GOOD MORNING!

UNIT III.
THE MORAL ACTIONS

 Feelings And Moral Decision-making

 The 7-step Moral Reasoning Model

FEELINGS AND MORAL
DECISION-MAKING
 When people decide at the height of their emotion,
decisions made are most likely to
be subjective or biased.

 When one is at the height of one’s rage, he or she does

not even consider making a decision but acts upon it
immediately without considering the consequences of
the action.
FEELINGS AND MORAL DECISION-MAKING
 EMOTION

 The rationalistic point of view that emotion has no

place in moral decision needs to be examined.

 No person has the capacity to be unaffected or separate

himself or herself completely from one’s feelings or
emotions.
 Psychologically, it is a condition that is not possible
because individuals experience the situations of their
life in all its dimensions – as a rational being, as a
feeling being, as a social being, as a religious being
and more.

 Where there is a need to make moral decisions, it is

impossible to purge the individual of one’s feelings or
emotions that may derail him or her from making the
most appropriate one.
  What is Moral Virtue?

 Bulaong Jr. Et al (2018) suggests citing the ideas of

Aristotle that moral virtue is far beyond the pure and
simple act of intellectually determining the right
thing to do.

 is the character of the person through which a

moral agent is able to have control over one’s
emotions or feelings.
 “Huwag kang padadala sa bugso ng iyong
damdamin.”

 “Huwag mong paiiralin ang iyong emosyon.”

 These suggest that Filipinos have a way in order to
tame one’s emotions or feelings.

 Human being is intellectual as much as emotional.

Being a human being is to have both the rational
and emotion aspects.
  decisions or moral virtues

 Aristotle proposes that decisions or moral virtues are

arrived at by the mature moral agent because of
habitually managing one’s emotions in the rightful
manner.
 It should be noted that the cultivation of one’s
character is a process of continuous habit of
doing what is right.

 It is not therefore, a result of an overnight and

single attempt but really of a prolonged endeavor
to train one’s reaction to situations to arrive to
what is called character.
The 7-Step Moral
Reasoning Model
 The 7-Step Moral Reasoning Model
1. State the problem. Gather the facts
2. Check the facts. Determine the ethical issue
3. What principles have a bearing on the case? Identify relevant
factors.
4. List down the alternatives. Develop a list of options.
5. Compare the alternatives with principles. Test the options.
6. Assess the consequences. Make a choice
7. Make a decision (Review steps 1-6)
1. State the problem. Gather the facts
 Before any decision, it is important that decisions
makers have in their possession all the necessary
facts and data concerning an issue.
 Decisions are based on facts and not on opinions
neither on hearsay.
 Facts and data clarify the issues that need to be
resolved.
2. Check the facts. Determine the ethical issue

 “What is the problem about?”

 It is a point of clarifying and distinguishing
whether a situation demands moral valuation or
not.
 Some issues do not really qualify to be considered
a moral or ethical issue.
3. What principles have a bearing on the case?
Identify relevant factors.
 In the case of secretly selling a family property, I
should consider the principles that would be
violated by my decision.
 In the example, there are principles that have a
bearing on the intention to secretly sell a communal
property and these principles tell us about some
irregularities ethically speaking.
4. List down the alternatives. Develop a list of
options.
 Finding a solution to a moral issue may involve
several alternatives.

 By listing down possible alternatives to resolve a

problem, I have created several or a few
possibilities from which I can choose a more
feasible alternative.
5. Compare the alternatives with principles.
Test the options.
 It would be interesting to compare the different
alternatives; this involves the examination of the
different alternatives analyzing their advantages and
disadvantages.
 It would also require finding which of the
alternatives would violate less the identified
principles with bearing on the issue.
6. Assess the consequences. Make a choice
 Having identified the different alternatives, the next
step to be undertaken would be the evaluation of the
possible consequences of the different alternatives.
 In the assessment of the consequences, it is suggested
that the moral agent consider at least the minimum
requirement in making a moral decision, referred to as
reason and impartiality.
7. Make a decision (Review steps 1-6)

 To make a decision.
 A responsible and conscientious moral agent knows
that a morally acceptable decision is well discerned
and has considered all possible consequences and the
interest of everybody to be affected by it.
THANK YOU!