CULTURAL RELATIVISM IN ETHICS

Cultural relativism

 The most famous form of moral relativism, a theory in ethics which holds that ethical judgements have their
origins either in individual or cultural standards.

Moral relativism

 Believes that no act is good or bad objectively, and there is no single objective universal standard through which
we can evaluate the truth of moral judgements.
 Submits that different moral principle applies to different persons or a group of individuals.

Moral relativist

 View all moral norms as equally true and morals as mere preferences.

 When the recognized standard is a particular agent, the relativist theory is very much compatible with moral
subjectivism. If the considered basis is a given society, the relativist ideology is typically refer to a cultural
relativism.

Cultural relativism

 The most dominant form of moral relativism, defines moral as what is socially approved by the majority in a
particular culture.
 It maintains that an act is ethical in a culture that approves of it but immoral and one that disapproves of it.
 Most cultural relativist place the notion of right in the folkways and consider that tradition as morality warrant.

Cultural relativists

 Base their moral theory on the observation that societies fundamentally disagree about ethical issues.
 What is deemed moral within one group may be totally despicable to the members of another group, and vise
versa.

Morality

 differs in every society as concept of right and wrong vary from culture to culture.

There is no “universal truth” in Ethics

 there are no moral truths that hold for all peoples at all times.
 There is no unconventional yardstick in ethics because every standard is culture bound.

Morality as a product of culture

 There are no objective values and ethics is merely a matter of societal convention.
 Advocates see themselves as open minded as they consider other cultures not as wrong but simply as different.
For them, the moral code of our own society has no special status it is merely one among many.

 Fix marriage, male circumcision annexation, threrachlativism would say that it is mere arrogance for us to try to
judge the conduct of the peoples practicing them. Relativist thus suggest that we should adopt instead an
attitude of tolerance toward any of the practices of other cultures.

CULTURAL RELATIVISM: ANALYSIS

Valuable lessons from ethical relativism

 In proposing that there are no independent standards in ethics, moral relativism does encourage tolerance.
Without a doubt, tolerance is necessary for people of different cultural origins to co-exist and live peacefully
in a society.
 All our practices are mere cultural products.
 Ethicalativism positively warns against being judgmental as it reminds us that some of our beliefs and
practices are mere conventional, and thus not absolutely and exclusively correct.
The theories ethical faults

 spite of its apparently convincing Features, cultural relativism contains various ethical faults.
 Cultural relativism discourages analytical thinking an independent decision-making in ethics as it requires
unexpecting compliance and subscription to social norms.
 Cultural relativism is inconsistent in promoting tolerance while teaching that no culture is morally superior are
more progressive than others.
 Any ethical theory which explicitly proposes that morality is relative is basically unsound and untenable.

Against cultural differences argument, this counter argument could be submitted:

 People in some societies believe that the earth is flat, where is Europeans hold that the earth is spherical.
 Therefore, there is no objective truth in geography belief in the shape of the earth is only a matter of opinion
and opinions vary from culture to culture.

The disagreements among culture

 cultural relativism capitalizes on the observation that cultures differ dramatically in their views of right and
wrong.

James Rachels

 careful analysis and appraisal of cultural relativism in his modern classic entitled The Elements of Moral
Philosophy.
 One of Professor Rachels' key points is that cultural relativism is based on a faulty argument which he calls the
cultural differences argument.
 Takes the case of a culture in which people believe it is wrong to eat cows.
 Society would appear to have values very different from the majority of the people in the world.
 The difference lies in belief systems not in values.

THE CASE OF ESKIMOS AND CALLATIANS

 The ESKIMOS are popular for killing perfectly normal infants, especially girls. This makes them appear to
possess significantly different values from ours. “Life is hard, and the margin of safety small”.
 ESKIMO mothers nurse their infants over a long period of time, breast feeding them for four years or longer.
 A mother can carry only one baby in her parka as she travels and goes about her outdoor work.

Infant girls are more readily disposed of because of the following reasons given by RACHELS:

1. The male are the primary food providers, they are the hunters, and it is obviously important to maintain a
sufficient number of food providers.
2. The hunters suffer a high casualty rate. the adult man who died prematurely far outnumber the woman who
died early.

In Eskimos very special case, infanticide is thus a recognition that drastic measures are sometimes needed to ensure
the family's survival.

