Understanding Civics and Ethics

Asfaw Kasa (PhD)

September 5-9/2022
 Course Aims

An emerging field of study in the field of social science

Producing good citizens

Equipping learners with the necessary civic competence and active

participation in public life

Helping them to exercise their democratic rights and discharging their

responsibilities effectively
 Cont…

• Familiarizing learners with necessary civic knowledge and skills

• Preparing learners to acquire relevant knowledge,

• Respecting the worth and human dignity of every individual,

right attitudes and requisite skills,

• What makes civic education and Ethics Imperative?

• Absence of established civic culture

 Cont…

Civic values and ethical principles are not yet well-

constitutionalized

Missing the proper moral conduct and the civic education

Addressing diversity and national unity

Developing democratic culture, ethical values and principles,

Supremacy of constitution and the rule of law

• Acquiring knowledge about the nature of Ethiopian federal

and parliamentary system,
 Cont…

• Ways of making responsible decisions

• Solving problems and caring for others

• Contributing to society and being tolerant,respectful of

diversity
• Focuses on the meaning, scope, and dimension of citizenship
• Rational and objectives of of civics and ethics
• Competences of good citizens
 Nomenclature

• The name of moral and civic education and its purpose varies
from state to state

• Ideological difference is the main reason.

• E.g in South Africa, Right education, in USA and Germany,

• citizenship education, and citizenship and character education

in Singapore
• Citizenship for democracy, civic education,
• Civics and Ethics and so on
 Citizen and Citizenship

• The concept of citizen and citizenship is related to democracy

• A person who has right with duty is a citizen

• The legal status established between citizens and the state is

citizenship

• Implies the sharing of rights, duties or burdens

• Subjects, peoples who hardly have rights but duties to fulfill

• In which political systems do peoples enjoy citizenship rights?

 Qualities or competencies of a citizen

• A human being is a social animal. He/she couldn’t live alone.

• Fundamental principles and values to live together with her/his

fellow beings.

• One of the qualities of a citizen is to become good

• According to Aristotle, educated citizens are good citizens.

• The prior concern of any state is creating a good citizen

• Good citizens are made not born

 Cont…

• Democratic minded citizens are good citizens

• Committed citizens and democratic qualities

• Hard-working (industrious) and economical citizens, self-

reliant

• Pursue wisdom, respects law, active participation

• Developing culture of saving,

• Standing for justice and fairness, patriotic

 Defining Civics, Ethics, Morality, and Civic
Education
• Civic education is an education that studies about the rights
and responsibilities of citizens.

• Citizens are a politically organized group of people.

• Civic education as the knowledge of the constitutions, the

principles, values, history and application to contemporary
life.
 Cont…
• Citizenship education can be understood as

• The knowledge, means, and activities designed to

• Encourage students to participate actively in democratic life

• Citizenship education also teaches about rights and

responsibilities of citizens.
 Cont…

• Civic education as a way of learning for

• Effective participation in a democratic and development processes.

• Defined as the development of ideas, behaviors, habits, and useful

attitudes in the individual

• Enables citizens to be useful member of the society

• Defined as the process of helping young people acquire and learn to

use the skills, knowledge, and attitudes that will prepare them to be
competent and responsible citizens throughout their lives
A maximal and minimal definition of
civic education
• The minimal concept of civic education is

• Content led,

• Teacher based

• Whole class teaching and examination based assessment.

 The maximal concept of civic education

• The maximal concept of civic education is

• Comprised of knowledge, values, and skills
• Aims to prepare students for active responsible
participation
• Extends learning beyond the curriculum and the
classroom.
• Includes all activities inside and outside the school.
 Definition of Ethics and Morality

• Etymologically, Ethics comes from Greek word, Ethos,

(character, behavior)

• While morality originates from Latin, Moralitas (human

nature)

• Ethics is also known by the name moral philosophy

• A branch of philosophy that attempts to understand peoples

moral beliefs and actions

• Terms sometimes used interchangeably

• mean peoples morality and Concerned with How human

 Cont…

• Ethics is about what is right or wrong.

• Traditionally, ethics means the activities of
organizations and professional code of
conduct.
• Morality means ways in individuals conduct
their personal, private lives (truthfulness and
honesty).
 Cont…

• Both ethics and morality refers to ideas about how humans

ought to act.

• Ethics is about exploring the meaning and the ranking of

different ethical values (honesty, autonomy, equality, and
justice.

• Ethics shares common ground with the law, religious belief.

 Cont…

• Popular opinion and professional codes.

• The main ethical question is how to make a decision

(judgements about what one should do in a specific instance.

• Ethics is the study of moral conduct (the code that one

follows).

• Ethics is the decision we make about the rightness or

wrongness of any act (conduct).
 Cont…

• Moral issues such as lying, stealing, keeping promise,

respecting elders etc.

• Morality refers to the degree to which an action conforms to a

standard or norm of human conduct.

• Ethics refers to the philosophical study of values, and of what

constitutes good and bad human conduct.
 Cont…

• Ethics investigates:

• Standard of morality that applies to all people, all times, and

everywhere.

• The precise nature of moral responsibility

• The conditions under which one is morally accountable or

responsible,

• The proper end of law.

 Cont…

• the description of good person or right decision (action)

conforms some standard.

• Ethics is the critical examination and evaluation of what is

good, evil, right and wrong in human conduct.

• A specific set of principles, values, guidelines, for a particular

group or organization.
 Cont…

• Generally, ethics is the study of goodness, right action, and

moral responsibility.

• Morality is a complex concept. It means different things to

different people.

• The term morality is common in most cultures.

• The simplest dictionary definition of morality is manner,

character, and proper behavior.

• Morality also refers to the concept of human action

• Which pertains to matters of right and wrong (Good and evil).

 Cont…

• Morality means the generally accepted code of

conduct
• In society or within subgroup of society.
• In Socrates words, morality is how we ought to
live.
• Ethics is usually associated with a certain
conduct within a profession.
 Cont…

• For example, teaching ethics, medical ethics,

business ethics etc.
• Morality is a more general term refering to the
character of individuals and community.
• The formal study of moral conduct is ethics.
• Morality is related to praxis while ethics is
related to theory.
 The importance of moral and civic education

• To make individuals responsible and efficient member of their

community.

