Table of Contents

Table of Contents

Preface, iii
INTRODUCTION, 1
• What is a Good Life?, 2
• What is the Implication of Civilization?, 3
• Man as a Person of Goodness and Truth, 3
• The Need to Redefine Ethics, 5

CHAPTER ONE: Ethics Defined, 7
• The Importance of Studying Ethics, 9
• Ethics and Its Relation to Other Sciences, 10
• Standards of Morality: Moral vs. Non-Moral, 12
• Why do we have to be Ethical?, 13
• The Divisions of Ethics, 14

PART ONE: THE FOUNDATIONS OF MORALITY, 19
CHAPTER TWO: THE MORAL AGENT, 20
• Cultural and Moral Behavior, 24
• Cultural Relativism, 25
• The Doctrine of Ethical Relativism, 26
• The Filipino Morality, 27
• Strengths of the Filipino Character, 30

CHAPTER THREE: MORAL CHARACTER, 35
• The Life of Lawrence Kohlberg, 36
• The Moral Ideas of Lawrence Kohlberg, 37
• The Stages of Moral Development, 38

CHAPTER FOUR: THE ACT, 45
• Feelings and Morality, 45
Critique on Hume’s Ethical Principle, 48
• Reason And Impartiality, 48
• 8 Steps to Moral Reasoning Process, 52

PART 2 – THEORIES AND FRAMEWORKS, 59
CHAPTER FIVE: THE EPICUREAN ETHICS, 60
• Epicureanism and Hedonism: Man’s Search for Pleasure, 60
The Hedonist Philosophy, 61
The Epicurean Philosophy, 61
The Duty of the Human Person, 63
Types of Pleasure, 64
The Self-Centered Moral Philosophy, 65
Critique on Epicureanism, 66

CHAPTER SIX: THE ETHICS OF STOICISM, 69
• Cynicism: the Origin of Stoic Philosophy, 69
• The Stoic Philosophers, 71
Zeno of Citium, 71
Epictetus, the Sage Slave, 71
The Stoic Emperor, Marcus Aurelius, 73
• The Philosophy of the Stoics, 73
• The Human Drama, 75
• The Stoic Morality, 75
• Critique on Stoicism, 77

CHAPTER SEVEN: THE VIRTUE ETHICS OF ARISTOTLE, 81
• The Beginning of the Philosophy of Aristotle, 82
• The Philosophy of Aristotle, 84
• The Human Person for Aristotle, 85
• The Aristotelian Ethics, 86
• An Action that Proceeds from Contemplation, 88
• Critique on the Aristotelian Ethics, 89

CHAPTER EIGHT: THE NATURAL LAW ETHICS, 93
• The Life of St. Thomas Aquinas, 93
• The Philosophy and Theology of St. Thomas, 95
The Five Ways of Proving God’s Existence, 96
The Nature of God, 96
The Relationship of God with His Creatures, 97
• The Nature of the Human Person, 98
• The Threefold Natural Inclination of the Human Person, 99
• The Happiness of the Human Person, 99
• The Three Determinants of Moral Action, 100
• The Moral Principles as Basis of Human Action, 101
• The Rights and Duties of a human Person, 103
• Critique on the Ethics of St. Thomas, 104

CHAPTER NINE: THE KANTIAN ETHICS, 111
• Kant’s Epistemology as Foundation of Ethics, 112
• The Kantian Concept of Morality, 113
• The Categorical Imperative, 115
• The Kantian Concept of a Moral Person, 117
• Critique to the Kantian Ethics, 118

CHAPTER TEN: THE UTILITARIAN ETHICS, 121
• The Life of Jeremy Bentham, 122
• The Life of John Stuart Mill, 123
• The Principle of Utilitarianism, 125
The Hedonistic Calculus, 126
The Benevolent Spectator Principle, 126
• Act Utilitarianism versus Rule Utilitarianism, 127
• Critique on utilitarianism, 128