Essentially the same can be said of the funerary practice of Callatians

 Eating our fathers in is an appealing idea to many of us. But as Rachels explains, performing such practice could
be understood as a sign of respect.
 It could be taken as a symbolic act that says we wish this person's spirit to dwell within us.
 as respecting the dead is generally shimmered mini cultures, what callatians therefore do to their dead loved
ones does not necessarily indicate a difference in values.

THE BAD CONSQUENCES OF CULTURAL RELATIVISM

1. We could no longer say that the customs of other societies are morally inferior to our own.
2. We could decide whether actions are right or wrong just by consulting the standards of our society.
 In 1975, Rachels exemplifies, a resident of South Africa was wondering whether his country's policy of
apartheid- a rigidly racist system- what is morally correct.
 Rachels describes this implication of cultural relativism as disturbing because few of us think that our
societies code is perfect. We can think of ways it might be improved. Yet cultural relativism would stop
us from criticizing our own.
 3. The idea of moral progress is called into doubt
 Rachels mentions of the place of women in society throughout most of history which was narrowly
circumscribed - they could not own property they could not vote or hold political office, and generally
they were under the almost absolute control of their husbands.

ASIAN MORAL UNDERSTANDING

Because culture has a major impact on morality, people from different cultures appear to have seemingly, but not
essentially, different sets of ethics. this is particularly apparent in ethics of groups of people from the eastern or Asian
culture as compared to those from the western culture.

 Western ethics is very much about the protocol and showing of respect while Asian ethics is said to be
much more about doing what is right in terms of what is expected of someone by his family, society, and
culture.
 Western ethics is claimed to have more of a stress on self and what is rationally or logically true.
 Western ethics is seen to place more emphasis on law and justice while Eastern ethics seems to hold
that one must do what is right and expected of him and the universe will take care of the rest.

FILIPINO VAUES

1. Pakikisama
 Can work either positively or destructively.
 To elude open this place of conflicts, clashes, end confrontations, Filipinos, because of pakikisama, may
submit to group opinion, overgenerous preys on one another, using metaphorical language rather than
kindie terms, concealing negative feelings or unhappy spirits underneath a pleasant demeanor, smiling
even when things go wrong, avoiding to say no, and refraining from venting anger or losing temper.
 Filipinos believe that attaining Sir is much important that we may give up clear but offending
communications.
2. Hiya
 Is described as a feeling of loneliness, shame or embarrassment, an inhibition or shyness which is
experienced as somewhat distressing.
 Is related to the concept of face and are concerned with how one appears in the eyes of others.
 Fear of losing face - Encompasses being afraid to do bad things as it may damage one's reputation in the
sight of other people.
 A person's capacity for proper behavior with authority figures is a reflection of his or her family
upbringing and this fear of losing face.
 Hiya may lead to having inferiority complex and losing self-confidence.
3. Amor propio
 Derived from the concept of face.
 Commonly translated as self-respect or self-esteem.
 Characterized as the high degree of sensitivity that makes a person intolerant to criticism and causes
him to have an easily wounded pride.
 Filipinos learn to withstand a loss office in some situations, particularly when they perceive themselves
to be at fault, but it is devastating to be publicly criticize, insulted, belittled, or humiliated, or to lose
oneself respect.
 From the person standing see to protect his or her dignity and honor.
4. Utang na loob
 Is likewise a fundamental aspect of upholding group harmony and relationships that demand the
balancing of obligations and debts.
 This involves the concept reciprocity or returning the received favor.
 To avoid being dubbed as walang utang na loob, some Filipino sometimes do things that may be bad just
to return the received favor.
5. Hospitality
 refers to the innate ability and trait of Filipinos to be courteous an entertaining to their guests.
 Filipinos are hospitable as they are internationally known to be warm, welcoming, an accommodating.
 this trait makes Filipinos prone to being abused or maltreated.
6. Respect to elders
 Filipinos are not only respectful to elders but also have unique ways of expressing disrespect to elders.
 These include the use of PO and opo when talking to elders and pagmamano are the putting of the
elders hand to one's forehead.
 It make one dependents or irrationally obedient parents or elders.
These Filipino social values are important to maintain harmony in Filipino relationships in social institutions such as
family, school, and community.

Pakikipagkapwa-tao

 This moves interpersonal relationships together with Filipino.

 has been deemed as a central core of essential cultural traits that form and define an almost stereotypical
Filipino character and moral behavior.

