Chapter 5

the early philosophers

and their works
 Summary in Lesson 1
An ethical framework is a set of codes that an individual use to
guide his or her behavior. It is just another term for "moral
standards" .
Most common ethical frameworks are:

1. Virtue or Character Ethics of Aristotle

 The ethical person is virtuous, one who has developed good
character or has developed virtues. One attains virtues when
he/she actualizes his/her potentials or possibilities, the highest
of which is happiness.
2. Natural Law or Commandment Ethics of St. Thomas
 For St. Thomas, what is right is what follows the natural law, the
rule which says, "do good and avoid evil." It is guided by the
Ten Commandments which is summed up as loving God and
one's fellowmen. 2
 Summary in Lesson 1
3. Deontological and Duty Framework of Immanuel Kant
 Deontology centers on "the rights of individuals and the
intentions associated with particular behavior... equal respect...
given to all persons." The "deontological approach is based on
universal principles such as honesty, fairness, justice and
respect for persons and property.“
4. Utilitarianist, Teleological and Consequentialist Framework
 The utilitarianist teleological approach focuses on
consequences. The decision maker is concerned with the utility
of decision.
5. Love and Justice Framework
 What is ethical is that which is just and that which is loving.
Justice giving what is due to others (justice) while is giving even
more than what is due to others.
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 Lesson 2- Virtue Ethics
Aristotle: Happiness as
the Ultimate Purpose of
Man
Intended Learning Outcomes:

At the end of this lesson, the students will be able

to:

A. A. Define what is happiness for Aristotle.

B. B. Distinguish the difference between the
C. ethical frameworks of Plato and Aristotle.
1. C. Discuss the general criteria in order for one
to recognize the highest good in man.
2. D. Express last experience of true happiness in
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 Introduction
One theory that can possibly provide a
comprehensive understanding of how an
individual can develop moral character is
virtue ethics, The two major thinkers of
Ancient Greece, Plato and Aristotle, are
considered to have discourses concerning
virtue. But it is in Aristotle's Nicomachean
Ethics that one can find the first
comprehensive and programmatic study
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 analysis
1. What comes to your mind when you hear or
see the words Happiness?
2. And what are the things that make you happy?
3. What virtue ethics for Aristotle?
4. Who is virtuous person? How did virtuous
person become one? Was he born already
virtuous or did he inherit his virtuous life?

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Aristotle (384—322 B.C.E.)

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Plato

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 Arristotle on ethics
Nicomachean ethics is the famous and
thorough of Aristotle’s ethical works
Nicomachean Ethics emphasizes how
spiritual growth can be achieved only by
working on yourself everyday, and how
the process never really ends, although
you become self-actualized on the way.
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The life of human flourishing or happiness
(eudaimonia) is the best life.
We often consider happiness to be a mood or an
emotion, but Aristotle, consider it to be an
activity- a way of living one’s life. Thus, it is
possible for one to have overall happy life, even
if that life has its moments of sadness and pain.

Happiness is the practice of virtue or

excellence
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Aristotle 2 types of virtue
1. Intellectual virtues
o Refer to excellence of mind.
o It includes ability to understand, reason and
judge well.

2. Character virtue or excellence

o Refer to a person’s dispositions to act well.

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Aristotle 2 types of virtue
2. Character virtue or excellence
o Character excellence comes about through
the habit- one habituates oneself to
character excellence by knowingly practice
virtues.
o “the activity of the soul in accordance with
virtue” is the best life for human beings
through the “human function”
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Aristotle said that the work or function
of an eye is to see and to see well.
Just as each part of the body has a
function , so too must the human
being as a whole have a function. The
function of human being is logos or
reason, and the more thoroughly one
lives the life of reason, the happier
one’s life will be (Kraut,2014)
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The happiest life is a practice of
virtue, and this is practiced under the
guidance of reasons. Example of
character virtues would be courage,
temperance, liberty, and
magnanimity. ( Rorty, 1984)

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Friendship is also necessary part of
happy life.
Types of Friendship
1. Friendship of excellence
2. Friendship of pleasure
3. Friendship of utility

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1. Friendship of excellence – is based upon
virtue, and each friend enjoys and
contemplates the excellence of his/her
friend. Since the friend is like another
self, contemplating a friend’s virtue will
help us in the practice of virtue for
ourselves.
A mark of good friendship is that friends
“live together”, that is that friends spend
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Also, since the excellent person has
been habituated to a life of
excellence, his/her character is
generally firm and lasting. Likewise,
the friendship of excellence is the
least changeable and most lasting
form of friendship.

