Reason, Will, and Moral

Courage in Ethics
Learning Outcome:
1. Explain the significance of
moral courage in ethical
decision-making.
Reason, Will and Moral Courage in Ethics
Reason in ethics is the application of critical analysis
to specific events to determine what is right or
wrong and what people ought to do in a particular
situation while will is the faculty of the mind that
chooses a desire among the different desires
present.
Reason, Will and Moral Courage in Ethics
Will is guided by reason, where, as determined by
reason, action is performed according to rational
requirements. The best ethical decision which is
argued in the most rational way is still incomplete
without its execution.
Reason, Will and Moral Courage in Ethics
For Gambrell (2015) and Rowan (2015), moral
courage is important and the will enables the
person to act deliberately and courageously.
Reason, Will and Moral Courage in Ethics
Osswald, S. et al. (2010) describes moral courage as a
prosocial behavior with high social costs and no (or
rare) direct rewards for the person.

There are situations that demand a morally courageous

intervention: instances of injustice happen, human
rights are violated, persons are treated unfairly and in
degrading manner, or nature and cultural assets in
danger.
Reason, Will and Moral Courage in Ethics
Lopez, O’byrne, and Petersen (2003) defined moral
courage as the “the expression of personal views
and values in the face of dissension and rejection”
and “when an individual stands up to someone with
power over him or her for the greater good.”
Situations Showing Moral Courage
Situations Showing Moral Courage
Situations Showing Moral Courage
Situations Showing Moral Courage
MORAL THEORIES AND
MENTAL FRAMES
Why they are important
 Theory
Is a structure set of statement used to
explain or predict a set of facts or
concepts.

It is backed with evidence.

Moral Theories
Explains why a certain action is wrong or
why we ought to act in certain ways.

How we determine right from wrong

content.
Some Common Moral Theories
Consequentialism – only the consequences or
outcomes of actions matter morally.
Some Common Moral Theories
Moral Subjectivism – right and wrong is determined by what you (the
subject) just happened to think or “feel” is right or wrong.

Weaknesses:
● Judgment is limited to perception.
● Right and Wrong loss their meaning because so long as someone
thinks or feels that some action is “right”, there are no grounds for
critism.
● You cannot object to anyone’s behavior assuming people are in fact
acting in accordance with what they think or feel is right.
Types of Moral Subjectivism
1. Simple subjectivism
2. Individual subjectivism
3. Moral/Ethical Relativism
4. Ideal Observer Theory
5. Ethical Egoism
6. Utilitarianism
7. Deontology
8. Virtue Ethics
3 Main Elements of Virtue Ethics
1. Eudaimonism
2. Ethics of Care
3. Moral Relativism
Mental Frames
Strategic thinking --- the big picture or the whole.

System thinking --- parts (its cause and effect to the

whole)
--- interrelationships of the elements
of an organization that interest the
system thinker.
Mental Framing
Framing – is the process of
understanding and interpreting a
particular event.

Mental frames are important in

decision-making not only by
simplifying the chaotic situation that
the agent faces, but also by defining
the problem itself.

