a google doc or/and
onto chart paper.
Michael Bregar (mbregar@gmail.com)
15. 15
Scenario Activity: Answer the following 4
questions in your group.
1) How would you descript your shared personal
experience from the perspective of each of the
scenarios
2) What reasons/motives might you have that would
cause you to respond in one way or another?
3) What makes you respond in these situations? Why?
4) Under what circumstances might you respond
differently?
5) What makes these responses ethical?
Michael Bregar (mbregar@gmail.com)
18. 18
A spontaneous decision to
help someone in trouble, a
scream for help.
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An automatic response.
You react to help
someone.
20. 20
Happens face to face with another person.
A feeling of responsibility: the other’s face
causes an impact, might elicit a sense of
responsibility from you (guilt?).
Michael Bregar (mbregar@gmail.com)
May not always
happen this way….
22. 22
An intrinsic duty.
If you ignore the ethical response, unrest
may stay with you.
Michael Bregar (mbregar@gmail.com)
Authority figures
can place orders
which forces us
to respond.
23. 23
We have a built-in capacity of what the
world should be.
A response to events which we view as not
right, unfair or unjust.
Michael Bregar (mbregar@gmail.com)
We may cause a
change opposing
this destruction.
26. 26
A view that denies
the existence of a
single universally
applicable moral
standard. In other
words, morality is
“relative” from
person to person.
Michael Bregar (mbregar@gmail.com)
27. 27
A view that affirms the
existence of a single
correct universally
applicable moral
standard.
Michael Bregar (mbregar@gmail.com)
Moral Absolute:
Morals are inherent
universal laws.
Actions are moral or
immoral
28. 28
For Catholics:
Remember there is no real ethical theory.
Our faith hopes we use our conscience and
search for good in every ethical dilemma we
face.
Examine ethics in a philosophical lens.
Michael Bregar (mbregar@gmail.com)
29. 29
The purpose of ethics is to find
the “best good” in
circumstances which can
change.
As Catholics we believe that
people themselves are
fundamentally ethical.
We are born with an innate
search for good.
Michael Bregar (mbregar@gmail.com)
Notes de l'éditeur
Read to class:
Take a moment to imagine that you are on vacation, stretched out on a vast expanse of magnificent white beach, with no one around for miles. You are finally getting that relief from the tension and anxiety of daily life that you most certainly deserve. You can feel your muscles relaxing. You can feel the stress flowing out of your body. You can feel your mind detaching from everyday concerns, releasing the grip of concentrated attention. Your mind begins to wander, to float blissfully, to be carried here, then there, from one pleasant image to another, on the breezes that blow in that familiar region of consciousness between waking and sleeping.
Suddenly a scream breaks through your state of bliss.
Help!!!!
Your entire being suddenly shifts into gear! You are transformed! In a single movement your body and mind rise together into a state of action, of focused attention, of total concentration. It is as different from your previous state as a hurricane from a calm summer's day. Before, you were at rest. Now you are in motion ! You are energized ! You are dynamized by a concern, a desire, a commitment to action. Who screamed? Are they drowning? Where are they? How to help them? Find out! Get to them ! Save them ! Keep them alive !
How would you name this experience? The scream broke through your reverie, forcing you to awareness of your responsibility for another person. Objectively, the scream was a burst of sound. For you it was a sound that touched you more deeply than at the level of your intellect. It won't do to analyze the scream. The scream is an appeal, a call for help. It urges you not to think, but to act. It is a deeply felt, almost automatic, claim made upon you to do something. Without thinking about it, you feel an inner tension to respond. It is not a decision you make. It is an almost automatic response. This is what it means to experience an ethical
Students write on chalkboard. Students are allowed to pass.
Record top 5 onto powerpoint
It is quite common that both words are used interchangeably in philosophy, but they are different.
Morals refer to an individual's own principles regarding right and wrong. The concern if actions are right or wrong.
ethics refer to rules provided by an external source, e.g., codes of conduct in workplaces or principles in religions. Principles people live by.
Focuses on the good that human beings tend toward (happiness, freedom)
Ethics guides morality – it gives us the vision of our action (we can’t paint without our paintbrush)
Ethics gives us an understanding of the essential principles underlying our activity
There is consistency.
Ethics is understanding of musical theory, reading music, understanding technique.
Morality is playing the music. The performance. music, hitting the right notes.
-This can happen when you are face-to-face with another person
-You are responsible to the other
-The other’s face takes hostage and elicits a responsibility from you (can become guilt)
-The face stays with you until you decide – it causes an impact
-May not always begin this way
– there are a number of
emotions and many
questions you ask yourself
There is an intrinsic duty (i.e. To follow parent’s rules)
If you choose to ignore the ethical response, the unrest stays with you
The order or wish from an authority figure can invade our consciousness, change our ethical framework and demand a response.
Video Clip: Trailer for Grey’s Anatomy
‘Tainted Obligation’
One has a built-in capacity of what the world should look like
These experiences lead us to the thought of “That is not fair!”
This is a response to a terrifying event that contrasts greatly with how we think humans should be acting
Can cause a change that opposes this destruction
Video Clip: Hotel Rwanda
It is important for us to understand that there is no real ethical theory
Our Catholic faith hopes that we use our conscience and search for the good in every ethical dilemma we face
What one person believes is duty, guilt, intolerable contrast, etc. will be different for every person in every circumstance
Ethical Absolutism: The view that affirms the existences of a single correct and universally applicable moral standard
Moral Absolute/Universal
-morals are inherent in the laws
of the universe
-The nature of humanity, and
the will or character of God, or some other
fundamental source
-The regard actions as essentially moral or
immoral
-Example: , slavery, dictatorships, child
abuse is absolutely immoral regardless of the
beliefs and goals of a culture that engages in
these practices
-They believe that moral questions can be judged regardless of the context of the act
It is important for us to understand that there is no real ethical theory
Our Catholic faith hopes that we use our conscience and search for the good in every ethical dilemma we face
What one person believes is duty, guilt, intolerable contrast, etc. will be different for every person in every circumstance
Our society is filled with many norms, duties and many important laws and commandments
The purpose of ethics is to find the highest possible good in various circumstances and under certain conditions (i.e. self defense vs. Thou shall not kill)
Goods beat out the rules and norms
If the rules don’t contribute to that highest good - the rules need to be reconsidered
