Culture and Ethics

Cultural Relativism

 What is Cultural Relativism?

Cultural relativism is the ability to understand a culture on its own terms and not to make
judgments using the standards of one's own culture.

Using the perspective of cultural relativism leads to the view that no one culture is superior
than another culture when compared to systems of morality, law, politics, etc.

This is also based on the idea that there is no absolute standard of good or evil, therefore
every decision and judgment of what is right and wrong is individually decided in each
society.
Overall, there is no right or wrong ethical system. In a holistic understanding of the term
cultural relativism, it tries to promote the understanding of cultural practices that are
unfamiliar to other cultures such as eating insects, genocides or genital cutting.
 Two Categories of Cultural Relativism

Absolute Critical
Everything that happens within a culture must Creates questions about cultural practices in terms
and should not be questioned by outsiders. of who is accepting them and why. Critical cultural
relativism also recognizes power relationships.
 FAMILY SOLIDARITY

RESPECT FOR ELDERS

The Common
Filipino Traits
DEBT OF GRATITUDE

HIYA

SELF-ESTEEM

PAKIKISAMA OR PAKIKIKAPWA

FLEXIBILITY AND
ADAPTABILITY
Moral Development
The 6 sta ge s of Moral
De vel op m ent

 Stages of Moral Development

Pre-conventional
morality

Conventional
morality
Post-conventional
morality

Sensitive Intuitive Charismatic

 Pre-conventional Morality
We are in this state of mind mostly up to the ninth or tenth year of our life.

We don’t yet have a personal morality code, meaning that we still have to shape it, learn from
people around us and face the consequences of breaking the rules set by the world.
 Pre-conventional Morality
We are in this state of mind mostly up to the ninth or tenth year of our life.

We don’t yet have a personal morality code, meaning that we still have to shape it, learn from
people around us and face the consequences of breaking the rules set by the world.
 Stage one - Obedience and
Punishment Orientation
This is when we learn about what is
perceived to be right and wrong by
the society we live in.
Stage one - Instrumental Orientation
Children started to show a bit different
behavior, where they are no longer blindly
following the rules, but instead, trying to think
would certain action bring something useful
to them or not. In other words, they started to
ask the “What’s in there for me?” question
 Conventional Morality
This is when we start to accept general rules and moral standards of society and adults.

This is also when we stop to question every action and authority and internalize it as our
own.

Stage three - Good Boy, Nice Girl Stage four- Law and Order
Orientation Orientation

This is when we do things we might not We finally start to see the bigger picture and
be comfortable with, but we still do it accept the moral code of our society, as well as
to please others in order to get their some rules
approval.

We start to believe that the actions and rules set
This includes being nice to everyone up by the community are supposed to be
else, even when it is not in our best followed in order to preserve the natural way of
doing things
interest.

 Post-Conventional Morality
They come to think that some of them and other actions in society are wrong and that there
is a need for change.
At this point, people are starting to realize that every individual is an entity that is separated
from all others, with its own free will and moral code

 Stage five - Social Contract Stage six- Universal Ethical Principle

Orientation Orientation
This represents the time when we start
We can say that moral reasoning is defined by
to develop different opinions about the
using certain universally accepted ethical
moral code and rules set by society.
principles.
We start to question certain laws,
institutions and their work for the
society.
Rules and laws are no longer an
absolute, that should be followed
without questions.

 Universal Ethics
A value is said to be universal if it applies to all and holds a value that is the
same to everyone. The claim for universal values can be interpreted in two
different ways, as follows:

1. It could be something that has a universal value when everybody finds

it valuable.
2. Something can have universal value if all people have reason to
believe that it has value
 6 Universal Values
1. trustworthiness- honesty, integrity, reliability, and
loyalty.
2. respect-honoring the essential worth and dignity of all
people, including oneself
3. responsibility -Being responsible means being in
charge of our choices and so our lives. It means being
accountable for what we do and who we are.
 6 Universal Values
4. fairness -refers to a range of morally
justifiable outcomes instead of the discovery of one fair
answer.
5. caring -one should consciously cause no more harm
than is reasonably necessary
6. citizenship - how we ought to behave as
a part of a community.
Other theo ri es of Moral
De ve lo pm ent

Piaget's Theory of Moral Reasoning

He rejected the idea that children learn and internalize the rules and morals of society by
being given the rules and forced to adhere to them.

He recognized that children learn morality best by having to deal with others in groups. He
reasoned that there was a process by which children conform to society's norms of what is
right and wrong, and that the process was active rather than passive.
 Carol Gilligan and the morality of
care
His model is based on a concept of morality based on equity and justice, which places most
men in stage five or six. Gilligan found that women, who value social interaction more than
men, base their moral decisions on a culture of caring for other human beings. This would
place them at stage three, making women appear to be inferior morally to men. Men
determine immorality based on treating others unfairly, and women base it on turning away
someone in need.
 Bronfenbrenner
Urie Bronfenbrenner studied children and schools in different cultures since many
ethnic, religious, and social groups often have their own rules for moral behavior.

Movement from the first stage to any of the others was dependent on participation in the
family and other social institutions within each culture. Movement to the last stage
involved exposure to a different moral system that might be in conflict with one's own.

 Bronfenbrenner
Five moral orientations
Self-oriented morality- Behavior is based on self-interest and motivated by who can help
children get what they want or who is hindering that process.
Authority-oriented - culturally defined. It was very evident in Middle Eastern cultures where
religious authority is the law.
Peer-authority - moral conformity based on the conventions and rules of a social group. This
is evident among teenagers in Western cultures and even among some adults.
Collective-oriented - extension of the peer-authority stage. Here a larger group's rule
supercedes individual rights and interests. Duty is the law. This moral orientation was found
in Asian cultures.
Objectively-oriented -these rules transcend individual moral perspectives and become entities
in themselves.
 Other Theories
The Social Learning Theory - Claims that humans develop morality by learning the
rules of acceptable behavior from their external environment, an essentially
behaviorist approach.

Psychoanalytic theory proposes instead that morality develops through humans'

conflict between their instinctual drives and the demands of society

Cognitive development theories view morality as an outgrowth of cognition, or

reasoning.

Personality theories are holistic in their approach, taking into account all the factors
that contribute to human development.
 Other Theories
The Social Learning Theory - Claims that humans develop morality by learning the
rules of acceptable behavior from their external environment, an essentially
behaviorist approach.

Psychoanalytic theory proposes instead that morality develops through humans'

conflict between their instinctual drives and the demands of society

Cognitive development theories view morality as an outgrowth of cognition, or

reasoning.

Personality theories are holistic in their approach, taking into account all the factors
that contribute to human development.
 Other Theories
Personal Goal Theory- moral behavior is motivated by the desire to satisfy a variety of
personal and social goals, some of which are self-oriented (selfish), and some of which
are other-oriented (altruistic).

The four major internal motivations for moral behavior

1) empathy
2) the belief that people are valuable in and of themselves and therefore should be
helped
3) the desire to fulfill moral rules
4) self-interest.
 Other Theories
Social Domain Theory- moral reasoning is said to develop within particular social
domains
1) moral (e.g., welfare, justice, rights)
2) social-conventional (social rules for the orderly function of society)
3) personal (pure self-interest)