REVIEWER IN ETHICS
Week 8 MORAL FORMATION AND MORAL DEVELOPMENT
 Starting in the 1980s, developmental psychologists created
new methods for studying the thought processes of
children, even of infants long before they acquire language.
One particularly effective method is to present children
with puppet shows, which grab their attention, and then
record nonverbal behaviors, such as looking and choosing,
to identify children’s preferences or interests.
 Moral character is formed by one's actions . The habits,
actions, and emotional responses of the person of good
character all are united and directed toward the moral and
the good. Because human beings are body/soul unities,
actions of the body are actions of the self, that is, human
beings are self-possessing, self-governing, and self-
determining. In order to be of good character, one must
know the good, act in morally good ways, and be disposed
and inclined toward the good through the development of
virtues.
Moral development is an important part of the socialization
process. The term refers to the way people learn what society
considered to be “good” and “bad,” which is important for a
smoothly functioning society. Moral development prevents
people from acting on unchecked urges, instead considering
what is right for society and good for others.
Moral character or character is an evaluation of an individual's
stable moral qualities. The concept of character can imply a
variety of attributes including the existence or lack of virtues
such as empathy, courage, fortitude, honesty, and loyalty, or of
good behaviors or habits.
 Psychologist Lawrence Pervin defines moral character as
"a disposition to express behavior in consistent patterns of
functions across a range of situations". Similarly, the
philosopher Marie I. George refers to moral character as
the “sum of one’s moral habits and dispositions”. Aristotle
has said, "we must take as a sign of states of character the
pleasure or pain that ensues on acts”.
 Etymologically, the term “character” comes from the
ancient Greek term charaktêr, which initially referred to
the mark impressed upon a coin. The term charaktêr later
came to refer more generally to any distinctive feature by
which one thing is distinguished from others. Along this
general line, in contemporary usage character often refers
to a set of qualities or characteristics that can be used to
differentiate between persons.
Wynne and Walberg (1984) wrote that moral character is
“engaging in morally relevant conduct or words, or refraining
from certain conduct or words”. Others, such as Piaget (1969)
focused on the source of one’s behavior as being especially
important. He said that the essence of morality is respect for
rules and that acting on internalized principles (autonomy)
represents a higher level of morality than performance based
on rules imposed by others (heteronomy).
Others, such as Pritchard (1988) focused on moral character as
a personality construct: “a complex set of relatively persistent
qualities of the individual person, and the term has a definite
positive connotation when it is used in discussions of moral
education “. Berkowitz (2002) said that moral character is “an
individual’s set of psychological characteristics that affect that
person’s ability and inclination to function morally”.
Components of Moral Character
 Moral behavior (prosocial, sharing, donating to charity,
telling the truth)
 Moral Values (believe in moral goods)
 Moral emotion (guilt, empathy, compassion)
 Moral reasoning (about right and wrong)
 Moral identity (morality as an aspect self-image)
 Moral personality (enduring tendency to act with honesty,
altruism, responsibility)
 Metamoral characteristics meaning they make morality
possible even though they are not inherently moral.
ARISTOTLE’S FOUR KINDS OF CHARACTER:
1. The Continent Character is one who has selfish, amoral, or
immoral desires, but exhibits control over them in the
service of acting morally. For example, a man in a
committed relationship who lusts after another woman but
inhibits acting on those feelings because the betrayal of his
wife goes against the good would be acting as a continent
character. Interestingly, Kant believed that the moral and
the personal inclinations were inevitably in conflict and the
times when an individual suppressed his desires and acted
morally were examples of the highest good.
2. The Incontinent Character knows what the right or
virtuous thing is to do, but does not have the self-control
to live by his morals. Continuing with the example above,
this would be an individual who would know that it was
wrong to betray his wife and have a casual affair, but
would give into his desires, perhaps feeling guilty
afterwards.
3. The Vicious Character, in contrast, feels no conflict
between inclinations and moral duty because he has no
moral sense of the good. Such individuals simply act on
their own selfish inclinations, as these are seen as what is
valuable. Continuing with the above example, a vicious
character would cheat on his wife with no guilt and simply
work to solve the problem of her finding out about it, so
that it would not inconvenience him.
4. The Virtuous Character also feels no conflict between
emotional inclinations and moral duty. Why? Because the
virtuous character had trained his emotional system to be
aligned with his moral inclinations. In short, at a deep
emotional level, the virtuous character wants to do the
good. While such a character might indeed have sexual
feelings for another, he would feel pride and connection in
acting in a loyal, trustworthy manner and the very thought
of cheating or acting immorally is deeply aversive for the
virtuous character. In contrast to Kant, Aristotle believed
that the virtuous character represented the highest ideal.
IMPORTANCE OF MORAL CHARACTER:
 Achieve peace of mind. People with character sleep well at
night. They take great pride in knowing that their
intentions and actions are honorable. People with
character also stay true to their beliefs, do right by others,
and always take the high ground.
 Strengthen trust. People with character enjoy meaningful
relationships based on openness, honesty, and mutual
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 respect. When you have good moral character, people
know that your behavior is reliable, your heart is in the
right place, and your word is good as gold.