UNIVERSAL VALUES

The existence of the so-called universal values is a strong proof that cultural relativism is wrong.

1. truth telling
 is indispensable in the existence of a society, for without it there would be no reasons to pay attention
to what anyone communicate with anyone.
 Complex societies cannot exist without communication among their members, the very existence of
these societies proves that truthfulness is valued in those cultures.
2. Respecting life
 Necessitates the prohibition on murder.
 In a society where no one thought there was anything wrong with killing others, everyone would have to
be constantly on guard.
 Avoiding people would become a mechanism for survival and large-scale societies would therefore be
improbable.

Rachels

 There are some moral rules that all societies will have in common because those rules are necessary for society
to exist.
 Cultures may differ in what they regard as legitimate exceptions to the rules, but this disagreement exists
against about ground of agreement on the larger issues.
 It is a mistake to overestimate the amount of differences between cultures
 Not every moral rule can vary from society to society. This flies in the face of cultural relativism.
 Bad moral character is in effect a disposition to do various deeds.

SIX STAGES OF MORAL DEVELOPMENT

LAWRENCE KOHLBERG

 American psychologist
 is best known for his theory of stages of moral development.
 He agreed with a Swiss clinical psychologist Jean Piaget’s Beauty of moral development but wanted to develop
his ideas further.

Level 1 – pre-conventional morality

 Stage 1. Obedience and Punishment Orientation

 Stage 2. Individualism an Exchange

Level 2 - Conventional morality

 Stage 3. Good interpersonal relationships

 Stage 4. Maintaining the social order

Level 3 – Post-conventional morality

 Stage 5 - Social contract and Individual rights

 Stage 6 - Universal Principles

Level Age range Stage Nature of moral

level 1 - Seen in preschool
Preconventional children, most
morality elementary school
students, some junior
high school students,
and a few high school
students.
reasoning
Stage 1 – Punishment- People make decisions
avoidance and based on what is best
obedience for themselves,
without regard for
others needs or
feelings. They obey
rules only if established
by more powerful
 individuals, they may
disobey if they aren't
likely to get caught.
“Wrong” behaviors are
those that will be
punished.
Stage 2 - Exchange of People recognize that
favors others also have needs.
They may try to satisfy
others needs if their
own needs are also
met. “you scratch my
back, I'll scratch
yours”. they continue
to define right and
wrong primarily in
terms of consequences
to themselves.
level 2 - conventional seen in a few older Stage 3 - good boy or people make decisions
morality elementary school girl based on what actions
students, some junior will please others,
high school students, especially authority
and many high school figures and other
students close and individuals with high
(stage four typically status. They are
does not appear until concerned about
the high school years maintaining
close an ) relationships through
sharing, trust, and
loyalty, and they take
other people’s
perspective and
intentions into account
when making
decisions.
Stage 4 - law and order people look to society
as a whole for
guidelines about right
or wrong. They know
rules are necessary for
keeping society
running smoothly and
believe it is their duty
to obey them.
However, they receive
rules to be inflexible.
They don't necessarily
recognize that a
society's needs change,
rules should change as
well.
Level 3- rarely seen before stage 5 - social people recognize that
postconventional college (stage six is contract rules represent
morality extremely rare even in agreements among
adults) many individuals about
appropriate behavior
rules are seen as
potentially useful
mechanism that can
maintain the general
social order and
protect individual
rights, rather than as
absolute dictates that
must be obeyed simply
because they are “the
law”. people also
recognize the flexibility
of rules. Rules that no
 longer serve societies
best interests can and
should be changed.
Stage 6- universal it is a hypothetical idea
ethical principle stage that few people
ever reach. People in
this stage add her to
abuse abstract,
universal principles
that transcended
specific norms and
rules very good the
answer to a strong
inner conscience and
willingly disobey laws
that violate their own
ethical principles.

GETTING TO THE HIGHEST LEVEL, CONSCIENCE – BASED MORAL DECISIONS

Stage 1: respect for power and punishment

 A young child (age 1-5) chooses what to do- what is right- according to what he or she wants to do and
can do without getting into trouble.
 To be right, one ought to be obedient to the people in power and, thus, avoid punishment.
 “Might makes right”

Stage 2 -looking out for #1

 children (age 5-10) are disposed to be egotistic or self-serving.

