The Relationship of Ethics with other Sciences and other Phases of Human Life

Lesson 2

Introduction
Ethics is a branch of Philosophy that studies

the nature and the morality of the human conduct.

Ethics related to other sciences because it

also deals with the investigation of the nature of man as a rational being and a being in relation with other beings.

But unlike other sciences, the focus of

ethics is the study of mans nature and behavior from the standpoint of morality.
The material object therefore of ethics is

the human conduct and the formal object is morality.

Relationship of Ethics with other Sciences

1. Ethics and Logic

Ethics is the study of Logic studies the

correct action or doing.

Ethics is aimed at the

process of correct and organized thinking.

Logic aimed at the

right acting or right doing and behavior.

right thinking.

Doing follows thinking

Based on perceiving information

Ethics is focused foremost

on demands of subjective human world, or world of people and relationship.

Logic is focused foremost

on demands of material, nonhuman world, or world of things in ones environment.

In communication, Ethics

focuses on and studies peoples feelings and emotional state based on nonverbal information and how things are said.

In communication, Logic

focuses on and studies what is done and said, or the content of speech.

On intellectual qualities
Ethics is people-

oriented
Ethics is focused on

Logic is task-oriented Logic is focused on

enhancing relationships; modifying content and form of speech to match or contradict what others expect to hear.

not misleading a person and giving him correct information.

On Behavioral Relationships
Ethics shows Logic shows their

peoples feeling for their partners directly through emotions.

feelings for their partners by doing things for them.

2. Ethics and Psychology

* Both deal with the study of man and his behavior; however
Ethics studies how

man ought to behave.

Psychology studies

how man behaves.

It concerned with

mans moral obligation or the result of his behavior.

It is not interested in

the morality of human behavior.

It is the study of

It is the scientific

human behavior form the perspective of morality.

study of mental and behavioral characteristics, associated with a particular kind of behavior.

3. Ethics and Sociology

Ethics deals with Sociology deals

the study of moral order in the society.

with the study of the social order in the society.

There is no social order if there is no moral

order
Therefore, the foundation of any society

depends on the moral values of people and their concept of what is good and bad in human relationships.

Society depends on ethics for its underlying

principles.
Sociology deals with human relations in a society,

but human relations are based on proper order and proper order come only with the proper observance of moral laws and principles which regulate the action of men in a community.

4. Ethics and Economics

Man supports himself by earning a living. Earning a living to support his expenses makes a

man an economic being.

Economic as a science deals with the study of

wages, labor, production and distribution of wealth.

 The study of these issues involves relationships among

individuals.
Example: wages: between employer and employee production: between manufacturer and customers

At the heart of these relationships exist moral norms and

moral rules.
Without these moral norms, harmonious relationships

between and among parties cannot exist.

According to Charles K. Wilber

There are three ways in which ethics enters economics.
1st: economist have ethical values that help shape the way they

do economics.

This builds into the core of economic theory a particular view of how the

economy does work and how it should work

2nd economic actors (consumers, workers, business owners)

have ethical values that help shape their behavior.

3rd: economic institutions and policies impact people

differentially and thus ethical evaluations, in addition to economic evaluations, are important.

Relationship of Ethics with other Phases of Human Life

 The concept of ethics crosses religious and cultural

boundaries and is directed at the question of how critical decisions are to be made so that an organization may work best together, building community ad social relationship in a positive and productive way.
How we live ethically becomes more important as we are

required to make complex decisions concerning customer relations, protection of the environment, and other business issues.

1. Ethics and Law

Ethics deals with morality, and when we speak of

morality, we mean primarily the moral law.

Law may be defined as crystallized ethics. Law and morality presuppose the concepts of

right and wrong, good and bad, even the rules of conduct.

 However, there is a difference between what is moral

and what is legal.

Law covers the external actions of man. In the making of

a law, the items covered in that Law is the external action and behavior of a person.
When we speak of ethics, we speak of the study of

motivation and intension, including the internal disposition of the person.

 Though law often embodies ethical principals, law and

ethics are far from co-extensive.

Many acts that would be widely condemned as unethical

are not prohibited by law lying or betraying the confidence of a friend, for example.
A man can commit adulteries in his mind, yet a person is

not legally or criminally guilty because the exercise is innate within the person.

He may not be legally or criminally responsible,

but he is morally responsible.

Therefore, law is external-oriented while ethics

focuses on the internal disposition of a person.

2. Ethics and Religion

Ethics is a discipline or

set of moral principles and values governing an individual or institutional behavior.

Religion generally

refers to the service and worship of God (or some other object) and is typically expressed as a personal or institutional set if beliefs, attitudes and practices.

Ethics evaluates

Religion certainly can

behavior against values held regardless of the source of those values.

impact individual or corporate ethics and may actually include mandates for ethical behavior, it is a distinct concept from ethics

It is in the practice of religion where ethics and religion overlap

Religion and ethics are two phases of human activity

which are very closely related.

Both ethics and religion are based on the same

postulates: They suggest the existence of a creator, freedom of the will in man, and immorality.
Moreover, ethics and religion prescribe right living as

the means of attaining the goal of man.