 Build a solid reputation. People with character command a
rock-solid reputation. This helps them attract exciting
opportunities “like a magnet.”
 Reduce anxiety. People with character carry less baggage.
They’re comfortable within their own skin, and they accept
responsibility for their actions. They never have to play
games, waste precious time keeping their stories straight,
or invent excuses to cover their behind.
 Increase leadership effectiveness. Leaders with character
are highly effective. They have no need to pull rank or
resort to command and control to get results. Instead,
they’re effective because they’re knowledgeable, admired,
trusted, and respected. This helps them secure buy-in
automatically, without requiring egregious rules or strong
oversight designed to force compliance.
 Build confidence. People with character don’t worry about
embarrassment if their actions are publicly disclosed. This
alleviates the need for damage control or the fear of
potential disgrace as a result of indiscretions.
 Become a positive role model. People with character set
the standard for excellence. They live their life as an open
book, teaching others important life lessons through their
words and their deeds.
 Live a purpose-driven life. People with character live a life
they can be proud of. They’re driven to make a difference
and to do right by others rather than trying to impress
others with extravagance.
 Build a strong business. Doing the right thing is good
business. Everything else being equal, talented people
would rather work for — and customers would rather buy
from — companies that do right by their people,
customers, and communities. While unprincipled business
tactics may provide short-term results, it’s NOT a long-term
strategy.
HUMAN ACT. These are acts that are performed only by a
human-being. Not every act that a human being does is a
distinctively human act. Some acts that human beings do are
performed also by animals, e.g., vegetative acts and acts of
perception and of emotion. When a human being does such
acts, they are called acts of man but not human acts. Acts of
man, therefore, are acts shared in common by man and other
animals, whereas human acts are proper to human beings.
INTERNAL PRINCIPLES OF HUMAN ACTS:
 Intellect. As a power of the human soul, the intellect is the
principle of all intellectual acts of knowing. The human
intellect is either speculative or practical, a difference
deriving from the end to which knowledge is ordered. If
the end in view is the consideration of truth itself, the
intellect is speculative in its mode of knowing. If the end in
view is operation or action of some kind, then the intellect
is practical in its knowing, as in the making of works of art
or in judgments of prudence in regard to actions one is to
perform.
 Will and Sense Appetites. The will, as intellectual appetite,
is a power directed to some object under the aspect of
universal good. Because the good so understood is the
object of the will, it moves the will as an end, and in this
sense the will presupposes the intellect, which thus moves
the will to its appropriate end; the intellect, in other words,
moves the will as specifying the act of the will. The sense
appetite is related to sense cognition as the will is related
to intellectual knowing, each appetite tending to a good as
apprehended.
 Habit. In addition to the various human powers, habits are
also internal principles of human acts. A habit can be
understood initially as a disposing of a power to act in a
determinate way. For this reason, in addition to a habit's
producing uniformity in operation and enabling an act to
be done more quickly and effectively, a habit makes human
action pleasurable in operation.
 Virtue and Vice. Acts of virtue are those that are suitable
to human nature; that is, they are acts habitually
performed according to the rule of reason. Acts of vice are
opposed to human nature inasmuch as they are habitually
opposed to the direction of reason. Virtue may then be
defined somewhat as St. Augustine phrased it: virtue is a
good habit of the mind, by which one lives righteously and
of which no one can make bad use. In a somewhat more
specific way, virtue can be defined also as a habit inclining
one to choose the relative mean between the extremes of
excess and defect. Vice, as the contrary habit, would incline
one to choose either of the extremes, both morally evil.
EXTERNAL PRINCIPLES OF HUMAN ACTS:
 Law. As is evident from experience, the common good is
the end or purpose of all law, and without an
understanding of what the common good properly is, the
nature and function of law in directing human acts cannot
be appreciated. A true common good is universal, not
singular or collective, and is distributive in character, being
communicable to many without becoming anyone's private
good. Moreover, each person participates in the whole
common good, not merely in a part of it, nor can any one
person possess it wholly.
 Civil Law. The classic definition of law is based on the
foregoing notion of the common good: law is a certain
ordination of reason for the common good, promulgated
by one who has care of the community. Civil law directly
concerns the external acts of human beings, presupposing
the interior principles and acts. Although civil law therefore
does not directly aim to make men virtuous in their
actions, it does command certain acts that dispose men to
become virtuous and forbid other acts that lead to vice and
tend to make life in society impossible.
 Natural Law. This is the "unwritten law" that, in its most
common precepts, is fundamentally the same for all. The
natural law expresses, in universal form primarily, the
fundamental inclinations of human nature formulated by
reason in a judgment naturally made, that is, with little or
no discursive reasoning. Such law, then, is natural on two
scores: (1) it is not law made by reason so much as
discovered by reason; and (2) all men thus naturally know
the most universal precepts expressed in natural law.
 Eternal Law. It is even more fundamental than natural law,
being the law in which even natural law participates.
Eternal law refers to the idea of the government of things
that exists in the mind of God; it is the plan of God's
wisdom by which all action and motion of the universe is
directed. It directs the universe as a whole to the common
good of God Himself. Eternal law is therefore the ultimate
source of all law and the ultimate directive principle of all
acts and motions of creatures to their proper ends.