 The lack respect for others right but may give to others on the assumption that they will get as much or even
more in return vineyard instead of loyalty, gratitude, or justice, the case is more a matter of “you scratch my
back and I'll scratch yours"
 “what's in it for me?”

Stage 3 - Being a good boy or nice girl

 in this stage, people (age 8 to 16) have shifted from pleasing themselves to pleasing important others, usually
parents, teachers, or friends.
 They seek approval and thus conform to someone else expectations.
 When charge of doing something wrong, their behavior is likely to be justified by stating “everyone else is doing
it " or” I didn't intend to hurt anyone"
 “I want to be nice”

Stage 4 - law and order thinking

 here, the majority of people ( 16 years old and older) have internalized societies rules about how to behave.
 they feel indebted to confirm, no longer to just family and friends, but also to society's laws and customs.
 They realize that it is important to do one's duty to maintain social order
 Social leaders are assumed to be right and social rules are adopted without considering the core moral
principles involved
 social control in this stage is exercised through guilt associated with breaking our rule.
 The guilt in this case is an automatic emotional response, not a rational reaction of conscience based on moral
principles.
 Anyone breaking the rules deserves to be punished and “be his or her debt to society"
 “I'll do my duty”

Stage 5 - Justice through democracy

 people understand the underlying moral purposes that are supposed to be served by laws and social customs.
 When a law in democracy ceases to serve a good purpose, Leaders feel that people ought to get active in change
the law.
 Democracy is seen as a social contract whereby everybody tries constantly to construct a set of laws that best
serves most people, while protecting the basic rights of everybody.
 respect for the law and a sense of obligation to live by the rules are present, as long as rules were established in
a fair manner and fulfill a moral purpose.
 Mid 20s
 “I’ll live by the rules or try to change them”
Stage 6 - deciding on basic moral principles by which you will live your life and relate to everyone fairly

 rare people have evaluated many values and have rationally chosen a philosophy of life that truly guides their
life.
 Morally developed, they do not automatically conform to tradition or others’ beliefs, and even to their own
emotions, intuition, or impulsive notions about right and wrong.
 Individuals judiciously elect fundamental principles to follow, such as caring for and respecting every living thing,
feeling that people are all equal and thus deserve equal opportunities, or subscribing to the golden rule.
 They are thought enough to act on their values even if others may think they are odd or if their beliefs are
against man's law, such as refusing to fight in a war.
 social control in this stage is exercised through guilt associated with the rational reaction of conscience based on
moral principles.
 conscience based moral decisions.

FEELINGS AND MORAL DECISION-MAKING

Two theories in ethics that give focus on the role of feelings on morality:

1. Ethical subjectivism
 this theory basically utterly runs contrary to the principle that there is objectivity and morality.
 it's not about what things are good and what things are bad
 it is a theory about the nature of moral judgment - truth bearers
 the truth or falsity of ethical propositions is dependent on the feelings, attitudes, or standards of a
person or group of persons.
 Moral judgement simply describes our personal feelings.
 it is a fact that some people are homosexual, and some are heterosexual.
 says that homosexuality is wrong, he is, according to the theory, not stating a fact about
homosexuality but merely saying something about his feelings toward it.
 subjectivists hold that there is no such thing as object right or real wrong.
 something is morally good; this just means that we approve of that thing.

2. Emotivism
 one way to look at emotivism is to view it as an improved version of subjectivism.
 is deem in vulnerable to many objections.
 develop chiefly by the American philosopher Charles L. Stevenson (1909-1979)
 has been one of the most influential theories of ethics in the 20th century.
 moral judgments express positive or negative feelings.
 “X is right” merely means “Hooray for X” – and “X is immoral” just means “Boo on X”
 most popular form of noncognitivism
 ethical sentences do not convey authentic propositions.
 moral judgment according to emotivism, are not statements of fact but are mere pressions of the
emotions of the speaker, especially since they are usually feelings based. Stop
 logical positivism - claims that any legitimate truth play mass be empirically verifiable. It is held that
since moral judgments cannot be tested by sense experience, they cannot be authentic truth it
claims but can only express feelings.
 language is used to state facts or what we believe to be facts.
 utterances in ethics are not fact stating sentences, that is, they are not used to convey information.

