BAS 401 NOTES
WHY SOCIAL ETHICS?
(What is the relevance/importance of studying this course? Because of the nature of our
world and our nature as human beings)
1) The nature of our world
The global village,
The pluralistic village
The fragmented village
2) The nature of Human beings
We are embodied human beings. We are physical beings. This shows that we have
needs, desires and emotions, passions that make us part of human physical needs
We are social beings, we are created with a capacity to relate with others, that means we
cannot exist as islands we are therefore meant to relate with one another. As one of our
renown philosophers put it I am because we and because we are therefore I am
We are spiritual beings. We are able to relate with God and transcendent beings. Most
religions recognize the special place that human beings hold in Gods creation.
Christianity affirms that humans are created in the image of God. This includes both male
and female. This means they are equal and human beings are special because of this
stamp. Human rights are based on this affirmation. Islam says that humans are the vice-
regent of God that means they have a position of authority. Yet there is also recognition
that human beings are fallen beings and that is why there are many broken
relationships. They are not achieving the telos. Religions then provide the means for
human beings to transcend their fallenness in order to attain their purpose and goal (telos)
of being in full relationship with God, with one another and with the environment.
The sources of Social Ethics:
1. Intuition
2. Conscience
3. Customs and traditions of our communities
1
, 4. Reason
5. Religious rules and customs
6. Professional rules and codes of conduct
7. Countries laws and constitutions
8. Universal instruments and conventions: Universal Declaration of Human Rights,
Convention for the Rights of the Children, The African Charter for the Child
The content of Social Ethics:
1) Focus on Actions that are Proactive: What are those factor and conditions that be so that we
can express the best relationships to one another. To continually improve our social environment
so that we can eliminate those things that make it difficult for us to attain the goal of our lives.
We should encourage situations and transforming initiatives that will promote the right behavior,
providing the way out from the vicious cycles that continually tie people to the wrong habits and
developing the right habits.
Reactive: rehabilitation, helping people who have already fallen into the wrong habits out of the
situation.
2) Emphasize the formation of Virtues: facilitates us in the task of actualizing our form as
human beings. In fact we attain our purpose through the development of virtue. We possess a
natural capacity toward virtue which according to Aristotle makes it possible for us to develop
into virtuous persons. To actualize our potential we have to exercise our will so that we can act
rightly which involves the performance of the right thing to the right person in the right way to
the right extent and for the right purpose( Grenz, 73 )But one right act does not produce a
virtuous life. Instead the training and good habits we repeatedly do help us to be people of
character. Virtue is always a mean between two extremes-the vice of deficiency and the vice of
excess-both of which lead us to do wrong and contribute to unhappiness. Thus virtue consists of
habitual moderation and that is the golden mean. To cite an example courage is the mean
between cowardice (which is the vice of deficiency) and foolhardiness(the corresponding vice of
excess)
The ancient philosophers considered the following as key virtues
Wisdom/prudence- Plato defined it as the ability to exercise the power of reason, the ability to
think clearly , to know the truth and goodness, Aristotle defined it as the ability to choose the
proper means to attain the right goals(Grenz, 72) The ability to put into practice the knowledge
that we have.
Courage: Knowing what to do and what not to fear, anger in the face of vice
2
, Temperance: the ability to control ones desires, the ability to exercise self control
Justice: This is translation of the Latin tem iusticia, derived from uis which means right. It refers
to what is owed to another whether in accordance to nature or positive law. For Plato it is an
integrating virtue that hold all the others together, It is the harmonizing virtue, it involves the
correct balance between authority and submission. It entails the harmonious functioning of
wisdom, courage, and temperance as ordered and ruled by reason. For Aristotle Justice is not the
mean between two extremes but it is the sum of all virtues and its absence is the sum of all vice.
Justice is a social virtue. It consists in voluntarily doing what is good and avoiding what is
harmful to others. It is that condition of social harmony that emerges as all participants in society
offer their individual contributions to the whole. Justice involves fairness and lawfulness.
In the bible the central norm is justice. It appears x1060 in the bible. The bible defines justice
not just giving people what is their due but being concerned and caring for the oppressed, the
widows, orphans, migrants, outcasts, the poor etc. Jesus regularly entered into the lives of the
outcasts, the oppressed , the excluded and restored them into the community. This is known as
restorative or delivering justice. It is based on Gods love, compassion and gracious care for
those who are suffering. The bible mention four kinds of situations that people need deliverance
from: Poverty, domination, exclusion and violence. The biblical justice needs legal embodiment
in gate and also in the market place( economic institutions). The prophets frequently call on
kings, judges and commercial traders to exercise justice in their dealings. We need checks and
balances so that we do not use our power for our own benefit but practice actions that bring
deliverance.
3) Promote the understanding and implementation of Human Rights:
Three basic Rights
Human Rights are based on Gods universal and inclusive love and in our obligation to all
persons God cares about. Human Rights are the obligations to the basic freedoms of all persons.
They are not mere possessive individualism but they are obligatory caring.
1. The right to Life: this is the right to obtain basic needs and economic rights, the right
not to be imprisoned for debt, the right to trade internationally without restriction by
monopolies, the right to a free education for everyone, the right to housing and care for
the orphans, the widowed, the aged, the handicapped and the right of the poor to their
portion of land
2. Religious Liberty and Civil liberty:, freedom, from coercion in religion, from
governmental establishment of religion and from taxation for religion, freedom of the
press, the right of the prisoners, rights of prisoners, not to be starved, tortured, or
extorted, the right not to be arbitrarily arrested, nor forced to incriminate oneself; the
right to a speedy trial, the right to understand the law in ones own language, the right to
3
WHY SOCIAL ETHICS?