• To create active and principled citizens

• To enable citizens to develop the sense of problem solving

capability,

• To develop the sense of caring for others,

• To be tolerant and respectful of diversity,

• To educate higher education (University students) democratic

cultures,
 Cont…

• To create a generation who have all rounded capability and

competent citizens,

• To enable citizens to shoulder family and national

responsibility,

• To enable citizens to understand their rights and duties.

• Rights and duties coexist with each other. (the two sides of the
same coins), ETC
 Cont…

• Citizens are required to have a balanced understanding of

rights and duties

• There are four interplays between rights and duties.

• Ones rights implies the duty of others

• Ones duty implies ones rights.

• Ones right implies the promotion of social good

 Cont…

• The state is nucleus entity to discharge duties and rights of

citizens.

• Moral and civic education teaches political cultures.

• Three political cultures, parochial cultures, subject

cultures,and participant cultures.
 Ethics and Law

• Law is a norm, formally approved by states, power,national or

international political bodies.

• Law is needed for promoting well-being,

• Resolving conflict of interests,

• Promoting social harmony.

 Why ethics is not law?

• Ethics is not law for several reasons.

• Illegal actions may not be unethical. The case of speed.

• Unethical actions may not be illegal. The case of lying.

• A law may be unethical.

Approaches to Ethics

Asfaw Kasa (PHD)

September 19-23/2022
 the Meaning of ethics

• A branch of philosophy which deals with morality or morals

• Morality means people’s beliefs about right, wrong,fgood, bad

• Norms and customary rules to judge the actions, intentions of

individuals and groups in the society

• Something set by community or society

• Ethics teaches about morality

 Cont…

• How a person can make ethical decisions

• Why he/she needs to be ethical?

• Moral status of policies on environment

• Impacts of the policies on human lives

• Questions related to morality include

• What actions are right or wrong?

 Cont…

• What things are good or bad?

• What ought to be done or what ought not to be done?

• Differentiate whether ethics is descriptive or not?

• Justifies morality through logical reasoning

• Prescribes or passes judgements

• Two approaches of ethics (ethical relativism and ethical

universalism)
 Cont…

• Moral values and principles are relative to the people

• Vary from society to society (culture to culture)

• Subdivided into ethical subjectivism and cultural relativism

• Subjectivism; expression of individual opinion (respective

feelings)

• Cultural relativism; societal norms form the basis of morality

• Differs from culture to culture

 Cont…

• No universal moral values

• Ethical universalism; moral values and principles transcend

across societies

• Inherent to human nature regardless of particular culture

• Things which are considered good or desirable for their results

(instrumental good), things which are considered good not
because of their results (intrinsic good)
 Types of Ethics

• Three broad areas of ethical study: normative ethics, meta-

ethics, applied ethics
• Normative ethics is the study of ethical acts
• Focuses explicitly onquestions (what is the right thing to do?)
• concerned with questions of what people ought to do, how
people can decide what the correct moral actions to take are
• Metaethics focuses on the meaning of ethical terms e.g what is
goodness?How ethical knowledge is obtained?
 Cont…

• Concerned with the nature of ethical properties, statements,

attitudes, and judgements

• Applied ethics: how people can achieve moral outcomes in

specific situations.

• Concerned with the philosophical examination of particular

and complex issues involving moral judgements
 Cont…

Bioethics, environmental ethics, and development ethics.

Three basic kinds of prescriptive moral theories

Teleological theory,

Deontological theory,

And virtue theory.

 Cont…

• Ethics focuses on the studying or building up a coherent set of

rules or principles by which people ought to live.

• Theories of ethics evaluate human actions or behaviors in a

systematic way.

• Ways of justifying human conduct (actions/behaviors)

outcomes, duties, and motivations.
 Ethical views or Western Ethical Theories

• There are no standard moral rules that determine the rightness

or wrongness of human action or behavior.

• Instead, alternative standards,two broad theories

(Deontological and teleological ethics).
Cont…

• One traditional principle often given to guide action is

• Let your conscience be your guide.

• Doing whatever most loving is another principle.

• The golden rule, do to others as you would have them do to

you.
Cont…

• Is it easy to know what the right or the wrong action is?

• Conscience, love, and the golden rule are all worthy of rules

• They work for most of us, most of the time in ordinary moral
situations. However, for more complicated moral cases, they
have limitations.
Teleological (Consequentialist)

• Human being usually weigh up the right and wrong decisions

fairly, quickly and easily.

• The consequences of human action or behavior determines the

morality and immorality of a given action or behavior.

• The end justifies the means. Purpose, ends or goals of human

action or behavior.
Cont….

• Teleological ethics means being a good person with good

intentions. Focuses on the intention behind human action.

• The judgement of wrong or right action/behavior depends on

the consequence of that action/behavior.
Cont…

• Positive outcomes of an action/behavior are considered right.

• Negative outcomes of an action/behavior are considered

wrong.

• The end justifies the means. The consequences of an action

determines the morality and immorality of a given action.
Cont…

• Do you think giving money to charity makes us a good

person?

• Does giving money to charity Allow us feel better about

ourselves?

• Is it the consequence of our actions that matter?

• Is it purely the action itself?(The act of giving, that is

intrinsically right?)
Cont…

• Teleological ethics focuses on the goal of the ethical action.

• The basis of moral judgment is based on outcomes of a

decision or an action.

• The judgement of right or wrong depends the consequences of

the decision or action.
Three types of Teleological Ethics

• Egoism, Utilitarianism, and Altruism.

• Egoism believes that the motivation for all of our action is self
interest (one’s self).

• Egoism has descriptive argument and normative argument.

• Descriptive argument tells us how the world actually is.

Cont…

• Egoism as a normative argument tell us how the world ought

to be.

• Egoism believes that human nature is self-centered.

• Individuals act in their own self-interest.

• Doing one’s duty or helping others.

Cont…

• The motivation behind doing good deeds may be related to

• Making ourselves good,

• Making ourselves look good in the eyes of others,

• By helping others, others will help us.

