GE 8: ETHICS

(PDF NOTES)
WHAT IS MORALITY?
(Moral and Non-Moral Standards)

Objective: Differentiate between moral and non-moral standards.

WHAT IS MORALITY?

Ethics seeks wisdom by asking about right and wrong, good and bad. Terms and
characteristics. Ethics comes from the Greek ethos meaning character.

Morality derives from the Latin moralis meaning customs or manners.

Philosophical ethics is the study of what makes something moral or ethical, good
or right, and unethical or immoral bad or wrong.

Philosophers have considered what makes something morally good or bad,

right or wrong in relation to a range of characteristics.

➢ For example, does moral goodness involve some relation to happiness or

pleasure? Does the good involve excellence of some sort? Or harmony and
creativity? Is it possible to be amoral – of being indifferent to right and
wrong? What things are non-moral?

➢ For example, my pen that I write with appears neither moral or immoral in
itself but if I use it as a weapon it enters the domain of morality.

Approaches to the study of Morality

1. The scientific or descriptive - emphasizes the observation of human

behavior and the positing of conclusions based on those observations.

➢ Psychologists, for example, have claimed that human beings are

basically selfish based on observations of conduct. This approach is
descriptive in that it is ‘value-free’ making no judgments about the
rightness or wrongness of the behavior.

2. Normative or Prescriptive – describes how should or ought we to act.

3. Metaethical (metaethicist) - analyses the language, concepts reasons and

foundational structure of ethical systems.

1
1st Semester S.Y. 2020-2021 Compiled by: RAPHAEL P. ORTIGAS
 GE 8: ETHICS
(PDF NOTES)
Morality may be applied to four areas:

1. Religion. Morality determined by relation between human being and

supernatural being.
2. Nature. Morality determined by relation between human being and
nature.
3. Individuality. Morality determined by relation the individual has to him or
herself.
4. Society. Morality determined by relation between human being and
society.

Morality can be considered as having a subjective or objective origin.

As objective there are three possibilities for the origin of value:

1. Values are given by a supernatural being.

2. Values are part of the fabric of nature.
3. Values are part of the ‘furniture’ of the world, independently of
human beings. These possible explanations of the origin of values
are expressed in the ‘supernatural theory’, the theory of ‘natural law’
and ‘objectivism’.

As subjective, the origin of value is related to human beings. Without

human beings, subjectivist theorists argue, there would be no value.
Evaluation of objective and subjective positions.

Criticisms of:
1. Supernatural theories. Belief based on faith. Diversity of traditions
makes it unclear what values are best and why.
2. Natural law theories. So called ‘laws of nature’ are descriptive Are
there natural moral laws, i.e., laws that are prescriptive?
3. Objectivism. Can something have a value if there is no one there
to value it?
4. Subjectivism. Are values entirely subjective? Would the world
have value without the presence of humans?

Classification of Morality based from origin of values

1. Customary or traditional morality. Traditional morality refers to the

moral systems handed down through custom from generation to
generation. We might call this static morality

2. Reflective morality. Reflective morality requires that moral ideas are

carefully examined and tested. Traditional morality can become reflective

2
1st Semester S.Y. 2020-2021 Compiled by: RAPHAEL P. ORTIGAS
 GE 8: ETHICS
(PDF NOTES)
and dynamic when those moral ideas that are simply handed down and
accepted are subjected to analysis and criticism.

Moral Standards

➢ Moral standards are norms that individuals or groups have about the kinds
of actions believed to be morally right or wrong, as well as the values placed
on what we believed to be morally good or morally bad.
➢ Moral standards normally promote “the good”, that is, the welfare and well-
being of humans as well as animals and the environment. Moral standards,
therefore, prescribe what humans ought to do in terms of rights and
obligations.
➢ According to some scholars, moral standards are the sum of combined
norms and values. In other words, norms plus values equal moral
standards.
➢ moral standards deal with matters we think can seriously injure or benefit
humans, animals, and the environment, such as child abuse, rape, and
murder;
➢ moral standards are not established or changed by the decisions of
authoritative individuals or bodies. Indeed, moral standards rest on the
adequacy of the reasons that are taken to support and justify them. For
sure, we don’t need a law to back up our moral conviction that killing
innocent people is absolutely wrong;
➢ moral standards are overriding, that is, they take precedence over other
standards and considerations, especially of self-interest;
➢ moral standards are based on impartial considerations. Hence, moral
standards are fair and just; and
➢ moral standards are associated with special emotions (such as guilt and
shame) and vocabulary (such as right, wrong, good, and bad).

Non-moral Standards

➢ Non-moral standards refer to standards by which we judge what is good or

bad and right or wrong in a non-moral way.
➢ Examples of non-moral standards are standards of etiquette by which we
judge manners as good or bad, standards we call the law by which we judge
something as legal or illegal, and standards of aesthetics by which we judge
art as good or rubbish.
➢ One not be confused with morality over etiquette, law, aesthetics or even
with religion.
➢ Non-moral standards are matters of taste or preference. Hence, a
scrupulous observance of these types of standards does not make one a
moral person.

3
1st Semester S.Y. 2020-2021 Compiled by: RAPHAEL P. ORTIGAS
 GE 8: ETHICS
(PDF NOTES)
➢ Violation of said standards also does not pose any threat to human well-
being.
➢ A way of distinguishing moral standards from non-moral ones, if a moral
standard says “Do not harm innocent people” or “Don’t steal”, a non-moral
standard says “Don’t text while driving” or “Don’t talk while the mouth is full”.

Why the need to distinguish moral standards from non-moral ones?

➢ It is important to note that different societies have different moral beliefs and
that our beliefs are deeply influenced by our own culture and context. For
this reason, some values do have moral implications, while others don’t.
➢ Let us consider, for example, the wearing of hijab. For sure, in traditional
Muslim communities, the wearing of hijab is the most appropriate act that
women have to do in terms of dressing up. In fact, for some Muslims,
showing parts of the woman’s body, such as the face and legs, is
despicable.
➢ However, in many parts of the world, especially in Western societies, most
people don’t mind if women barely cover their bodies. As a matter of fact,
the Hollywood canon of beauty glorifies a sexy and slim body and the
wearing of extremely daring dress.
➢ The point here is that people in the West may have pitied the Muslim women
who wear hijab, while some Muslims may find women who dress up daringly
despicable.
➢ Again, this clearly shows that different cultures have different moral
standards. What is a matter of moral indifference, that is, a matter of taste
(hence, non-moral value) in one culture may be a matter of moral
significance in another.
➢ Now, the danger here is that one culture may impose its own cultural
standard on others, which may result in a clash in cultural values and
beliefs. When this happens, as we may already know, violence and crime
may ensue, such as religious violence and ethnic cleansing.

4
1st Semester S.Y. 2020-2021 Compiled by: RAPHAEL P. ORTIGAS