Emotivism claims that they have two entirely different purposes

1. they are used as a means of influencing others behavior

 “Stealing is immoral” “don't do that”
2. moral sentences are used to express the speaker's attitude
 “Fair play is good”

 Subjectivism interprets a sentence all 6S as statements of fact, particularly as reports of the speaker's
attitude.
 Emotivism denies utterance any fact at all. Utterance is viewed as equivalent to something search us “hazing-
yecch” and “do not participate in hazing”
Feelings as instinctive response to moral dilemmas

 ethics is also a matter of emotion.

FEELINGS

 are seen as also necessary in ethical judgment as they are even deemed by some as instinctive and trained
response to moral dilemmas.
 visceral or instinct wild by providing motivations to act morally.
 instinctive responses to moral dilemmas can serve as obstacles to making right decisions.

 reasons an emotion are not really opposites.

 Both abstract inference an emotional are intuitions or instincts are seen as having relative roles in ethical
thinking.

EMOTIONS

 can be a rational in being based at least sometimes on good judgments about how well a circumstance or agent
accomplishes appropriate objectives.

ETHICAL JUDGEMENTS

 are highly emotional as people emotionally expressed their strong approval or disapproval of different acts.

MORAL SENTIMENTS

 highlight the need for morality to be based also on sympathy for other people.

 Being good involves both thinking and feeling.

FEELINGS AS OBSTACLES TO MAKING THE RIGHT DECISIONS

 feelings and emotions can become obstacles or impediments to becoming ethical.

ANALYZING ETHICAL SUBJECTIVISM

Ethical subjectivism

 we are to identify our moral principles by simply following our feelings.

 it allows us to think for ourselves because it implies that we need not agree with culture or society.
 provides a weak foundation for dealing with topics like slavery, racism, and discrimination.
 has also implications that are contrary to what we believe about the nature of moral judgments.
 each of us is infallible so long as we are honestly expressing our respective feelings about moral issues.
 subjectivism entails that each should acknowledge the truth of what the other is saying

EVALUATING EMOTIVISM

 Logical positivism as this view has been abandoned and rejected by philosophers
 logical positivism is self refuting as the view is not itself verifiable by sense experience and thus would not be
a genuine truth claim on its own grounds where you at
 emotivism is prone to serious criticism
 emotivism provides morality with insufficient explanation.
 Emotivism suggest that in ethical disputes, we cannot appeal to reason but only two emotions.
 The jury could encourage propaganda wars in which all parties involved call mom not minding to resort to
reason, would simply try to manipulate the feelings or emotions of the opponents.
 emotivism is thus against our basic knowledge that is favorable if opposing groups would instead judiciously
deliberate about their ethical differences and resort to reasons to resolve them.
 emotivism fails to distinguish moral judgments from mere expressions of personal preference
 Emotivism fails to notice that humans have not only feelings but also reason, and reason plays a vital role in
ethics.
  Moral truths are truths of reason. Moral judgment is true if it is espoused by better reasons than the
alternative.

FEELINGS CAN HELP IN MAKING THE RIGHT DECISION

 Feelings and likings are relevant to the rightness of our decisions and actions.
 Ethics without feeling also appears to go against Christian philosophy's emphasis on love, for love is basically
a strong liking, desire, or emotion.
 Exclusive feelings and moral living seems to go against the biblical decree to worship and serve God with a
joyful heart or feeling.

REASON AND IMPARTIALITY AS MINIMUM REQUIREMENT FOR MORALITY

 Genuine moral or value judgments ought to be backed up by pertinent reasons.

 They must possess the quality of impartiality, which means, among other things that personal feelings or
inclinations should be suppressed if necessary.

1. Reason and impartiality defined

 humans have not only feelings but also reason, and reason plays a vital role in ethics.
 Reason is a necessary requirement for morality.

REASON

 is the basis or motive for an action, decision, or conviction.

 It refers the capacity for logical, rational, and analytic thought: For consciously making sense of things,
establishing and Verifying facts, applying common sense and logic, in justifying, and if necessary, changing
practices, Intuitions, and believes based on existing or new existing information.
 spell the difference of moral judgments from mere expressions of personal reference.
 Commands what it commands, regardless of our feelings, attitudes, opinions, and desires.

MORAL DELIBERATION

 Is a matter of weighing reasons an being guided by them.

 in understanding the nature of morality, considering reasons is indispensable. Truth in ethics entails being
justified by good reasons. That is, the rightful moral decision involves selecting the option that has the power of
reason on its side.