Cont…

• Normative argument of egoism says that we should act in our

own interests.

• If everyone acts in their own self-interest,then society will

become more efficient.

• It is morally right to pursue one’s own self-interest.

Cont…

• Self-interested behavior is right if it lead to morally acceptable

ends.

• For ethical egoism, there is only one rule.

• Look after yourself you have no business for others.

• Ethical egoism implies that we ought to be selfish.

Cont…

• Ethical egoism is a theory that advocates egoism as a moral

rule.

• You should look after you. Egoists insist that if you don’t take
advantage of situation,

• You are foolish.

Cont…

• Morality is a result of self-interest. We should treat others the

way we would like to be treated.

• Acting only in one’s own best interest. We all always seek to

maximize our own self-interest.

• Other people’s interests are of no importance.

Cont…

• Advancing your own interest by helping others.

• Help others if you are the main beneficiary.

• Accordingt to ethical egoism, treat others in a way that is to

your advantage not to theirs.

• Ethical egoism is one version of psychological egoism.

• The basis of argument for ethical egoism is psychological one.

Cont…

• An argument from human nature.

• Self love is the only basic principle in human nature.

• Ego satisfaction is the final aim of all activity or

• That the pleasure principle is the basic drive in every

individual.

• Self love is the basic ethical principle of egoism.

Cont…

• We do things for others, but we get satisfaction out of doing

them.

• This satisfaction is our end in doing them.

• Doing them is only a means to get this satisfaction.

• Generally, Teleological ethics is how the consequences of a

given action will affect oneself or a given group.
Utilitarianism

• Utilitarianism is closely associated with Jeremy Bentham and

John Stuart mill (British philosophers).

• It is producing the best consequences (the action is the best

consequence when it procures the greatest happiness for the
greatest numbers.

• Utilitarianism focuses on collective welfare .

Cont…

• Pleasure as the sole good and pain the only evil. Maximizing
pleasure and minimizing suffering.

• The given human action/behavior is right if it brings about

more pleasure than pain.

• The given human action/behavior is wrong if it brings about

more pain.
Cont…

• John Stuart Mill defines happiness in terms of

• Higher order pleasures and lower order pleasures.

• The lower or elementary pleasures include eating, drinking,

sexuality, resting etc.

• The higher includes creativity, intellectuality, higher culture.

scientific knowledge etc.
 Cont…

• Utilitarianism identifies goodness;

• Utilitarianism is a universal teleological ethical system.

• The maximization of goodness in society (The greatest

goodness for the greatest number.

• The notion of general happiness that is,

• The pleasing consequences that impact others and not just the
individual.
Cont…

• With the greatest amount of good for the greatest number of

people.

• Greatest happiness principle.

• Maximizing benefit for the greatest number of people.

• Three elements of utilitarianism including the rightness and

wrongness of a decision or an action is determined by its
consequences.
Cont…

• The value of the consequence of an action is

assessed in terms of the amount of happiness
or well-being caused.

• In assessing the total happiness caused to a

number of people, equal amount's of
happiness are to have equal value,
Act and Rule Utilitarianism

• Both agree that human actions/behaviors should produce best

results/consequences.

• However, they differ about how to do that.

• The principle of utility, do whatever will produce the best

overall results should be applied on a case by case basis.

• Creates more well-being than available actions.

• Rule utilitarians stresses the importance of moral rules.

• A specific action is morally justified if it conforms to a

justified moral rules.

• The morality of individual’s action is judged on the basis of

general moral rules.

• Act utilitarianism is equal to the evaluation of individual

actions.
Cont…

• Rule utilitarianism is equal to the evaluation of rules.

• Evaluate individual actions by seeing if they obey or disobey

those rules.

• Direct and extreme for act utilitarianism and indirect and

restricted for rule utilitarianism.
 Ethical Altruism

Asfaw Kasa (PhD)

November 14-18/2022
Cont…

• Altruism is named by August Comte.

• It is known as living for others.

• Ethical altruism entails selfless concern for the welfare of

others. Help others in the pursuit of their ends.

• Altruism is the opposite of Egoism.

Cont…

• Altruism as an ethical theory claims that it is man’s moral

obligation to help or serve others.

• An action is morally right if the consequences of that action

are more favorable than unfavorable to everyone except the
agent.

• Each of us has a special obligation to benefit others.

Cont…

• A duty to relieve the distress and promote the happiness of our

fellows.

• An individual has a moral obligation to serve others and to

advance their interests.

• Altruism is not only for the good of others but also to prevent
harm to them.
Deontology (non-consequentialism)

• All deontological ethical theories are non-consequentialist.

• The emphasis is on the decision or action itself. The

motivations, principles, and ideals underlying the decision or
action.

• Not being concerned with the outcomes or consequences that

decision or action.
Cont…

• A number of versions of deontological ethics

• Including performance of ones own duty

• Divine command theory duty (DCT)

• Rights theory,Categorical imperative

• Prima Facie duties

• Universal right and wrong and responsibilities (applied

everywhere and to everyone in the world)
Cont…

• For example, the right of a child to education.

• Duties: all human beings have some duties to other human

beings.

• Duties can be positive and negative. The duty to look after

one’s children (positive).

• The duty not to murder another human being

• The view implies the means justifies the end

Cont…

• The duty is universal to all human beings.

• It is also coined deontics

• Formal rules of conduct rather than consequences

• Moral principles or performance of duty rather than results

• A duty based human action or behavior

Classification of Duties by Samuel Pufendorf

• Three duties: Duties to God, duties to oneself, and duties to

others, two kinds of duties to God, theoretical and practical,
• To know the existence and nature of God (theoretical) and to
worship God (practical)
• Two sorts of duties to oneself, duties of the soul and duties of
the body
• Two kinds of duties to others, absolute and conditional duties
Cont…

• Absolute duties(Universal)and Conditional duties (The result

of contracts between people)
• Three absolute duties, avoid wronging others, treating people
as equals and
• Promoting the good of others.
• Conditional duties involve various types of agreements the
duty to keep one’s promise.
Divine Command Theory

• Divine Command Theory, duty ethics

• Ethical principles as commands of God.
• Without God, no universally valid morality
• Rightness and wrongness of action/behavior originates with
God
• Moral rightness willed by God
• Moral wrongness, against the will of God
Categorical Imperative

• Categorical imperative by Immanuel Kant (German philosopher)

• Imperative means command, don’t cheat,

• Two kinds of imperatives, hypothetical and categorical imperatives

• Categorical imperative expresses an absolute command

• Hypothetical imperative expresses a conditional imperative

• A good will is for the sake of duty

• Personal desires or inclinations and motives do not have acceptance

Cont…

• An act is moral if it is done for the sake of duty

• If you want to live in a beautiful house, you ought to work

hard.

