Cor Jesu College, Inc.: Which One Do You Prefer? Why? (15 Points)

COR JESU COLLEGE, INC.
COLLEGE OF EDUCATION, ARTS AND SCIENCES (CEDAS)
GEN. ED. 8 (ETHICS) MID-TERM EXAMINATION
I. TRUE OR FALSE
DIRECTIONS: Write C if the statement below is correct and W if it is wrong. Write your answer on the
blank space provided before each item. ABSOLUTELY NO ERASURES ALLOWED!
1. Human action must always conform to reason.
2. The dignity of the person is rooted in his freedom.
3. Morality is a matter of common sense.
4. Moral action must always be based on intention and not on consequences.
5. We have the concept of the good even before we were born.
6. Nothing is good except a good will
7. Moral wisdom implies self-examination
8. Every good emanates from a moral ought.
9. Some rights are inherent to human nature.
10. Human being is an end and not a means.
11. The good possesses a form of finality.
12. Acts that are good are the only one’s subject to morality because they are considered
human acts.
13. Self-realization is the law of nature.
14. Natural law endows humans their dignity.
15. Reason teaches man to act according to law.
16. As a science, ethics employs the aid of divine revelation in its investigation of ethical problems.
17. Ethics, like other sciences, does have material object.
18. Ethics is defined as the Theological study of the morality of human acts.
19. Ethical relativism views good and bad as universally true
20. Ethical relativism advocates cultural insensitivity to ethical values and paradigms.
II. ESSAY
DIRECTIONS: Answer the following questions as comprehensively as possible. Make or design first
an analytical framework before discussing your arguments or points. In short, your arguments or
points must be anchored on your framework.
1. Compare and contrast Aristotle’s virtue ethics and Jeremy Bentham’s Utilitarian Ethics? Which
one do you prefer? Why? (15 points)
While eudaimonia was the ultimate objective of Aristotelian virtue ethics, later philosophers
began to doubt this notion of happiness. If happiness is to live the good life, then what is perfect?
What's more, who decides what's good? All human actions may be explained by reference to this
fundamental instinct which Bentham saw as the key to unlocking the human mind's workings. He
built on that basis an ethical philosophy, called utilitarianism. The basic axiom of Bentham, which
underlies utilitarianism, was that all social values and the laws of government should aim to
achieve the greatest happiness for the greatest number of citizens. Therefore, utilitarianism
emphasizes the implications or overall intent of an act, rather than the character of the actor, the
motive of the actor or the particular circumstances surrounding the act. I prefer Bentham’s
utilitarian ethics because its core idea is that whether actions are morally right or wrong depends
on their effects. More precisely, the only significant consequences of the acts are the positive and
negative results they create. A main point of this article relates to the distinction between
individual actions and actions types. Act utilitarians concentrate on the consequences of individual
acts (such as the murder of Abraham Lincoln by John Wilkes Booth) while the control utilitarians
concentrate on the consequences of forms of acts (such as murdering or stealing).
2. Does the fact that cultures differ prove that ethical relativism is true and a valid ethical theory?
Defend your answer. (15 points)
Cultures differ widely in their moral practices. Ethical relativism is the theory which holds that
morality is relative to one's cultural norms. If an action is right or wrong, that is, depends on the moral
principles of the society in which it is practised. In one culture the same conduct may be morally right
but in another it may be morally incorrect. There are no absolute moral principles for the ethical
relativist— principles which can be applied equally to all cultures at all times. The only moral principles
which can be judged against the actions of a society are its own. If ethical relativism is right, there can
be no shared structure between members of various cultures for settling moral conflicts or finding
consensus on ethical issues.
3. What are the principles governing habit? When does a habit become voluntary? (15pts)
Aristotle indicates that our practices are voluntary, and voluntary acts create them. Over and above
that, however unmarked the behavior may be in what has become commonplace, there may be, I
suppose, a pervasive will habit.
4. How does self-interest affect the morality of an act? Kindy explain further. (10pts)
The self-interest that the Ego-Self creates is almost entirely contradictory to the creation of an actual
personal morality, a morality that is good enough to imitate. When an person is in direct touch with his or
her Real-Self, the one hidden in the clutter of half-truths and blatant untruths existing inside the
subconscious mind like rotting meat, then an emulable morality will occur organically and naturally.
Something other than the age of righteousness is a substitution for justice, which can not be embraced
which distributed organically within the worldwide citizenship culture. Nevertheless the Real-Self can only
be found inside the social self. Focusing on the individual as ego and competitor loses sight of the life-
stages of relationships that form the mature socially responsible person. At a time when Success was the
guiding criterion by which all else was calculated, Mill and Kingsley took the simple' do as you should be
treated by' concept as the foundation of social morality and social engineering, The definition of morality
by Kant and the noble pursuit of a principle by Nietzche are purpose oriented, whereas the Self-Actualized
Man by Maslow is the superman who no longer wants to be guided by ego at all.
5. What is the ultimate goal of human life? What are the impediments for its realization?
Why? Explain further. (15pts)
Aristotle first recognizes that happiness is the ultimate good, since all other goods are
intermediate while happiness is final. We pursue other goods to achieve happiness, but happiness is
valuable in itself. The problem then is how to achieve happiness. Pleasure is certainly the reason
behind many acts, but it places us on an animal level. Honor is another choice but it places so much
emphasis on other people's recognition. Aristotle argues that the means of happiness is virtue–and
therefore the object of human life. Virtue includes practice and preference. By making the right
choices, we gradually develop a virtuous habit or attitude, so that each time a moral dilemma presents
itself, we do not need to run through the list of options. Rather, we act upon our personality, shaped
by past choices.
III. DEFINITION OF TERMS

DIRECTIONS: Define the following terms (2 points each)
1. Cultural relativity - It is a position, developed by early anthropologists, that states we must
understand individuals in the context of their own culture.
2. Act Utilitarianism and Rule Utilitarianism- Act utilitarianism beliefs that an action becomes
morally right when it produces the greatest good for the greatest number of people, while Rule
utilitarianism beliefs that the moral correctness of an action depends on the correctness of
the rules that allows it to achieve the greatest good.
3. Human Act and Act of Man - Human acts are actions done intentionally, free, and deliberate of a
person. These are actions that a man properly master for he does them with full knowledge and
of his own will. On the other hand, Acts of man are instinctive, such as physiological in nature.
These are actions done under the circumstances of ignorance, passion, fear, violence, and habits.
Acts that are performed by men without being master of them through his intellect and will,
therefore acts of man are involuntary actions.
4. Eudaimonia - Eudaimonia is an Ancient Greek word, particularly emphasised by the philosophers
Plato and Aristotle, that deserves wider currency because it corrects the shortfalls in one of the
most central, governing but insufficient terms in our contemporary idiom: happiness.
5. Phronesis - Phronesis is a Greek team which means ‘practical wisdom’ that has been derived from
learning and evidence of practical things. Phronesis leads to breakthrough thinking and creativity
and enables the individual to discern and make good judgements about what is the right thing to
do in a situation.

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COR JESU COLLEGE, INC.

COLLEGE OF EDUCATION, ARTS AND SCIENCES (CEDAS)

GEN. ED. 8 (ETHICS) MID-TERM EXAMINATION

III. DEFINITION OF TERMS

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