Module 1: Lesson 1 • It is the branch of philosophy that deals with the study of Supreme

THE STUDY OF PHILOSOPHY AND ETHICS Being, defined as both omnipotent and good in the light of evil in the
world.
Philosophy
• The term philosophy is taken from two Greek words, philos and Rational Philosophy
sophia which literally mean love of wisdom. It seeks to find out the • It is primarily concern with the principles of living things, especially
true meaning of life and the importance of it, the desire to understand that of man, focusing mainly on the relevance of the soul and self-
the existence of everything. knowledge which arises from common sense and natural reason.
• Philosophical methods may be used in the study of any subject or the
pursuit of any vocation. Philosophical training enhances one’s Social Philosophy
problem-solving capacities, one’s abilities to understand and express • It is a branch of philosophy that deals with the study of the nature of
ideas, and one’s persuasive powers. society, relation between the individual, and social interaction that
takes place in the given community.
Main Divisions of Philosophy
• Practical Philosophy Political Philosophy
• Speculative Philosophy • It is a branch of philosophy that deals with the study of the ultimate
foundation of the state, the nature of legitimate authority, the form
Speculative Philosophy of government, and the perfect form of society.
• It is the division of Philosophy that is primarily good for contemplative
understanding. It provides knowledge of a subject or area for the Logic
sake of knowledge. • It is the formal and systematic study of the principles of valid
inference and correct reasoning. It is commonly known as the art and
Practical Philosophy science of correct thinking.
• It is the division of philosophy that is good for real life application. It
provides knowledge to be used or applied in concrete actions or Ethics
situations. • It is a branch of philosophy that deals with the concepts and principles
or morality.
Branches of Speculative Philosophy • It is a normative science of the conduct of human being living in
• Epistemology Aesthetics societies; a science which judges the conduct to be right or wrong, to
• Metaphysics Theodicy be good or bad.
• Cosmology Rational Philosophy
• Anthropology Social Philosophy Difference between Ethics and Morality
• Political Philosophy • Etymologically, there is no difference between ethics and morality,
because both Ethics and Morality comes from the Latin word mos or
Epistemology moris, which means custom.
• It is the branch of philosophy that deals with the theory of knowledge • However, there is a slight difference between ethics and morality.
– its sources, kinds, and reliability. It is concerned with the definition, Ethics provides man with theoretical knowledge of the morality of
sources kinds, and criteria of knowledge possible, and the degree to human act while morality actualizes the theory. Morality is nothing
which each is certain. else but doing of ethics.

Metaphysics • Division of Ethics

• It is a branch of philosophy that deals with the nature of existence. It
is customarily divided into Ontology and Metaphysics proper.
• Ontology deals with the question of how many fundamentally distinct
sorts of entities compose the universe, and Metaphysics proper,
which describes the most general traits of reality.
Cosmology
• It is the scientific study of the universe on the largest scales of space
and time, particularly the propounding of theories concerning its
origin, nature, structure, and evolution.
Anthropology
• It is the study of man and his destiny. It reflects upon man in order to
understand him in his entirety, grasping the fundamental principles
of his existence in the world and his behavior.
Aesthetics
• It is a philosophical inquiry about beauty in all of its forms. It also
deals with the question of whether such qualities are objectively
present in the things they appear to qualify, or exist only in the mind
of the individual.
Theodicy
General Ethics
Special Ethics
General Ethics
• It presents truths about human acts, and from these truths deduce
the general principles of morality. General ethics is applied to
individual in relation to himself, to God and to his fellow man.
Special Ethics
• This one is applied ethics. It applies to the principles of general ethics
in different departments of human activity, individual and social. It
includes man’s relation to the family, to the state and to the world.
Importance of Ethics
• The importance of the study of ethics follows immediately from the
meaning of ethics itself.
• Ethics means living in proper way and it is in the development of a
good moral character and virtues that man finds perfection and
understands his purpose of existence.
