F.L.

Vargas College
Calog Sur, Abululg, Cagayan
Abulug Campus

Subject: ETHICS
Module 1: Lesson1: BROTHERHOOD OR VIOLENCE?

OVERVIEW

This module on ethics. This module will not tell you what is
right and wrong: it will help you in determining it for yourself.
More specially, it will present you the conceptual and analytic
tools that will hopefully guide you in your ethical thinking.

LESSON TARGET

At the end of the lesson, you are able to:

1. Identify the details of a report on a case of fraternity hazing

2. Reflect on fraternity hazing as a real-world issue: and
3. Recognized the real-world issue as the context from which we begin our study of
ethics

THINK

Let us start with a very real issue not uncommon in our academic setting: that of fraternity
hazing.

 In August 2007, newspapers reported what seemed to be yet another sad incident
of fraternity violence. Cris Anthony Mendez, a twenty-year-old student of the
University of the Philippines (UP), was rushed to the hospital in the early morning
hours, unconscious, with large bruises on his chest, back, and legs. He passed away
this morning, and the subsequent autopsy report strongly suggest that his physical
injuries were probably the result of “hazing” (the term colloquially used to refer to
 initiatio rites in which neophytes may be subjected to various forms of physical
abuse).
 Even the leaders of the Sigma Rho fraternity publiccly denounced the death of Cris,
those members of theirs who had been with him that night vanised, avoiding and
refusing to cooperate with legal athourities. Meanwhile, UP students body, the UO
chancellor called on all fraternities to judtify thier continued exixtence. Meamwhile,
the case of the tragic death of Cris Anthony Mendez was left unresolved. It remains
that way up to this day.
 No one knows just been exactly just what happened. No charged have been filled,
no definitive testimony has been forscoming. But there is more to this for us than
just a criminal mystery.
 Pondering on the death of Cris, we may find ourselves asking questios such as,
“What is the values of one’s life?, What exactly were the wrongs deone to Cris by
his sso-called fraternity brothers?, or perhaps even, “Is there any good to
fraternities? These questions that concern good and bad, or right or wrong-and
these are questions cocerning value-are the kind of question that we deal with in
ethics.

EXPERIENCE

We can expand the discussion of violence in schools from the issue of fraternity hazing to
the wider problem of bullying.

a. What forms of bullying have you observed?

b. Have you everbeen a victim of bullying?
c. Do you think there is any way that one can justify bullying?

ASSESS

Consider the following questions:

1. In the story reported, what wrong things done are you able to identify?
2. What do you know about the possible forms-and consequences-of hazing?
 3. Discuss with your classmates:what are the possible pros and cons-positve and negative
aspects seem to carr grater weight or importance?
4. Consider: did you and classmates agree or disagree with each other about your
answers in items number 3 above? On which points did you agree and on which points
did you disagree?

CHALLEGE

Various organization-not only fraternites and sororities, but also clubs and communities-
may require certain qualification for being considered, go through a certain process for being
admitted, as well as have some form of rites of initiation.

 What do you know about this practiced in you own school?

 When are these are acceptable?, why?
 In addition, we had earlier said that we can expand our discussion from hazing more
broadly to bullying. What do you think are the different forms of bullying that studentd
right now have to comfort?
 Could this reality be good thing, or is it definitey a bad thing?
 What are your reasons for your answers?

HARNESS

Outside the world of school and student life, the real wworld “out there” of work and
commerge and adult responsibilities can also be a place of intimidation, of coercion, of
violence, also a place of bullying and hazing.

o What doyou thinkare active measures an individual person may take to protect hiself
or herself agaisnt this kind of unpleasantness, and what changes should we try to
encourage in society to help address this problem?

Prepared by:

Kristel Elleine T. Fronda

Instructor

Subject: ETHICS
Module 1: Lesson2: VALUATION

OVERVIEW

A study of ethics can become concerned with enforcing

certain rules (you should tell the truth and you should not lie) or it
can become enamored with encouraging ideals (we should try to
become more compassionate to others). While all these certainly
belong to an ethics course, we are choosing here instead to begin
our study with speaking more concretely, nothing how a real-life
issue (such as we saw in lesson 1) gets us to react with a value
judgment: this is good, and that is bad. To say that we make value of judgements, however,
is perhaps a bit too broad, because we do make all sorts of valuations, not all of which
belong to the realm of the ethical. In this lesson, we explore these differences.

LESSON TARGET

At the end of the lesson, you are able to:

a. Identify the different ways we speak of-and think-values;

b. Recognized the characteristics of these different ways we speak of values, and in
doing so, to also begin to identify what characterized more specifically ethical
valuation; and
c. Assess the complexity of situations wherein the disticntion of what kind of
valuation is in order is not very clear-cut.