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2. Friendship of pleasure – are the most
changeable form of friendship since the
things we find pleasurable or useful tend
to change over a lifetime.
3. Friendship of utility
If a friend is merely one of utility, then
that friendship will likely dissolve when it
is no longer useful.
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Friendship of Excellence (Virtue):
Example: Two individuals who share common values, virtues, and a deep
appreciation for each other's character. They support and inspire each other to
grow and become better people. This type of friendship is based on mutual
respect, admiration, and a shared pursuit of moral and intellectual development.
✘ Friendship of Pleasure:
Example: Friends who enjoy engaging in recreational activities together, such as
playing sports, watching movies, or going to concerts. The bond is centered around
the pleasure and enjoyment derived from shared experiences. This type of
friendship tends to be more transient and may fade if the pleasure diminishes.
✘ Friendship of Utility:
Example: Two individuals who form a friendship based on mutual benefits or
practical advantages. This could include professional connections, business
partnerships, or alliances where each person gains something useful from the
relationship. This type of friendship may dissolve if the utility diminishes or if one
party no longer serves the interests of the other.

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Theoria or contemplation, is the
best life, this is the most divine life
since one comes closest to the pure
activity of thought. It is the most
self-sufficient life since one can think
even when one is alone.

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Telos is derived from the Greek word for
“end”, “purpose” or “goal”. It is the end
or purpose, in a fairly constrained sense
used by philosophers such as Aristotle. It
is the root of the term “teleology”
roughly the study of purposiveness, or
the study of objects with a view to their
aims, purposes, on intentions.
 The difference between the
ethical frameworks of Plato and
Aristotle.
In Aristotle's ethical discourse, a
departure from Plato's
understanding is evident. While both
philosophers acknowledge
rationality as the highest human
faculty, allowing individuals to fulfill
their purpose, they diverge in their
perspectives on reality and nature.
This contrast leads to differing
ethical principles between Aristotle
of the Forms, accessible through reason
and intellect. Ethical knowledge, for Plato,
involves remembering the truths of the
Forms, and virtue is seen as a form of
knowledge.
On the other hand, for Aristotle’s
epistemology is based on empirical
observation and experience. He argues
that ethical knowledge is gained through
practical wisdom (phronesis) developed
by engaging with the real world and
learning from experience.
We attain happiness if we
live a life of virtue.

-Aristotle-
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 St. Thomas Aquinas on Virtue

• The moral philosophy of St.

Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274)
involves a merger of at least two
apparently disparate tradition:
Aristotelian eudaimonism and
Christian theology.

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• Aquinas follows Aristotle in thinking
that an act is good or bad depending
on whether it contributes to or deters
us from our proper human end – the
telos or final goal at which all human
actions aim. That telos is eudaimonia,
or happiness, where “happiness” is
understood in terms of completion,
perfection, or well-being.
• Aquinas believes that we can never achieve
complete or final happiness in this life. For
him final happiness consists in beatitude, or
supernatural union with God. Such an end
lies far beyond what we through our natural
human capacity can attain. For this reason,
we not only need the virtue, we also need
God to transform our nature – to perfect of
“deify” it - so that we might be suited to
participate in divine beatitude.
Aquinas 2 types of virtue

A. Natural Virtues – are virtues that

pertain to the happiness of this life
that is proportionate to human
nature.
1. Moral virtue – are the habits that
perfect the various powers
concerned with human appetites,
including human rational appetite,
 2. Intellectual virtues – perfect
the intellect and confer and optness for
the good work of the intellect which is
the apprehension of truth.
B. Theological Virtues – pertain to the
beatitudo that is not appropriate to
human nature, the supernatural good of
life with God.
Example of the cardinal natural virtues
are prudence, justice, courage, and
temperance.