• If you want to have a good job, you ought to go to College.

• These are personal desires. But they are not Categorical

imperative.

• Because they are based on fulfilling personal desires.

• A categorical imperative tells us that we must do something

Cont…
Cont…

• As an end, never as merely a means

• We should treat people as an end, never as a means to an end.

This implies people should be treated with dignity.

• Treating someone as a means to an end to achieve something

else is wrong.
Rights Theory

• A right is a justified claim against another person’s behavior.

(My right not to be harmed by you)
• Rights and duties are related. The right of one person implies
the duty of another person.(Correlativity of rights and duties)
• John Locke (The law of nature)
 Cont…

• We should not harm anyone’s life. Because these rights are

given to human beings by God.
• Three foundational rights by Thomas Jefferson (life, liberty,
the pursuit of happiness)
• The rights of property, movement, speech, and religious
expressions.
Cont…

• Features of moral rights: rights are natural,

• Rights are universal, rights are the same for all people (equal)
• Rights are inalienable. I cannot hand over my rights to another
person. (Selling myself into slavery)
W. D. Ross Prima Facie duty(Moral Guidelines)

• Prima facie duty is a more recent theory. They are conditional

duties based on moral reasoning.
• Prima facie means at a first sight or on the surface.
• Prima facie duties are duties that obligate us. They are binding
or obligatory.
• An act is a prima facie duty when there is moral reason in
favor of doing the act, but one that can be outweighed by other
moral reasons.
Cont…

• An act is a prima facie duty when it has at least one right-

making feature.
• For example, I promise to meet a friend for lunch.
• On the way there, I witness an accident.
• If I keep my promise to meet my friend, someone will die.
• If I break my promise, I can help at the accident, and save a
life.
• Since helping would prevent serious harm. Helping someone
is a moral reason to prevent harm.
Cont…

• If you make a promise, you have a prima facie duty to keep it.
• If someone has benefited you, you have a prima facie duty to
gratitude him/her.
• Prima facie duties are guidelines not rules.
• Prima facie duties are part of the fundamental nature of the
universe.
• Prima facie duties are characterized by personal character, past
and future looking, and a duty to specific people (maximizing
the good).
Cont…

– Morality is contextual.

– Seven categories of Prima facie duties include:

– Fidelity, duty to keep promise, duty not to lie.

– Reparation, duty to compensate others. Gratitude duty to

thank others.

– Justice, duty to distribute benefits and share burdens.

– Beneficence, duty to improve the condition of others.

– Self-improvement, duty to promote one’s own good. Non-

maleficence(non-injury)
 Virtue Ethics

Both teleological and deontological

ethical theories focus on action as the
key subject matter of ethics.
Virtue ethics focuses on the character
of the agent (doer)
 Cont…

• The kind of person an agent ought to be.

• A person’s moral character is what determines the wrongness
and rightness of action/behavior.
• A person’s moral character is expressed in the form of virtuous
or vice. Virtues such as honesty, courage, temperance,
integrity, compassion and self-control
 Cont…

• Vices such as dishonesty, lack of integrity, ruthlessness,

greedy, and cowardliness.
• The virtue of benevolence and the virtue of respect.
• Ethical virtue makes moral judgment from the perspective of
character evaluation.
• A moral virtue is an acquired disposition that is valued as part
of the character of a morally good human being.
 Cont…

• It is exhibited in the person’s habitual behavior.

• A person has a moral virtue when he/she is disposed to behave
habitually.
• With the reasons, feelings, and desires that are the character of
a morally good person.
• For example, honesty is a character trait of morally good
people.
 Cont…

• When a person is disposed habitually to tell the truth, because

he feels that telling the truth is right.
• Moral virtue theory was proposed by Aristotle. He was the
most influential philosopher
• A moral virtue is a habit that enables human beings to live
according to reason.
 Cont…

• A person’s lives according to reason, when he/she

knows/chooses the reasonable middle ground between going
too far and not going far enough in his/her actions, emotions,
and desires.
• Moral virtue is a mean between the two vices, one of excess
and the other of deficiency.
• For example, with respect to the emotion of fear, courage is
the virtue of responding to fear with a reasonable amount of
daring, cowardliness is the vice of not being daring enough in
response to fear.
• Recklessness is the vice of being too daring in response to fear.
• Virtues are habits of dealing with one’s emotions, desires, and
actions in a manner that seeks the reasonable middle ground
and avoids unreasonable extremes.
 Cont…

• Vices are habits of going to the extreme of either excess or

deficiency.
• Prudence is the virtue that enables one to know what is
reasonable in a given situation.
• The four pivotal or cardinal moral virtue includes courage,
temperance, justice, and prudence.
 Cont…

• Helping others is charitable (benevolent charity)

• Benevolence being virtues.
• Virtue is strength. Specific virtues are seen as strengths of
character.
• Currently, virtue ethics is a major moral theory.
• People have a natural capacity for good character.
• Good character is developed through practice
 Meta Ethics(Non-normative ethics)

Meta ethics tries to answer questions,

Such as what does good, right, justice mean?

What makes something good or right?

Is moral realism true?

Do intrinsic values exist?

Meta ethics is not about what people ought to do.

