CHAPTER IV.

Synthesis Making Informed Desicions

Ramon Castillo Reyes (1935-2014)

Ramon Castillo Reyes was born in 1935 in the Philippines. He attended the
Ateneo de Manila University in Quezon City where he earned his Bachelor of Arts
Degree in 1956. Where he taught Ethics, Modern Philosophy, and Contemporary
Philosophy to Generations of Ateneo Students Year 1965 to 2013. Reyes was one
of the Pioneers in the Philippines of the Philosophical Approach known as
Existential Phenomenology. “Reyes published a book in 1988 “, has served as the
Textbook for Thousands of Students in the country. “Doc Reyes”, as he was fondly
called by Students and Colleagues, died in 2014.

A. The Moral Agent and Contexts

The one who is tasked to think about what is “Right” and why its so, and to choose to do
so, it’s a Human Individual. Who is this individual who must engage herself in Ethics thought and
Decision making? Who one is in The Most Fundamental Sense, is another ways topic in The Act of
Philosophizing. The Ancient Greeks even had a famous saying on it “Epemeleia he Auto”, usually
translate into English has known Thyself in Reponse to this Age/ Old Philosophical challenge, The
Filipino Philosopher Ramon C. Reyes (2035- 2014), Righting in his essay “Man and Historical
Action”, succinctly explain “who one is” is a cross-point, he means that one’s identity, who one is or
who i am, is a product of many forces and events that happened outside of one’s choosing. Reyes
identify for cross-points: the physical, interpersonal, the social and his historical.

B. Moral Deliberation
Lawrence Kolhberg (1927-1987)
He is American psychologist best known for his Theory of Stages of
Moral Development. He served as a professor in the Psychology Department at
the University of Chicago and at the Graduate of School Education at Harvard
University. He theorized that the moral development happens in six stages, which
he divided into three stages.
LEVEL AND STAGES OF MORAL DEVELOPMENT
 Pre-conventional Morality
- whose reasoning is centered on the consequences of one’s actions, is divided
into two stages.
First stages
-this stage includes the use of punishment so that the person refrains
from doing the action and continues to obey the rules.
Second Stages
-reasoning and learns to act according to what she thinks will serve her
self interest; thus what is “good” at this age is what the child thinks can bring her pleasure.
Kohlberg used the term pre-conventional to refer to this two stages since at this age, a young
child basically thinks only in terms of the pain (punishment) or pleasure (reward) brought about
as a consequence of her action.
 Conventional
- since this is the age in which older children, adolescents, and young adults learn
to conform to the expectations of society.
Third stages
-when one begins to act according to what the larger group she belongs to
expects of her. The individual assumes that what will benefit her best is when other members of
her group approve of her actions.
Fourth Stages
- is achieved when a person realizes that following the dictates of her
society is not just good for herself but more importantly, it is necessary for the existence of
society itself. The individual at this stage values most the laws, rules, and regulations of her
society, and thus her moral reasoning is shaped by dutifulness to the external standards set by s
society.
 Post-conventional
- since the morally responsible agent recognizes thats what is good is right is no
reducible to following the rules of one’s group. Instead, it is a question of
understanding personally what one ought to do and deciding , using one’s free
will, to act accordingly.
 Fifth Stage
- In this stage, the person look at various opinions and values of different people
before coming up with the decision on the morality of action.
Sixth Stage
- The highest stage of moral development that exist even beyond the fifth stage
of the social contract is choosing to perform actions based on universal ethical principles that one has
determined by herself. One realizes that all the conventions (laws, rules and regulations) of society are
only correct if they are based on these universal ethical principles, they must be followed only if they
reflect universal ethical principles.

Moral Problem
What must a morally mature individual do when she is confronted with a moral
problem?
Different types of Moral problems
a. The first one is a situation in which we need to clarify whether a certain action
is morally right or morally wrong.
b. The second type involves determining whether a particular action in question
can be identified with a generally accepted ethical or unethical action.
c. The third type points to the presence of of an ethical dilemma. Dilemmas are
ethical situation in which there are competing values that seem to have equal worth. The
problem can be concerned either with a choice between two competing moral goods or between
two evils. The responsible moral individual therefore must be able to recognize what exactly the
ethical issue at hand is and formulate and state it clearly as a moral problem.

C. Self Society and Environment

 Individual Self
In the realm of the self, as noted earlier, one has to pay attention not just on how one
deals with one self, but also on how enter acts with other individual in personal
relation.
Source of Authority
1. Charismatic authority means that deference and obedience will be given because of the
extraordinary attractiveness and power of the person. The person is owed homage because of
their capacity to project personal magnetism, grace and bearing. For instance, management gurus
such as Jack Welch, politicians such as Nelson Mandela, or popular characters such as Princess
Diana are charismatic authorities: people follow them because of their personalities and the
success they have achieved.
2. Traditional authority occurs where deference and obedience are owed because of the bloodline.
The title held is owed homage because the person who holds it does so by birthright – they are in
that position by right of birth. Prince Charles, for instance, is not so much an authority because of
his charisma, but because of tradition: as the Queen's eldest son, he is the future King of England.
3. Rational-legal authority signifies that deference and obedience are owed not to the person or
the title they hold but to the role they fill. It is not the officer but the office that is owed homage
because it is a part of a rational and recognised disposition of relationships in a structure of
offices. Examples are easy to find – one just has to think of passport control or the police. These
are authorities, although one does not know the people acting in the roles: they are ‘secondary’ –
what is important is the office they represent.
Sense of self