*Temperance – is the cardinal virtue that

pertains to it. The irascible appetite
inclines one toward resisting those things
that attack human bodily life.
Prudence- is an intellectual virtue since
it bears upon the goal of the truth in the
good ordering of action.

*Courage- is the cardinal virtue that

pertains to it.
*Justice- is a virtue of the rational
appetite or will.
• In addition, the infused natural virtues
spring from Charity as its effects, and
thus bear upon its object, which is the
love of God and the love of neighbor
in God. A primary example for
Thomas is Misericordia which is the
virtue that pertains to suffering with
others and acting to alleviate their
suffering.
 Emmanuel Kant on Good Will
“good will” for Kant means, to act out of
a sense of moral obligation or duty.
•A moral agent does a particular action
not because of what it produces (its
consequences) in terms of human
experience, but because he/she
recognizes by reasoning that it is morally
the right thing to do and regards their
self as having the moral duty or
idea of a “good person”, or a “person
of good will”

•In Kant terms, a good will is a will

whose decisions are wholly
determined by moral demands or, as
he often refers to this by the Moral
Law.
•Kant’s pointed out that to be
universally and absolutely good,
Immanuel Kant
Kant on Rights examined
(1724-1804),
the idea of human rights within politics
in such a way that it “is only a
legitimate government that guarantees
our natural right to freedom, and from
this freedom we derive other rights.
Kant stresses that a society can only
function politically in relation to the
stage if fundamental rights, laws and
entitlements are given and enhanced by
*Kant teaches these “righteous laws”
are founded upon three rational
principles:
1. the liberty of every member of the
society as a man.
2. the equality of every member of the
society with every other as a subject.
3. the independence of every member
of the commonwealth as a citizen.
Metaphysics of Morals
1. Doctrine of rights
2. Doctrine of virtue
1. The "Doctrine of Right" (Rechtslehre):
This part deals with the principles of
justice, rights, and the moral laws that
govern interactions between individuals
in a civil society. Kant discusses
concepts such as property, contracts,
punishment, and the state's role in
upholding legal and moral order.
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2. The "Doctrine of Virtue"
(Tugendlehre): This part focuses on
moral virtues and the inner disposition
of the individual. Kant explores the
concept of moral character, the
importance of moral principles in guiding
actions, and the cultivation of virtuous
traits such as honesty, benevolence, and
integrity.
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 Cosmopolitan Rights
*Relationship among the states of the
world, covered above, are not the same as
relations among the peoples of the world.
*Individuals can relate to states of which
they are not members and to other
individuals who are members of other
states. In this they are considered “citizen
of a universal state of human beings” with
corresponding “rights of citizens of the
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Cosmopolitan right is an important
component of perpetual peace.
Violations of cosmopolitan right would
make more difficult the trust and
cooperation necessary for perpetual
peace among states (Hoffe, 2006)

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 Rights
A right is describe as an entitlement or
justified claim to a certain kind of positive
and negative treatment from others, to
support from other or non-interference
from others.

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 Kinds of Rights
1. Natural rights – Many researcher
stated that people inherent several rights
from nature. In it, they can appreciate
certain natural rights, like the right to life,
right to liberty, and right to property.
Natural Rights are part of human nature
and reason. Political theory maintains that
an individual enters into society with
certain basic rights and that no
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2. Moral rights – are based on human
consciousness. They are supported by
moral force of human mind. These are
based on human sense of goodness and
justice. These are not assisted by the
force of law. Sense of goodness and public
opinion are the sanctions behind moral
rights.

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3. Legal Rights – are those which are
accepted and enforced by the state. Any
defilement of any legal right is punished
by law. Legal rights are equally available
to all citizens. All citizens follow legal
rights without any discrimination. They
can go to the courts for getting their
legal rights enforced.

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 Distinction between Moral Rights and
Legal Rights
Moral Rights Legal Rights

Natural; Moral rights are discovered, not created. Created: Our legal rights are created by legislation.
(This is a form of Moral Realism)

Equal: Moral rights are equal rights; there is no Can be unequal: There are many situation in which
injustice in how they can distributed. the distribution of legal rights are unjust.