 Cont…

• It is about what they are doing when they talk about what they
ought to do.
• Meta ethics is about language. Positions in meta ethics can be
defined in terms of the answers they give to these sorts of
questions.
• Meta ethical theories include moral realism, non-cognitivism,
error theory and moral anti realism.
 Cognitivism and non-cognitivism

• The moral judgement that says murder is wrong is a particular

judgement.
• This expression is something related to psychological state of
mind according to cognitivists.
• Cognitivists think that a moral judgement is a belief.
• Beliefs can be true or false. They are truth apt,
 Cont…

• Apt to be assessed in terms of truth or falsity.

• Moral judgements are capable of being true or false.
• Cognitivism is the denial of non-cognitivism. It holds that
moral judgements do express beliefs.
• They are apt for truth or falsity.
• Non-cognitivists agree with error theorists that they believe
there are no moral facts.
 Cont…

• Non-cognitivists think that moral judgements have no

substantial truth condition.
• When people make moral judgements, they are not expressing
states of mind. States of mind are beliefs or cognitive in the
way beliefs are.
• They are expressing non-cognitive attitudes (emotions, desires,
approval or disapproval.
 Cont…

• In determining moral judgements, cognitivists and non-

cognitivists have their own interpretations.
• Cognitivists accept the view that moral judgements express a
belief. Beliefs can be true or false.
• Cognitivist moral philosophers assert that the moral
judgements have the ability of being true or false.
 Cont…

• Two types of cognitivist moral philosophy (strong and weak)

• Strong cognitivists believe that moral judgements are apt for
evaluation in terms of truth or falsity.
• Can be the upshot of cognitively accessing moral facts which
render them true.
• Two sorts of strong cognitivist moral philosophy (naturalism
and non-naturalism)
 Cont…

• Moral judgements can be true or false by refering to natural

state of activities.
• Refering to natural state of activities help us to access and
evaluate moral judgements as true or false.
• This implies that naturalist cognitivists consider that moral
properties are equivalent to natural properties.
 Cont…

• Moral judgements can be measured as true or false by refering

to natural properties.
• Contrary to this, non-naturalist cognitivists consider that moral
properties are not equivalent to natural properties
• Or cannot be evaluated the way natural properties are being
evaluated.
 Cont…

• Weak and strong cognitivism have similar outlook towards the

first principle (moral judgements are apt for evaluation in
terms of true or false
• They disagree on the second principle which says moral
judgements can be the upshot of cognitively accessing moral
facts which render them true.
 Cont…

• Naturalist cognitivists determine moral judgments based on

cognitive accessing moral facts (results)
• Weak cognitivests determine moral judgements not based on
cognitive reality.
• Moral judgements can be true or false not based on the upshot
of cognitive access to moral states of affairs.
 Non-cognitivism

Non-cognitivists assert that moral judgements cannot be

evaluated as true or false.
They promote feelings or emotions. Moral judgements are not
true or false rather they express liking and disliking of a moral
agent towards an action.
Non-cognitivists disagree with the two types of cognitivists.
 Cont…

When cognitivists consider that moral judgements express a belief, it is a form of inspiring
somebody to do something.
Even if we accept moral judgements express belief, indirectly, they express desire. This does not
mean that a belief has necessary connection with a desire.
Non-cognitivists think that moral judgements cannot express beliefs.
Three versions of non-cognitivism (emotivism,
 Cont…

• Norm, internalism and externalism, humanism and anti-

humanism.
• Emotivism is a non-cognitivism that considers that moral
judgments express emotions, or sentiments of approval and
disapproval.
• Our dispositions to form sentiments of approval or disproval.
 Cont…

• According to normism, our moral judgements express our

acceptance of norms.
• Internalism is the belief that considers the presence of an
internal or conceptual connection between moral judgements
and motivation.
• Externalism is the denial of internalism.
 Cont…

• Externalists believe that the connection between moral

judgements and motivation is only external and contingent.
Human theory of motivation is the claim that motivation
always consists of both beliefs and desires. Anti-human
motivation theory believes that beliefs themselves can be
intrinsically motivating.
 Cont…

• Meta ethics examines the meaning of moral terms and

concepts and the relationship between these concepts.
• Where moral values such as personhood and autonomy come
from.
• The difference between moral values and other kinds of
values.
• The way in which the moral claims are justified.
 Chapter four
State, Government, and Citizenship

By Asfaw Kasa
December 6-10
 Understanding State

• State refers to a bewildering range of things.

• A collection of institutions, a territorial unit,
• A philosophical idea, an instrument of coercion or oppression.
• The above considerations are not clear and they are confusing.
• There are four quite different ways of understanding state.
• Idealist, functionalist, organitional and international
perspectives.
 Cont…

• According to idealism, there are three moments of social

existence including the family, the civil society and the state.
• the state is conceived as an ethical community underpinned by
mutual sympathy (universal altruism)
• The drawback of idealism is that it is an uncritical for the
reverence of the state.
 Cont…

By defining the state, in ethical terms, idealism fails to

distinguish between institutions that are part of the state and
those that are outside the state.
According to functionalist approach, the state is defined as set
of institutions that uphold order and deliver social stability.
This approach focuses on the role or purpose of state
institutions.
 Cont…

• The maintenance of social order is the central function of the

state.
• For neo-marxists, the state is a mechanism through which class
conflict is ameliorated to ensure the longterm survival of
capitalist system.
• The tendency of functional approach to associate any
institution
 Cont…

• That maintains order such as the family, mass media, trade

unions and the church with the state.
• According to organizational approach, the sttate is defined as
the apparatus of government.
• Set of institutions that are recognizably public.
• These set of institutions are responsible for collective
organization of social existence.
 Cont…

• The state is funded at the public expense.

• Distinction between the state institutions and the civil society.
• The state institutions of government includes the
bureaucracy,the military, the police, the court, and the social
security system.
• The state can be identified with the entire body politic.
 Cont…

• The expanding and contracting responsibility of the

state(rolling forward and rolling back)

• Enlarging and diminishing the state institutional machinery

• The International approach(an actor on the world stage)

• Basic unit of international politics.

• Two faces of state (dualistic structures)

The Montevideo Convention on the Rights and Duties
of the State
• The state has four features.

• Defined territory, permanent population, effective government

and sovereignty.

• Regarding permanent population, the states vary in terms of

demographic strength.

• Whether population of a state is homogenous or

heterogeneous?
 Cont…

• The territory of the state is not fixed.

