Baliwag Polytechnic College

Dalubhasaan Kong Mahal

2nd Semester
A.Y. 2020 – 2021

STUDY GUIDES
Your success to finish this module lies in your hand. This module is prepared for you to
learn new concepts and invaluable skills diligently, intelligently, and independently. As a future
young professional, doing these will greatly help and prepare you to become a responsible
student. Set your goals and invest for your future. This is your first step towards your priceless
investment for a brighter tomorrow. Do not waste your time, effort and energy. Always stay
motivated and inspired to make your dreams come true. The following guides and house rules
will help you further to be on track and to stay at the end of the module.

1. Schedule and manage your time wisely for you to accomplish the given tasks
in this module.
2. If there are things that you do not understand, go over and focus on the lesson.
If this will not work, seek the help of your family members or leave me a
message so I can give assistance.
3. Before you start doing anything else, read and understand the learning tasks
carefully. Always aim for the best and do not settle with low grades.
4. Think before you write. In answering all the assessment activities, write
legibly and follow the instructions as needed.
5. Do not hesitate to keep an open communication with me through any available
platforms. I am more than willing to help you to accomplish your goals.
6. Once you are done in the module, you can proceed doing other tasks in the
succeeding units that are scheduled for the finals.
7. You are expected to answer all the printed-based activities, assignments and
reflection guides for you to pass in this course.
8. Remember you are the student hence you are expected to accomplish and
study the module on your own. You can seek help and support from your
family members and friends but the actual activities must be done by you.

GRADING SYSTEM
Midterm Grade
 Self-paced activities, Quizzes -60%
Examination -40%

Tentative Final Grade

Self-paced activities, Quizzes, Portfolio -60%
Examination -40%

Final Grade Midterm 50% + TFG 50%

STUDY SCHEDULE

Dates Module /Topics

Module 1 The Scope and Meaning of Ethics
Week 1 Future Growth
Lesson 1 A Deeper Understanding of Ethics
January 4-8, 2021 Lesson 2 Morality and Other Phases of
Human
Life
Lesson 3 Morality and Human Acts

Weeks 2 Module 2 Moral Standards and Human

January 11-15, 2021 Freedom
Lesson 1 Moral Standards
Week 3 Module 3 Morality
Lesson 1 The Norms of Morality
January 18-22, 2021 Lesson 2 Defective Norms of Morality
Week 4 Module 4 Dilemma
January 25-29, 2021 Lesson 1 What is Dilemma?
Week 5 Module 5 Culture in Moral Behavior
February 1-5, 2021 Lesson 1 Culture in Moral Behavior
Explained

Week 6 Module 6 Filipino Culture and Morality

February 8-12, 2021 Lesson 1 Culture Relativism
Lesson 2 Filipino Psyche and Morality

Week 7 Module 7 Morality and Conscience

February 15-19, Lesson 1 Morality
 2021 Lesson 2 Kinds of Values
Week 8 Module 8 Feelings and Moral Decisions
February 22-26, Lesson 1 The Ethics of Love
2021
Week 9 Module 9 Human Reasoning
March 1-5, 2021 Lesson 1 Types of Human Reasoning
Week 10 Module 10 Courage and Moral Courage
March 8-12, 2021 Lesson 1 Virtue and Types of courage
Week 11 Module 11 Aristotle on Virtue
March 15-19, 2021 Lesson 1 Virtue According to Aristotle and
his
Definition of Happiness
Week 12 Module 12 The Philosophy of St. Thomas
March 22-26, 2021 Aquinas
Lesson 1 St. Thomas Aquinas on the Natural
Law
Week 13 Module 13 The Philosophy of Immanuel Kant
April 5-9, 2021 Lesson 1 Man and Duty
Lesson 2 Kant’s Philosophy of Good Will
Lesson 3 Kant’s Categorical Imperative
Lesson 4 The Kingdom of Ends
Week 14 Module 14 Rights
April 12-16, 2021 Lesson 1 Types of Human Rights

Week 15 Module 15 The Philosophy of Utilitarianism

April 19-23, 2021 Lesson 1 Utilitarianism
Lesson 2 Positive and Negative Utilitarianism
Lesson 3 Business Utilitarianism
Week 16 Module 16 Justice and Fairness
April 26-30, 2021 Lesson 1 State and Law
Lesson 2 Government and Justice
Week 17 Module 17 Pluralism versus Fundamentalism
May 3-7, 2021 Lesson 1 What is Social Justice
Lesson 2 Globalization and Pluralism
Lesson 3 The Filipino Millennials aka
Filinnials
Lesson 4 The Role of Religion in Ethics
Course Description:
Ethics is the study of how we ought to live. Since the ancient Greeks,
philosophers have held ethics as one of the most important fields in philosophy
because of its intimate ties with everyday life. During the first part of this course, we
will consider and critique different principles and theories which purport to explain
what makes an action right or wrong, and what sort of character traits we ought to
develop. In the second part of the course, we will investigate the status of ethical
theories and claims. We will attempt to discover whether there are objective truths
about how we ought to live, or if ethics is ultimately a matter of subjective opinions
and desires. In the final part of the course, we will consider some practical ethical
issues such as global poverty and animal welfare.

