INTRODUCTION TO THE KEY CONCEPTS

MODULE OVERVIEW

Module Outline:

A. The Need to Study Ethics and the Importance of Rules to Social Beings

B. Moral versus Non-moral Standards

C. What are Dilemmas?

D. What are the Three Levels of Moral Dilemmas?

E. Foundation of Morality

Introduction

What is morality? Morality is “a system of beliefs about what is right behavior and wrong behavior”

(Rubin, 2015). Morality refers to “the principles of right and wrong behavior or rightness and wrongness

(that is, goodness and badness) of human actions” (philonotes.com, 2018).

In his book, Elements of Moral Philosophy, author and university professor Dr. James Rachels – a

philosopher who specialized in Ethics – asserted that “at the very least morality is the effort to guide

one’s conduct by reason, to act based on the best reasons for doing, while giving equal weight to the

interests of each individual affected by one’s decision” (Gallinero, 2018).

In this Module, you will learn how to distinguish a moral standard from non-moral standards and

likewise distinguish a moral dilemma from any other types of dilemmas. You will also learn in this

Module how to identify and classify moral experiences as they happen in different levels of human

existence.

MODULE LEARNING OBJECTIVES

Introduction TO THE KEY Concepts

Ethics (GE9)