Moral Character as Disposition
Disposition is a person’s inherent qualities of mind and
character. Moral character or character is an evaluation of a
particular individual's durable moral qualities. The concept of
character can imply a variety of attributes including the
existence or lack of virtues such as integrity, courage, fortitude,
honesty, and loyalty, or of good behaviors or habits. Moral
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character primarily refers to the assemblage of qualities that
distinguish one individual from another — although on a
cultural level, the set of moral behaviors to which a social group
adheres can be said to unite and define it culturally as distinct
from others.
Psychologist Lawrence Pervin defines moral character as "a
disposition to express behavior in consistent patterns of
functions across a range of situations”. The moral character
traits that constitute one’s moral character are typically
understood as behavioral and affective dispositions. For this
reason, it will be helpful to look at dispositions in general
before turning toward specifically moral dispositions.
How is moral character developed?
Most people share the view that schools should be formally and
strategically involved in building moral character, virtues, and
ethical behavior and should work in concert with parents and
the community. From the beginning of written history, the
importance of building moral character has been recognized by
parents, educators, and concerned citizens in every culture and
society.
Theories of Moral Development
Moral Development is the process through which children
develop proper attitudes and behaviors toward other people in
society, based on social and cultural norms, rules, and laws. In
1982 V. Campbell and R. Bond proposed the following as major
sources in influencing character and moral development:
heredity, early childhood experience, modeling by important
adults and older youth, peer influence, the general physical and
social environment, the communications media, the teachings
of schools and other institutions, and specific situations and
roles that elicit corresponding behavior.
Lawrence Kohlberg Stages of Moral Development Theory
He is particularly well-known for his theory of moral
development. He theorized that there were 6 stages of moral
development, separated in to three levels: Pre-conventional,
conventional, and post-conventional. Age ranges are
considerably vaguer in Kohlberg’s theory, as children vary quite
significantly in their rate of moral development.
Problems with Kohlberg’s Theory
a. The dilemmas are artificial (i.e., they lack ecological
validity)
b. The sample is biased
c. The dilemmas are hypothetical (i.e., they are not real)
d. Poor research design.
WEEK 9 Reason and Impartiality as Requirements for Ethics
REASON. The ability and the power of the mind to think,
understand, and form judgments by a process of logic (a proper
or reasonable way of thinking about something). The two major
types of reasoning, deductive and inductive, refer to the
process by which someone creates a conclusion as well as how
they believe their conclusion to be true. Deductive reasoning
requires one to start with a few general ideas, called premises,
and apply them to a specific situation. Inductive reasoning uses
a set of specific observations to reach an overarching
conclusion; it is the opposite of deductive reasoning.
Reason a form of personal justification which changes from
person based on their own ethical and moral code as well as
prior experience. It is an innate and exclusive human ability that
utilizes new or existing information as bases to consciously
make sense out of thing while applying logic. It is also
associating with thinking, cognition, and intellect.
Immanuel Kant asserted that reason alone is the basis for
morality. Once a person understood this basic requirement for
morality, he or she would see that acting morally is the same as
acting rationally.
Reason is the fundamental prospect we rely on to not become
bias by feelings and emotion. On the other hand, emotion
allows us to act based on morals and to ensure that our ethical
decisions are not based on logical reasoning but also morally
humane. Thus, reason and emotion work together to
determine our morality.
Reason is a way of knowing that involves different elements as
reasoning is a collective endeavor by which people construct
meaning together by exchanging, modifying and improving
their ideas and opinions. When someone makes a claim to
know, it is legitimate to ask for reasons. Reason is present in
everyday decision making and problem solving as it is in
mathematics, sciences and other areas of knowledge.
Reason is the most useful way of knowing something and thus
deciding how to act. This as a result makes your reasoning and
justification less subjective and more logically which would
more likely lead you to the correct decision then a decision
based off your emotional thoughts. The first thing to note is
Kant’s bold claim that reason is the arbiter of truth in all
judgments—empirical as well as metaphysical.
The connections between moral judgments and reason is
necessary important.
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Impartiality (also called evenhandedness or fair-mindedness) is
a principle of justice holding that decisions should be based on
objective criteria, rather than on the basis of bias, prejudice, or
preferring the benefit to one person over another for improper
reasons.
Impartiality involves the idea that each individual’s interest and
point of view are equally important.
Impartiality is a more complex concept than is generally
recognized. Judging a person to be impartial is not as
straightforward as judging a person to have some moral virtue
such as kindness or trustworthiness.
Impartiality in morality requires that we give equal and/or
adequate consideration to the interests of all concerned
parties. The principle of impartiality assumes that every person,
generally speaking, is equally important; that is, no one seen is
intrinsically more significant than anyone else.
How do you demonstrate impartiality?
 I take into account individual needs and requirements in all
of my actions
 I understand that treating everyone fairly does not mean
everyone is treated the same
 I always give people an equal opportunity to express their
views
 I communicate with everyone, making sure the most
relevant message is provided to all
 I value everyone’s views and opinions by actively listening
to understand their perspective
 I make fair and objective decisions using the best available
evidence
 I enable everyone to have equal access to services and
information, where appropriate
Impartial vs. Biased
Impartial Perspective Biased perspective
1. Open-minded 1. Close-minded
2. Full-minded 2. One-sided
3. Fair-minded 3. Prejudiced
 Morality at the very least is the effort to guide one’s action
based on the most logical choice (reason) while giving
equal importance to the interests of each person affected
by your decisions (impartiality).
