CULTURE IN

MORAL BEHAVIOR
 Culture Definition

• Refers to the cumulative deposit of knowledge, experience, beliefs, ideas,

values, attitudes, meanings, hierarchies, religion, notions of time, roles,
spatial relations, concepts of the universe, and material objects
• Are patterns of behavior implicit or explicit, acquired and transmitted by
symbols
• Is the sum total of learned behavior of a group of people
• A cultivated behavior; totality of person’s learned and experienced
• Is a symbolic communication
 • Includes all the things
individuals learn while
growing up in a particular
group: attitudes, standards
of morality, rules of

Culture in short… etiquette, perceptions of

reality, language, notions
about the proper way to
live, and other ideas about
how the world works we
call this cultural knowledge
• Culture is way of life that includes moral values and
behaviors, along with knowledge, beliefs, symbols that
they accept “generally without thinking about them,
and that are passed along by communication and Culture’s
imitation from one generation to the next”
• Social Learning- process by which individuals acquire Role in
knowledge from others in the groups to which they
belong. People learn moral and aspects of right and Moral
wrong from transmitter of cultures” parents, teachers,
novels, films, priests etc. People develop a set of idea Behavior
of what is right and wrong by observing,
communicating, and engaging to them
It is improbable,
if not It is hard to grow up in a particular culture
without being impacted by how it views
impossible, to morality or what is ethically right or wrong
live in a society
without being
affected by
culture
This is the case because individuals are a
product of their culture and learning a
culture is an essential part of human
development (De Guzman and Pena, 2016)
Moral Standards as Social
Convention
• Social Facts- are values, beliefs, cultural norms, and
social structures that transcend the individual and
control them. These are external to us and are outside of
our control.
• Social Convention- those agreed upon by people in
society these are the usual, customary, and acceptable
ways through which things are done within a group. There
is a blanket of legitimacy.
• Dual Reality of Social Life:
• Man creates social reality but is also a product of social
reality
• So moral law is only a social convention
 Morality as an
effect of Social
Conditioning
Social Conditioning Conscience are due to society as
is the sociological society expresses disapproval, people
process of training become aware of the reproof,
individuals in a society dissatisfaction or contempt that develop
to respond in a manner into a habit of conscience when one
generally approved by considers carrying out those actions
the society
C.S. Lewis:Morality belongs to the
same class as mathematics

• A. Although there are differences between the moral ideas of one time or country and
those of another, the differences are not really very great.
• -nations or cultures only have slightly different moralities but not quite different ones. We can
recognize the same moral law running through them all (universal values)
• B. We affirm that the morality of a person is better or worse than that of another, which
means that there is a moral standard or rule by which we measure both moralities and
that standard is real.
• -concept of real morality: thing that is right and independent of what people think
• -argues that moral law is not a mere social convention to which each culture or society just
happens to approve-- POINT OF REFERENCE
 CRITIC:
• Social Conditioning Theory of Morality is argued to be
problematic because there are in fact, plenty of situations
where a person, also conditioned and influenced by his
culture to adopt a particular course, feels the moral
obligation to take an entirely different action.
• We do not submit, nonetheless, that social conditioning
does not in any way affect our ethical knowledge. It is
the intellect that remembers what actions are moral
and what are not, therefore, intellect can be molded or
socially conditioned and not the sense of moral obligation
or conscience
 • The tendency to evaluate other groups
according to the values and standards of
Ethnocentrism one's own ethnic group, especially with
the conviction that one's own ethnic
group is superior to other groups. 
 • Is the idea that a person’s beliefs, values,
and practices should be understood based
Cultural on that person’s own culture, rather than
Relativism be judged against the criteria of another
• Other cultures are not wrong, rather
different…
 Cultural Relativism in Ethics

• Cultural Relativism, the most dominant form of

moral relativism, defines moral as what is socially
approved by the majority in a particular culture. In
short, an act is ethical in a culture that approves of it,
but immoral in one that disapproves of it.
• Moral Subjectivism- the standard is a particular
agent
• Cultural Relativism- the basis is the given society
• Cultural relativists observe that societies
fundamentally disagree about ethical issues. Morality
differs in every society as concepts of what is right
and wrong vary form culture to culture.
 Cultural Relativism: An
Analysis

• 1. Valuable lessons from ethical relativism:

• There is no universal truth, so this encourage tolerance by being open-
minded
• Our feelings and beliefs are only products of cultural conditioning thus,
it do not reflect the truth
• Believes that culture and morality is conventional
 Cultural Relativism: An Analysis