• The size of state’s territory varies.

• The ways of marking out the boundary lines between states

• Government (the soul of the state)

Implementing the will of the community

Protecting people against insecurity

 Cont…

• Maintaining law and order

• As a machinery of government terminates anarchy

• Enforcing law and order and keep peace and security

• Forms of governments (monarchical, aristocratic,oligarchic,

democratic,dictatorial)

• Sovereignty(the highest power of the state)

 Cont…

• Principle of absolute and unlimited power

• Two aspects(internal and external sovereignty)

• Recognition as an essential attribute of the state

• Recognition from international community (international legal

actor)

• Recognition as legitimate government by other governments

 Theories of the state

• Rival theories of state (nature of state power)

• Offers different accounts of state origins, development, and

impact upon society

• Controversy about the nature of state power

• Ideological and theoretical disagreements in modern political

analysis

• Whether the state is autonomous and independent of society,

 Cont…

• Whether the state is a product of a society, whether the state is

a reflection of broader distribution of power or resources,

• Does the serve the collective good or is it biased in favor of

privileged groups or dominant class?

• Is the state a positive or constructive force or is it a negative or

destructive?

• Four rival theories of the state

 Cont…

• The pluralist, the capitalist, the leviathan , and the patriarchal

states

• The pluralist state (liberal linage)

• Umpire or refree in the society

• The pluralist has dominant political analysis

• The state institutions (the court, the police, the military, and

the civil service)

 Cont…

An impartial arbitrator, bending to the will of government of the

day

The origin of pluralist state theory (Social contract)

The establishment of a sovereign power (from the

insecurity,disorder, and brutality)

As Locke, where there is no law there is no freedom

 Cont…

Protecting each citizens from encroachments of other fellow

citizens

Acts in the interests of all citizens

Represents the public interests

Hobbes and Locke have different views on the nature of state

power

Hobbes believed stability and order could be secured

 Cont…

• The establishment of an absolute and unlimited state power

(the choice of between absolutism and anarchy)
• Locke believed the establishment of constitutional and
representative government
• The defense of a natural or God given individual rights
• These ideas characterize pluralist state
 Features of plural state

• Evenly and widely dispersed power,

• Neutrality of state, free from bias

• The servant of the society, secondary or subordinate to

government

• Non-elected state bodies (the police, the judiciary, the military,

and the civil service)meaningful and effective democratic
processes
 Modern pluralists (neo-pluralists)

• More complex and less responsive to popular pressures

• Business exercises consideralable sway over any government

• The ability of the state to maintain its own sectional interest

• Powerful (the most powerful interest group in society)

• A state centered model of liberal democracy (the autonomy

democratic state)
 The capitalist state

• The capitalist state is a Marxist notion (negative). Closely

associated with economic structure of the society.

• An instrument of class oppression (class system)

• Systematic or coherent theory of the state was not developed

by Marx.

• The state is part of a superstructure determined by economic

base21.
 Cont…

• The precise relationship between the superstructure (the

capitalist mode of production) and the state is unclear.

• Two ideas of Marx(the executive of the modern state)

• The committee for managing the common affairs of the whole

bourgeoisie.

• The state is dependent on the economically powerful class.

 Cont…

• The state has only relative autonomy.

• The state mediates between conflicting class and so maintains
the class system itself in existence.
• Differences between pluralsts and Marxists, According to
Marxists, the state is understood in terms of unequl class
power.
• The state serves as an instrument of oppression wieldedby
dominant class.
 Cont…

• The state is an instrument or a mechanism through which

antagonisms are ameliorated.

• Marx also viewed the state as constructive or positive

• During the transition from capitalism to commonism, the

revolutionary dictatorship of the proletariat.

• The overthrow of capitalism would see the destructtion of

bourgeoisie state.
 Cont…

• Marx utilized the first state theory of the state, seeing the state
as an instrument through which economically dominant class,
all states are class dictatorships.

• The dictatorship of the proletariat was seen as a means of

safeguarding the gains of the revolution by counter-revolution

• Marx did not see the state as a necessary and enduring social
formation.
 Modern Marxists (Neo-marxists)

• The domination of the ruling class through ideological

manipulation rather than open coercion.

• Bourgeois domination is maintained largely through hegemony

that is intellectual leadership or cultural control.

• Instrumentalist and structuralist views of the state (rival)

• The instrumentalists view the state as an instrument or an

agent of the ruling class
 Cont…

• The structuralists view the state as the terrain on which the

struggle amongst interests, groups and classes is conducted.

• The state is not an instrument wielded by dominant group or

ruling class.

• The state is a dynamic entity that reflects the balance of power

within society and the ongoing struggle for hegemony.
 Chapter 4: The Leviathan State

Moral and Civic Education (code CM

1012)

By Asfaw Kasa
 The Leviathan State
• Hobbes likened the Leviathan to government, a powerful state
created to impose order.

• He made a defense of the absolute power.

• Individuals to create supreme power to impose peace on

everyone. Placing all power in the hand of a king,

• Would mean more sure and consistant exercise of political

authority.
 Cont…

• A strong antipathy towards state intervention in economic and

social life

• The state is an overbearing nanny.

• The expansionist dynamics of state power.

• By reference to demand and supply pressures.

• Demand side from society and supplywithin internal state

pressures.
 The Patriarchal State

• Patriarchy was a form of political organization

• That distributed power equally between men and women.

• A primitive social organization in which authority is exercised

by a male head of the family.

• The unequal distribution of power between men and women in

society

• Unjust social system that subordinate, discriminate or is

opressive to women.
 Cont…

• The patriarchal construction of the difference

• Between masculinity and femininity is
• The political difference between freedom and subjugation
• Patriarchy includes all socio-political mechanisms patriarchal
institutions)
• Reproduce and exert male dominance over women. (creating
states that respond only to the needs and interests of a few
powerful men.
 Cont…

• Feminists prefer to concentrate on the deeper structure of male

power

• Centered on institutions (the family and economic system)

• The routine use of violence and intimadation in family and

domestic life.