• The Greek triumvirate, the Christian teachings and majority of
Oriental Philosophers affirmed that the ultimate purpose of human
existences is not acquisition of material possession, power and
 prestige but in the development of moral qualities that make men
unique and supreme from all creation.
• Confucius laid great emphasis on the cultivation of character, the
purity of heart and conduct. He extorted to the people a good
character first, which is a priceless jewel and which is the best of all
virtues.
Relationship of Ethics to Other Sciences
• Ethics and Logic
• Ethics and Psychology
• Ethics and Sociology
• Ethics and Economics
• Ethics and Education
• Ethics and Law
• Ethics and Art
• Ethics and Political Science
Ethics and Logic
• Logic is the science and art of correct reasoning. Ethics is the science
of good and proper living. But good living presupposes correct
thinking and reasoning. Doing follows thinking.
Ethics and Psychology
• Psychology is the scientific study of behavior and cognitive mental
process. Both involve the study of man, human nature, and human
behavior.
Ethics and Sociology
• Sociology is the scientific study of society and culture while Ethics is
concerned with the moral order, which also includes social order.
• Society exists because of the observance of moral laws that makes
sociology dependent on Ethics. Both are complimentary, norms and
cultures of the people which are the basis of ethical standards of a
particular society.
Ethics and Economics
• Economics is the proper allocation and efficient use of available
resources for the maximum satisfaction of human needs.
• His means of livelihood therefore must be morally acceptable. He
must observe justice and fairness with his fellow being.
Ethics and Education
• Education liberates men from ignorance not only from ethical
standards but also from laws that are implemented by the society.
Education is concerned with the total human development.
Ethics and Law
• Laws imposed by the society must be fair, just, and humane. It must
be for the welfare of the majority of the people and not offensive to
morality. There is a difference between what is moral and what is
legal.
• The legal covers only the external acts of man; the moral governs even
the internal acts of man, such as the volitional and intentional
activities of the will and mind.
Ethics and Art
• Man’s artistic creation must have a noble purpose, which should not
be offensive to morality. A piece of art should reflect beauty and must
inspire every person who sees it.
Ethics and Political Science
• Political Science is the study of state and government. Politics covers
the administration and management of our government.
• Politics is also concerned with the material needs of man while ethics
is primarily concern with the spiritual needs of man, these two are
inseparable.
• Politics is not bad at all, if it used properly; the politicians must set
aside their personal interest and rather promote the general welfare
of the citizens.
Module 1: Lesson 2
INTRODUCTION OF BASIC CONCEPTS AND KEY ELEMENTS OF ETHICS
• Looking closely, human actions ought to be understood clearly
in a very strict sense, because it has something to do with human
movements that are ruled by one’s freedom.
• Freedom figures closely into action and inclination. Freedom
here, means not only the ability to act free from outside
influences or independence from the impediments to one’s
wishes.
• It is the willful act and decision that gives form and shape to the
actions and inclinations of the human person.
• The human person himself/herself is significant only in
considering the result in matters of to poiein or gawa.
The Key Elements of Ethics
• Character
• Moral Character
• Moral Courage
• Gawa and Gawi
• Reason
• Feelings
• Freedom
• Good Acts and Evil Acts
Character
• It is an evaluation of an individual's stable moral qualities. The
concept of character can imply a variety of attributes including
the existence or lack of virtues.
Moral Character
• It primarily refers to the assemblage of qualities that distinguish
one individual from another.
• Although on a cultural level, the set of moral behaviors to which
a social group adheres can be said to unite and define it culturally
as distinct from others.
Moral Courage
• It is a result of morally developed will. It is the capacity to initiate
and sustain your resolve whenever you are certain of doing the
good.
Gawa
• The term refers to the free action that is oriented towards a
particular end. For example, a worker uses his/her free
imagination and will to bring about services and products that
contribute to the well-being of society.
• As governed by free decisions making, the creative workers
embrace all the information he/she can gather to effectively
realize his/her purpose.
