Ballon, Karen Nicole G.

Ethics [W1D1]
3AD1 Sir Marc Aldous Baccay

Do we need to be moral?
1. What is the difference between a moral principle, legal rule,
etiquette/customs, and religious principle? (20 Points)

Moral Principles – are the prevailing standards of behavior that enable people to
live cooperatively in groups. It is what our society thinks as right and acceptable. If
a person commits an evil act, it will be perceived as immoral. Moral principles
guide individual conduct within society. People can follow these by following laws
or follow them whether they are aware or not. Although, morality is not always
fixed. It can differ depending on one’s culture. What’s considered right in your
culture might not be acceptable in another culture.

Legal Rule – It is a rule that everyone has to obey. They are made to make people
safe in a community. It’s a great way for making society not just survivable, but
possible. Legal rule governs a nation and its citizens as opposed to the power
resting with a few untouchable individuals like politicians or royals.

Etiquette/Customs - It is a polite manner that has a set of conventional rules

depending on one’s culture. It is an ethical code that delineates the expected and
accepted social behaviors that accord with the conventions and norms observed by
a society, a social class, or a social group. It allows us to communicate with one
another safely and comfortably. If everyone doesn’t have ethics, people would be
rude, pushy, loud, obnoxious and disrespectful.

Religious Principle – Religious principle means to surrender unto the rules of

God. It is the foundation of religions and set the standards of what’s good and bad.
It rules out discrimination against people on the basis of race, gender, sexuality,
age, ethnicity and ancestry. It has a belief that all human beings deserve basic level
of respect and dignity.
2. Reflecting on the film Lord of the Flies, do you think it is more important to
imbibe or develop an ethics framework than simply establish and abide by legal
rules? Explain. (40 points)

Lord of the Flies was a written novel in 1954 by William Golding. The
author was enlisted in the Royal Navy and fought in World War 2, spending 6
years on a boat. While recovering from the experiences of the war, he wrote Lord
of the Flies and thus, the book blossomed into dark philosophies about the human
nature. It’s also an allegory for the cold war and the divisions and factions formed
by people with centrally conflicting personal philosophies about how society needs
to function. It has been adapted into a film twice in English, in 1963 by Peter
Brook and 1990 by Harry Hook. The story focuses on a group of boys stranded on
an uninhabited island after the plane they’re riding plane crashed. It becomes
disastrous the longer they stay on the island as they attempt to govern themselves
and fight for authority.

Watching the film made me realize how important ethics framework

is in our society. How law and order should be maintained in order feel safe in
your surroundings. One of my favorite characters in the film was Simon. He
symbolizes the morality of us human beings. He’s kind, selfless and is connected
with nature. When he was killed by Jack’s tribe, it signals the disappearance of
human goodness within them and is then replaced by wickedness. The conch shell
in the film, that is used to gather the boys, symbolizes order and logic. It is also a
structure of humans’ collaboration with nature. When they stopped using it, chaos
broke down and it coincides with the death of Piggy who is the symbol of
thoughtfulness and reasoning. Being free from rules and responsibilities may
sound like it’s fun at first. But too much of these things descended Jack’s tribe into
madness and savagery. No matter how innocent they were at the start of the film,
they were ruled by fear, brutality and violence throughout the film because they do
not have any ethical framework.

In conclusion, what I learned from the film is that a civilization without

structure, order and logic will be replaced by fear and paranoia which will then
cause brutality and violence. Golding shows us what our society will look like if
we live in an undisciplined governance. Our civilization will collapse into the
chaos of war. The loss of innocence can be seen as another theme into the film.
Golding tells us that we don’t need the monster/devil to bring out the evil in us but
rather we have the devil already within us waiting to submerge from our
subconscious once we commit an immoral act.