Definition
How do you define who you are? Do you rely on the different roles and relationships you have, such as
being a mother, a teacher, a soldier, or a son? Or, would you say your identity is more based on your
thoughts, emotions, and knowledge of the world around you? Some people believe it is neither of
those, and that the sense of self is your self-esteem. Do you like what you see when you look in the
mirror? What do you think you're capable of accomplishing? All of these questions pertain to the idea
of the sense of self.
In psychology, the sense of self is defined as the way a person thinks about and views his or her traits,
beliefs, and purpose within the world. It's a truly dynamic and complicated concept because it covers
both the 'inner' and 'outer' self. This idea can be a little bit confusing, so let's break it down further. You
are living and interacting with the outside world all the time. Whether you are sitting in class, talking
with a friend, or walking your dog, you're doing things that help you define your role in this world.
Why are you interested in a particular class? Why is this person considered your friend? These
questions come from your mind, and it's always chatting away trying to help you form opinions and
make decisions about your life. When these two come together, your sense of self begins.

Development of the Sense of Self

One of the greatest aspects of the self is that it is constantly changing. Think back to when you were
five years old. Are you the same person now? Perhaps in some ways you are; maybe you have the same
hobbies or interests that have followed you through life. However, you probably can't consider yourself
entirely the same. The reason being: as you grow so does your sense of self.
So, what helps with this development of the self? Humanist psychologist Carl Rogers contributed a
great deal to this aspect of psychology. He believed that there were three contributing components to
the development of the sense of self: self-image, self-esteem, and the ideal self.
Components of Sense of Self: Self-Image
A person's self-image typically relates to how one views oneself. This includes personality traits and
physical descriptions. Are you tall or short? Are you impulsive, loyal, confident, or maybe all three? It
also includes your social roles. Perhaps you are a housewife or maybe you are a top-tier executive. No
matter how many or how few positions you have, they all contribute to your self-image. Unfortunately,
a person's self-image is not always representative of reality. A person suffering from bulimia may have
the self-image that they are extremely overweight, even though that is not the truth.

1. Moral deliberation
“Moral deliberation” will be defined as the detection, filtering, and weighing (consciously or
unconsciously) of relevant moral principles, heuristics, or concepts that identify morally relevant
features and thereby create a “moral context.” “Moral verdicts,” in contrast, will be defined as
(conscious or unconscious) valenced opinions or commitments about what is morally wrong or not
wrong, or what one morally ought to do or not to do. The detection, filtering, and weighing processes
that comprise moral deliberation represent the integration of many sources of relevant information
(evidence, biases, emotions, etc.) over time. A moral verdict, on the other hand, is a discrete conclusion
or choice based on interpretation of, or deliberation over, the moral context. “Moral deliberation” and
“moral verdict” are similar to the concepts of “decision variable” and “choice” used in fields of
perceptual decision-making (Gold & Shadlen, 2007).
2. Moral development
Moral Development focuses on the emergence, change, and understanding of morality from infancy
through adulthood. Morality develops across a lifetime and is influenced by an individual's experiences
and their behavior when faced with moral issues through different periods' physical and cognitive
development. In short, morality concerns an individual's growing sense of what is right and wrong; it is
for this reason that young children have different moral judgement and character than that of a grown
adult. Morality in itself is often a synonym for "rightness" or "goodness". It refers to a certain code of
conduct that is derived from one's culture, religion or personal philosophy that guides one's actions,
behaviors and thoughts.
Notions of morality development have been developed over centuries, the earliest came from
philosophers like Confucius, Aristotle, and Rousseau, who all took a more humanist perspective and
focused on the development of the conscience and sense of virtue. In the modern day, empirical
research has explored morality through a moral psychology lens by theorists like Sigmund Freud and
its relation to cognitive development by theorists like Jean Piaget, Lawrence Kohlberg, B. F.
Skinner, Carol Gilligan and Judith Smetana.

Lawrence Kohlberg's stages of moral development

level 1 (Pre-Conventional)
1. Obedience and punishment orientation
(How can I avoid punishment?)
2. Self-interest orientation
(What's in it for me?)
(Paying for a benefit)
 Level 2 (Conventional)
3. Interpersonal accord and conformity
(Social norms)
(The good boy/girl attitude)
4. Authority and social-order maintaining orientation
(Law and order morality)
Level 3 (Post-Conventional)
5. Social contract orientation
6. Universal ethical principles

3. Moral problem
A problem or situation that requires a person or organization to choose between alternatives that must
be evaluated as right (ethical) or wrong (unethical).

GROUP 1 (CHAPTER I)
Leader: Jong, Jellyn
Assisstant: Bayona , Eugene
Members;
Briones, Charles Jensen
Cariño, Joyce
Isok, Marissa