 Morality requires impartiality is with respect to violating
moral rules – for example, those rules prohibiting killing,
causing pain, deceiving, and breaking promises. It is only
with regard to these kinds of moral rules – those that can
be formulated as prohibitions – that it is humanly possible
to act impartially with regard to a group large enough to
be an appropriate group.
 Reason and impartiality become the basic prerequisite for
morality as one is expected to be able to deliver clear,
concise, rightful, and appropriate judgments made out of
logic and understanding in an unbiased and unprejudiced
manner while considering the general welfare to accurately
concoct moral decisions.
Emotions – that is to say feelings and intuitions – play a major
role in most of the ethical decisions people make. Most people
do not realize how much their emotions direct their moral
choices. But experts think it is impossible to make any
important moral judgments without emotions.
Emotions (anger, love, hate, happiness) are sometimes
distinguished from reason in ethical theory and thought to be in
tension, though more recent works by Robert Solomon and
others treat emotions as essentially involving reason. Anger, for
example, involves a person condemning or feeling rage on the
basis of reason.
Inner-directed negative emotions like guilt, embarrassment,
and shame often motivate people to act ethically. Outer-
directed negative emotions, on the other hand, aim to
discipline or punish. For example, people often direct anger,
disgust, or contempt at those who have acted unethically. This
discourages others from behaving the same way.
Positive emotions like gratitude and admiration, which people
may feel when they see acting with compassion or kindness,
can prompt people to help others. Emotions evoked by
suffering, such as sympathy and empathy, often lead people to
act ethically toward others. Indeed, empathy is the central
moral emotion that most commonly motivates prosaically
activity such as altruism, cooperation, and generosity.
7-step Moral Reasoning & Reason and Will
Reasoning is the process of drawing out conclusion from the
previous knowledge.
The "Character-Based Decision-Making Model" model,
developed by the Josephson Institute of Ethics, can be applied
to many common problems and can also be used by most
individuals facing ethical dilemmas.
It involves three steps:
1. All decisions must take into account and reflect a concern
for the interests and well-being of all affected individuals.
The underlying principle here is the Golden Rule — help
when you can, avoid harm when you can.
2. Ethical values and principles always take precedence over
nonethical ones. Ethical values are morally superior to
nonethical ones. When faced with a clear choice between
such values, the ethical person should always choose to
follow ethical principles. Perceiving the difference between
ethical and nonethical values can be difficult. This situation
often occurs when people perceive a clash between what
they want or "need" and ethical principles that might deny
these desires. If some rationalization begins to occur, this
situation is probably present.
3. It is ethically proper to violate an ethical principle only
when it is clearly necessary to advance another true ethical
principle, which, according to the decision-maker's
conscience, will produce the greatest balance of good in
the long run. Some decisions will require you to prioritize
and to choose between competing ethical values and
principles when it is clearly necessary to do so because the
only viable options require the sacrifice of one ethical value
over another ethical value. When this is the case, the
decision-maker should act in a way that will create the
greatest amount of good and the least amount of harm to
the greatest number of people.
Ethical decision-making refers to the process of evaluating and
choosing among alternatives in a manner consistent with
ethical principles. In making ethical decisions, it is necessary to
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perceive and eliminate unethical options and select the best
ethical alternative.
The process of making ethical decisions requires:
a) Commitment: The desire to do the right thing regardless of
the cost
b) Consciousness: The awareness to act consistently and
apply moral convictions to daily behavior
c) Competency: The ability to collect and evaluate
information, develop alternatives, and foresee potential
consequences and risks
Good decisions are both ethical and effective:
 Ethical decisions generate and sustain trust; demonstrate
respect, responsibility, fairness and caring; and are
consistent with good citizenship. These behaviors provide a
foundation for making better decisions by setting the
ground rules for our behavior.
 Effective decisions are effective if they accomplish what we
want accomplished and if they advance our purposes. A
choice that produces unintended and undesirable results is
ineffective. The key to making effective decisions is to think
about choices in terms of their ability to accomplish our
most important goals. This means we have to understand
the difference between immediate and short-term goals
and longer-range goals.
7-STEP MORAL REASONING ACCORDING TO RAE SCOTT
Rae suggests the following procedure for making moral
decisions – within this his work is not to get you ask the right
answer but to help you ask the right questions in your ethical
deliberation. Rae says his model is free from Cultural, Ethnic,
and religious background biases, though it is consistent with
the bible and use biblical principles; it is not distinctively
“Christian model”. It is oriented towards virtues and principles
with consideration of consequences as a supporting role. Many
moral dilemmas or issues are not addressed clearly, if at all, in
the Bible. So, we need to apply principles and virtues to each –
the problem then becomes which to apply and how.
 First Step: Gathering the facts
- The simplest way of clarifying an ethical dilemma is to
make sure the facts are clear.
- The questions are: (Do you have all the facts that are
necessary to make good decision?) (What do we know?)
