UNDERSTANDING MORALITY AND MORAL
STANDARDS
Course Orientation and Importance of Rules
Rules are meant to set order in society. They are
intended or human persons and to limit a person’s
freedom which is the ability to choose and do what is
good. Rather rules are meant to help people to
choose and do what is good. Those who do not do
what is good don’t even feel the presence of a rule
that prevents them from doing not is good. It is those
who intended to do the opposite of what is good that
feels suffocating and limiting the presence of a rule.
When society is ideal i.e. when all persons are good
and do only what is ideal then there will be no more
need for rules and laws according to Lao Tzu.
Moral and Non-Moral Standards
Etymology and Meaning of Ethics
 Ethics - comes from the Greek word “ethos”
meaning custom used in a work of Aristotle,
while “moral” is the Latin equivalent. Ethics or
moral philosophy is a branch of philosophy
which deals with moral standards, inquiries
about the rightness and wrongness of human
behavior or the goodness or badness of
personality, trait or character
o Human Act
 Intentionally done and can be
controlled
o Act of Man
 Instinctive, physiology done,
and cannot be controlled
 The moral is the adjective describing a human
act as either ethically right or wrong, or
qualifying a person, personality, character, as
either ethically good or bad
Moral Standards or Moral Frameworks and Non-
Moral Standards
 Moral standards are norms or prescriptions
that serve as the framework for determining
what ought to be done or what is right or
wrong action, what is good or bad character
o Do not Lie
o Do not Steal
o Do not Cheat
 Non-Moral Standards are social rules,
demands of etiquette and good manners
o No talking when mouth is full
o Submit requirements on time
o Go with the fashion or you are not in
Classification of the Theories of Moral Standards:
1. Consequence standard (teleological,
from tele which means end, result or
consequence) states that an act is right or
wrong         depending on the consequences
of the act, that is, the good that is
pronounced in the world
2. Not-only-consequence standard
(deontological) - holds that the rightness or
wrongness of an action or rule depends on
the             sense of duty, natural law, virtue
and the demand of the situation or
circumstances
What makes Standards Moral?
Moral Standards are based on the wisdom of sages
like Confucius or philosophers like Immanuel Kant
 Confucius “Do unto others what you like
others to do unto you.”
 Immanuel Kant “Act only according to that
maxim whereby you can at the same time will
that this maxim be a universal law
The Origin of Moral Standards: Theist and Non-Theist
 Theistic line of thought states that moral
standards are of divine origin
o God is the ultimate source of what is
moral revealed to Human person
 Non-theistic line of thought, moral standards
must have evolved as the process of evolution
followed its course
o God is not the source of morality.
Moral Standards are based on the
wisdom of sages like Confucius or
Philosophers Immanuel Kant
Moral Dilemmas
 Moral Dilemma is a problem in decision
making between two possible options,
neither of which is absolutely acceptable from
an ethical perspective. It is also referred to as
an ethical dilemma 
 Ethical Dilemma (oxford) “decision-making
problem between two possible moral
imperatives, neither of which is
unambiguously acceptable or preferable.
Sometimes called an ethical paradox in moral
philosophy
 False Dilemma is a situation where the
decision-maker has a moral duty to do one
thing, but is tempted or under pressure to do
something else
The three levels of Moral Dilemmas
1. Individual dilemma refers to a personal
dilemma. it is an individual’s damn-if-you-do
and damn-if-you-don’t situation
o Experienced and resolved on the
personal level
2. The organizational dilemma is a puzzle posed
by the dual necessities of a social organization
and members’ self-interest. It          may exist
between personal interest and organizational
welfare or between group interest and
organizational well being
o Refer to ethical cases encountered
and resolved by social organizations
3. Structural dilemmas refer to cases involving
network institutions and operative theoretical
paradigms
o Refer to cases involving network or
institutions and operative theoretical
paradigm
Resolving Moral Dilemma
 Think of available alternative options revealing
that dilemma does not exist
 Choosing the greater good and the lesser evil