MORAL TRUTH

 Our objective in the sense that they are through no matter what we might want or think.

IMPARTIALITY

 Involves the idea that each individual's interests and point of view are equally important
 Also called evenhandedness or fair mindedness, impartiality is a principle of justice holding that decisions ought
to be based on objective criteria call mom rather than on the basis of bias, prejudice, or preferring the benefit to
one person over another for improper reasons.
 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. no one is seen
as intrinsically More significant than anyone else.

 a virtuous and respectable religious leader may be supposed to be more significant than a mere made. in an
emergency the decent religious leader ought to be rescued first the reason, nonetheless, it's not that the
religious leader is intrinsically more significant, rather it is that he makes greater contributions in society,

7-STEP MORAL REASONING

 SCOTT B. RAE
 Proposes a model for making ethical decision.
 7 Step model - the use of reason and impartiality in deciding on moral matters

THE STEPS OR ELEMENTS OF A MODEL FOR MAKING MORAL DECISIONS:

A. Gather the facts

 Some moral dilemmas can be resolved by clarifying the facts of the case in question.
 the indispensable first step prior to any ethical analysis and reflection on the case.
 available facts at hand, as well as any facts presently not known but that need to be determined.
 “what do we know?” Also “what do we need to know”

B. Determine the ethical issues

 the moral issues should be correctly stated in terms of competing interests
 the issues must be presented in a P versus Q format in order to reflect the interest that are colliding in a
specific moral dilemma.
 Patient autonomy (the right of the individual to make his or her own decisions about medical care)
Versus the sanctity of life (the duty to preserve life)

C. Identify the principles that have a bearing on the case

 there are sure moral values or principles that are vital to the rival positions being taken.
 it is very significant to recognize these principles, and in some cases, to decide whether some principles
are to be weighted the most heavily.
 Principles drawn from natural law that's implement the biblical principles that come into play here.

D. list the alternatives

 involves coming up with various alternative courses of actions as part of the creative thinking included in
resolving a moral dilemma.
 Though there will be some alternatives which you will rule out without much thought, in general, the
more alternatives that are listed, the better the chance that your list will include some high quality ones.

E. compare the alternatives with the principles

 involves eliminating alternatives according to the moral principles that have a bearing on the case.
 The case will be resolved at this point, since the principles will remove all alternatives except one
 the purpose of this comparison is to determine whether there is a clear decision that can be made
without further deliberation.

F. Wait the consequences

 If the principles do not produce a clear decision then a consideration of the consequences of the
remaining available alternatives is in order.
 Both positive and negative consequences are to be considered.
 they should be informally weighted, seeing some positive consequences are more beneficial than others
and some negative consequences are more detrimental than others.

G. Make a decision
 since the liberation is not to go on forever a decision must be made at some point.
 it must be realized that one common element tomorrow dilemas is that there are no easy and painless
solutions to death
 the decision that is made is one that possesses the least number of problems or negative consequences,
not one that is devoid of them.

Assess the consequences

 the undertaking here is to take the viable alternatives that attempt to predict what he like the consequences of
each would be.
 it should be tried to estimate approximately how beneficial are the positive consequences and how severe the
negative ones are, seeing some consequences are evidently more substantial than others.
 Resilience

 Resilience – the ability to recover from / or adjust easily to misfortune or change.

 Filipinos have the ability to accept what has happened and able to fully recover easily.
 Filipinos smile even when they encounter problems – what you see is not what you get.

Gulong ng Palad character

 Fate and fortune is like a wheel.

 Minsan nasa ibabaw, minsan nasa ilalim.
 Negative: Passivity and Lack of Initiative
 In contrast with what Henley said: “Man is the captain of his own ship and master of his own fate” and with…
 …what Protagoras said: “Man is the measure of all things”.

Faithful and Religious

 The Filipino is a man of faith, prayer, patience, perseverance, peace and love.
 These values of Filipinos are often misconstrued by critics to mean inaction, lack of will-power, indecision and
indifference to progress.
 The “Bahala Na” Philosophy of Pinoys…”Bahala na” means…
 May be taken positively and/or negatively.
 In the negative sense, being excessively faithful and religious may really lead to inaction and sloth. Bahala na
Philosophy (leaving all the work to Bathala).