(What do we need to know?) In this light it might become
clear that the dilemma is not ethical but about
communication or strategy.
 Second Step: Determining the ethical issues
- Ethical interest is stated in terms of legitimate competing
interests or goods. The competing interests are what
creates the dilemma. Moral values and virtues must
support the competing interests in order for an ethical
dilemma to exist. If you cannot identify the underlying
values/virtues then you do not have an ethical dilemma.
Often people hold these positions strongly and with
passion because of the value/virtue beneath them.
 Third Step: Determine what values/principles have a
bearing on the case
- In an ethical dilemma certain values and principles are
central to the competing positions. Identify these.
Determine if some should be given more weight than
others. Ask what the source for the principle is –
constitution, culture, natural aw, religious tradition… These
supplement biblical principles.
 Fourth Step: List all possible alternatives
- Creatively determine possible courses of action for your
dilemma. Some will almost immediately be discarded but
generally potential for coming up with a really good one. It
will also help you come up with a broader selection of
ideas.
 Fifth Step: Compare the alternatives with the
virtues/principles
- This step eliminates alternatives as they are weighed by
the moral principles which have a bearing on the case.
Potentially the issue will be resolved here as all alternatives
except one are eliminated. Here you must satisfy all the
relevant virtues and values. So at least some of the
alternatives will be eliminated. Make sure you have a good
reason for each weighting.
 Sixth Step: Practical constraints that limit implementation
(Consider consequences)
- If principles have not yielded a clear decision consider the
consequences of your alternatives. Take the alternatives
and work out positive and negative consequences of each.
Estimate how beneficial each positive and negative
consequence is – some might have greater weight than the
others.
 Seven Step: Make decision
- Ethical decisions rarely have pain-free solutions – it might
be you have to choose the solution with the least number
of problems/painful consequences. Even when making a
“good” decision you might still lose sleep over it.
Reason is the faculty or process off drawing logical syllogism.
Reason is associated with knowledge. Reason used in other
context as a disagreement to sensation, perception, feeling,
and desire.
 According to Immanuel Kant, reason is the power of
producing into oneness, by means of understandable
theories, the concepts that are provided by the intellect or
the mind.
 Kant believes that, “Human reason is by its nature
architectonic.” That is, reason thinks of all cognitions as
belonging to a unified and organized system. Reason is our
faculty of making inferences and of identifying the grounds
behind every truth. I infer that “Caius is mortal” from the
fact that “Caius is a man” and the universal claim, “All men
are mortal.”
 Freedom plays a central role in Kant’s ethics because the
possibility of moral judgments presupposes it. Freedom is
an idea of reason that serves an indispensable practical
function. Without the assumption of freedom, reason
cannot act.
 Humans are between the two worlds. We are both sensible
and intellectual. Since we find ourselves in the situation of
possessing reason, being able to act according to our own
conception of rules, there is a special burden on us. Other
creatures are acted upon by the world. But having the
ability to choose the principle to guide our actions makes
us actors. We must exercise our will and our reason to act.
Will is the capacity to act according to the principles
provided by reason. Reason assumes freedom and
conceives of principles of action in order to function.
 The will, Kant says, is the faculty of acting according to a
conception of law. When we act, whether or not we
achieve what we intend with our actions is often beyond
our control, so the morality of our actions does not depend
upon their outcome. What we can control, however, is the
will behind the action. That is, we can will to act according
to one law rather than another. The morality of an action,
therefore, must be assessed in terms of the motivation
behind it.
 Nietzsche defines will similarly to the "any internally
motivated action" usage, but more narrowly. In this sense,
will is more a "creative spark," a certain independence and
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 stubbornness. A person who choose not to steal because
the Ten Commandments said so would not be exercising
their will; neither would someone buying some music
because their friends recommended it. Someone who
independently forms their own moral system or who
composes a musical composition pleasing to themselves,
however, would be exercising will.
Moral Theories
Moral - relating or concerned with the principles of right and
wrong.
Theory – set of accepted beliefs or organized principles that
explain and guide analysis.
Moral Theory identifies the essence of rightness. A moral
theory provides us with very general norms, or standards,
which can help us sense of our moral experiences, judgments,
and principles.
Theories of Obligation
These are moral theories concerned with the rightness or
wrongness of actions. There are consequentialist, non-
consequentialist, and alternative moral theories.
Virtue Theory. For Aristotle you’re good if you have virtues and
lack vices. This theory concentrates on how you become a
better person. Virtue theory says that the right thing to do in a
given situation is what a good or virtuous person would do.
Divine Command Theory. It asserts that the morally right
action is the one that God commands. Roughly, Divine
Command Theory is the view that morality is somehow
dependent upon God, and that moral obligation consists in
obedience to God’s commands. The specific content of these
divine commands varies according to the particular religion and
the particular views of the individual divine command theorist,
but all versions of the theory hold in common the claim that
morality and moral obligations ultimately depend on God.
Divine Command Theory has been and continues to be highly
controversial. It has been criticized by numerous philosophers,
including Plato, Kai Nielsen, and J. L. Mackie. The theory also
has many defenders, both classic and contemporary, such as
Thomas Aquinas, Robert Adams, and Philip Quinn.
Augustine (see Kent, 2001) develops a view along these lines.