CHAPTER ELEVEN: THE PRAGMATIC ETHICS, 131
• The Life of Charles Peirce, 131
• The Life of William James, 132
• The Life of John Dewey, 133
• Pragmatism and Its Concept of a Good Life, 134
• Pragmatism as a Basis for Doing Good, 135
• Critique to Pragmatic Ethics, 137

CHAPTER TWELVE: NIETZSCHE AND THE POWER ETHICS, 141
• The Philosophy of Arthur Schopenhauer, 143
• The Writings of Nietzsche, 144
• The Will to Power, 145
• Master Morality versus Slave Morality, 146
• The Death of God, 147
• Critique on Power Ethics, 149

CHAPTER THIRTEEN: THE RIGHT AND THE GOOD, 153
• The Life of William David Ross, 154
• The Ethical Principle of William David Ross, 154
• The Actual Duty versus the Prima Facie Duty, 155
• Critique on the Ethics of William David Ross, 158

CHAPTER FOURTEEN: JOHN RAWLS’ THEORY OF JUSTICE, 161
• The Life of John Rawls, 161
• John Rawls’ Ethical Principle, 162
• The Hypothetical Situation, 163
• Categories of Justice and Fairness, 164
• Theories of Distributive Justice, 165
• Rawls’ Theory of Justice, 168
• Critique on the Ethical Principle of John Rawls, 169

CHAPTER FIFTEEN: SITUATION ETHICS, 173
• The Life of Joseph Fletcher, 173
• The Moral Philosophy of Joseph Fletcher, 175
• The Six Formulations of Christian Love, 177
• Critique to Situation Ethics, 179

PART 3: APPLYING ETHICAL PRINCIPLES TO MORAL ISSUES, 183
CHAPTER SIXTEEN: MAN AS THE FOUNDATION OF GOODNESS, 184
• The Nature and Characteristics of Human Behavior, 185
• Impediments in Performing Human Activity, 186

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN: THE MORALITY OF HUMAN SEXUALITY, 191
• The Anthropological Dimension of Man and Woman, 191
• The Nature and Purpose of Sexual Love, 193
Sexual Love as an Appeal to Others, 194
The Discontented Love, 195
Sexual Love as Reverence for the Dignity of Women, 196
The Discipline on Sex, 196
Sex as Either Humanizing or Dehumanizing, 197
• Types of Sexual Deviation, 198
• Pornography and Prostitution, 202
• Importance of Growth in Sexual Love, 203

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN: THE MORALITY OF CONTRACEPTION, 209
• The Meaning of Contraception and Sterilization, 210
• Types of Sterilization, 210
• Justifications on Contraception and Sterilization, 211
• Methods of Contraception and Sterilization, 212
• The Moral Decision, 219

CHAPTER NINETEEN: THE MORAL ISSUE ON ABORTION, 223
• Types of Abortion, 224
• Methods of Abortion, 224
• The Effects of Abortion, 226
• The Moral Decision, 226

CHAPTER TWENTY: THE MORAL ISSUE ON BIRTH DEFORMITIES, 231
• Common Types of Birth Deformities, 232
• The Moral Decision, 234
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE: THE MORALITY OF GENETIC ENGINEERING,
239
• The Different Methods of genetic Engineering, 239
• The Moral Decision, 242
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO: THE MORAL ISSUE ON EUTHANASIA, 249
• The Definition of Death, 250
• The Meaning of Euthanasia, 251
• The Moral Decisions, 253

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE: THE MORALITY OF SUICIDE, 259
• What is Suicide?, 259
• Three Types of Suicide, 260
• The Moral Decision, 261

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR: THE MORALITY OF DEATH PENALTY, 267
• Death Penalty as a Punishment, 268
• The Argument against Death Penalty, 269
• The Moral Decision, 272
EPILOGUE, 277
• Who is Alasdair MacIntyre?, 278
• MacIntyre’s View on Philosophy and His Ethical Theory, 279
• The Ethics of Paying Taxes, 283