UNIVERSITY OF SANTO TOMAS

FACULTY OF ARTS & LETTERS

Department of Philosophy

CASE STUDY TEMPLATE

SECTIO CASE SCO

Why be Superhero? Why be Moral? #
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ARTICLE TITLE / MOVIE

2LM4 DATE 1
SUBMITTED 4/23/2020

14 DELA FUENTE Louis Martin S.

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CN SURNAME GIVEN NAME MI SUFFIX

19 HUYO-A James
CN SURNAME GIVEN NAME MI SUFFIX

CN SURNAME GIVEN NAME MI SUFFIX

INTRODUCTION

Why be Superhero? Why Be Moral?” By C. Stephan Layman.

The title of the article is “Why be Superhero? Why Be Moral?” By C. Stephan

Layman. The author questions us if we want to become a superhero. But for us, becoming a
superhero, you protect the cities, showing your skills and powers to your friends, and become
famous in the world. However, the author proposed, we must not answer too immediately
because, in the movie Spiderman, the story of Peter Parker tells us how he got his powers. But
first thing first, what came into the mind of Peter Parker when he got his powers?  Did he use
it for the good of all people? Or did he misuse his power to impress Mary Jane? With that, the
reason for the author, regardless of becoming a superhero, is that we must consider first what
are the characteristics and behavior we should have. Hence, every one of us has a separate
mindset of being a human being because we have different moral obligations, moral duties,
and that affects our conscience when there is a situation like you had superpowers, but you use
only for self-interest rather than helping people. Thus, this is where the title of the article
applies, “Why be Superhero? Why Be Moral?”.    

So what does being moral mean? In the article, the characters Uncle Ben and Aunt
May show moral virtue to others by simply having a strong sense of right and wrong. Also, the
whole morality or the core of it in this article is also dedicated to seeing justice prevail over
injustice. Furthermore, the main idea of the author is morality can be the duty of a person, or
either personal wants. Hence, the argument here is that there are different perspectives and

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beliefs of a person. Also, he presented five (5) different reasons why we should be moral.

 Nevertheless, we claim that the perspective of the author is not enough reasons that
can truly persuade every person. 

SUMMARY
The article is about reasons why one should be moral. The author also explains how
one decides on a specific situation. The author used the movie spiderman to elaborate his
points through the use of 5 different reasons why one should be moral. The article also shows
us how Peter Parker or also known as “Spider-Man” decides on a specific situation where he
uses his morality. And here comes the five reasons for morality. Reason one means that If you
fail to do your moral duty, there will be negative consequences that affect you, directly or
indirectly. In this sense, it only means that whenever you did not choose to do your moral
duty, there could be negative consequences. Just like what happened to Peter Parker, he let slip
away the robber. After a while, he killed his uncle Ben. Next, Reason Two means that Because
it is right. The situation that is under this reason is when Spiderman does something right, even
if he gets nothing from it, he still does it for the reason that it is right. Next, Reason three
means that Doing your duty is the only way you can have harmony in your soul (roughly,
peace of mind). Whenever spiderman does something good he finds harmony in what he is
doing. Next, Reason four means that virtue is its own reward; that is, having a good moral
character (having the virtues) is necessarily a greater benefit to you than any benefit you might
obtain at the expense of your good moral character. This explains how spiderman copes up to
have good moral character and by having a good image he does find pleasure from it. Lastly, 
Reason 5 means that being moral always pays in the long run, where “the long run” includes
life after death. This only means that whenever we do something moral or right, God will pay
you positive outcomes, even afterlife which is death. 

The setting focuses on the dilemmas of “Spiderman”, the author elaborates on how
Spiderman decides on a specific situation and what happens when he doesn’t use his morals
dealing in that kind of situation.

The author argues that not all the five reasons mentioned answer the question “why one
should be moral?” and he explained every detail of each reason on why they work or not. In
the end, he stated that reflecting about why one should be moral paves way to different
questions regarding morality and he remains affirm that the reasons he stated are not enough to
answer them and they need individual reflections about them.

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 ANALYSIS
We agree with what the author said regarding the title of his work, “Why be Superhero?
Why Be Moral?” because everyone has their own story and background. Hence, every one of
us has different beliefs about being moral, and it depends on where we came from, religions,
and traditions. On the other hand, we disagree concerning why we need to have whole morals
as we said earlier, we have differences in a lot of aspects. That leads to distinguishing right
and wrong, but it is normal in our reality to have those traits.
To further explain, the story of Peter Parker him becoming a superhero, using his
powers to impress Mary Jane and getting the advantage of it. Hence, before becoming a
superhero, he has a background that hindered him. However, when Peter uses his power for
immoral things like entering the wrestling match, there is a negative consequence of it and that
when his uncle died. After that, Peter realized that what Uncle Ben said to him was, "With
great power comes great responsibility.”, and he decided to turn into a superhero. Therefore,
people change from the experiences that give them burdens and regrets. So, becoming a
superhero, we can learn from our mistakes or stay with them. 

The goal of the author was to keep in our minds that morality is something we must
have to think and experience more before doing the right thing. Because if you do it for your
fame, there is no whole moral trait that you can have. Before knowing what is right in our
reality, we must know how to live our lives and accept what consequences we might
encounter. In addition, there is no fully right and wrong. It is all based on how people would
encounter it and how you will show them the powers. Also, it takes full responsibility in
having powers like a superhero in that it has full-scaled enhanced powers to control. 

The analysis of the article was exciting, fascinating, directed at the appropriate
audience, and well-written because when we are young, we want to be superheroes just like
Spiderman. However, when we read and studied the article, we understood that being a
superhero is not simple. Nevertheless, when we receive this power, what comes to our
intention first? Perhaps, we use our powers to surprise our friends or, we protect a civilian
against crime. Therefore, we cannot say that when we have these powers, we will do the right
thing, it affects our moral self. The article gave us goosebumps because it gave us a glimpse of
reality and the experience of superheroes. 

Furthermore, the analysis was informative and understandable because the article
started from the background of Peter Parker, we thought that earning his powers would give
him the responsibility of a superhero. Nevertheless, it affects him in his moral self to do what
is right and wrong. Thus, the article tells us that superheroes are not heroes from the start, but
rather, they become one in the process of it. The author gives more explanation regarding five

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different reasons why we should be moral, which explains superheroes or us. However, it
doesn't define us totally because everyone is different and has their uniqueness in life.

CONCLUSION
Taking everything into account, the article fills in as an incredible directing power
for individuals who question why they have to be moral based on the circumstances he or she
is in. We agree that not all the five reasons answer the question “why be moral?”. However, as
a well-detailed article, Layman's explanations made a reasonable point on how we should
perceive moral duty and on what motivations we tend to do so. One must read this article
because it enlightens us that being a superhero does not set the stigma that superheroes should
always be good and virtuous but rather should do the right thing given the situation he faces
and takes the responsibility from the power he has.

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