Course Orientation and

Importance of Rules

LESSON 1
LEARNING OBJECTIVES(S):

TO STATE WHAT
TO EXPLAIN THE
ARE EXPECTED OF
IMPORTANCE OF
ME IN THIS
RULES
COURSE
QUESTION:

▪ What will happen if there are no rules in your life, your home,
your school, your church and community?
IMPORTANCE OF RULES

▪ Rules are not meant to restrict your freedom. They are meant
to help you grow in freedom, to grow in your ability to choose
and do what is good for you and for others.
▪ Any rule or law that prevents human persons from doing and
being good ought to be repealed. They have no reasons to
exist.
 Moral and Non-Moral Standards

LESSON 2
LEARNING OBJECTIVE(S):

▪ Distinguish between moral and non-moral standards

CLASSIFY
(MORAL OR NON-MORAL):
▪ No talking while your mouth is full ▪ Observe correct grammar when
writing and speaking English
▪ Do not lie
▪ Submit school requirements on time.
▪ Wear black or white for mourning;
never red. ▪ If you are a male, stay by the danger
side when walking with a female.
▪ The males should be the one to
propose marriage not females. ▪ Don’t cheat others.
▪ Don’t steal ▪ Don’t Kill.
 ETHYMOLOGY AND MEANING OF
ETHICS

▪ Ethics - Greek word “Ethos” meaning “custom” used in the works of Aristotle.
- a branch of philosophy which deals with moral standards, inquires about
the rightness or wrongness of human behavior or the goodness or badness of
personality, trait or character.
▪ Moral – Latin equivalent.
- The adjective describing a human act as either ethically right or wrong, or
qualifying a person, personality, character as either ethically good or bad.
MORAL AND NON-MORAL
STANDARDS
▪ Moral Standards are norms or prescriptions that serve
as the frameworks for determining what ought to be
done or what is right or wrong action, what is good or
bad character.
▪ Non-moral standards are social rules, demands of
etiquette and good manners. They are guides of actions
which should be followed as expected by society.
 THEORIES OF MORAL STANDARDS
▪ Consequence Standard – teleogical, from tele which means end result ,
or consequence)
-states that an act is right or wrong depending on the
consequences of the act, that is, the good that is produced in the world.
▪ Not-Only-Consequence Standard – deontological
-holds that the rightness or wrongness of an action or rule depends
on sense of duty, natural law, virtue and the demand of the situation or
circumstances.
 WHAT MAKES STANDARDS MORAL?
▪ For theists, God is the ultimate source of what is moral revealed to human
persons
▪ For non-theists, God is not the source of morality. Moral standards are
based on the wisdom of sages like Confucius or philosophers like
Immanuel Kant
▪ The theistic line of thought states that moral standards are of divine
origin.
▪ For the non-theistic line of thought, moral standards must have evolved
as the process of evolution followed its course.
 MORAL
DILEMMAS

LESSON 3
 ▪ Explain moral dilemma as a moral
LEARNING dilemma as a moral experience
OBJECTIVE(S): ▪ Distinguish between moral dilemma
and a false dilemma
SCENARIO: THE PREGNANT LADY
AND THE DYNAMITE
A pregnant woman leading a group of five out of a cave on a coast
is stuck in the mouth of that cave. In a short time, high tide will be
upon them and unless she is unstuck, they will all be drowned
except the woman whose head is out of the cave. Fortunately (or
unfortunately), someone has with him a stick of dynamite. There
seems no way to get the pregnant woman loose without using the
dynamite which will inevitably kill her; but if they do not use it,
everyone else will drown. What should they do?
julia
MEANING OF MORAL DILEMMAS

▪ A moral dilemma is a problem in the decision-making between

two possible options, neither of which is absolutely acceptable
from an ethical perspective. It is also referred to as Ethical
Dilemma.
▪ The oxford dictionary defines ethical dilemma as a “decision-
making problem between two possible moral imperatives,
neither of which is unambiguously acceptable or preferable. It
sometimes called an ethical paradox in moral philosophy.”
MEANING OF MORAL DILEMMAS

