BULACAN AGRICULTURAL STATE COLLEGE
ETHICS 100 - ETHICS
LESSON 3: CULTURE AND MORALITY
CULTURE
 is a manner of looking at reality by
 a certain group of people
 a certain place
 a certain time in history.
 It consists of the way people relate to the world
through basic assumptions and images which would
more or less give them a coherent view of reality
they experience (Claver, 1978)
 Involves the following:
 material living (dress, housing, and
architecture)
 way of behaving (customary manners and
conduct)
 way of speaking (language use)
 way of thinking (thought processes)
 way of feeling (shared psychology)
 way of meaning (arts and symbols)
 way of believing, valuing and meaning
(views of life and attitudes).
 Matsumoto (2007) defines human culture as a
unique meaning and information system, shared
by a group and transmitted across generations,
that allows the group to meet
1) basic needs of survival,
2) coordinate socially to achieve a viable
existence
3) transmit social behavior
4) pursue happiness and well being
5) derive meaning from life.
POP CULTURE IN CULTURAL AND MORAL
BEHAVIOR
 Pop culture (mainstream media, social media,
movies, and fads) defined in the Oxford
Dictionary as commercial culture based on popular
taste, often dramatizes themes that people
encounter in everyday life.
 Pop culture consumption is driven by popular taste
and what people enjoy for entertainment or other
purposes.
 Pop culture can reflect cultural mores and
suggests to society which behavior is good and
moral, or immoral and unethical.
THE ROLE OF CULTURE IN MORAL BEHAVIOR
 Within culture are moral codes that are practiced
through social behavior. Each culture has its own
ideas of what is considered right or wrong, and
what is regarded as good or bad.
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.
GOAL AND PERSPECTIVE OF CULTURAL
RELATIVISM
 Promote understanding of cultural practices
that are not typically part of one’s own culture.
 No one culture is superior to another culture
when compared to systems of morality, law,
politics, etc.
 There is no right and wrong ethical system.
THREE WEAKNESSES OF CULTURAL
RELATIVISM
 One cannot criticize the practices and beliefs
of
another culture.
 One cannot criticize the practices and beliefs
of
one’s culture.
 One cannot accept that moral progress can
happen.
UNIVERSAL VALUES
 Universal human values are those ideals that we
believe should be privileged and promoted in the
lives of all human beings in spite of the differing
cultures and societies where we grew up.
 Rachels (2018) points out that there are some
moral rules that all societies must embrace
because these rules are necessary for society to
exist. The rules against lying and murder are two
examples.
MORAL GROUNDINGS
A. Religious moralist: “moral values should be grounded
on God and the law of God must be the standard of
morality”.
B. Scholars of morality: “morality develops as a result
of natural selection”.

ETHNOCENTRISM AND THEOCENTRISM

A. Theocentrism (Greek: theo – “God”) is the view that
God’s system of beliefs and values is morally superior
to all others.
B. Ethnocentrism (Greek: ethnos – “nation” or
“people”) is the view that a particular ethnic group’s
system of beliefs and values is morally superior to all
others.

THE FILIPINO MORALITY

 The Filipino culture is so rich and diverse that it
has greatly transformed in time. Thus, our culture
and history molded us to what we are now.

THE FILIPINO STRENGTH

 Pakikipag-kapwa tao
 Family orientation: extended family relations
 Cheerfulness, joy and humor
 Hard work and industry
 Faith and religiosity
 Flexibility, adaptability, and creativity
 Ability to survive

THE FILIPINO WEAKNESSES

 Kanya kanya syndrome and crab mentality
 Extreme personalism
 Passivity, lack of initiative, and bahala na
system Lack of discipline, palusot system
 Colonial mentality
 Lack of self analysis and self reflection
 Extreme family centeredness (good and bad)