Gawi
• The term refers to the free kind of work. However, instead of
focusing on a particular end like a product or fulfillment.
• Gawi refers to the kind of acts that human beings are used to
accomplishing. It does not only refer to particular acts of a
person. A person’s habitual action or kagawian reveals truth
about himself/herself.
Reason
• It sets the course for making ethical and impartial decisions
especially in moral situations although it is not the sole
determining factor in coming up with such decision.
Feelings
• It provides the individual with an initial reckoning of a situation,
but they should not be the sole basis for one’s motives and
actions.
Freedom
• It is the willful act and decision that gives form and shape to the
actions and inclinations of the individuals.
• Freedom is oriented towards the wherefore, the what for, and
the whom for, of the doings of the individuals.
Good Acts
• A morally good act requires the goodness of the object, of the
intention of the agent, and of the circumstances together.
Evil Acts
• It is an act that corrupts the action even if the object is good in
itself.
Approaches to Normative Ethics
• Consequentialism
• Deontology
• Virtue Ethics
Consequentialism
• At the heart of consequentialist theories is the idea that the
moral action is the one that produces the best consequences.
Deontology
• According to deontological theories, morality is primarily a
function of duties or obligations, regardless of the consequences
of acting in accordance with those duties.
Virtue Ethics
• It gives primacy of importance not to rules, but to particular
habits of character such as the virtue of courage and other types
of virtue that the person is personally inclined to perform.
Moral Standards
• It refers to the norms which we have about the types of actions
which we believe to be morally acceptable and morally
unacceptable.
• Specifically, it involves sets of recognized and permanently
acceptable character or norms commonly used as primary
measure of quality, value, and extent.
Non-moral Standards
• It refers to rules that we have about the types of actions that are
unrelated to moral or ethical considerations.
• These refers to the people’s customary, and habitual ways of
doing things. These customary ways are accumulated and
become repetitive patterns of expected behavior, which tend to
become permanent traditions.
Derivation of Moral Standards
• The foundations of evolving moral systems rest on a complex
cybernetic process that sustains and preserves the human
species.
• This is a dynamic process that drives the creation of moral and
ethical standards, namely: emotion, and rules.
• Every human action inspires a corresponding reaction whether
subtle in nature or violent. Some people are more emotionally
reactive than others.
• Emotions can get out of control if not regulated by laws,
customs, moral codes, professional codes and even the rules of
etiquette.
• Rules are considered as an essential stabilizing force that
enhance the survivability of individuals, families and nations.
Dilemma
• It is a situation where a person is forced to choose between two
or more conflicting options, neither of which is acceptable. As
we can see, the key here is that the person has choices to make
that will all have results she does not want.
Ethical Dilemma
• It is a decision-making problem between two possible moral
imperatives, neither of which is unambiguously acceptable or
preferable.
• In ethical dilemma, the complexity arises out of the situational
conflict in which obeying would result in transgressing another.
• There are three identified conditions that must be present for
situations to be considered moral dilemmas:
• First, the person or the agent of a moral action is obliged to make
a decision about which course of action is best. Here, the moral
agent must choose the best option and act accordingly.
• Second, there must be different courses of action to choose
from. Hence, as already pointed out above, there must be two
or more conflicting options to choose from for moral dilemmas
to occur.
• Third, no matter what course of action is taken, some moral
principles are always compromised.
Types of Moral Dilemma
• Epistemic Dilemmas: Self-imposed and world-imposed
dilemmas
• Obligation Dilemmas and Prohibition Dilemmas
• Single Agent and Multi-person Dilemmas
Epistemic Dilemma
• It involves situations wherein two or more moral requirements
conflicted with each other and that the moral agent hardly
knows which of the conflicting moral requirements takes
precedence over the other.
• In other words, under the epistemic dilemma, the moral agent in
this situation does not know which option is morally right or
wrong.
Self-imposed Dilemma
• This is caused by the moral agent’s wrong doings.