 True ethics cannot be separated from God. If there is morality, there must be a moral law; if there is

a moral law, there must be a law giver; God is the ultimate law giver Himself.
Ethics and religion presuppose the concept of

immorality, that there is life after death. For this reason, we believe in the soul of the person which continues to exist, a soul that is immortal.

 Ethics and religion will seek the absolute truth. Ethics will try to discover the absolute truth only by using the

human reason.
On the other hand, religion will try to seek the absolute

truth based on faith and divine revelation.

God reveals Himself to us; our response to this revelation is

our faith

3. Ethics and the Professional Code of Conduct

The era of globalization has created a need for specialized skills

and knowledge. This is brought about by the ever changing and complex society.
Full automation has taken over a lot of jobs done by unskilled

labors that in turn creates a demand for people with special skills.
The need for specialized skills and knowledge in almost all areas,

has created a trend which prods people or groups to be identified with a particular wealth. To understand better, let us first differentiate professions, professionals and professionalism.

The difference between:

PROFESSIONS, PROFESSIONAL, PROFESSIONALISM

Based on Websters dictionary

The meaning of Professional is relating to or characteristic

of a profession; Engaged in one of the professions; Participating for gain in an activity often engaged in by amateurs.
Professionalism is the conduct aims, or qualities that

characterize or mark a profession or a professional person; The pursuit of a profession for gain or livelihood, e.g., as a manager or lawyer.

The word Profession or Professional come

from the Latin word Profession, which means a public declaration with the force of a promise.
Professions are groups which declare in a public

way that their members will act in certain ways and that the group and the society may discipline those who will fail to conform to prescribe ways.

 The profession presents itself to society as a social

benefit and the society accepts the profession, expecting it to serve some important social goals.
The traditional professions are medicine, law, education

and clergy. The professionals are the people who have the extensive knowledge of their craft and they are paid for the practice of it, like:
carpenters, plumbers, barbers, athletes, gardener, beauticians and soldiers

All of these professionals, undergo training but

they could not be classified as profession.

To be a member of a profession requires

sophisticated skills and extensive training as well as advance education so that they become competent for their line of work.

 The Medical and Legal profession fit the description of

the word profession.

It is because the skills of the lawyers and doctors cannot

be mechanized and they require good judgment to apply the appropriate treatment/advise to their patients/ clients. There is also the trust or secrecy that is shared by the doctor/lawyer with their patient/clients that is not observed with other professionals.

 Members of the profession create their own set of rules,

set standards for practice of the profession, and at the same time, discipline their own members.
This set of standards of the profession is stated in the

professional ethical code. A code of professional ethics is a set of behavioral guidelines that members of a profession are required by their association to observe in the course of their professional practice.

These guidelines, in general terms, prescribe

responsibilities that members must adhere to and situations in which they must not become involved.
In some cases, members must be sanctioned for

violation of the code.

These sanctions may include the following:

Payment of fines Payment of the cost of any investigation Reprimand Imposition of conditions on membership Suspension from membership Expulsion from membership

 Sometimes the law is silent or absent in some areas of our

human conduct.

The law does not say anything about this human conduct and

its regulations.

In the absence of law, people tend to make their own

Professional Codes of Conduct.

Some professions subscribe to a set of moral code in areas

where the law is silent.

However, ethical or professional codes of conduct

are limited only to some specific professions and cannot be entirely regulated and imposed to all, while ethics is universal and applicable to everybody.
Therefore, Ethics and Professional Code of

Conduct are different from each other.

4. Ethics and Etiquette

Etiquette comes from a French word, which

means ticket. It is a special code of behavior or courtesy Like when you say the words: thank you, you are welcome, congratulations to the groom and best wishes to the bride.

The rules of etiquette are generally non-moral in

character but the violation of the rules of etiquette may have moral implications.
For example: a boss and a secretary develop

special friendship and the boss now call his secretary sweetheart This scenario definitely has moral implications.

 On the other hand, the scrupulous observance of the

rules of etiquette will not make a person moral. In fact, it can hide a moral issue.

Example is the issue of racial discrimination in the late 1950s

and late 1960s in the United States. The white felt superior over the blacks. When a white man enters a bus with no available seats it was imperative for the black person to offer his seat to the white man because people thought it was the proper thing to do during those times. The black then were made to believe it was the proper etiquette. The real issue, however, was racial discrimination.

5. Ethics and Education

Education is defined as an instruction or training by which

people learn to develop and use their mental, moral, and physical powers. It is also gaining of experience.
Since man, is primarily a rational moral being, the primary

objective of education should be the development of these powers in man, which consists his true perfection.
Education should aim to perfect the moral character in men.

A great educator once said education is life; it is

co-extensive with life.

Hence, we can say that ethics is life because it is the

one that gives life its direction, purpose, and meaning.

Ethics is both co-extensive and co-intensive with

life.

6. Ethics and Art

Arts is concerned with the use of imagination

to make things of aesthetic significance.

Ethics is aimed at conforming in an accepted

standard of good behavior.

Ethics stands for moral goodness; arts for

beauty.

 It may be difficult to ascertain whether a piece of art

which is offensive to morals can be considered beautiful.

Both true art and true ethics have the same aim: that is to

arouse and to inspire the noble emotions of man, thereby creating no conflict at all.
Consequently, an art which arouses the lower impulses

of man defeats the purpose of art.