Augustine begins with the notion that ethics is the pursuit of
the supreme good, which provides the happiness that all
humans seek. He then claims that the way to obtain this
happiness is to love the right objects, that is, those that are
worthy of our love, in the right way. In order to do this, we
must love God, and then we will be able to love our friends,
physical objects, and everything else in the right way and in the
right amount.
Natural Law Theory. Natural law is a theory in ethics and
philosophy that says that human beings possess intrinsic values
that govern our reasoning and behavior. Natural law maintains
that these rules of right and wrong are inherent in people and
are not created by society or court judges.
 Before the time of Jesus, the Greeks developed concepts
about how the world worked and human beings behaved.
Aristotle, who died in 322 B.C., was an Athenian
philosopher who wrote about science, ethics, politics, and
almost every other realm of knowledge.
 In one of Aristotle’s works called The Politics, he reasoned,
"man is by nature a political animal." By this, he meant that
people were naturally destined to live in groups, which
required some sort of ruler or government. According to
Aristotle, only by living in a community "to secure the good
life" could human beings achieve such virtues as courage,
honesty, and justice.
 Aquinas wrote most extensively about natural law. He
stated, "the light of reason is placed by nature [and thus by
God] in every man to guide him in his acts." Therefore,
human beings, alone among God’s creatures, use reason to
lead their lives. This is natural law.
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Kantian’s Theory. The wrongness of using human beings as
mere instruments for other purposes is one of the important
moral requirements that follow from the moral theory of the
philosopher Immanuel Kant (1724–1804). Instead of stressing
the importance of the consequences of actions, Kant says that
it is the “maxim” guiding an action that is important for
determining its rightness.
 A “maxim” is a description of the reason why someone is
doing something (i.e., what they are trying to achieve) and
what they are doing to bring that about. The most
straightforward way to think about this is to think of a
maxim as specifying the “means” and “ends” of a particular
action.
Ethical Egoism Theory. In philosophy, egoism is the theory that
one’s self is, or should be, the motivation and the goal of one’s
own action. Egoism has two variants, descriptive or normative.
The descriptive (or positive) variant conceives egoism as a
factual description of human affairs. That is, people are
motivated by their own interests and desires, and they cannot
be described otherwise. The normative variant proposes that
people should be so motivated, regardless of what presently
motivates their behavior.
 Altruism is the opposite of egoism. The term “egoism”
derives from “ego,” the Latin term for “I” in English. In its
strong form, psychological egoism asserts that people
always act in their own interests, even though they may
disguise their motivation with references to helping others
or doing their duty.
Utilitarianism. It asserts that the morally right action is the one
that produces the most favorable balance of good over evil,
everyone considered. Principle of utility: We should act always
so as to produce the greatest good for the greatest number. It
treats intentions as irrelevant.
Utilitarians think that the point of morality is to maximize the
amount of happiness that we produce from every action. The
crucial aspect that distinguishes utilitarianism from other moral
theories is the claim that maximizing human welfare is the only
thing that determines the rightness of actions.
Types of Utilitarianism
 Act-utilitarianism – right actions are those that directly
produce the greatest overall good, everyone considered.
 Rule-utilitarianism - the morally right action is the one
covered by a rule that if generally followed would produce
the most favorable balance of good over evil, everyone
considered.
Mental Frames
A frame of reference, or point of view, refers to the way we
look at a given situation. How a person views that situation can
affect her understanding of the facts and influence how she
determines right from wrong. Some frames minimize or even
omit the ethical aspects of a decision. For example, studies
show that if people are prompted to frame a situation only in
terms of money or economic interests, they often leave out
ethical considerations.
Why mental frames important to moral experience?
 The concept of a mental frame has become more widely
known in recent years — that human thought is structured
within the body as emergent patterns with implicit logics,
structured roles and relationships, and emotional
sensibilities. "Mental Framing is how you see a situation
that occurs when you position yourself or your thought in
such positive ways as to convince yourself when it comes
into difficult or a hard situation.
Mahatma Gandhi once observed, “Your beliefs become your
thoughts, your thoughts become your words, your words
become your actions, your actions become your habits, your
habits become your values, your values become your destiny.”
Within research, a “mindset” is defined as “a mental frame or
lens that selectively organizes and encodes information,
thereby orienting an individual toward a unique way of
understanding an experience and guiding one toward
corresponding actions and responses”. Your mindsets
(thoughts, beliefs, and expectations) are the lenses through
which you perceive the world. And these lenses affect how you
live and the choices you make every day.
The mindsets people adopt have everything to do with their
judgment of anything. When you are constantly hearing and
repeating stories about “the way things are”, the narrative gets
daily reinforcement. In short, mindsets are what you value and
the corresponding choices you make.
Gary Klein, Ph.D., a Senior Scientist at MacroCognition LLC
explains: Mindsets aren’t just any beliefs. They are beliefs that
orient our reactions and tendencies. They serve a number of
cognitive functions. They let us frame situations: they direct our
attention to the most important cues, so that we’re not
overwhelmed with information. They suggest sensible goals so
that we know what we should be trying to achieve. They prime
us with reasonable courses of action so that we don’t have to
puzzle out what to do. When our mindsets become habitual,
they define who we are, and who we can become.