Obligation Dilemma
• This pertains to a particular situation in which there are more
than one feasible action is obligatory,
Single Agent Dilemma
• The moral agent is compelled to act on two or more equally the
same moral options but he/she cannot choose both.
The Sources of Morality
• The Object
• The Intention of the Agent
• The Circumstances
The Object
• It is the aim or goal of a certain action acquired. To make an act
morally good, it’s object or aim must conform to the law of God
or the conscience of the doer of the action must attest it.
The Intention of the Agent
• It refers to the means of attaining the object.
The Circumstances
• These pertains to the types of environment, situation, or
condition prevailing when the action is done.
Module 2: Lesson 1
CULTURE IN MORAL BEHAVIOR
• The beginning of human civilization is a proper reference point
in treating the interesting subject of culture.
• A human being’s adaptation to their society, conformity to the
culture of their time, and their education have work alongside
each other putting their present status.
Culture
• It is derived from the Latin word cultura or cultus which means
care or cultivation. Culture is analogous to caring for an infant.
Because an infant has prolonged dependency, he/she has to be
taken care by people around him/her.
• Culture has been defined as all modes of thought, behavior, and
production that are handed down from one generation to the
next by means of communicative interaction rather than by
genetic transmission.
• Culture as cultivation implies that every human being is a
potential member of hi/her own social group. He/She is
endowed with certain innately useful qualities.
• However, he/she cannot develop these inborn talents without
the help of other people.
• It is an indelible manifestation of human existence that shows
how far a human being has gone in the course of time and how
much he/she has learned.
• The growth of culture anywhere at any given time is a result of
an individual’s reaction to the several stimuli that motivates
his/her way of thinking and challenge his/her mode of living.
Without him/her culture will be at a standstill.
Origin of Culture
• Anthropologists believe that culture is a product of human
evolution. Humans devised a common way of classifying
experiences and transmitting them symbolically.
• Since these experiences were learned and transmitted, the
developed distinctly, independent from biological evolutions.
Hence, a person may transmit beliefs, values, norms or way of
life to another person even if they are not related by blood.
• This view of culture argues that people from different places
develop distinct cultures. However, elements of a culture can be
transmitted from one society to another.
• Being dynamic, culture can be taught and learned, making it
potentially rapid form of adaptation to changes in the human
environment.
Elements of Culture
• Material Culture
• Non-material Culture
Material Culture
• It includes the physical objects a society produces. These are
tools, pieces of furniture, clothing, automobiles, and computer
systems, to name a few.
• Awareness of these kinds of objects created and how people use
them brings about greater understanding of culture of society.
Non-material Culture
• It consist of elements termed norms, values, belief, and language
shared by the members of a society. Non-material culture is
considered as the carriers of culture.
Elements of Non-material Culture
• Language
• Beliefs
• Values
• Norms
Language
• The most defining characteristics of the human being is the
ability to develop and use highly complex systems of symbols like
language.
• A symbol, as sociologist says, is the very foundation of culture.
The essence of culture is the sharing of meanings among
members of the society.
• Unless one shares the language of culture, one cannot
participate in it. Languages influences people’s way of
perceiving, behaving and feeling, thus, tends to define and shape
the world around them.
• It is through language that ideas, values, beliefs and knowledge
are transmitted, expressed and shared.
Belief
• These are ideas that people hold about any part of the total
reality surrounding them. It shows how people see reality.
• The subject of human beliefs may be infinite and may include
ideas concerning the individual, other people, and any aspects of
the biological, physical, social, and supernatural world, be it
primitive or scientific.
Values
• These are the shared ideas about desirable goals. These are
person’s ideas about worth and desirability or an abstract of
what is important and worthwhile.
• Values makes up human judgments of what is moral and
immoral, good and bad, right or wrong, beautiful and ugly, and
so on.
Norms
• These are shared rules of conduct that specify how people
should ought to think and act. Norms is simply defined as
specific rules of behavior.