Moral Dilemmas have the following in common

1. The agent is required to do each of two (or more)
actions which are morally unacceptable;
2. The agent can do each the actions;
3. But the agent cannot do both (or all) of the actions
MEANING OF MORAL DILEMMAS
▪ Moral Dilemmas are situations where two or more moral values
or duties make demands on the decision –maker, who can only
honor one of them, and thus will violate at least one important
moral concern, no matter what he or she decides to do.
▪ Moral Dilemmas present situations where there is tension
between moral values and duties that are more or less on equal
footing. The decision-maker has to choose between a wrong
and another wrong. The decision-maker is deadlock.
FALSE DILEMMA

▪ A false dilemma is a situation where the decision-

maker has a moral duty to do one thing but is tempted
or under pressure to do something else. A false
dilemma is a choice between right and wrong.
 THE THREE LEVELS OF MORAL
DILEMMAS

LESSON 4
LEARNING OUTCOME/S:

▪ Illustrate the three levels if moral dilemma - individual,

organizational & structural
 The mission of Catholic
School A is to serve the poor
by giving quality education. It
is torn between the
SCENARIO A obligation to charge low
tuition to help the poor and
to pay better salaries to keep
quality teachers.
 Heinz’s wife was dying from a particular type of cancer.
Doctors said a new drug might save her. The drug had
been discovered by a local chemist, and the Heinz tried
desperately to buy some, but the chemist was charging
ten times the money it cost to make the drug, and this
was much more than the Heinz could afford.
SCENARIO Heinz could only raise half the money, even after help
from family and friends. He explained to the chemist
B that his wife was dying and asked if he could have the
drug cheaper or pay the rest of the money later.
The chemist refused, saying the he had discovered the
drug and was going to make money from it. The
husband was desperate to save his wife, so later that
night he broke into the chemist’s laboratory and stole
the drug.
 A principal ought to welcome and
encourage parents and community
participation in school affairs. Based
on her experience, parents and
community are passive and so the
SCENARIO principal always ends up deciding
and doing things just the same. She
C is obliged to serve parent’s and
community participation which do
not give any input at all at the same
time she obliged to accomplish
things on time
3 levels of moral dilemma
1. INDIVIDUAL
● refers to as personal dilemmas
● It is an individual’s damn-if-you-do-and-damn-if-you-don’t situation
2. ORGANIZATIONAL
● exists between personal interests and organizational welfare or
between individual groups’ interests and organizational well-being.
3. STRUCTURAL
● a conflict of perspective of sectors, groups and institutions that
may be affected by the decision
 1. Differentiation vs. Integration
Ex. Promoting or introducing universal
health care
Examples of 2. Gap vs. Overlap
Structural Ex. Boy who wanted his pants shorts
3. Lack of clarity vs. Lack of creativity
Dilemma 4. Flexibility vs. Strict Adherence to Rules
5. Excessive Autonomy vs. Excessive
Interdependence
6. Centralized vs. Decentralized Decision
making
What to Do when Faced with Moral
Dilemma
• Ultimately, Dilemmas are conflicts in the application of moral
standards. The question is which moral standards must be followed?
In the state of emergency, necessity demands no moral law. You have
to decide based on your best judgment or choose based on the
principle of lesser evil or greater good or urgency.

Chapter 1: Understanding Morality and Moral Standards

Lesson 3: Moral Dilemmas
Page 15
Ruben A. Corpuz AB-English-Philo, Lib, PhD, Brenda B. Corpuz BSE, Maed, PhD ,Ethics Lorimar Publishing Inc.2020
Resolving Moral Dilemmas
• One way is to think of available alternative options revealing that the dilemma
does not exist. This happens where there are available alternative options.
• “choosing the greater good and lesser evil”
• Situation ethics approach,One must do only what he can where he is.
• Kant’s “ Ought implies can” rule. If I ought something, then I can do it, by
contrapostion, if I cannot do something, then I cannot be obliged to do it.
• Fletcher said “do what you can where you are”.
• Dilege, et quod vis fac , love and do what you will. The extent of one’s obligation
and responsibility is the extent of one’s abiltys and the measure of the “extent”
is the one’s capacity for love.
• One is only obliged to do something if and only if he can do it, do what you can
where you are.
 FREEDOM AS FOUNDATION OF
MORAL ACTS

LESSON 5
LEARNING OBJECTIVES(S):

▪ To explain why only human beings can be ethical.

