SUPPLEMENTAL NOTES IN GEN. ED.
7 – ETHICS (TTH 12:30-2:00) Sir Ed’s Class the same feeling in reference to their society and breaking social trust could trigger the
THE FEELING OF GUILT AND THE ETHICAL DIMENSION OF HUMAN EXISTENCE
Edmund Husserl (1859-1938), the one who significantly bring in a new way of
philosophizing called phenomenology, heavily influenced by the philosophy of Immanuel
Kant (1724-1804), who has in turn had a lasting influence on Martin Heidegger (1889-
1976), developed one of the most radical explication of phenomenology of consciousness.
According to phenomenology, consciousness is always intentional, which means
consciousness cannot be conscious of itself but can only be conscious of itself conscious of
something, to distort this for your own benefit, and make it easier to digest, it is like saying
you cannot think of your thought thinking of itself but you can only think of your thoughts
thinking of something. This intentional nature of consciousness grounds the idea that
consciousness is oriented outward or outside of itself. In moral dimension of our existence
we can say that this orientation orients the consciousness to a universal voice in people’s
minds: Do Good, Avoid Evil. No matter what a particular culture’s notion of what is good
and what is evil, all cultures cannot defy this voice in human consciousness. This idea of
good may be distorted because of the shadows of our cultural and personal biases but it
doesn’t deny the idea that somewhere an ideal good exists (as a barometer for our value
judgment as Plato posited) and that knowing the ideal good always lead us to do the good
(Socrates), or we failed to reach the good because we are more inclined to follow our
instincts and appetites rather than on our intellect and will (Aristotle). This idea of failing,
of not being able to do what we “should” or “ought” to do leave us in an inner turmoil, an
inner restlessness (as Augustine of Hippo put it), a feeling that creates shame and guilt (or
apathy as a defence mechanism), a disturbing feeling that we don’t measure to what we
“should” and “ought” to do.
FREUD ON GUILT
The celebrated father of the psychoanalytic tradition, Sigmund Freud, thought of guilt as
having its origins in the fear that children feel when faced with the possibility that their
parents might stop loving them. According to Freud the worst fear of humans is not death
but rejection (that some are courageous to cut off their own life when they feel rejected is
enough proof to this). Parent’s anger, mostly taken by children as a sign of decreasing love,
could trigger the thought that they (children) are doing something wrong and thus raises
the feeling of guilt and fear in doing those actions later, or hiding those actions in order
not to be rejected by parents. Freud thought that children, when they became adults, have
same feeling of guilt. For Freud, then, guilt is simply based on childish fear, and is a sign of
psychological immaturity. Freud affirmed that when persons became fully healthy and
mature, they become free of guilt since they are no longer dependent on the approval of
society (an idea influenced by the Nietzschean notion of übermensch). Freud’s extreme
conclusion is all guilt is childish and unhealthy and should be eliminated.
THE NEO-FREUDIANS FUNCTIONAL AND VALUE GUILT
Seeing that Freud’s extreme position could lead to antisocial or defiant behavior, the Neo
Freudians (followers of Freud) modified Freud’s position by presenting two types of guilt,
1) Functional Guilt, and 2) Value Guilt. Functional guilt is produced by our awareness of
social norms which demand conformity, in which case, social rules function to make sure
that we act the same way as everyone else. Value Guilt, on the other hand, arises when we
are aware of a valid standard of activity and when we ourselves judge that we have
violated that standard. Value guilt requires the presence of, a) a true moral demand, and
b) a personal judgment. In this sense, the Neo-Freudians were able to distinguish between
False and Unhealthy Guilt (Functional guilt) and True and Healthy Guilt (Value guilt) which
clarified Freud’s extreme notion of guilt in a more moderate way.
ADLER’S IDEA OF GUILT AS INFERIORITY
According to Alfred Adler people are motivated to act by their need for power. Frustration
of this need will lead to a sense of powerlessness and uselessness. This is evident when we
feel we are not in control of a certain situation, when we have no power over what is
happening to us we begin to panic or experience emotional paralysis or confusion, making
us feel inferior. But people have difficulty in accepting this feeling of inferiority, so they
began to feel something is lacking in them and feel something is wrong with them. Adler
thought of the feeling of inferiority as the root of the feeling of guilt and, in agreement
with Freud, it is childish and unhealthy.
JUNG’S NOTION OF GUILT AND SHADOW
In the analytic psychology of Carl Gustav Jung, he likened the Self to a circle with several
layers: the outer layer is the social self (the persona), the inner layer next to it is the ego-
self, and beneath the ego self is the shadow self (the layer of self which is unconscious and
where our wild drives and impulses are hidden repressed), and the innermost part of the
self is what we call the inner self, who we truly are. For Jung, human guilt is the refusal to
accept the shadow and because this is driven by our refusal to accept part of who we are,
this is a false guilt. Jung on the other hand also posited an idea of true guilt. Human life is a 3. For there to be true guilt for a state of affairs that exists. Persons must be
process of growth; Jung called that individuation–the integration of the shadow to the responsible for it; they must somehow caused it.
Self–failure to accept this responsibility freely is true guilt. 4. For there to be true guilt in the omission of an act I must be obliged to perform that
action.
ERICH FROMM ON GUILT AS CONSCIENCE
To distinguish healthy and sick (unhealthy) guilt, some of these characteristics must be
Another psychologist, Erich Fromm, contrasted two types of conscience, 1) Authoritarian fully integrated into how we understand guilt.