Types of Norms
• Mores
• Folkways
• Laws
Mores
• These are norms associated with strong ideas of right and wrong.
Mores are standard of conduct that are highly respected and
valued by the group and their fulfillment is felt to be necessary
and vital to group welfare.
• They are considered essential to group’s existence and
accordingly, the group demands that they be followed without
question. They represent obligatory behavior because their
infractions result in punishments, formal or informal.
Folkways
• These are norms that simply the customary, normal and habitual
ways a group does things. These customary ways are
accumulated and become repetitive patterns of behavior, which
tends to become permanent traditions.
Laws
• These are often referred to as formal norms. They are rules that
are enforced and sanctioned by the authority of the
government.
Characteristics of Culture
• Culture is learned
• Culture is shared
• Culture is cumulative
• Culture is dynamic
• Culture is diverse
Functions of Culture
• The importance of culture cannot be overemphasized. Although
human beings possess instinct, they generally rely on their
culture in order to survive. Next to this, are some functions of
culture.
• Culture helps people adapt to the demand of the surrounding
physical environment.
• Culture compensates for many human physical limitations.
• Culture provides ways and means to regulate human collective
existence.
• Culture prescribes behavioral patter insides ways and means to
regulate human.
Cultural Relativism
• The concept refers to the notion that each culture should be
evaluated according to its own merits and standards rather than
from the standpoint or bases of a different culture.
• In other words, norms, values, and beliefs should be judged only
from the viewpoint of the culture where they belong.
• The goal of cultural relativism is to promote understanding of
cultural practices that are not typically part of one’s own culture.
• Using the perspective of cultural relativism, it leads to the view
that no particular culture is superior than another culture when
compared to systems of morality, law, politics, and so on.
• It is a concept that cultural norms and values derive their
meaning within a specific social context.
Modes of Acquiring Culture
• Imitation
• Indoctrination
• Conditioning
• Acculturation
• Amalgamation
Imitation
• It is human action by which one tends to duplicate more or less
exactly the behavior of others.
Indoctrination
• This takes the form of formal teaching or training which may
happen anywhere. The formal teaching takes into account the
cultural components of society where the learning individuals
lives.
Conditioning
• Through norms prevailing in one’s social and cultural milieu and
through the process of conditioning, the individual acquires
certain patterns of beliefs, values, and behaviors.
Acculturation
• It is a process by which societies with different cultures are
modified through fairly close and long continued contact.
Amalgamation
• It is the intermarriage of persons coming from different cultural
groups resulting in some kind of biological fusion.
Module 2: Lesson 2
DEVELOPING VIRTUE AS HABIT
▪ Ethics is a matter of living well through the habitual practice of
virtue which essentially translates into having a virtuous or
excellent character.
▪ A virtuous character is the result of proper combination of
practical wisdom (phronesis), and habituation in the pursuit of
the mean (mesotes).
▪ Being ethical is all about being excellent in human being, which
is being excellent in fulfilling one’s essence as a rational being
that has cultivated an excellent character and capable of making
the most prudent decisions in all circumstances.
▪ Through the constant interaction of thought and action as
prompted by various situations that calls for one’s decision, a
person comes to know himself/herself as a certain type of
character or personality.
▪ Being a certain way or having a particular personality or
character implies a certain understanding of the good.
▪ Personality or character is an approach or a way of reckoning the
different situations that one faces in his/her life - a way of
navigating one’s way towards his/her flourishing as a human
person.
▪ Character is not merely a theoretical construct but a product of
action in the world – a constant doing or way of being that is
made apparent by the possession and actualization of particular
virtues or vices.
Moral Character
• It is an evaluation of an individual's stable moral qualities. The
concept of character can imply a variety of attributes.
• A moral character includes the existence or lack of virtues such
as empathy, courage, fortitude, honesty, and loyalty, or of good
behaviors or habits.
• Moral character primarily refers to the assemblage of qualities
that distinguish one individual from another.
