Ethics

Module 1

Culture is the characteristics and knowledge of a particular group of

people, encompassing language, religion, cuisine, social habits, music and arts.

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

our language, marriage, music, what we believe is right or wrong, how we sit at
the table, how we greet visitors, how we behave with loved ones, and a million
other things," Cristina De Rossi, an anthropologist at Barnet and Southgate
College in London, told Live Science.

The word "culture" derives from a French term, which in turn derives
from the Latin "colere," which means to tend to the earth and grow, or cultivation
and nurture. "It shares its etymology with a number of other words related to
actively fostering growth," De Rossi said

Culture is a term that refers to a large and diverse set of mostly

intangible aspects of social life. According to sociologists, culture consists of the
values, beliefs, systems of language, communication, and practices that people
share in common and that can be used to define them as a collective. Culture also
includes the material objects that are common to that group or society. Culture is
distinct from social structure and economic aspects of society, but it is connected
to them—both continuously informing them and being informed by them.

In brief, sociologists define the non-material aspects of culture as the values and
beliefs, language, communication, and practices that are shared in common by a
group of people. Expanding on these categories, culture is made up of our
knowledge, common sense, assumptions, and expectations. It is also the rules,
norms, laws, and morals that govern society; the words we use as well as how we
speak and write them (what sociologists call "discourse"); and the symbols we use.

It informs and is encapsulated in how we walk, sit, carry our bodies, and
interact with others; how we behave depending on the place, time,
and "audience;" and how we express identities of race, class,
gender, and sexuality, among others. Culture also includes the
collective practices we participate in, such as religious ceremonies,
the celebration of secular holidays, and attending sporting events.

Sociologists see the two sides of culture—the material and non-

material—as intimately connected. Material culture emerges from
and is shaped by the non-material aspects of culture. In other
words, what we value, believe, and know (and what we do together
in everyday life) influences the things that we make. But it is not a
one-way relationship between material and non-material culture.
Material culture can also influence the non-material aspects of
culture. For example, a powerful documentary film (an aspect of
material culture) might change people’s attitudes and beliefs (i.e. non-material
culture). This is why cultural products
tend to follow patterns. What has come before in terms of music, film, television, and
art, for example, influences the
values, beliefs, and expectations of those who interact with them, which then, in turn,
influence the creation of
additional cultural products

The Human Person and Culture

As a moral agent you are born into a culture, a factual reality you have not chosen.
You are not born nothing. It may be said that the Aristtoleco-Thomistic culture is a
Greco- Roman culture, which has influenced and shaped the moral life of those who
have been exposed to it. Those who were born into this culture, educated under this
culture, are persuaded that there I a God, that a divine order and law keep and
govern the world, which includes you. But what happens when there are different
cultures with their own different views of man’s direction and destiny? For instance,
the Greek culture introduced ideas of perfection. In terms of numbers, a perfect
thing is 100%; in terms of figures, it is a whole circle. A perfect thing has no
privation,
no lack, no absence of being. What if a new culture redefines perfection as any
created and resent model, which may be recreated, remolded like clay? Any change
in the model may be perceived as the direction of a new model of perfection, not the
actualization of hat was lacking. Every created model is a perfection in its own right.

Enculturation, Inculturation and Acculturation

Culture change or evolve. There are various ways by which cultures change- by
enculturation, inculturation and by
acculturation.

Enculturation, anthropological term, was coined by J>M> Herskovits

Margaret Mead has, however, was the one who defined the term as “the
process overlearning a culture in all its uniqueness and particularly”. .

