What is Culture and how does it

The Filipino Way of Culture

define our Moral Behavior?
The culture of the Philippines comprises a blend of traditional Filipino and
Spanish Catholic traditions, with influences from America and other parts
Culture of Asia.

- Culture encompasses religion, food, what we wear, how we wear

it, our language, marriage, music, what we believe is right or Filipino Qualities and Traits
wrong, how we sit at the table, how we greet visitors, how we
behave with loved ones, and a million other things. Positive Negative

● Hospitable ● Fatalism
Moral behavior ● Respectful ● Crab Mentality
● Family Oriented ● Colonial Mentality
- To act according to one’s moral values and standards.
● Mañana Habit
- Children demonstrate prosocial and moral behavior when they ● Religious
share, help, co-operate, communicate, sympathize or otherwise ● Hardworking
they demonstrate the ability to care about others. ● Resilient

How does culture define our moral

behavior?
Culture is a sum of attitudes, values, goals, etiquette, etc. shared by a TOPIC 3
group, organization, or society.
It reflects the moral and ethical beliefs and standards that speak Universal or Core Ethical Values
to how people should behave and interact with others.

“The individual is neither a robot nor an entirely independent self-willed
little god but a cultural individual-existing in freedom but embodying the
cultural mold in his society and historical epoch”
(Peacock, 1986)
Cultural relativism
Trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, fairness, caring, and citizenship —
are six core ethical values.
Using core ethical values as the basis for ethical thinking can help
detect situations where we focus so hard on upholding one value
that we sacrifice another — e.g. we are loyal to friends and so do
not always tell the truth about their actions.

A. TRUSTWORTHINESS
It is the ability to understand a culture on its own terms. It refers to not
judging a culture to our own standards of what is right and wrong.
- Trustworthiness concerns a variety of behavioral
Ethnocentrism qualities:
➔ It is the act of judging or evaluating another person’s ● Honesty
culture based on your own. ● Integrity
➔ The opposite of cultural relativism. ● Reliability
● Loyalty

Pros of cultural relativism Cons of cultural relativism I. Honesty

- There is no more fundamental ethical value than honesty. We
● Makes some actions ● Some actions are not associate honesty with people of honor, and we admire and trust
excusable excusable those who are honest.
● Preserves culture ● Determining what is good
● Respect for other cultures and bad is almost Honesty in communication is about intent to convey
● Suggests cooperation and impossible the truth as best we know it and to avoid communicating
unity in a way likely to mislead or deceive.

Honesty in conduct prohibits stealing, cheating, fraud,

2 Types of Cultural Relativism
1. Absolute
- Everything that happens within a culture must and should
not be questioned by outsiders
2. Critical
- Creates questions about cultural practices in terms of
who is accepting them and why. Critical cultural relativism
also recognizes power relationships.
and trickery. Cheating is not only dishonest but takes
advantage of those who are not cheating. It’s a violation
of trust and fairness.
Not all lies are unethical, even though all lies are dishonest. Occasionally
dishonesty is ethically justifiable, such as when the police lie in
undercover operations or when one lies to criminals or terrorists to save
lives. But occasions for ethically sanctioned lying are rare - e.g. saving a
life.
3 Dimensions of Honesty:
1. Truthfulness
Means not intentionally misrepresenting a fact (lying).
Intent is the crucial distinction between truthfulness and
truth itself.
Being wrong is not the same thing as being a liar,
although honest mistakes can still damage trust.
2. Sincerity/non-deception
A sincere person does not act, say half-truths, or stay
silent with the intention of creating beliefs or leaving
impressions that are untrue or misleading.
3. Frankness
In relationships involving trust, honesty may also require
us to volunteer information that another person needs to
know.
IV. Loyalty
- is about promoting and protecting the interests of certain people,
organizations or affiliations.
Some relationships — husband-wife, employer-employee,
citizen-country — create an expectation of loyalty.
Prioritizing Loyalties
Because so many individuals and groups make loyalty
claims on us, it is often impossible to honor them all
simultaneously.
Consequently, we must rank our loyalty obligations in
some rational fashion.
In our personal lives, for example, it’s perfectly
reasonable, and ethical, to look out for the
interests of our children, parents and spouses
even if we have to subordinate our obligations to
other children, neighbors, or co-workers in doing
so.