The Pinoy Love (Mapagmahal)

 When it comes to love – Hahamakin ang lahat.

 Pinoy Love – sa asawa at pamilya, gagawin ang LAHAT para sa kanila.
 Mentalities: Family centeredness versus Extreme family centeredness; True love is selfless love versus self
love
 Other thoughts on love…
 “UNTIL DEATH DO US PART” versus “WALANG FOREVER!!!”

 Ethics- is the branch of philosophy that studies morality or the rightness or wrongness of human conduct.
 Morality speaks of a code or system of behavior in regards to standards of right or wrong.
 As moral philosophy - ethics is the study of right and wrong based on the standard by which, we live and
evaluate the lives of others
 Rules refer to explicit or understood regulations or principles governing conduct within a specific activity or
sphere.
 Rules tell us what is or is not allowed in a particular context or situation.

Rules benefit social beings in various manners:

 a. Rules protect social beings by regulating behavior.

-Rules builds boundaries that place limits on behavior. Rules impose negative consequences on those who
violate them.
 b. Rules help to guarantee each person certain rights and freedom.
-Rules form framework for society. Nations are generally nations of laws and governing principles are outlined
in what is called constitution.
 c. Rules produce a sense of justice among social beings.
-Rules generate a stable system provide justice, in which even the richest and most powerful have limitations
on what they can do.
 d. Rules are essential for a healthy economic system
-without rules regulating business, power would centralize around monopolies and threaten the strength and
competitiveness of the system

2. Moral vs. Non-moral Standards

◉ Not all rules are moral rules. That is, not all standards are moral standards.
 ◉ Morality refer to the standards that a person or a group has about what is right and wrong, or good or evil.
Accordingly, moral standards are those concerned with or relating to human behavior, especially the
distinction between good and bad (or right or wrong) behavior.

◉ Non-moral standards refer to rules that are unrelated to moral or ethical considerations. Either these
standards are not necessarily linked to morality or by nature lack ethical sense.

i.e. rules of etiquette

fashion standards

rules in games

Characteristics of Moral Standards

 1. Moral standards involve serious wrongs or significant benefits.

 2. Moral standards ought to be preferred to other values.
 3. Moral standards are not established by authority figures.
 4. Moral standards have trait of universalizability.
 5. Moral standards are based on impartial conditions
 6. Moral standards are associated with special emotions and vocabulary.

2. Dilemmas and Moral Dilemmas

 Dilemma refers to a situation in which a tough choice has to be made between two or more options,
specially more or less equally undesirable ones. Not all dilemmas are moral dilemmas.
 Moral dilemmas are situations a difficult choice has to be made between two courses of action, either
which entails transgressing a moral principle.

Three conditions that must be present in moral dilemmas:

 The agent is required to do each of two (or more) actions.

 The agent can do each of the actions; but the agent cannot do both (or all) of the actions.
 The agent thus seems condemned to moral failure; no matter what he does, he will do something wrong or
fail to do something that he ought to do.

3. Three Levels of Moral Dilemmas

 1. Personal Dilemmas- are those experienced and resolved on the personal level.
 2. Organizational Dilemmas- refer to ethical cases encountered and resolved by social organizations.
 3. Structural Dilemmas- refer to cases involving network of institutions and operative theoritical
paradigms.
4. ‘Only human beings can be ethical’

◉ Only human beings are rational, autonomous, and self-conscious.

◉ Only human beings can act morally or immorally.
◉ Only human beings are part of the moral community.
6. Freedom as a Foundation of Morality
◉ Basically, morality is a question of choice. Morality practically, is choosing ethical codes,
values, or standards to guide us in our daily lives.
◉ Philosophically, choosing is not possible without freedom.
◉ Practically, the sum of our choices can be said to define our specific ‘morality’.
7. Minimum Requirement for Morality: Reason and Impartiality
◉ Reason
◉ Good reason
◉ Best thing to do given the situation
 ◉ Involves the idea that each individual’s interests and point of view are equally
important.
Filipino Values
 Refers to a set of values or the value system that majority of the Filipino have
historically held important in their lives.
 Philippine value system includes their unique assemblage of consistent ideologies,
moral code, ethical practices, etiquette and cultural and personal values that are
promoted by their society.
Filipino Cultural Morality
 Filipino cultural morality centers on ideally having a Smooth Interpersonal Relationship
(SIR) with others.
 Ethica