(What is the relevance/importance of studying this course? Because of the nature of our
world and our nature as human beings)
1) The nature of our world
The global village,
The pluralistic village
The fragmented village
2) The nature of Human beings
We are embodied human beings. We are physical beings. This shows that we have
needs, desires and emotions, passions that make us part of human physical needs
We are social beings, we are created with a capacity to relate with others, that means we
cannot exist as islands we are therefore meant to relate with one another. As one of our
renown philosophers put it I am because we and because we are therefore I am
We are spiritual beings. We are able to relate with God and transcendent beings. Most
religions recognize the special place that human beings hold in Gods creation.
Christianity affirms that humans are created in the image of God. This includes both male
and female. This means they are equal and human beings are special because of this
stamp. Human rights are based on this affirmation. Islam says that humans are the vice-
regent of God that means they have a position of authority. Yet there is also recognition
that human beings are fallen beings and that is why there are many broken
relationships. They are not achieving the telos. Religions then provide the means for
human beings to transcend their fallenness in order to attain their purpose and goal (telos)
of being in full relationship with God, with one another and with the environment.
The sources of Social Ethics:
1. Intuition
2. Conscience
3. Customs and traditions of our communities
1
, 4. Reason
5. Religious rules and customs
6. Professional rules and codes of conduct
7. Countries laws and constitutions
8. Universal instruments and conventions: Universal Declaration of Human Rights,
Convention for the Rights of the Children, The African Charter for the Child
The content of Social Ethics:
1) Focus on Actions that are Proactive: What are those factor and conditions that be so that we
can express the best relationships to one another. To continually improve our social environment
so that we can eliminate those things that make it difficult for us to attain the goal of our lives.
We should encourage situations and transforming initiatives that will promote the right behavior,
providing the way out from the vicious cycles that continually tie people to the wrong habits and
developing the right habits.
Reactive: rehabilitation, helping people who have already fallen into the wrong habits out of the
situation.
2) Emphasize the formation of Virtues: facilitates us in the task of actualizing our form as
human beings. In fact we attain our purpose through the development of virtue. We possess a
natural capacity toward virtue which according to Aristotle makes it possible for us to develop
into virtuous persons. To actualize our potential we have to exercise our will so that we can act
rightly which involves the performance of the right thing to the right person in the right way to
the right extent and for the right purpose( Grenz, 73 )But one right act does not produce a
virtuous life. Instead the training and good habits we repeatedly do help us to be people of
character. Virtue is always a mean between two extremes-the vice of deficiency and the vice of
excess-both of which lead us to do wrong and contribute to unhappiness. Thus virtue consists of
habitual moderation and that is the golden mean. To cite an example courage is the mean
between cowardice (which is the vice of deficiency) and foolhardiness(the corresponding vice of
excess)
The ancient philosophers considered the following as key virtues
Wisdom/prudence- Plato defined it as the ability to exercise the power of reason, the ability to
think clearly , to know the truth and goodness, Aristotle defined it as the ability to choose the
proper means to attain the right goals(Grenz, 72) The ability to put into practice the knowledge
that we have.
Courage: Knowing what to do and what not to fear, anger in the face of vice
2
, Temperance: the ability to control ones desires, the ability to exercise self control
Justice: This is translation of the Latin tem iusticia, derived from uis which means right. It refers
to what is owed to another whether in accordance to nature or positive law. For Plato it is an
integrating virtue that hold all the others together, It is the harmonizing virtue, it involves the
correct balance between authority and submission. It entails the harmonious functioning of
wisdom, courage, and temperance as ordered and ruled by reason. For Aristotle Justice is not the
mean between two extremes but it is the sum of all virtues and its absence is the sum of all vice.
Justice is a social virtue. It consists in voluntarily doing what is good and avoiding what is
harmful to others. It is that condition of social harmony that emerges as all participants in society
offer their individual contributions to the whole. Justice involves fairness and lawfulness.
In the bible the central norm is justice. It appears x1060 in the bible. The bible defines justice
not just giving people what is their due but being concerned and caring for the oppressed, the
widows, orphans, migrants, outcasts, the poor etc. Jesus regularly entered into the lives of the
outcasts, the oppressed , the excluded and restored them into the community. This is known as
restorative or delivering justice. It is based on Gods love, compassion and gracious care for
those who are suffering. The bible mention four kinds of situations that people need deliverance
from: Poverty, domination, exclusion and violence. The biblical justice needs legal embodiment
in gate and also in the market place( economic institutions). The prophets frequently call on
kings, judges and commercial traders to exercise justice in their dealings. We need checks and
balances so that we do not use our power for our own benefit but practice actions that bring
deliverance.
3) Promote the understanding and implementation of Human Rights:
Three basic Rights
Human Rights are based on Gods universal and inclusive love and in our obligation to all
persons God cares about. Human Rights are the obligations to the basic freedoms of all persons.
They are not mere possessive individualism but they are obligatory caring.
1. The right to Life: this is the right to obtain basic needs and economic rights, the right
not to be imprisoned for debt, the right to trade internationally without restriction by
monopolies, the right to a free education for everyone, the right to housing and care for
the orphans, the widowed, the aged, the handicapped and the right of the poor to their
portion of land
2. Religious Liberty and Civil liberty:, freedom, from coercion in religion, from
governmental establishment of religion and from taxation for religion, freedom of the
press, the right of the prisoners, rights of prisoners, not to be starved, tortured, or
extorted, the right not to be arbitrarily arrested, nor forced to incriminate oneself; the
right to a speedy trial, the right to understand the law in ones own language, the right to
3