• Although on a cultural level, the set of moral behaviors to which
a social group adheres can be said to unite and define it culturally
as distinct from others.
• Psychologist Lawrence Pervin defines moral character as a
disposition to express behavior in consistent patterns of
functions across a range of situations.
• Normative ethics involve moral standards that exhibit right and
wrong conduct. It is a test of proper behavior and determining
what is right and wrong.
• Plato believed that the soul is divided into three parts of desire,
namely:
o Rational
o Appetitive
o Spirited
• In order to have moral character, we must understand what
contributes to our overall good and have our spirited and
appetitive desires educated properly, so that they can agree with
the guidance provided by the rational part of the soul.
• Aristotle tells us that there are good people in the world. These
are those who exhibit excellences – excellences of thought and
excellences of character.
• Excellence of character, then, is a state concerned with choice,
lying in a mean relative to us, this being determined by reason
and in the way in which the man of practical wisdom would
determine it.
• We have been informed that Ethics is a branch of Philosophy
concerned about actions, the action either human act or act of
man. Ethics and values have a common role; they even interplay
with each other.
• Ethics without values is hollow and shallow and therefore weak.
While values without ethics is paralytics.
Values
• These are beliefs or ideals shared by the member of a culture
about what is good or desirable and what is not. It strongly
influences the behavior of an individual and serve as board in all
situation.
• Through heredity or through the environment, an individual
acquires values. The influence of the family, community, society,
nation, and other individuals makes the person unique as he/she
develops a set of values. These values determine the priorities
and lifestyle of the person.
Root of Filipino Values
• There are three known origin of the Filipino values. These are
lifestyles, human nature, and cultural inclination.
The Patterns of Filipino Values
• Exogenous Pattern
• Indigenous Pattern
Exogenous Pattern
• It is also identified as legal or formal. The word itself would help
us deduce its root to the time when Filipinos began to form a link
with cultures.
Indigenous Pattern
• It is considered traditional or non-formal pattern of Filipino
values. Indigenous values are acquired in the subconscious mind.
Filipino Values
• Bayanihan
• Family Closeness
• Hospitality
• Compassion
• Regionalism
• Friendliness
• Politeness
Bayanihan
• The Filipino community spirit of cooperation in which a group of
individuals extends a helping hand without expecting any
remuneration.
Family Closeness
• The Filipino trait of prioritizing the family above other things and
maintaining the close connections and cooperation among its
members.
Hospitality
• The Filipino trait of being receptive and generous to guests and
to anybody that enters into their homes.
Compassion
• The Filipino trait of being kind and emphatic to others even if the
person is a not known to them or a stranger.
Regionalism
• The Filipino trait of giving his province mates preferential
treatment as well as priority over natives of other provinces.
Friendliness
• The Filipino quality of being friendly and can easily get together with
others in a sincere, loyal, and kind ways.
Politeness
• The Filipino quality of being courteous to anybody, most especially to
the eldars, and it is usually associated with the used of Po and Opo.
Filipino Values and Non-Filipino Culture
• While it is true that Filipinos have their own sense of values and
valuing system, it is also an accepted fact that these distinct
values came from the universal human needs and wants.
• For instance, everyone in the world has a want to own a car.
However, how serious the Filipinos are on this want may be
different from that of the Americans.
Bipolar Filipino Values
• Hiya or Shame
• Ningas Cogon or Procrastination
• Bahala Na or Resignation
• Mañana Habit
• Utang na loob or Indebtedness
Hiya or Shame
• It gives the Filipinos a picture of refinement, culture and
education. It avoids harshness or crudeness. This value limits the
Filipinos to desire so much and it gives them peace of mind.
Ningas Cogon
• Its positive aspects rely on the fact that a person with such a
value is definitely simple. It has a negative effect because a man
with that value refuses to take responsibility, and a man who
does not take responsibilities seems to be far from
improvements.
Bahala Na or Resignation
• It has a positive effect because it is a demonstration of
dependence to God. Bahala na is a expression of humility; it is
the opposite of arrogance. However, it also has a negative effect
because it legitimizes laziness.
