ETHICS AND CULTURE

Understanding the Moral Agent

 OBJECTIVES
For the Trainees:
• Teachthe students how culture shapes
moral behaviour.

• Emphasize that there is a Filipino

understanding of right and wrong.

• (But) there are (also) universal values.

For the students: At the end of the
lesson, the students should be able to:
• Define the notion of culture from the 3
perspectives: personal, subconscious, and
universal.

• Identify specific cultural characteristics of

Filipinos and Asians.

• Evaluate these characteristics in relation to

values.
 GROUP ACTIVITY…
• Based on the video presented, decide on the
indicators of culture (spor ts, religion, ar ts, traditions,
governance/politics, etc) .
• Discuss
to your group mates how these indicators
have changed your life to become a better individual.
• Pick out specific change in your character brought
about by your in depth understanding and
appreciation of such cultural indicator.
• Be ready to share these to the class.
 FEATURES AND
CHARACTERISTICS OF CULTURE
Changing
Shared Accumulative
Learned Integrated
Social

Gratifying Transmited
Linked with other society
Continuous
Responsive
 Culture, Defined…

It refers to that complex whole

which includes knowledge,
belief, art, law, morals, custom,
and any other capabilities and
habits acquired by man as a
member of society- Edward
Tylor
It refers to an appreciation of good
literature, music, art, and food.
For a biologist, it is likely to be a
colony of bacteria or other
microorganisms growing in a nutrient
medium in a laboratory Petri dish.
For anthropologists and other
behavioral scientists, culture is the full
range of learned human behavior
patterns.
Culture is a powerful human
tool for survival, but it is a
fragile phenomenon.
It is constantly changing and
easily lost because it exists only
in our minds
CORE LAYERS OF CULTURE
 Layers of Culture
Dennis O’Neil

First, the body of cultural traditions

that distinguish your specific society .
When people speak of Italian,
Samoan, or Japanese culture, they
are referring to the shared language,
traditions, and beliefs that set each
of these peoples apart from others.
The second layer of culture that
may be part of your identity is the
subculture.
This occurs in a complex, diverse
societies in which people have
come from many different parts of
the world, they often retain much
of their original cultural traditions
As the cultural differences
between members of a subculture
and the dominant national culture
blur and eventually disappear, the
subculture ceases to exist except
as a group of people who claim a
common ancestry.
The third layer of culture consists of
cultural universals. These are
learned behavior patterns that are
shared by all of humanity
collectively. No matter where
people live in the world, they share
these universal traits.
http://anthro.palomar.edu/culture/culture_1.htm
Examples of Universal Cultural Traits
of Human Beings

Communicating with a verbal language

consisting of a limited set of sounds
and grammatical rules for constructing
sentences.

Using age and gender to classify people

Classifying people based on marriage
and descent relationships and having
kinship terms to refer to them
Raising children in some sort of family
setting
Having rules to guide and regulate
sexual behaviour.
Distinguishing between good and bad
behaviour
Having some sort of body ornamentation
Making jokes and playing games
Having art
Having some sorts of leadership roles and
models for the implementation of
community decisions.
Language, politics, and even values do
not make sense if they are not
transmitted or communicated with
others.
Cultures necessitate….peoples.
FILIPINO CULTURE
AND
ETHICS

Joe’s tricab Juan’s trisikol

FILIPINO’SVIEWS ON ETHICS
• Propriety (Hiya) versus Troubled
(Pagkabagabag)
• Personal versus Duty/Obligations
• Family solidarity versus universal
principle and general good
• Pakikipag kapwa tao versus Pakikisama
The Filipino Character
 Strengths Weaknesses

Pakikipag kapwa tao extreme personalism

extreme family
Family solidarity
centeredness

Joy and humour Lack of discipline

Flexibility, adaptability, passivity and lack of

and creativity initiative

Hard work and industry colonial mentality

 Strengths Weaknesses

lavishness, outright
Hospitality
display of generosity

stereotyping; role-gender
Gender specific values assignment

Faith and religiosity kanya kanya syndrome

lack of self analysis and

Ability to survive self reflection
 Asians
versus

Westerners
 Asian Culture Western Culture
Collectivistic (community and
family) Individualistic

Risk avoidance Willing to take risk

Asian men do not compete directly

against women, and vice-versa Gender free competition
Attitude: Analytical and
Attitude: Holistic views detailed

Suppresses one’s opinions Expresses one’s opinions freely

Time orientation: Cyclical Time orientation: Linear

Tank  yo