• Three forms of feminism (liberal, radical, and Marxism

feminists)
 Cont…

• Incremental reforms can ensure sexual and gender equality

• They accept the pluralist view of state.

• Denying the legal and political rights of women (the right to

vote)

• Is equal to making bias in favor of men.

• All groups (women) have potentially equal access to state

power.
 Cont…

• The state is viewed in positive terms by liberal feminists.

• The state as a means of redressing gender equality and

• Enhancing the role of women.

• A more and critical negative view of the state by feminists is

known as radical feminists.

• They view state power as the deeper structure of oppression of

patriarchy.
 Cont…

• Marxist and radical feminists consider the state as

an institution of male power. (deep structure of
power in society)
• The state in an economic context by Marxists
• The state in a gender inequality context by radical
feminists. (distinctive instrumentalists and
structuralists)
 Cont…

• The instrumentalist views the state as little more than an

agent or a tool used by men.
• To defend their own interests and uphold structures of
patriarchy.
• The division of society into distinct public and private
spheres of life.
• Men dominating the public sphere and women dominating
private spheres.
 Cont…
• The state is run by men, for men.

• The argument of instrumentalists focus on personnel of the state.

• On the other hand, state institutions are embedded in a wider

patriarchal system by structuralist arguments.

• The emergence of welfare states are viewed as the expression of a

new kind of patriarchal power by modern radical feminists.
 Cont…

• Public dependence is in which women are controlled by the

institutions of the extended state.

Women have become dependent on the state as customers of state

services.

Child care institutions (nursery education and social work)

Women as employees in caring professions nurse, social work,

and education.
 Understanding government

• Government is the formal and institutional process that operate

at the national level to maintain public order and facilitate
collective action.

• An administrative wing of the state.

• Political organization comprising individuals and institutions

authorized to formulate public policies and conduct affairs of
the state.

• Government at national level and subdivision level

 Cont…

• Authority is the ability to compel obedience (legitimate power.

• Power is the ability to influence the behavior of others.

• Authority is the right to do so.

• Authority is based on an acknowledged duty to obey raather

than on any form of coercion or manipulation.

• Authority means legitimacy, justification and right to exercise

that power.
 Cont…

• Authority in undemocratic governments and democratic

governments

• Naked force and terror (undemocratic) and a series of

transparent public hearings(democratic)

• Legitimacy, the attribute of government that

• Prompts the governed to comply willingly with its authority.

• It confers on an order or comands an authoritative

(transforming power into authority.
 Cont…

• Legitimacy (the popular acceptance of governing regime

• Law as an authority or a basic condition to rule.

• Government needs minimum amount of legitimacy.

• Otherwise, the collapse or deadlock of government

• Certain level of legitimacy for stability and collapse. The

necessary condition for popular regimes to retain power.
 Cont…

• Unpopular regimes may survive with the consent of small but

influential elite.
• The differences between legitimacy and legality
• Legality does not guarantee a government the right to be
respected and obeyed.
• It does not mean Citizens acknowledge a duty of obedience.
 Purposes and functions of government

• Government is the most active force vehicle in the political,

social, economic developments.
• Self-preservation(promoting a sense of security among the
governed)
• Defending the state against external attack (internal order and
security and external defense).
• Distribution and regulation of resources (public or private
sector).
 Cont…

• Management of conflicts (legislative, executive and judiciary)

• Fulfillment of social or group aspirations (human rights,

common good, and internal peace)

• Protection of the rights of citizens (human, democratic,

political, social, etc.

• Protection of property (public and private property,

instruments of protection the police, the court systems)
 Cont…

• Implementation of moral conditions of citizens (improving and

shaping the moral conditions of citizens)

• Provision of goods and services

• Provision of health care, education, development of public

works, food, shelter, clothing for the public and developing
social services.
Chapter 4: Understanding Citizenship

Moral and Civic Education

By Asfaw Kasa

December 20-24

2021
 The meaning of Citizen and Citizenship

• A citizen: the person who is a legal member of a particular

state.

• One who owes allegiance to the state.

• A citizen is entitled to prerogatives and responsibilities.

• Citizenship is the means by which we determine whether a

person is a legal member of a state or otherwise.

• The network of relationships between the state and the citizen.

 Different Definitions of Citizenship by
Practitioners and Scholars
• Citizenship is a polysemy term. Historical legacies, political
organization of the state,

• Ideologies and socio-cultural context of society determine the

different meanings of citizenship.

• The judicial relationship between the state and the citizen.

• It means social roles of citizens in their society.

 Continued…

• Citizenship varies from society to society.

• Factors include the place, historical moment and political

organization.

• Common elements of citizenship include rights, duties,

• Belonging, identity and participation.

• Citizenship as a political and legal status…

 Continued…

• Citizenship: the rules that regulate the formal relations

between the state and the individual.

• The acquisition and the loss of a given country’s nationality.

• Citizenship is a political and legal artifact creating civic

equality.

• However, it is beyond a legal status from political and social

perspectives.
 Continued…

• Citizenship as a status of rights: mere being a citizen of the

state makes the person creditor of a series of rights (identifying
citizenship with rights).

• Three types of rights, civil, political, and social rights.

• These rights give us the status of citizens.

• Enjoying these rights means to be full member of a democratic

society.
 Continued…

• Specific institutional forums (places where the three forms of

rights are exercised include the courts, voting booths and
legislatures street protests, and government buildings.

• Citizenship is an expression of status and active practice. As a

status, rights and obligations. They lie at the heart of the
language of citizenship. A citizen is identified with citizenship
rights.
 Continued…

• Four components of rights (Hofeldian incidents) Liberty,

claim, power, and immunity rights

• Liberty right is a freedom of the right holder to do something.

• No obligation on other parties to do or not to do.

• The benefit of the beholder without obliging others.

• The state has no legitimate authority to interfere with the

citizen’s freedom.
 Continued…

• The inverse of liberty rights is claim rights.

• Entailing responsibility upon another person or body.

• The duty bearer (accomplishing something that is

indispensable for right holders

• The presence of somebody who is responsible for doing

something or for refraining from doing against the claim
holder.
 Continued…

• Rights enjoyed by individuals and when others are made

discharge their obligation are claim rights.

