The Moral Agent (in culture)

Cultural Relativism: Its advantages and issues

How do you describe your Filipino-
American pinsan?
Man, Culture, and the idea of Cultural Moral Behavior
• Culture
• denotes the practices, beliefs, and perceptions of a given society. It is the
sum total of learned behavior of a group of people that are generally
considered to be the tradition of that people and transmitted through
generations to generations
• Enculturation: Process of learning cultural practices over time
• Florentino Hornedo’s Particularization of Thoughts
• Every culture has its unique way of thinking
• To ask questions relevant to their standing
• Asking questions lead towards Philosophizing
• Cultural Moral Behavior
• is what a cultural setting decides or standardizes as something that is right or
wrong. It is through being immersed or being part of a culture, that one can
learn their cultural standards.
• The Social Conditioning Theory
• Moral Standards are agreed upon by society. And learned upon while being
with society.
• The idea of PROGRESS
• Moral Standards can be developed or change for the Better. (ideally
and as it should be)
• Despite social conditioning of moral standards, Moral obligations goes beyond,
and everyone has the capability to act morally.
 Situation:
• A Christian missionary went to the
Eskimos for his vocational work
• As a traveler, he is welcomed by a
native of the village where he
intends to preach
• PER CUSTOM: the host/master of
the house must give his wife to the
guest as a sign of hospitality

• Question: Should he abide by the

cultural practice?
Cultural Relativism: Advantages and Issues
• Moral Relativism declares that no moral standards are absolutely right or wrong. There is no right or
wrong in given situations. YET Culture sets moral standards.
• Cultural Relativism however declares that there is no absolute moral standard, and it all depends on
cultural setting.
• ERGO: Cultural Relativism presupposes that the concept of right and wrong depends on the Cultural
setting.

• Benefits with Cultural Relativism:

• It teaches the idea of respect with other cultures.
• The Idea of open-mindedness so as to understand each other’s culture.
• Promotion of Tolerance.
• ISSUE with Cultural Relativism: If one is being too open-minded, the brain may fall out.
• If one is tolerable to everything, then every moral standard based on culture is morally acceptable.
• Everything can either be right or wrong because of Cultural Relativism
• Idea of Universal Values
• Values that can be found in every culture.
• Love for life
• Truth telling
Is it ethical to tell these people to stop or to report them to authorities?
Moral Development
• Idea of Character:
• Comes from the Greek word “charakter” of which is a mark impress upon
coins.
• What differentiates one from another
• Personality can be another word for Character when in terms for man
• Moral Character
• To have or lack of virtue
• Acts and Moral Character
• There is a circular relationship between our actions and our character in the
development of moral character.
• One needs Actions that will manifest our Human Flourishing.
• Actions determine whether our actions manifest moral or immoral.
• Virtues are actions of morals, therefore to act virtuously is to have a moral
character
• Moral Disposition – On becoming Virtuous
• If one is practices becoming a virtuous person, he will have a virtuous
disposition. An attitude.
Laurence Kohlberg: Moral Development
• Moral consciousness is developed as a person grows older.
• It tries to analyze a child’s capacity of moral reasoning
• Preconventional Morality
• A child’s concept of right actions or wrong actions are determined on the
corresponding rewards and punishments.
• Right actions = Rewards, Wrong actions = Punishments
• Conventional Morality
• Morality is based on the expectations of others and the effect of one’s action on his
image in the community, or one’s group. An action is good if it conforms to the
expectations of others.
• The following stage is based on the notion of one’s duty.
• Post-Conventional Morality
• The highest level of moral reasoning where the individual bases the morality of his
actions on their consequences or on what other would say or how his actions will
affect his reputation.
• The following stage is based on the universal ethical principles such as justice,
charity, equality of which he believes everyone possess.
 PRECONVENTIONAL MORALITY

This is the stage that all young children start at (and

Obedience or Punishment
Stage a few adults remain in). Rules are seen as being fixed
Orientation
1 and absolute. Obeying the rules is important because
it means avoiding punishment.
As children grow older, they begin to see that other
people have their own goals and preferences and that
often there is room for negotiation. Decisions are
Stage Self-Interest Orientation
made based on the principle of "What's in it for me?"
2
For example, an older child might reason: "If I do
what mom or dad wants me to do, they will reward
me. Therefore I will do it."
 CONVENTIONAL MORALITY
By adolescence, most individuals have developed to
Social Conformity this stage. There is a sense of what "good boys" and
Stage
Orientation "nice girls" do and the emphasis is on living up to
3
social expectations and norms because of how they
impact day-to-day relationships.
By the time individuals reach adulthood, they
Law and Order usually consider society as a whole when making
Stage
Orientation judgments. The focus is on maintaining law and
4
order by following the rules, doing one's duty and
respecting authority.
 POST-CONVENTIONAL MORALITY
At this stage, people understand that there are differing
opinions out there on what is right and wrong and that laws
are really just a social contract based on majority decision
Stage Social Contract Orientation and inevitable compromise. People at this stage sometimes
5 disobey rules if they find them to be inconsistent with their
personal values and will also argue for certain laws to be
changed if they are no longer "working". Our modern
democracies are based on the reasoning of Stage 5.
Few people operate at this stage all the time. It is based on
Universal Ethics abstract reasoning and the ability to put oneself in other
Stage
Orientation people's shoes. At this stage, people have a principled
6
conscience and will follow universal ethical principles
regardless of what the official laws and rules are.