And now the end is here
And so I face that final curtain
My friend I'll make it clear
I'll state my case, of which I'm
certain
I've lived a life that's full
I traveled each and every highway
And more, much more
I did it, I did it my way
Regrets, I've had a few
But then again too few to mention
I did what I had to do
I saw it through without exemption
I planned each charted course
Each careful step along the byway
And more, much, much more
I did it, I did it my way
FREEDOM AS FOUNDATION OF
MORAL ACTS
● Ethics applies to human persons
○ Unlike the lower forms of animals, human persons have a choice
or freedom, hence morality applies only to human persons
● Freedom and Moral Choice
○ Making moral choice is a necessary consequence of being a
human person.
○ Because a human person has freedom, s/he has a choice and so
is responsible for the consequences of his/her choice.
● To be ethical: Own not merely abide by moral standards
 CULTURE: HOW IT DEFINES
MORAL BEHAVIOR

LESSON 6
LEARNING OBJECTIVES(S):

▪ Articulate what culture, enculturation, inculturation and

acculturation mean
▪ Attribute facets of personal behavior to culture
▪ Explain how culture shapes the moral agent
BRAINSTORMING

When you hear the word “culture”, what comes to

your mind?
 Marriage Practices - Give
BRAINSTORMING different marriage practices as a
result of culture.
WHAT IS CULTURE?
▪ Culture is the integrated pattern of human
knowledge, beliefs and behaviors
▪ Culture is the set of means used by mankind to
become more virtuous and reasonable in order to
become fully human
▪ As moral a moral agent, the human person is born
into culture
 ▪ Enculturation is a process of
learning from infancy till death, the
components of life in one’s culture.
▪ Inculturation refers to the
ENCULTURATION, missiological process in which the
INCULTURATION Gospel is rooted in a particular
AND culture and the latter is transformed
by its introduction to Christianity
ACCULTURATION ▪ Acculturation is the cultural
modification of individual group, or
people by adapting to or borrowing
traits from another culture.
How Culture Shapes the Moral Agent
▪ Culture definitely affects the way we evaluate and
judge things
CULTURAL RELATIVISM

LESSON 7
LEARNING OBJECTIVES(S):

▪ Explain cultural relativism

▪ Cite the strengths and weaknesses of cultural relativism
 WHAT IS CULTURAL RELATIVISM?

Cultural Relativism is the idea that a person’s beliefs, values and practices
should be understood based on that person’s own culture, rather than be
judged against the criteria of another
(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.
This is based on the idea that there is no ultimate standard of good and evil, so
every judgment about right and wrong is a product of society. Therefore, any
opinion on morality or ethics is subject to the cultural perspective of a person)
 Cultural Relativism vs. Cultural
Perspective

● If we hold on to strict cultural relativism, it is not possible to say that

human sacrifice is “wrong” or that respect for the elderly is “right”.
After all those are products of the culture. This takes any talk of
morality right over the cliff, and into meaningless gibberish.
● Relativism, in general, breaks down when examined from a purely
logical perspective.
● Absolute relativism is contradictory and impossible
THE FILIPINO CHARACTER

LESSON 8
LEARNING OBJECTIVES(S):

▪ Analyze crucial qualities of the Filipino moral identity

▪ Evaluate elements of the Filipino Character
The Filipino Character has weaknesses:

1. Extreme family-centeredness Extreme personalism

2. Lack of Discipline
3. Passivity and lack of initiative
4. Colonial Mentality
5. Kanya-kanya syndrome, talangka mentality
6. Lack of self-analysis and self-reflection
7. Emphasis on porma rather than substance
The Strengths of the Filipino Character
are:
1. Pakikipagkapwa-tao
2. Family orientation
3. Joy and Humor
4. Flexibility, Adaptability and Creativity
5. Hard work and Industry
6. Faith and Religiosity
7. Ability to survive
KEY POINTS
● The Filipino has a number of strengths. Their strengths, when they become
extreme, however, may also become their weaknesses.
● His/her strengths help him/her become ethical and moral but his/her
weaknesses obstruct his/her moral and ethical growth.
● Culture has a significant impact on morality.
● The Filipino group-centeredness and “kami” mentality make it difficult for the
Filipino to stand up against the group when that is the moral thing to do.
● There is much need for home, school and society as a whole to help every
Filipino grow into the strong moral person everyone is called to become.