BACHELOR OF SCIENCE IN ENGINEERING

GEC 8: ETHICS
COURSE MODULE COURSE UNIT WEEK
GEC 8 3 5-6
Freedom as the Foundation of Moral Acts
Culture and How it Defines Our Moral Behavior

CHECKLIST
 Read course and unit objectives
 Read study guide prior to class attendance
 Read required learning resources; refer to unit
terminologies for jargons
 Proactively participate in classroom discussions
 Participate in weekly discussion board (Canvas)
 Answer and submit course unit tasks

UNIT EXPECTED OUTCOMES (UEOs)

At the end of this unit, the students are expected to:

Cognitive:
1. Understand Immanuel Kant’s Freedom as the Foundation of Moral Acts
2. Describe culture and how it defines Filipino moral behavior.
3. Explain the influence of Filipino culture on the way students look at moral experiences and
solve moral dilemmas
Affective:
1. Actively listens during class discussions
2. Shows sensitivity and respect to other people’s opinion and point of view.
3. Make sound ethical judgment based on principles and facts.
Psychomotor:
1. Actively participate during class discussion and develop sensitivity to common good.
2. Express principles and viewpoint in a respectful manner by respecting moral acts in a
culturally justified manner.

REQUIRED READINGS
Buenaflor, L.E., Masarap, A.T., Boleche Jr., C.O., Bustamante, J.M. (2018). Unraveling the
Absolute Moral Principle: Ethics for Filipino Students. Mandaluyong City: Books Atbp. Publishing
Corp.

Leaño Jr., R.D. (2018). Ethics for College Students: CHED Curriculum Compliant. Manila City:
Mindshapers Co., Inc.

Rachels, J. (2004). The Elements of Moral Philosophy. 4th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill College.

STUDY GUIDE
Immanuel Kant’s moral philosophy justifies extremely strong individual rights against coercion.
The only justification for coercion in his philosophy seems to be the defense of self or others. His
ideal government, therefore, seems to be extremely limited and to allow for the free play of citizens’
imaginations, enterprise, and experiments in living.

Kant does take some strange positions on particular moral positions. He has an odd view of
marriage as a kind of mutual servitude, he denies that there is a right to resist an unjust sovereign,
and he thinks lying is always wrong, no matter what. Kant is most persuasive at his most abstract
when he deals with fundamental philosophical issues.

Cultural relativism is the ability to understand a culture on its own terms and not to make
judgments using the standards of one’s own culture. The goal of this is promote understanding of
cultural practices that are not typically part of one’s own culture. Using the perspective of cultural
relativism leads to the view that no one culture is superior than another culture when compared to
systems of morality, law, politics, etc. It is a concept that cultural norms and values derive their
meaning within a specific social context. This is also based on the idea that there is no absolute
standard of good or evil, therefore every decision and judgment of what is right and wrong is
individually decided in each society. The concept of cultural relativism also means that any opinion
on ethics is subject to the perspective of each person within their particular culture. Overall, there is
no right or wrong ethical system. In a holistic understanding of the term cultural relativism, it tries to
promote the understanding of cultural practices that are unfamiliar to other cultures such as eating
insects, genocides or genital cutting.

TERMINOLOGIES
Cultural relativism is the idea that a person's beliefs, values, and practices should be understood based on
that person's own culture, rather than be judged against the criteria of another

Culture is an umbrella term which encompasses the social behavior and norms found in human societies,
as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, customs, capabilities, and habits of the individuals in these
groups.

Ethnocentrism in social science and anthropology as well as in colloquial English discourse—means to

apply our own culture as a frame of reference in order to judge other cultures, practices, behaviors, beliefs,
and people, instead of using the standards of the particular culture involved.

FURTHER READINGS
Gonzales, E.G. (2004), Technology Integration in Courses, Philippine eLearning Society, retrieved
December 1, 2019 at PeLS webpage, website:
http://www.elearning.ph/conference2/abstracts10.html

UNIT TASK
* Is it wrong to judge other culture? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=518FR6SbY_k
* Ethics Defined: Moral relativism https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5RU7M6JSVtk
* Animated Review on Ethnocentrism https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wlyS4zrklww

Present a real life example of “ethnocentrism”, the Filipino way in a 5-slide presentation format.

REFERENCES
Buenaflor, L.E., Masarap, A.T., Boleche Jr., C.O., Bustamante, J.M. (2018). Unraveling the
Absolute Moral Principle: Ethics for Filipino Students. Mandaluyong City: Books Atbp. Publishing
Corp.

Leaño Jr., R.D. (2018). Ethics for College Students: CHED Curriculum Compliant. Manila City:
Mindshapers Co., Inc.

Rachels, J. (2004). The Elements of Moral Philosophy. 4th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill College.
Immanuel Kant and the Philosophy of Freedom. 2017. Retrieved from
https://fee.org/articles/immanuel-kant-and-the-philosophy-of-freedom/

Cultural Relativism. Retrieved from

https://courses.lumenlearning.com/culturalanthropology/chapter/cultural-relativism/