LESSON 2: The Moral

Dimension of Human
Existence
Learning Outcomes
During the learning engagement, you should be able to
 differentiate among moral and nonmoral standards, moral standards
and etiquette, policy, law, and commandment;
 cite situations justifying whether the actions are moral or nonmoral,
and
 simulate the characteristics of moral principles.
Introduction
 Michael Moga attested, “The experience of morality is part of every
person’s life. It is found in the various obligations that arise, the
experience of actions which should be either performed or avoided.
Thus, terms such as “good,” “bad,” “right,” “wrong,” “appropriate,”
“ought,” “obligation”, “duty” and the like, are commonly found in
various forms in human conversations” (1993:1).
 Fernandez also queried, “But it can be asked whether
the whole of human experience falls under the ambit
of morality? Are all areas of human life covered by
ethical evaluation and judgment? Are all human
conduct and enterprise subject to moral praise or
condemnation? Or, are there some aspects in human
experience not within the domain of ethics and
morality?” (2018:17).
 Inwhich Moga also premised, “Are we to think of
morality as something which is [only] found in one
limited area of human life without any relevance to
the other areas [such as in the social, aesthetic,
religious, business, scientific, etc.] Or are we to
conceive of morality as (an integral] part of every
human experience...” (Moga 1993:1).
 On the other hand, Gallinero opined, “For most people, the
fundamental moral question is, ‘What should I do?’ or ‘How
should I act?’ Ethics are presumed as moral rules on how a
person should act.... But is that all there is to ethics? Is ethics
just about following rules of do’s and don’ts? This obsession
with rules somehow neglects the more important aspect of
being a human person and that is becoming what should be.
In other words, the more important question for ethics is not
‘What should I do?’ but ‘What kind of person should I be?”
(2018:7-8)
Activity 1: Big Group Brainstorming
Direction: Answer the following questions briefly:
 How are moral standards different from nonmoral standards?
 How do moral standards differ from etiquette, policy, law, and
commandment?
Kinds of Valuation and Types of Norms
 One very important element by which human conduct is
determined and assessed in terms of its morality is in
reference to a norm. What is a norm? A norm is here
understood as a rule, standard, or measure. Specifically, it is
something by which an act or conduct is measured as good
or bad, right or wrong, moral or immoral.
 Richard Gula defines norm as “the criteria of
judgement about the sorts of person we ought to
be and the sorts of actions we ought to perform”
(as cited in Agapay 2008:77).
 Thus, by norm of morality, we mean the standard of
right and wrong in human actions. This is precisely
the very reason why certain actions are considered as
morally good and the others as morally bad
(Montemayor 1994:53).
 The concepts of good and bad, right and wrong,
moral and immoral, proper and improper, appropriate
and inappropriate are the primary concern and focus
of ethics as a philosophical discipline. However,
these concepts, to some extent, in one way or the
other, are also found and used in many other areas of
human experience.
 According to Reyes, upon closer analysis of the
various meanings of the expression “what is proper,”
or “what is good and right” and other similar
expressions, we can identify and differentiate at least
four types of norms and standards within what he
calls as the ethos or mores of a community:
Technical Norm.
 Thisrefers mainly to man’s needs which come
from his bodily space-time limitations. This
norm has to do with survival, health and well-
being. It is connected with problems of effecting
change, of transforming natural words, the
problems of coping with natural forces.
 For example, there is the “right” way of preparing the
field for planting rice, the “correct” way of
constructing the roof of a house, among others.
 Some specific examples where this kind of norm is
evident are found in the following statements: “that’s
not the proper way to wash the dishes, “your manner
of dribbling the ball is bad,” “your way of fixing the
broken door knob is not good,” “you ought to do the
PowerPoint presentation this way,” “her approach in
solving the math problem is wrong.”
Societal Norm.
 This particular type of norm has something to do with the need for
group cohesion and for strengthening the bonds that keep the
community together. In relation to this norm, for example certain
manners or attire, certain ways of speaking or of conducting oneself,
certain rituals and ceremonies are considered “proper” and “fitting,”
“appropriate” or “recommended,” because they maintain and
strengthen the bonds that keep the community together.
 Some specific examples of the above type of norm are
found in such expressions as “you ought to knock first
before you open the door,” “one should not pick one’s
nose in public,” “it’s not right to talk while one’s
mouth is full,” “one ought to follow the rituals set
forth by her fraternity when it comes to accepting new
members.” These and other similar examples belong to
the category of etiquette or what is known as “GRMC”
(Bulaong Jr. et al. 2018:2).
Aesthetic Norm.
 Thisrefers to typical perceptual forms regarding
color, shape, space, movement, sound, feeling and
emotion, touch and texture, taste, scent and odor,
which are considered by the community as
“ennobling,” “cathartic,” “heightening man’s
existence,” or “beautiful,” because they represent a
certain free play and celebration of the human spirit.
 Some specific examples of this type of norm are
found in such expressions as “country music is
good,” “the latest Star Wars movie is bad,” “the food
sold at the school cafeteria is terrible,” “Leonardo da
Vinci’s painting is admirable,” “my female students’
styles of dressing are obnoxious,” “Vice Ganda’s
fashion sense is simply outrageous,” “President
Duterte’s manner of speaking is utterly disgusting.”
Ethical or Moral Norm.