Mañana Habit
• Being a positive value, it allows things to move on their pattern.
They assure peace of mind in the person. They are like allowing
wound to heal on its own. However, they also have a negative
part. It keeps problems to a heap until solving them becomes
impossible.
Module 2: Lesson 3
MORAL DEVELOPMENT
• The notions of morality development have been developed over
centuries, the earliest came from philosophers
like Confucius, Aristotle, and Rousseau, who all took a more
humanist perspective and focused on the development of the
conscience and sense of virtue.
Moral Development
• It focuses on the emergence, change, and understanding
of morality from infancy through adulthood.
• Morality develops across a lifetime and is influenced by an
individual's experiences and their behavior when faced with
moral issues through different periods of physical and cognitive
development.
• Morality in itself is often a synonym for rightness or goodness. It
refers to a certain code of conduct that is derived from one's
culture, religion or personal philosophy that guides one's
actions, behaviors and thoughts.
• In the modern day, empirical research has explored morality
through a moral psychology lens by theorists like Sigmund
Freud and its relation to cognitive development by theorists
like Jean Piaget, Lawrence Kohlberg, and B. F. Skinner.
Levels of Moral Reasoning
• Pre-conventional
• Conventional
• Post-conventional
Pre-conventional Level
• It is where a child’s sense of morality is externally controlled.
Children accept and believe the rules of authority figures, such
as parents and teachers.
Stages of Pre-conventional Level of Moral Reasoning
Stage 1: Obedience/Punishment Orientation
o It focuses on the child’s desire to obey rules and avoid
being punished. For example, an action is perceived as
morally wrong because the perpetrator is punished;
the worse the punishment for the act is, the worse the
act is perceived to be.
Stage 2: Instrumental Orientation
o It expresses the what’s in it for me? position, in which
right behavior is defined by whatever the individual
believes to be in their best interest.
o Stage two reasoning shows a limited interest in the
needs of others, only to the point where it might
further the individual’s own interests.
Conventional Level
• It is where a child’s sense of morality is tied to personal and
societal relationships. Children continue to accept the rules of
authority figures, but this is now due to their belief that this is
necessary to ensure positive relationships and societal order.
Stages of Conventional Level of Moral Reasoning
Stage 1: Good Boy / Good Girl Orientation
o In this stage, children want the approval of others and
act in ways to avoid disapproval. Emphasis is placed
on good behavior and people being nice to others.
Stage 2: Law and Order Orientation
o In this stage, the child blindly accepts rules and
convention because of their importance in maintaining
a functioning society.
o Rules are seen as being the same for everyone, and
obeying rules by doing what one is supposed to do is
seen as valuable and important.
Post-conventional Level
• It is where a person’s sense of morality is defined in terms of
more abstract principles and values. People now believe that
some laws are unjust and should be changed or eliminated.
Stages of Post-conventional Level of Moral Reasoning
Stage 1: Social Contract Orientation
o In this stage, the world is viewed as holding different
opinions, rights, and values. Such perspectives should
be mutually respected as unique to each person or
community. Laws are regarded as social contracts
rather than rigid edicts.
Stage 2: Universal Ethical Orientation
o In this stage, moral reasoning is based on abstract
reasoning using universal ethical principles. Generally,
the chosen principles are abstract rather than concrete
and focus on ideas such as equality, dignity, or respect.
Conscience
• It refers to the inner sense or consciousness of the moral
goodness or blameworthiness of one’s own conduct, intentions,
or character together with a feeling of obligation to do right or
to be good.
Conscience-Based Moral Decision
• In this way, the individual acts because it is morally right to do so
and not because he or she wants to avoid punishment, it is in
their best interest, it is expected, it is legal, or it is previously
agreed upon.
• In this type of decision, laws are valid only insofar as they are
grounded in justice, and a commitment to justice carries with it,
and an obligation to disobey unjust laws.