MODULE 1
The Scope and Meaning of Ethics

This module is comprised of three lessons

Lesson 1 A Deeper Understanding of Ethics
Lesson 2 Morality and other Phase of Human Life
Lesson 3 Morality and Human Acts

At the end of this module, you are expected to:

1. To understand the Definition of Ethics
2. Morality and other phases of Human Life
3. To learn about Human Acts
 LESSON 1
A deeper understanding of Ethics

Ethics is a branch of Philosophy that studies human acts and human conducts although
there are subjects that study human conduct such as Psychology and Sociology. Ethics has a
deeper meaning in its standpoint by further delving into the aspect of human acts. They are more
concerned with the morality of human acts.
Noted definition of Ethics
1. Ethics is the practical science of the morality of human actions
2. Ethics is the scientific inquiry into the principles of morality
3. Ethics is the study of human conduct from the standpoint of morality
4. Ethics is the science of human acts with reference of right and wrong
Relation of Ethics with Other Sciences
1. Ethics and Logic – Logic is the science of right thinking while Ethics is the science of right
living. Thinking and Doing things go hand-in-hand, we cannot move without thinking right the
same way every action is guided by reason.
2. Ethics and Psychology – The two subjects deal with the study of man, human nature and
human behavior but that is all their similarity ends. Psychology only tells us the causes of man’s
actions that may be psychological or physiological but ethics tells us how man should react.
Ethics is interested in moral obligation while Psychology ends there.
3. Ethics and Sociology – as we all know, Sociology deals with the study of society as well as
the social order that regulates the society as a whole. But then what is the foundation of their
social order if there is no basis of right and wrong which is Ethics. Any society is doomed to fail
if devoid of correct basis of thinking.
4. Ethics and Economics – Napoleon once said that an army marches on its stomach, in relation
to economics man has to fulfill his economic needs. The need for material wealth is inherent in
man that there are instances that economic topics needed ethical principles such as capital-labor
relations, profit, interests, money et al. The need to settle these conflicts must have ethical basis
to incur equitable results.

LESSON 2
Morality and Other Phases of Human Life
1. Ethics and Education – Education whether formal or informal is a never-ending process and
is the foundation of man’s moral, intellectual and physical capacities. But then again education is
illicit if it is not supported by ethics. They say ethics is life the same way education is
intertwined with life. Learning is good but learning supported by ethics is better inasmuch as
ethics is living right.
2. Morality and Law – as mentioned in the previous module, not everything moral is legal and
not everything legal is moral. Meaning there are good things that do not need legislation and
immoral acts that the State may approve. But to further differentiate them laws only use external
acts while ethics covers man’s “acts” that play in his mind that will not incriminate him in any
statute. For example, a plan for a robbery if discovered is not criminally liable in any court of
law but ethics said it is a fault for such “act” is intrinsically evil.
3. Ethics and Politics - Man in his constant search for happiness be it temporal or eternal is
never ending. They say politics and ethics are poles apart – in a certain point that is correct it is
the very reason why politics becomes dirty for they deviate from ethics. Man’s insatiable greed
for wealth and power thru politics means absence of ethics. An ideal state should be an ethical
state.
4. Ethics and Art – Ethics is about positive morality while art is beauty. Any work of art that is
beautiful, will give a positive outlook to the looker that will be greatly appreciated. The purpose
of art is for appreciation that is contributory to man’s ethics.
5. Religion and Ethics – Religion is ethics and ethics is religion, they are interchangeable for the
any religious belief tends to ethical standards in relation to his most fundamental tenet. What
unites them all boiled down to three things namely: a) belief in the Supernatural, b) man’s
beginning and end and c) right living.

LESSON 3
Morality and Human Acts

Morality is the quality of goodness or badness in a human act. In this case, we base
judgement on any human act based on its ethicality. The quality of an act may be justified
according to its gravity. An evil human act maybe considered “right” just as long as it can be
justified which leads us to its norm of morality. By that term, we mean that the basis for
determining its correctness are the standard of the judging party and the reason why an act is
morally wrong or right.
Human Acts just like the word itself means actions of men that are done willfully and
willingly. Keep in mind that scenarios beyond human control are not human acts such as rainfall,
sunset, earthquake even the beating of the heart or blood circulation are beyond human act for
these are actions man cannot control. In the case of assassinations where the culprit pulled the
trigger, the gun is not to blame but the doer of the action that caused taking the life of another
man. Once questioned he has the right to justify his action as either morally right or wrong.
References and Supplementary Materials
Books and Journals
Ethics
The Scope and Meaning of Ethics 3
Course Module
Agapay, Ramon B.; Ethics and the Filipinos; Mandaluyong Metro Manila, National Book Store
Montemayor, Felix M.; Ethics, the Philosophy of Life; Navotas, Metro Manila; National Book Store Inc.
Written by: Christopher S. Espiritu AMACC Caloocan Campus