 The moral or ethical norm refers to some ideal vision of a human
person, an ideal stage or perfection of his/her being, which serves as
the ultimate goal and norm. In relation to this kind of norm, the
human person and his or her actions are judged to be right or wrong,
good or bad. Because of these ideal visions of what a human person
should be, a community has what is sometimes called the
“nonnegotiables,” those things which the community cherishes and
considers of ultimate worth, which also give ultimate sense and
direction to human existence.
 Having said that, there is still one problem that we need to
grapple with even if we are successful in making a
distinction of what belongs to the domain of ethics and what
does not. This complication is brought about by the fact that
the distinction itself “...is not always so clearly defined. At
times, the question of what is grave or trivial is debatable,
and sometimes some of the most heated discussions in
ethics could be on the fundamental question of whether a
certain sphere of human activities belongs to this
discussion” (Bulaong et al. 2018:3).
Activity 2: Collaborative Group
Discussion
 Instructions:
1. Form a group with five to six members.
2. According to Velasquez (2012), moral standards have six
characteristics (Gallinero, pp. 6) as provided below. Each group
will be assigned one moral standard to be discussed.
 Six Characteristics of Moral Standards
1) Moral standards involve behaviors that seriously affect other people’s well-
being.
2) Moral standards take a more important consideration than other standards,
including self interest.
3) Moral standards do not depend on any external authority but in how the
person perceives the reasonableness of the action.
4) Moral standards are believed to be universal.
5) Moral standards are based on objectivity.
6) Moral standards are associated with vocabulary that depicts emotion or
feelings
Activity 3:
Instructions:
1. Working in a group, give five examples (life-situations) on moral
standards and nonmoral standards. (See Gallinero, pp. 6-7.)
2. List down five specific actions that can be considered as belonging
to the domain of morality and another same number that do not.
3. Provide a justification why you consider them as moral and
nonmoral actions respectively.
Activity 4: Simulation
 Instructions:
1. Working in groups, you will be assigned a particular characteristic of moral principles by your teacher
from among the eight characteristics provided below.
Eight Characteristics of Moral Principles
1. Reasonability
2. Impartiality
3. Prescriptivity
4. Overridingness
5. Autonomous from Arbitrary Authority
6. Publicity
7. Practicability
8. Universalizability
2. Your group will be asked to create a real-life situation applying the characteristic(s) assigned to you.
Afterwhich, an explanation will be purveyed.
Processing
(Adapted from Fernandez, pp. 17–18)
 When can one truly say that “something (an
act/conduct/behavior) or someone is moral or
immoral, ethical or unethical?” Are there clear and
neat rules that govern morality that can easily be
accessed in practically all situations of human
existence?
 Moga cites and explores two basic positions to the above questions
in his book Toward Authentic Morality: An Ethics Textbook for the
Philippines (1993:2-3). The first position is what he calls the “A-
Morality” position. Here, morality is understood as occupying just
one area among the many diverse areas in human life. The other
areas, which are termed as nonmoral “have their own meanings,
[rules] and goals and are [said to be free and] independent [from any
form of moral or ethical] evaluation. Morality’s scope is simply
confined to a specific and limited area in human existence. Hence,
the rest of the other areas in human experience are not subject to
ethics or morality.
 The second position is quite the opposite of the
previous position. This position claims that practically
all of human life is under the domain of morality. That
morality is “ever present and is necessary for man to
be truly human.”
 Afterevaluating these two extreme positions, and taking
into account their respective value to human life, Moga
offers a third position. The third position is what he
considers as a “middle” ground to the previous two
positions. He says that “morality is not just limited to a few
select areas of man’s life but is found in every situation in
various ways as there are situations in life where the focus
of human experience is a moral obligation or value, when
we are concentrating on what should [italics included] be
done.”
 However, “there are also other situations in life when
morality is more in the background. While morality is
not explicitly thought about, it serves as a horizon or
context which gently and implicitly guides us. Morality
may not take the form of clear moral rules or precise
moral actions. There may be no clear guidelines given
to us but it is present as an awareness of a moral
dimension which subtly evaluates a given situation.”
 Inconclusion, Moga contends that “if we are to be
fully human we must somehow manage to maintain
a sort of balance in all of these areas of our lives
without neglecting any.” We have to avoid,
according to him, to simply focus in one or on a few
limited areas and fail to give justice to the others.
Human existence is too rich and complex to confine
ourselves to a single or few dimensions only.
Formation
Life challenges us to live fully in all areas,
balancing a mature moral sensitivity with a well-
rounded involvement in other areas of life.
Synthesis
 Inthis lesson, we have established the scope and the
rationale for a discussion of ethics. We explored
various domains of valuation in order to distinguish
what makes a particularly grave type of valuation a
moral or ethical one.
Assessments
1. Group Quiz
Give five examples each of moral standards and nonmoral standards.
2. Situation Analysis
Your teacher will give you a particular situation wherein you will give comments applying
the eight characteristics of moral principles (Fernandez) and six characteristics of moral
standards (Velasquez).
3. Essay
Answer the following questions:
 What makes the ethical/moral norm distinct and unique from all the others?
 Should all areas of human existence be covered by ethics? Why or Why not?
 Give one specific and concrete example (in the form of evaluative statements/expressions) on each of the
various types of norms. Explain what makes the moral/ethical norm distinct from the rest
Assignments
1. Research
Create a sample survey whether people nowadays make decisions
using the eight characteristics of moral principles and six
characteristics of moral standards.
2. Look for an article or news item applying the above-mentioned
moral principles and moral standards.