• Claim rights impose duty on others to help, respect, and

protect the bearers.

• Social rights such as unemployment and public service

benefits are examples of claim rights.

• Taxpaying by others is duty.

 Continued…

• The right to be paid his/her wages and the employer has a duty
to pay wages to the employees.

• Liberty and claim rights are called primary rights rules and
power and immunity rights are known as secondary rights
rules. Primary rules require people to perform or refrain from
doing particular action.

• Secondary rules specify how agents or beholders can

introduce, change, alter the primary rules.
 Continued…

• Rights that require the modification of first order rights are

called power rights. The holder of power rights can be
government or a citizen.

• Power rights are rights to change or cancel other people or

his/her entitlements. For example, the rights of citizens to
modify, sale, donate, transfer their property to a third party.

• The rights of citizens to renounce's his/her citizenship.

 Continued…

• The right of government to impose or remove duties on

citizens.

• Rights that allow citizens or bearers to escape from controlls

are immunity rights.

• These rights are the opposite of power rights.

• The absence of a power in other party to alter the rights

holders. The rights of civil servants not to be dismissed.
 Continued…

• The rights of witness not to be incriminated. The rights of

citizens not to be forced to perform compulsory labor.

• The rights of citizens or other bodies to be compensated for

past injuries or unjust burdens.

• Citizenship as a membership or identity: citizenship is an

expression of a membership of a political community.
Common identity of all members who belong to it.
 Continued…

• Criteria of membership include shared territory, common

culture, ethnicity, history, etc.
• Differences between true citizens and mere (free ride) citizens
• True citizens are those who contribute to the well-being of
their community. Mere citizens are those who fail to
understand, embrace or embody what citizenship means.
• Citizenship as a participation: the key issue in citizenship is
participation.
 Continued…

• Do we focus on our private matters or are we concerned with

the life of our community?

• Minimal and Maximal approach to participation

• Minimalist approach is characterized by passive compliance

with the particular rules of states.

• Maximalist is characterized by active and broad engagements

of citizens.

• Why citizens are passive in their participation?

 Continued…

• Failing to realize their rights (social, political, economic rights,

etc). Failing to exercise their democratic rights can affect them
directly or indirectly.

• What is the need behind the involvement of service users in

decision making of public service?

• Make them active agents of citizenship (the dichotomy

between passive and active citizenship)
 Citizenship as inclusion and exclusion

• Are all people living in a particular state citizens?

• Foreigners/aliens who are visiting, working, living, etc are

non-citizens.

• They are required to have authorized visa. Common rights of

citizens and foreigners living in a particular state

• The right to life, movement, and the protection of law.

• Their Common duty is the responsibility to respect the law of

the country.
 Continued…

• Do citizens and non-citizens have difference in enjoying

freedoms and duties?
• Some political and economic rights are reserved for citizens.
E.g the right to get access to land, vote, to be elected, get
passport, etc. Duties of citizens include defending the
constitution and protecting their country from foreign attack.
• The relation between foreigners and host state is based on
specific legal contexts.
 Continued…

• Do you think that citizenship is restricted to persons?

• Organizations, corporations, and endemic animals could be seen as
citizens.
• The term corrporate citizenship is used by corrporations,
consultants, and scholars.
• To echo, underscore, extend or orient certain aspects of corrporate
social responsibility.
• It offers innovative conceptual aspect for understanding business
society.
 Continued…

• Corporate citizenship enables us to identify specific roles and

responsibilities of corporate, governmental and other actors in
society.
• Corporations and private organizations do have the right to
make profits and maximize their benefits.
• They do also have duty of paying tax and protecting the
environment. They are called corporate social responsibilities
(CSR).
 Continued…

• Corporations are required to engage in social and development

affairs. Helping the disadvantaged sections of the society,
constructing schools and health care centers.

• In the era of globalization, the term citizen is understood

beyond a particular political community or the state.

• Global citizen or cosmopolitan citizen is an example. It refers

to every human being living in the earth planet.
 Theorizing Citizenship

• Do you think that the notion of citizenship is eternal or

undying essence?
• It is a cultural artifact molded by people and may change
through time.
• Why and how the meaning of citizenship is changing? The
change in political thoughts, ideologies, policies and
government change.
• Citizenship rights are not the same under different states.
 Continued…

• The way citizenship framed and defined varies from states to

states.

• The recognition of citizenship rights of citizens is not occurred

at the same time, (women).

• The list and scope of constitutional rights of citizens are not

uniform.

• Citizenship obligations also vary from states to states.

 Continued…

• Based on these historical trajectories, different theories of

citizenship emerged.

• Understanding the theoretical explanations of citizenship is

important to differentiate its various notions.

• Four theories of citizenship include liberal, communitarian,

republican, and multicultural citizenship.
 Citizenship in Liberal Thoughts

• The individual person or the self is the beginning of liberal

theory of citizenship.

• The individual is the symbol of liberal theory.

• The strong emphasis of liberal theory of citizenship is the

individual liberty of the citizen and the rights of each and
every person.

• In liberal society, the self is the holder of rights.

 Continued…

• The individual person is the primary political unit in liberal

society.

• In liberal society, individuals have the freedom of making

decisions on their own conception of the good life.

• According to John Locke, individuals are endowed with

reasoning skills.

• The individual is morally prior to the community.

 Continued…

• The community matters only because it contributes to the well-

being of the individual.
• Cultural practices may exist in the interest of the individuals
not in the interest of the community.
• Rather than environmental factors, liberals believe that internal
factors determine personal identity.
• All social aggregations including the state is shaped by the
individual person.
 Continued…

• Citizenship and other political institutions are required to be in

the individuals calculations.
• They are expected to foster the preferences and maximize the
benefits of individual citizens.

• Individuality and self interests are regarded as source of social

progress and the well-being.

• The untrammeled freedom of individual thought, worship,

 Continued…

• Inquiry, and expression is the surest path to truth and social

improvement.
• What are functions of the state under liberal theory of
citizenship?
• Protecting and creating the convenient environment,
• Helping citizens enjoy and exercise their rights,
• The individual liberty and the state tend to oppose each other.