Enculturation is a process of learning from infancy till death, the

components of life in one’s culture. The contents of this learning include both
the material and non-material culture. The latter’s refers to values while the
former refers to tools such as a hoe or a mask. In the said process of learning, a
person grows into culture takes root in that person and become the cognitive
map, the term for reference of acting.
For instance, African girls has less rights and privileges as the African
man. Another is a man can marry more than one women while she cannot.
While the African wife cannot share her love with other men, the man can share his
with other women in the system.
It turns women into an appendage, property of the man- one of the man’s
laborers. Umoren, U. E. 1992

Inculturation refers to the “missiological process in which the Gospel is

rooted in a particular culture and the latter is transformed by its introduction to
Christianity”.
In other words, inculturation raises two related problems that of the evangelization
of culture (rooting the Gospel in cultures)and that of the cultural
understanding of the gospel. It was this movement that led Pope John Paul to
say in 1982, (‘The synthesis between culture and is not only a requirement of
culture is not fully accepted, nor entirely reflected upon, or not become culture,
but also of faith…Faith that does not become culture is not fully accepted, nor
entirely reflected upon, or faithfully experienced”

This means that inculturation is not an action but a process of that

unfolds overtime, one that is active and based on mutual recognition and
dialogue, a critical mind and insight, faithfulness and conversion transformation
and growth, renewal and innovation.

A is another big term. It is the “cultural modification of an individual,

group, and people by adapting to or borrowing traits from another culture.” It is
also explained as merging of cultures as a result of prolonged contact.”
Immigrants to USA become acculturated to American life. Refugees and
indigenous people of (IP) likewise adapt to the culture of the dominant majority.

How Culture Shape the moral Agent

Moral values, judgment, behaviour as well as moral

dilemmas and how we perceive them are largely shaped and
influenced by history (i.e., historical contingencies), power
dynamics (i.e., competing ideas and interests), and the religion of a
society. The way we appreciate and assess things are not created out
of nothing (ex nihilo) or simply out of our imagination. They are
conditioned by external and material elements around us that, in turn,
provide the basis for principles that orient our judgment and valuation
of things. Combined as one structure or phenomena, these external
and material elements make up culture. In other words, culture is
what shapes and influences social and personal values, decisions,
behaviour, and practice. Thus, to understand how culture works and
its features is to also grasp the reason why things are done in a
particular way and why we do these things the way we do them.

In the field of anthropology, sociology, and cultural studies,

scholars have demonstrated why culture is the best site for consideration as the
material condition that shapes the way we judge and value things, and how through
culture these things come into concrete expression. That is to say, culture can tell us a
great deal about one particular society. Let us think about this idea concretely in
and through our very own context, the Philippines.

Moral values, judgment, behavior as well as moral dilemmas and how we perceive
them are largely shaped and influenced by history (i.e., historical contingencies),
power dynamics (i.e., competing ideas and interests), and the religion of a society.
The way we appreciate and assess things are not created out of nothing (ex nihilo) or
simply out of our imagination. They are conditioned by external and material
elements around us that, in turn, provide the basis for principles that orient our
judgment and valuation of things. Combined as one structure or phenomena, these
external and material elements make up culture. In other words, culture is what
shapes and influences social and personal values, decisions, behavior, and practice.
Thus, to understand how culture works and its features is to also grasp the reason why
things are done in a particular way and why we do these things the way we do them.

What is cultural relativism? Relativism says “what is true for you is true for you, and
what is true for me is true for me”. Analogously, cultural relativism is the idea that a
person’s beliefs, values, and practices should beunderstood based on that person’s
own culture, rather than be judged against the criteria of another. (Corpuz, et al; 2020)

Stated in other way:

Cultural relativism is the view that moral or ethical systems, which vary from culture
to culture, are all equally valid and no one system is really “better” than any other.
This is based on the idea that there is no ultimate standard of good or evil, so every
judgement about right and wrong is a product of society. Therefore any opinion on
morality or ethics is subject to the cultural perspective of each person. Ultimately,
this means that no moral or ethical system can be considered the “best” or “worst,”.
and no particular moral or ethical position can actually be considered “right or
wrong”.

In the context of cultural relativism, the manner by which the African woman is
treated in comparison that of the African man should be judged in the context of
African culture, not in the context of
Christian culture.