THINK

We have used an actual tragic case of hazing as a way to begin our exploration of the
study of ethics. We have stated earlier that generally speaking, ethics is about matters such
as good that we should pursue and the bad that we should avoid; the right ways in which we
could or should act and the wrong ways of acting. It might alternatively be thought in terms
of obligations that we are expected to fulfill,prohibitions that we are required to respcts, ori
deals that we are encouranged to meet. Ethics is a subject for us to study is about
determining the grounds or bases for certain significant values.

o First, we must recognize that there are instances when we make value judgements
that are considered to be part of ethics. Our tendency to translate the word “value”
into thinking immediately in monomentary terms-of cash and property and wealth-are
not what we mean here when we speak of “value”.
o We have a sense of ethics, we speak not of goods, but in terms of making a
judgementbetween good and bad. But consider: i could say that a certain new movie
that i just had seen was a “good” one because i enjoyed it, or that a particular song
that i just heard on the radio was a “bad”one because it had an unpleasant tone, but
these are not oart of the discussion of ethics.i may have an opinion as to whatis the
“right’dip (sawsawan) for my chicken barbeque, or i may maintain that it is “wrong” to
wear a leather vest over a barong tagalog, and these are also not concern of ethics.
These are valuations that fall under the domain of aesthetics. The word “ aesthetics” is
derived from the greek word aisthetics (“sense” or “ feeling”) and refers to the
judgements of personal approval or disapproval that we make about what we see,
hear, smell, or taste. In fact, we often use the word “taste” to refer the personal
aesthetic preferences that individuals have on these matters, such as “his taste in
music” or “her taste in clothes”. So when we like or dislike a painting or a sculpture, a
song or a movie, we are making aesthetic value judgements.
o A notion of right and wrong actions can easily appear in a context that is not a matter
of ethics

Consider the example:

 I am in the process of learning how to bake
 I am told that the right thing to do would be to mix the dry ingredients first, such as
flour or sugar before bringing in any liquids, like milk or cream; this is the right thing
to do in baking.
 When I was learning to play basketball, I was instructed that is it against the rule to
walk more than to steps without dribbling the ball. Again, obeying this rule to not to
 travel is something that make sense only in the context of the game, and is not an
ethical prohibition.

o In addition, we also have a sense of approval or disapproval concerning certain

actions that may be considered of relative triviality in nature. Thus, for instance, I
may think that is the “right” to knock politely on someone’s door, while it is “wrong”
to barge into someone’s office. Perhaps I may approve of a child who knows how to
ask for something properly by saying, “please”, and I also disapprove of a woman I
can see picking her nose in public. These and other similar examples belong to the
category of etiquette, which is concerned with the right and wrong actions
maintained by the society to which actions maintain by the society to which we
belong, but those transgressions might be considered not quit grave enough to
belong to a discussion of ethics.
o Recognizing the characteristics of aesthetics and technical valuation, as well as the
realm of etiquette, we can arrive at some kind of rough guide, by contrast, as to
what might belong to a discussion of ethics. Ethics, then, seems to involve valuations
that we make in a sphere of human actions that are characterized by a certain
gravity and that concern human well-being or human life itself.
o One complication that can be noted is that the distinction between what belongs to
ethics and was does not always so clearly define. For example:
 Are clothes always just a matter of individuals tastes or would some kind
of clothing (it for instance, it seems to be quite revealing) call for some
kind of ethical judgment?
 Can we say that a man who verbally abuses his girlfriend is simply
showing bad manners or does this behavior from us some stronger
moral condemnation?
EXPERIENCE

Every day we make all sorts of value judgments on songs and videos, deciding on
whether or not we like them, maybe even commenting about these to others. But have you
ever found yourself disapproving of a song’s lyrics or a video’s content and for more serious
reasons than they were not to your taste, but that you found something offensive about it?
Something you think everyone else should also find offensive? Why was that?

ASSESS

Identify the following:

1. What is the Greek term referring to practical knowledge?

2. What is the Greek term to refer to feeling or sense?
3. What is the term to refer to socially accepted behaviour on matters that are generally
trivial?
4. Referring back to item number 3, give a couple of examples of this.
5. Give a couple of examples of matters of greater gravity that would more likely belong
to a discussion of ethics.

CHALLENGE

Identify a list of:

a. Obligations we are expected to fulfil
b. Prohibition we are required to respect, and
c. Ideals we are encourage to meet. Discuss whether these are ethical in nature or not.

HARNESS

The world of artistic creativity is one of infinite possibilities, and we tend to say that,
“beauty is in the eye of the beholder”, that aesthetic taste is a personal matter and no can
impose on us that we either like or dislike this particular TV show or that particular song. But
what if a work of art provokes to stronger sense of disapproval in us? Can and should
artwork be subjected to ethical judgement? For instance, in 2011, the Cultural Center of the
Philippines (CCP) mounted an exhibit that included Mideo Cruz’s “ Politeismo”, an installation
comprised of an amalgam of many images, including the statue of JESUS wearing Mickey
Mouse ears, a crucifix adorned with a bright red phallus, and a picture of the face of Jesus
with a wooden ash tray again with a phallus tacked on the middle. Apparently conceived as a
piece to promote critical thought and perhaps debate on idolatry, it was seen by many in this
predominantly Catholic country to be a deliberate insult to their faith. Given the public
outcry and the strong denouncement from various religious and secular leaders. The exhibit
was abruptly closed. In addition to being threatened and having his work vandalized, Cruz
was charged with obscenity. However, he (as well as the administrators of the CCP) were
acquitted of these charges by the courts in 2013.
A case such as this allows us to consider questions on aesthetics, such as, “is it the
point of the work of art to be appealing or to be thought-provoking?”. Our significant ethical,
and perhaps we can recognize that a number of highly significant ethical questions can be
raised: Does the artist have an ethical obligation offense severe enough as to require
control? Are there-or should there be-ethical restrictions to freedom of expression?

 Discuss, making use either of this example or other real-world examples that
you may find online.

Prepared by:

Kristel Elleine T. Fronda

Instructor