William James says, “Believe that life is worth living and your
belief will help create the fact.” Your state of mind influences
your body, and you cannot easily separate the interdependence
of mind and body.
Carol S. Dweck, author of “Mindset: The New Psychology Of
Success” writes “For twenty years, my research has shown that
the view you adopt for yourself profoundly affects the way you
lead your life.” Think about it: when you get up in the morning
and you’re in a bad mood, or worried about something going
on in your life, or feeling overwhelmed by work, that translates
to your behavior and overall performance. When you approach
the day with positivity and purpose, everything changes. Your
lenses or perceptions determine your response in any given
situation.
Ralph Waldo Emerson says “What lies behind us, and what lies
before us are tiny matters, compared to what lies within us.”
When your emotions and thoughts are habitual, a neural
network is formed that regulates your mindset. It literally keeps
you in place. The habit becomes effortless over time. This
explains how you can master a habit such as reading, writing,
eating healthy, meditation or exercising. Your neural network
has the habit in place after much practice and repetition. The
more the same action is performed, the stronger your mindset
becomes about that action.
 Therefore, when you feel as if you are resistant to change,
it is not that you are a weak individual, the strength of your
neural network just makes you feel as if you cannot
change. However, you can change.
 Mindsets affect your life expectancy. People with negative
mindsets are less likely to proactively engage in healthy
behaviors such as eating healthy, exercising, or living in the
moment.
 The mindsets you have developed over time have serious
implications on how you live your life. If you are constantly
7
 thinking about everything wrong with your life, you are
more likely to be stressed than people who choose to focus
on the bright side of life.
 One mindset can flood your system with stress hormones
and make you anxious all the time. Another can make you
feel confident, happy and cheerful.
The Important Moral Challenges of Globalization & Millennials
and Filinnials: Ethical Challenges and Response
Globalization means the speedup of movements and
exchanges (of human beings, goods, and services, capital,
technologies or cultural practices) all over the planet. One of
the effects of globalization is that it promotes and increases
interactions between different regions and populations around
the globe.
The problem is that today's globalization is driven by multi-
national corporations, who don't think and act in terms of
human consequences, but are solely concerned with their own
interests and bottom lines. This globalization has bullied and
seeped its way into every nook of humanity, with results that
are indeed sobering, if not downright scary.
Some of the results include loss of democracy, human rights
violations, rapid environmental degradation, expanding poverty
and inequality, and increased starvation. We should not fear
globalization as such, but we should be afraid of globalization
as it is being played out according to the imperialistic goals of a
few rich people.
Examples of Globalization (Concept Map)
Because of trade developments and financial exchanges, we
often think of globalization as an economic and financial
phenomenon. Nonetheless, it includes a much wider field than
just flowing of goods, services or capital. Often referred to as
the globalization concept map, some examples of globalization
are:
1. Economic globalization: is the development of trade
systems within transnational actors such as corporations or
NGOs
2. Financial globalization: can be linked with the rise of a
global financial system with international financial
exchanges and monetary exchanges. Stock markets, for
instance, are a great example of the financially connected
global world since when one stock market has a decline, it
affects other markets negatively as well as the economy as
a whole.
3. Cultural globalization: refers to the interpenetration of
cultures which, as a consequence, means nations adopt
principles, beliefs, and costumes of other nations, losing
their unique culture to a unique, globalized supra-culture;
4. Political globalization: the development and growing
influence of international organizations such as the UN or
WHO means governmental action takes place at an
international level.
5. Technological globalization: the phenomenon by which
millions of people are interconnected thanks to the power
of the digital world via platforms such as Facebook,
Instagram, Skype or YouTube.
6. Geographic globalization: is the new organization and
hierarchy of different regions of the world that is
constantly changing. Moreover, with transportation and
flying made so easy and affordable, apart from a few
countries with demanding visas, it is possible to travel the
world without barely any restrictions;
7. Ecological globalization: accounts for the idea of
considering planet Earth as a single global entity – a
common good all societies should protect since the
weather affects everyone and we are all protected by the
same atmosphere. To this regard, it is often said that the
poorest countries that have been polluting the least will
suffer the most from climate change.
Globalization brings four types of change:
1. A stretching of social, political and economic activities
across frontiers, regions and continents.
2. Intensification of interconnectedness and flows of trade,
investment, finance, migration, culture, etc.
3. A speeding up of global interactions and processes, the
diffusion of ideas, goods, information, capital and people.
4. Deepening impact such that the effects of distant events
can be highly significant elsewhere and specific local
developments can come to have considerable global
consequences.
The Moral Challenges of Globalization
The moral challenge of globalization demands a fundamental
change in values, focusing on human security, democracy, and
economic justice. By thinking globally and acting collectively,
each of us must contribute to building a more compassionate,
humane, and peaceful world.
The real crisis. We know that in times of crisis many falters;
they think only in terms of the individual and fail to accept their
human obligations. But this cowardice is a choice. It is our
choice, and we have another option. Instead of permitting the
dominant values of selfishness, military build-up, and a love of
money to prevail, we can choose to reclaim our most noble
aspirations.