Disadvantage: mental frame is a

frame through which we view the
world.
FRAMEWORKS AND PRINCIPLES
BEHIND MORAL DISPOSITIONS
ARISTOTLE VIRTUE ETHICS
Course Objective
1. Discuss the different ethical
frameworks espoused by Aristotle and St
Thomas Aquinas.
2. Apply these frameworks in various
situations.
Introduction
Decision concerning right and wrong actions
permeate in our everyday life. Ethics is concerned
on all levels of life; acting properly as individuals,
creating responsible groups, organizations,
institutions, and governments, and making our
society more ethical.
Introduction
This chapter aims to discuss various frameworks
and principles in arriving and making ethical
decisions in different situations. It recognizes that
decisions about right and wrong can be quite
difficult, and may be related to individual context.
Introduction
There are many systems of ethics, and numerous ways to think
about right and wrong actions or good and bad character. The
field of ethics is traditionally divided into three areas: 1.) meta-
ethics, which deals with the nature of the right or the good, as
well as the nature and justification of ethical claims; 2.) normative
ethics, which deals with the standards and principles used to
determine whether something is right or good; and 3.) applied
ethics, which deals with the actual application of ethical principles
to a particular situation.
Introduction
Ethical theories are often divided into three types:
1.) Agent-centered theories, which, unlike consequentialist and
non-consequentialist theories, are more concerned with the
overall ethical status of an individuals, or agents, and are less
concerned to identify the morality of actions;
2.) Consequentialist theories, which are primarily concerned with
the ethical consequences of actions; and
3.) Non-consequentialist theories, which tend to be broadly
concerned with the intentions of the person making ethical
decisions about actions.
Virtue Ethics
Virtue Ethics is an approach in ethics which
emphasizes an inividual’s character as the key
elemetnt of ethical thinking, rather than rules about
the acts themselves or their consequences.
Virtue Ethics
One of the main strands of virtue ethics is “eudaimonism” which
is its classical formulation. It holds that the proper goal of human
life is eudaimonia, which can be variously translated as
“happiness”, “well-being” or the “good life”, and that this goal can
be achieved by lifetime of practicing the virtues in one’s everyday
activities, subject to the exercise of “phronesis” or practical
wisdom to resolve any conflicts or dilemmas which might arise.
Virtue Ethics
A virtue is a habit or a quality that allows individuals to succeed
at their purpose. Therefore, virtue ethics is only intelligible if it is
teleological, that is, if it includes an account of the purpose or
meaning of human life, a matter of some contention among
philosophers since the beginning of time.
Virtue Ethics
Aristotle, with whom Virtue Ethics is largely identified, categorized
the virtues as moral virtues including prudence, justice, fortitude
and temperance and intellectual virtues including “sophia” or
theoretical wisdom, and “phronesis” or practical wisdom. He
further argued that each of the moral virtues was a golden mean,
or despicable middle ground, between two undesirable extremes
(e.g., the virtue of courage is a mean between the two vices of
cowardice and foolhardiness).
Aristotle
Aristotle’s theory of morality centers around his belief that
people, as everything else in nature, have a distinctive end to
achieve and a function to fulfill. In his magnum opus,
Nicomachean Ethics, he argues that every art and every inquiry,
and similarly even action and pursuit, is thought to aim at some
good.
Telos or Ends
Aristotle sets the framework for his ethical theory
with a preliminary illustration. Having said that all
actions aim toward an end, he now wants to
distinguish between two major kinds of ends, which
can be called instrumental ends which are acts that
are done as means for other ends, and intrinsic
ends which are acts that are done for their own
sake.
Telos or Ends
These two kinds of ends are illustrated simply, for example, in activities
connected with a basketball game. Here, there is a series of special kinds
of acts. There is the sewer who sews the basketball uniforms for a team.
The basketball uniforms are the by-products of the sewer. When done,
the sewer has already served his purpose or end. However, the
basketball uniforms are just means being used by the players to play the
game. The main goal of the basketball team is not to have the best
uniform but the best performance in the game in order to bring home
the crown. Hence, the act of sewing made by the sewer is only an
instrumental end while the basketball skills performed by the
basketball team during the games are the intrinsic ends.
Telos or Ends
Consequentialism – only the consequences or
outcomes of actions matter morally.
Function of Human Beings
Consequentialism – only the consequences or
outcomes of actions matter morally.
Function of Human Beings
Consequentialism – only the consequences or
outcomes of actions matter morally.
Function of Human Beings
Consequentialism – only the consequences or
outcomes of actions matter morally.
Function of Human Beings
Consequentialism – only the consequences or
outcomes of actions matter morally.
Function of Human Beings
Consequentialism – only the consequences or
outcomes of actions matter morally.
Virtue as Habit
Consequentialism – only the consequences or
outcomes of actions matter morally.
Virtue as Habit
Consequentialism – only the consequences or
outcomes of actions matter morally.
Virtue as Habit
Consequentialism – only the consequences or
outcomes of actions matter morally.
Virtue as Habit
Consequentialism – only the consequences or
outcomes of actions matter morally.
Virtue as Habit
Consequentialism – only the consequences or
outcomes of actions matter morally.
Virtue as Habit
Consequentialism – only the consequences or
outcomes of actions matter morally.
Virtue as Habit
Consequentialism – only the consequences or
outcomes of actions matter morally.
Happiness as Virtue
Consequentialism – only the consequences or
outcomes of actions matter morally.
Happiness as Virtue
Consequentialism – only the consequences or
outcomes of actions matter morally.
Happiness as Virtue
Consequentialism – only the consequences or
outcomes of actions matter morally.
Thomas Aquinas
Thomas Aquinas
Natural Law and Its Tenets
Natural Law and Its Tenets
Natural Law and Its Tenets
Natural Law and Its Tenets
Happiness as Virtue
Happiness as Virtue
Happiness as Virtue
Happiness as Virtue
Happiness as Virtue
Happiness as Virtue