Inalienable: Moral rights cannot be taken away from Alienable: Your legal rights can be taken from you
you without consent (although you can voluntarily against your will.
surrender them).

Universal: Your moral rights are the same no matter Local: Your legal rights change when you move
where you are. from one jurisdiction to another.
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 Lesson 2
The Categorical
Imperatives and
Utilitarianism
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The Categorical Imperatives and
Utilitarianism

Categorical Imperative, in the ethics of

the 18th-century German philosopher
Immanuel Kant, founder of critical
philosophy, a moral law that is
unconditional or absolutes for all agents,
the validity or claim of which does not
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“THOU SHALL NOT STEAL” is a
categorical as distinct from the
hypothetical imperatives associated with
desire, such as “DO NOT STEAL IF YOU
WANT TO BE POPULAR.” For Kant there
was only one such categorical imperative,
which he formulated in various ways.

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“ACT ONLY ACCORDING TO THAT
MAXIM BY WHICH YOU CAN AT THE
SAME TIME WILL THAT IT SHOULD
BECOME A UNIVERSAL LAW” is a
purely formal or logical statement and
expresses the condition of the rationality
of conduct rather than that of its
morality, which is expressed in another
Kantian formula. “SO ACT TO TREAT
HUMANITY, WHETHER IN YOUR OWN
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Categorical Imperative was devised by
Immanuel Kant to provide a set of requirements
a maxim or motivation must pass in order for
the action to be considered a moral obligation.
When a Categorical Imperative is established it
becomes one’s moral duty to carry out the
actions under circumstances. When carrying out
this actions, the individuals primarily motive
should always be duty according to Kant; this is
because we can decipher what our duty is by
using our reasons.
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Humans ability to reason is what
decipher us from animals and so,
logically, must be part of being a moral
agent.
Reasons is objective and universal for
humanity and so is a reliable and
reasonable basis for a moral theory.

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The Categorical Imperative is determined by
referring to three (3) formulations namely:

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 1. Formula of the Law of Nature insists that
we should act ‘only according to that maxim’
which could be universalized.
-This means that we must be able to
universalize a principle without contradiction. If
this is not possible, we can logically assume
that the acts is immoral as it is counter to
reason. If a rule is not universalizable then
others will not be free to act from the same
moral principles, and Kant strongly believed
that autonomy and freedom were essential to
being a moral agent. 56
1. Act according to maxims: A maxim is the principle or rule
that guides an individual's actions. For example, if someone is
considering whether to lie in a particular situation, their maxim
might be "I will lie whenever it benefits me."

For example, let's consider the maxim "I will lie whenever it
benefits me." If everyone were to follow this principle universally,
then trust and communication would break down, making lying
ineffective. Therefore, the maxim undermines itself when
universalized, as lying would lose its effectiveness due to
widespread distrust.

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2. The Formula of End in Itself ensures
that you never treat others or oneself
‘merely as a means but always as an
end’.
- To use someone merely as a means to
some other end is to exploit their
rationality, and we should value everyone
as rational beings.

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3. Formula of Kingdom of Ends asks us to
‘act as if a legislating member in the universal
Kingdom of Ends’.

The Kingdom of Ends is a world in which

everyone acts from categorical imperatives, and
although we may not live in this world, we must
act as if we are. According to this formula we
must act on the assumption that everyone will
follow the rules you make through your actions.
If the intended action passes each of the
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 Utilitarianism
*the first systematic account of
utilitarianism was developed by Jeremy
Bentham
*Some of the earliest utilitarian thinkers
were the ‘Theological’ utilitarians such as
Richard Cumberland (1631-1718) and
John Gay (1699-1745).

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 Utilitarian Philosophy
Utilitarianism is a philosophical view or
theory about how we should evaluate a
wide range of things that involve choices
that people face
Utilitarianism is form of
consequentialism because it rests on the
idea that it is the consequences or
results of actions, laws, policies, etc.
That determine whether they are good
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• Utilitarianism is generally held to be the
view that the morally right action is the
action that produces the best
• * Utilitarianism is the idea that the
moral worth of an action is solely
determined by its contribution to overall
utility in maximizing happiness or
pleasure as summed among all people

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END OF LESSON 2

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