This means affirming some of the ethical maxims that guide
virtuous communities, but that have been too quickly
overlooked in recent times: that all people have a right to work
for a living wage. That all have a responsibility to think
sustainably and to live in harmony with the natural
environment. And that all people should have equal
opportunity to access educational, cultural, and financial
resources.
Human security. The first step toward global thinking requires
that we adopt a definition of peace that goes beyond the short-
sighted demands of national security. To this end, the United
Nations Human Development Program stresses the need for us
instead to think of peace in terms of human security. This
distinction bears frequent repetition. Human security is not just
a concern with weapons, it is a concern with human life and
dignity. The martyred Salvadoran Archbishop, Oscar Romero,
eloquently expressed this idea. He told his people that “the
only peace that God wants is a peace based in justice.”
8

Democratic values. Democracy is a radical philosophy of civic
participation. It is the faith that through public dialogue and
inclusive deliberation, ordinary individuals can build ever better
systems for living together. Democracy rests on the need for all
citizens, not only the most powerful, to be able to influence
meaningfully the political and economic institutions that affect
their lives.
Economic justice. Indeed, this leads us to a third crucial
component of global thinking, and that is reformulating our
views of economic justice. We must remember that true
democracy is not merely the distribution of political power, but
also the distribution of economic power. Sadly, in this age of
huge corporate mergers this fact is too often overlooked. It is
overlooked by many policy makers and business people who
quietly solidify a global economic order based on cynicism and
individual profit. But for many poor and working people
throughout the world, it is an obvious fact.
Other challenges are:
 SHIFTING RISK PROFILE
 CULTURAL DIFFERENCES
 JOB INSECURITY & LACK OF SKILL
 SHORTAGE OF RESOURCES
 HUMAN RIGHTS
 CORRUPTION
The term Millennial generally refers to the generation of
people born between the early 1980s and 1990s, according to
the Merriam-Webster Dictionary. Some people also include
children born in the early 2000s.
Millennials’ Characteristics
was based on an analysis of two large databases of 9
million high school seniors or entering college students.
Generation Z (Gen Z). Are the demographic cohort succeeding
Millennials and preceding Generation Alpha? Researchers and
popular media use the mid-to-late 1990s as starting birth years
and the early 2010s as ending birth years. Most members of
Generation Z are the children of Generation X and sometimes
millennials.
Generation Z Characteristics:
 Generation Z is financially focused.
 Generation Z is entrepreneurial.
 Generation Z is all about technology.
 Generation Z enjoys other people.
 Generation Z is competitive.
 Change is welcomed by Generation Z.
 Diversity doesn't even register with Generation Z.
 Generation Z prefers independence.
 Generation Z can be a lot like their parents
 Generation Z wants to be heard
FILINNIALS - term used to denote the Filipino Millennials.
 The Philippine Association of National Advertisers (PANA)
defines millenials as “born at the dawn of a new age,
between 1980 and 2000.” If you are between the ages of
20 and 35, you are a millennial.
 In the Philippines, there are an estimated 26 million
‘Filinnials’, or Filipino millennials. They roughly make up
25% of the population. They are called as the “selfie
generation”, being generally characterized as social media
dependent. They are massive multi-taskers, and are
constantly connected to their handheld devices.

 Millennials have been characterized in a number of Traits of a typical Filinnial:

different ways. On the negative side, they've been
1. They value authenticity.
described as lazy, narcissistic and prone to jump from job
2. They want to be rewarded for their loyalty.
to job. The 2008 book "Trophy Kids" by Ron Alsop
3. They favor word-of-mouth recommendation.
discusses how many young people have been rewarded for
4. They are tech-savvy.
minimal accomplishments (such as mere participation) in
5. They will pay for experience.
competitive sports, and have unrealistic expectations of
 Millennials want to experience life the best way possible
working life.
with their friends and they are willing to pay for it. They
 A story in Time magazine said polls show that Millennials
like travelling and even view it as a necessity rather than a
"want flexible work schedules, more 'me time' on the job,
luxury[vii]. They would rather attend the actual concert
and nearly nonstop feedback and career advice from
than to buy the band’s merchandise. They always crave
managers." Another Time story in May 2013, titled "The
new adventures and discoveries and want to put thrill in
Me Me Me Generation," begins: "They're narcissistic.
the mundanity of every day.
They're lazy. They're coddled. They're even a bit delusional.
6. They are socially conscious.
Those aren't just unfounded negative stereotypes about 80
7. They love good content.
million Americans born roughly between 1980 and 2000.
8. They have a selective attention span.
They're backed up by a decade of sociological research."
9. They go at their own pace.
The article also points out that Millennials may be simply
 Millennials live by their own terms. They solve problems
adapting quickly to a world undergoing rapid technological
and make decisions through processes they made for
change.
themselves, and don’t like anything that hinders their
 A 2012 study found Millennials to be "more civically and
creativity.
politically disengaged, more focused on materialistic
values, and less concerned about helping the larger
community than were GenX (born 1962-1981) and Baby
Boomers (born 1946 to about 1961) at the same ages,"
according to USA Today. "The trend is more of an
emphasis on extrinsic values such as money, fame, and
image, and less emphasis on intrinsic values such as self-
acceptance, group affiliation and community." The study