II. Integrity Safeguarding Confidential Information

- There are no differences in the way an ethical person makes
Loyalty requires us to keep secrets or information learned
decisions from situation to situation - no difference in the way
in confidence.
they act at work and at home, in public and alone.
The person of integrity takes time for self-reflection so
that the events, crises and the necessities of the day do Avoiding Conflicting Interests
not determine the course of their moral life. They stay in Employees and public servants have an additional responsibility
control to make all professional decisions on merit, not personal
interests. Their goal is to maintain the trust of the public
4 Enemies of Integrity:
1.
2.
Self-interest – Things we want
Self-protection – Things we don’t want
B. RESPECT
3. Self-deception – A refusal to see a situation clearly - Respect is about honoring the essential worth and dignity
4. Self-righteousness – an end-justifies-the-means attitude of all people, including oneself.
We are morally obligated to treat everyone with
respect, regardless of who they are and what
they have done.
III. Reliability
- When we make promises or commitments to people our ethical We have a responsibility to be the best we can be in all situations,
duties go beyond legal obligations. even when dealing with unpleasant people.
The ethical dimension of promise-keeping imposes the
responsibility of making all reasonable efforts to fulfill our Respect focuses on:
commitments.
I. Civility, Courtesy and Decency
It is also important to: “A respectful person is a good listener”
The respectful person treats others with
1. Avoid bad-faith excuses consideration, conforming to accepted notions of
taste and propriety, and doesn’t resort to
Honorable people don't rationalize
intimidation, coercion or violence except in
noncompliance or create justifications for
extraordinary and limited situations to teach
escaping commitments.
discipline, maintain order or achieve social
justice.
2. Avoid unwise commitments
Before making a promise, consider carefully II. Tolerance
whether you are willing and likely to keep it.
An ethical person accepts individual differences
Think about unknown or future events that could
and beliefs and judges others only on their
make it difficult, undesirable or impossible to
character.
keep your commitment. Sometimes, all we can do
is promise to do our best.

3. Avoid unclear commitments

Since others will expect you to live up to what
they think you have promised to do, be sure that,
when you make a promise, the other person
understands what you are committing to do.
 C. RESPONSIBILITY E. CARING
- Life is full of choices.
Being responsible means being in charge of our “Caring is the heart of ethics.”
choices and therefore our lives. - It is scarcely possible to be truly ethical and not genuinely
concerned with the welfare of others.
It means being accountable for what we do and who we are. It also means
That is because ethics is ultimately about our
recognizing that what we do, and what we don’t do, matters.
responsibilities toward other people.
I. Accountability
Sometimes we must hurt those we care for and some decisions, while
An accountable person is not a victim and doesn’t quite ethical, do cause pain.
shift blame or claim credit for the work of others. But one should consciously cause no more harm than is
reasonably necessary
II. Pursuit of Excellence
The pursuit of excellence has an ethical
dimension when others rely upon our knowledge,
ability or willingness to perform tasks safely and F. CITIZENSHIP
effectively.

III. Diligence - The concept of citizenship includes how we ought to

behave as part of a community.
Responsible people are reliable, careful, prepared
The good citizen knows the laws and obeys them,
and informed.
but they also volunteer and stay informed on the
issues of the day.
IV. Perseverance
Responsible people finish what they start, Citizens do more than their "fair" share to make society work, now and for
overcoming rather than surrendering to obstacles future generations.
and excuses.
Citizenship can have many expressions, such as conserving resources,
V. Continuous Improvement recycling, using public transportation and cleaning up litter.
Responsible people look for ways to do their work
better.

VI. Self-Restraint Explain why universal values are

Responsible people exercise self-control,
restraining passions and appetites (such as lust, necessary for human survival?
hatred, gluttony, greed and fear).
➢ Every society is bound by common values. Such that the members
They delay gratification if necessary and
of that group know what to expect of each other and have some
never feel it’s necessary to "win at any
shared principles in order to address their differences without
cost."
violence involved.

D. FAIRNESS So why are universal values necessary for human

- Fairness is a tricky concept. survival?
Disagreeing parties tend to maintain that there is
➢ The universal values we stand by mirrors the type of person we
only one fair position - their own.
are.
But while some situations and decisions are clearly unfair, fairness
➢ The values that we have will help us in creating decisions in our
usually refers to a range of morally justifiable outcomes rather than
discovery of one fair answer. everyday lives as it is a reflection of our thoughts, actions and
words.
I. Process
➢ These values serve us as our guiding light assisting us in creating
A fair person uses open and unbiased processes for
gathering and evaluating information necessary to the future we want to experience.
make decisions.
Fair people do not wait for the truth to come to
them; they seek out relevant information and
conflicting perspectives before making important
decisions.

II. Impartiality
Decisions should be unbiased without favoritism or
prejudice.

III. Equity
It is important not to take advantage of the
weakness, disadvantage or ignorance of others.
Fairness requires that an individual, company, or
society correct mistakes, promptly and voluntarily.