• 2. The theory’s ethical faults

• Cultural Relativism discourages analytical thinking and independent decision making in
ethics as it requires unsuspecting compliance and subscription to social norm. Thus, in
order to be ethical, folkways and cultural norms should be followed uncritically
• Concept of tolerance is self-contradictory
• It begs the question, then is the culture of slavery, racism, and oppression morally
acceptable?
• Cultural Relativism ins only practicable if people do not belong to more than one
institution
• There are not absolutes is self-defeating
Rachel’s Evaluation of
Cultural Relativism
• He explains that the cultural relativists’
approach is to argue from facts about the
differences between cultural outlooks to a
conclusion about the status of morality.
• Example: The Greeks believed it was wrong to
eat the dead, whereas the Callatians (an Indian
Tribe) believed it was right. Therefore, eating
the dead is neither objectively right nor
objectively wrong. It is merely a matter of
opinion which varies from culture to culture.
• Cultural Differences argument- different
cultures have different moral codes. Therefore,
there is no objective truth in morality.
Against the • Another example:
• People in some societies (primitive tribes) believe that
Cultural the Earth is flat, whereas Europeans hold that the Earth
is (roughly) spherical. Therefore, there is no objective
differences truth in geography. Belief in the shape of the earth is
only a matter of opinion, and opinions vary from culture
argument: to culture. is this argument valid?
• With this, we can say that just because various societies
disagree with something, it does not mean that there is
no objective truth
• Cultural Relativist goes wrong in sweeping a conclusion
about an issue from the mere fact that people disagree
about it…
Just how much do
cultures differ?
• Example:
• Eskimos see nothing wrong with infanticide, whereas we
believe that infanticide is immoral. With this, the first
assumption is that Eskimos have very different values from
ours however:
• Eskimos protect its babies if conditions permit. They nurse
their infant for very long time.
• Infanticide especially among girls (males are primary food
providers, hunters suffer high casualty rate) is a recognition that
drastic measures are sometimes needed to ensure the family’s
survival.
• This shows that it is wrong to conclude that there is
disagreement about values and morality just because customs
differ.
• A. We could no longer say that the customs of other
societies are morally inferior to our own
• Example: We could not say that Anti-Semitism and
Slavery are wrong
The bad
• B. We could decide whether actions are right or consequences
wrong just by consulting the standards of our society of cultural
• The implication is that people will think that their own
society’s code is perfect, rather than thinking of ways it Relativism
might be improved. In short, cultural relativism would
stop us from criticizing our own
• C. The ide a of moral progress is called into doubt
• There is no standard by which we judge the new ways
as better or progressive. (e.g. Social reform)
Asian Moral • Eastern Ethics:
• is very much about the protocol of showing
Standing respect and the notion that one must do what is
right and expected of him and the universe will
take care of the rest
• Western Ethics:
• is basically about finding truth or what is
rationally or logically true. It puts emphasis
on justice and law.
 WESTERN ETHICS EASTERN ETHICS

FOCUS Finding truth Protocol and Respect

BASIS Rational thought Religious teachings

EMPHASIS Logic, cause, and effect Respect towards famiy

ROOTS IN Athens, Rome, Judeo, and Hinduism, Buddhism,

Christianity Confucianism, and Taoism

APPROACH Rational Holistic and Cultural

CONFLICT AND HARMONY Good over evil Good and Bad, light and dark all
exist in equilibrium

East vs. West

 Filipino • Filipino Cultural Morality centers on ideally having a
smooth interpersonal relationship with others through:

Moral • 1. Pakikisama- maintain good public relations

• 2. Hiya- concern with how one appears in the eye of
Character: others

Strengths and • 3. Amor Propio- comes from the tendency of a person

to protect his or her dignity and honor

Weaknesses • 4. Utang na Loob-debt of gratitude, balance of

obligations and debts
• 5. Filipino Hospitality- innate ability and trait of
Filipinos to be courteous and entertaining to their guests
• 6. Respect for elders
Universal • Strong proof that cultural relativism is wrong
• Values that must be generally shared by many
Values: cultures are:
• 1. Truth Telling- communication in all forms is
values universal, saying the truth is the most important reason
on what someone is paying attention to what anyone
generally communicates

shared by • 2. Valuing or Respecting Life- necessitates the

prohibition of murder. If everyone is trying to kill each

cultures other, everyone is on guard and avoiding people that

will make societies impossible to emerged.
• This proves that there are some moral rules that all
societies will have in common because those rules are
necessary for society to exist.