MORAL

AND NON-MORAL
STANDARDS
 LEARNING OUTCOMES

• Able to distinguish between moral and non-

moral standards.
• Able to explain what makes standards moral.
• Able to know the origin of Moral Standards.
 ACTIVITY
Classify the following into groups: moral standards
and non-moral standards
• No talking when your mouth is full
• Do not lie
• Wear black or white for mourning; never red
• The males should be the one to propose marriage not females
• Don’t steal
• Observe correct grammar when writing and speaking English.
• Submit school requirements on time
• If you are male stay on the danger side (road side) when walking
with female.
• When you speak pronounce words
• Go with fashion or you are not in correctly
• Don’t cheat others. • Focus the microscope properly
• Don’t kill • Maintain a 36-24-36 body figure.
 ANALYSIS

1. Analyze your groupings. Why do you

classify one group as moral standards
and another as non-moral standards?
2. What is common to those listed under
moral standards? And to non-moral
standards?
“Moral” – is the adjective describing human
act as either ethically right or wrong or
qualifying a person, personality, character,
as either ethically good or bad.
MORAL STANDARDS AND NON-MORAL
STANDARDS
MORAL STANDARDS – are norms or prescriptions
that serve as frameworks for determining what
ought to be done or what is right or wrong action,
what is good or bad character.
Example of moral standards:
✓Killing is wrong
✓Telling lie is wrong
✓Adultery is wrong
✓Environmental preservation is the right thing to do.
✓Freedom with responsibility is the right way.
✓Giving what is due to others is justice.
MORAL STANDARDS AND NON-MORAL
STANDARDS
❑Moral Standards are either
consequences standards (like Stuart
Mill’s Utilitarianism) or non-
consequence standards (like
Aristotle’s virtue, St. Thomas’ natural
law)
 Consequence standards depend on
results, outcome.
An act that result in the general welfare,
in the greatest good of the greatest
number, is moral. To take part of the
project that results in the improvement
of the majority of people is therefore
moral.
Non-Consequence standards are
based on the natural law.
 Natural Law is the law of God revealed
through human reason. It is the “law of God
written in the hearts of men.”
✓To preserve human life is in accordance with
the natural law, therefore it is moral
✓Likewise, the non-consequence standard may
also be based on good will or intention, and
on a sense of duty. Respect for humanity,
treatment of the other as a human person, an
act that is moral, springs from a sense of duty,
a sense of duty that you wish will apply to all
human persons.
MORAL STANDARDS AND NON-MORAL
STANDARDS
❑Non-Moral Standards are social rules,
demands of etiquette and good
manners. They are guide or actions
which should be followed as expected
by society.
❑Non-Moral Standards are called folkways.
Examples of non-moral standards are rules of good
manners and right conduct, etiquette, rules of
behavior set by parents, teachers, and standards of
grammar or language, standards of art, standards
of sports set by authorities.
Examples of Non-Moral Standards:
✓No talking while your mouth is full
✓Submit school requirements on time
✓Go with fashion or you are not in
✓Observe correct grammar when writing and speaking
English
Note:
Non-compliance of MORAL STANDARDS
causes a sense of guilt while non-compliance
with a NON-MORAL STANDARD may only cause
shame or embarrassment.
CLASSIFICATION OF THE THEORIES OF
MORAL STANDARDS
Garner and Rosen (1967)
classified the various moral standards
formulated by moral philosophers as
follows:
1. Consequence Standard
2. Not-only consequence standard
CLASSIFICATION OF THE THEORIES OF
MORAL STANDARDS
1. Consequence standard (teleological 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.
✓The consequence standards states that the
rightness and wrongness of a rule depends on
the consequences or the good that is
produced in following the rule.
 CLASSIFICATION OF THE THEORIES OF
MORAL STANDARDS
2. Not-only-consequence standard (deontological)
– holds that the rightness and wrongness of an
action or rule depends on sense of duty, natural
law, virtue and the demand of the situation or
circumstances.
The rightness and wrongness does not only
depend or rely on the consequence of that action
or following that rule.
✓Determining what is right or wrong does not
depend on consequences but on the natural law
and virtue (deontological moral standard)
 Under deontology, the rightness and
wrongness of an action depends on all the
following:
A. Consequences of an action or rule, what
promotes one’s greatest good, or the greatest
good of the greatest number;
B. Considerations other than consequences, like
the obligatoriness or the act based on natural
law, or its being one’s duty, or its promoting an
ideal virtue.
WHAT MAKES STANDARDS
MORAL?
WHAT MAKES STANDARD MORAL?
✓For Theists, believer in God’s
existence, moral standards are Ten
Commandments
✓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. Like Confucius
taught the moral standard, “Do unto others
what you like others to do unto you”
Immanuel Kant formulated a criterion for
determining what makes standard a moral
standard, It is stated as follow: “Act only
according to that maxim whereby you can
at the same time will that it should become
a universal law” (in other words, if a maxim
cannot pass the test it cannot be a moral
standard)
For instance, does the maxim “stealing
is wrong” pass the test? Can the
maxim be a universal maxim or law?
The answer is in the affirmative, then
it could be a universal maxim or law.
✓Moral standards are standards that
we want to be followed by all
otherwise, one would be wishing
one’s own ill fortune.
Example: Can you wish “do not kill” to be a
universal maxim? The answer has to be “YES”
because if you say “no” then you are not objecting
to someone killing you.
✓The “universal necessity of the maxim, what
makes it a categorical imperative is what makes
it obligatory.” Like “Stealing is wrong” means
“one ought not steal” and “Do not kill” means
“one ought not kill”
Categorical Imperative (CI) - the supreme principle of morality is a
standard of rationality. CI is characterized as an objective, rationally
necessary and unconditional principle that we must always follow
despite any natural desires or inclinations we may have to the contrary.
(Immanuel Kant)
 It is one’s obligation not to steal or kill.
Ultimately, the obligation arises from the need
of Self-preservation.
 The Origin of Moral Standards: Theist
and Non-Theist
✓The theistic line of thought states moral
standards are of Divine origin while 20th
century thinkers claim state that they
simply evolved.
The issue is: Are moral standards
derived from God, communicated to man
through signs or revelation, or did they
arise in the course of man’s evolution?
✓With the Divine source concept, moral
standards are derived from natural law, man’s
“participation” in the Divine law. The moral
principle, “Do good and avoid evil” is an
expression of natural law. Man’s obliging
himself to respect the life, liberty and property
of his fellowman arises from the God-given
sacredness, spirituality and dignity of his fellow
man. It arises from his faith, hope and love of
God and Man.
The Origin of Moral Standards: Theist
and Non-Theist
✓ With the evolutionary concept, the
basics of moral standards – “do good,
avoid evil” – have been observes among
primates and must have evolved as the
process of evolution followed its course.
Evolutionist claims that altruism, a
sense of morality can be observed from
man’s fellow primates – the apes and the
monkeys
 APPLICATION
Here are two questions:
a) Can one eat while praying?
b) Can one pray while eating?
Which is a moral question? and which
is non-moral question? Explain your
answer.