Conscience, and 2) Humanistic Conscience. The authoritarian conscience is experienced as
fear before a powerful authority that must be obeyed. Humanistic conscience is felt as an HEALTHY GUILT SICK OR UNHEALTHY GUILT
inner voice expressing our love of ourselves and aiming at making our lives productive and  Healthy guilt leads towards a richer,  Sick guilt leads towards a paralysis of
happy. Authoritarian conscience generates false guilt because it is fear that dictates, not fuller, towards greater freedom, our energies, towards withdrawal
love. Fromm urged us to move away from authoritarian (fearful) towards humanistic towards being more alive. from life.
(loving) conscience.  Healthy guilt is put behind as part of  Sick guilt always stays with us for so
the process of living. many years, haunting us.
 Healthy guilt does not destroy our  Sick guilt leads to self-hatred.
In all the psychologists and thinkers we consulted it is very clear that the idea of guilt is a respect for ourselves.  Sick guilt lead us to be controlled by
natural human experience and part of the complex reality of human beings. But the  Healthy guilt allows the self to be in fear, fear of making mistakes and
question of a true and healthy guilt, false and unhealthy guilt always raises the question of control, making its own rational fear of being rejected by others.
true and false obligation just as it raises the idea of correct conscience and erroneous judgments.  Sick guilt leads us to sadness and
conscience. Most ethical and moral theorists are unanimous in saying that the moral  Healthy guilt leads us ultimately to joy. depression.
command we found in almost all human consciousness, across the ages, is grounded on  Healthy guilt is unselfish, other-  Sick guilt is selfish, self-centered.
what we term conscience. Thomas of Aquinas thought of conscience as what signifies the directed, and outgoing, and leads us to
act of intellectual judgment by which we apply the general principles of morality to the correct the wrong deeds we have done.
particular situation. The experience of the demand to do what we should or ought to do
give us the natural conclusion (as affirmed by phenomenology) that conscience is first of The intentionality of human consciousness as Husserl pointed out is then a fundamental
all, humans as will, a fundamental orientation, intentionally drawn, to the absolute good. orientation. Intellectually and cognitively, it is an orientation to know the truth, an
Knowable only by an intellect that seeks wisdom and a will that seeks to love but the orientation to wisdom. On the level of the senses, an orientation to the ultimately
search for the wisdom of life has always been something rare and difficult. Humans, beautiful on the level of the will and action, human consciousness is fundamentally
by the very fact of their complexity and richness, always runs the risk of being oriented towards making a response to the moral command “do good, avoid evil.”
distracted, of becoming lost in the immediate problems and forgetting the essential, Cultures, situations, personal preferences may interpret this command according to their
of forgetting that for which they were made, of losing the profound significance of limited and often self-serving biases but this orientation to the ultimate good always
their human life. stands as a command, a demand, that we humans imposed to ourselves as oriented to the
good because dimly, with the flickering light of intelligence, we are aware that we are
To distinguish false from true guilt (false from true conscience), some of these principle made for the Good, the Truth, and the Beautiful. And unless our lives are not a response to
can guide us. this we will continue to be restless, lonely, and empty because guilt and shame are not
1. For there to be true guilt there must exist a valid obligation which truly applies to merely the results of breaking some rules or standards but the results of breaking our lives
you. The obligation must be based on a moral and not merely social standard. and ourselves.
2. For there to be true guilt for the performance of an immoral act, the immoral act
must be intended.
CLASSROOM ACTIVITY FOR GROUP COLLABORATION AND DISCUSSION
Instructions:
a. The group must discuss thoroughly the cases or situations in Exercises 1 and 2 and
determine which of those are true and false guilt (in Exercise 1), and healthy and
sick guilt in (Exercise 2).
b. The group must enter into a short healthy debate or exchange of ideas where
every member should persuade each and every member to come up with a unified
stand.
c. The final group output must be typewritten in a short size bond paper and must be
validated through a short conference with the instructor.
A. Exercise 1: BUCKLING UP. Which of these cases are true guilt and which are false?
Explain your answers by using the Basic Principles of Distinguishing False from True
Guilt.
B. Exercise 2. TAKING OFF. Which of the following cases are healthy guilt and
which are sick guilt? Explain your answers using the characteristics of healthy
and sick guilt you learned from our lesson.
1. I asked forgiveness of my friend because I was cruel toward her.
2. I am ashamed at making a mistake in class. I will never again speak out my
ideas in class.
3. I am afraid what my father will say when he finds out that I wrecked our car.
4. I will never forget the sins that I committed when I was young and will never
forgive myself for it.
5. I hate myself for having an abortion.
6. I feel bad for not studying last semester. I will try to do better this semester.
7. I feel ashamed to give my opinion in a discussion.
8. I fear that my parents will find out that I stole money from them.
9. I hate it that I talk so much.
10. I am praying more this year to make up for my neglect of God last year.

1. I said some cruel words that hurt my friend. I feel bad about that.
2. I feel guilty that my mother died while giving birth to me.
3. I feel bad that there are hungry people in the world when I am well fed.
4. I was disloyal to my friend. I feel bad for not having been courageous enough to be
a good friend. References:
5. I am a choosing a career which my parents do not approve of. I feel guilty that I am
causing them pain. Moga, Michael (2018). Understanding Morality. Makati City: St Pauls Philippines.
6. While driving I hit a dog. I feel bad about that.
7. I feel guilty that I have done nothing to stop the destruction of the forests in the Reyes, Ramon (1989). Ground and Norm of Morality. Manila: Ateneo De Manila
Philippines. University Press.
8. I feel guilty for feeling angry toward my parents.
9. I feel bad that, influenced by my barkada, I did things which were against my
principles.
10. I feel ashamed that people are talking about me.
11. I feel bad that even though I studied I did poorly on the exam.
12. I am disturbed and feel guilty by the wild impulses within me.
13. I feel guilty that my father supports our family from immoral business dealings.