GEETH01X Week 3 Lesson Metaethical Theories

Metaethical Theories
Metaethical Theories &

its application
Ken Joseph Novilla
Faculty
GEETHICS101X Week 3: Metaethical Theories/ Ken Joseph Novilla / 2022 1

GEETHICS101X Week 3: Metaethical Theories/ Ken Joseph Novilla / 2022
Cultural Relativism
Ken Joseph Novilla
Introduction to Ethics Week 3

2
Cultural Relativism
“Your belief on what is right and wrong is

influenced by the people around you.
Together, they shaped your beliefs into
what we called as Culture“
-Ken Joseph Novilla
Man as a Cultural Agent

▪ Cultural Relativism simply means that your culture
influences you. The beliefs, values, and norms of
your society are ingrained and learned by you as
you grow old and integrated into your society.
▪ Culture can be learned in two ways:

▪ Acculturation : Learning the material and
non-material aspects of own culture
▪ Enculturation: Learning and adapting to a
new culture
▪ Inculturation: Learning and integrating
Christian teachings in one’s culture
Material Culture: aspects of culture that can be

touched
Non-material culture: Aspect of culture that is
intangible

4
Cultural Relativism
Family School
Peer Group Church
Mass Media Workplace
Cultural Relativism
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.
▪ Cultural Relativism simply means that we view the

culture of others from their perspectives rather our own
▪ It is the view that beliefs and ethics are relative to an

individual within its own culture and society. Since
ethical beliefs are relative, no one has the right to judge
one another.
▪ Cultural relativist beliefs that all culture are equal and

moral in their own.
▪ Problem: If the culture is deemed harmful, then it

cannot be simply disregarded and cannot be
considered as right.
Cultural Relativism
Colonialism & Culture

• Another example of Ethnocentrism is
Colonialism. In cultural sense, Colonialism
is defined as “social system in which the
political conquests by one society of
leads to “cultural domination with
enforced social change”
• The takeover of Colonial powers have

caused unrest. Cultures are combined
with another culture to form another
culture. The concept of right and wrong
changed overtime.
• For example, the status of women during

Pre-colonial times are valued as much as
men but it changed during colonization.
Introduction
Metaethical
to Ethics
Theories
Week 3
Cultural Relativism
Ethnocentrism
▪ Ethnocentrism means that one may see his/her own
culture as superior to other culture using your own
standard.
▪ Ethnocentrism is coined by William Summers. It refers

to the tendency of each society to place its own
patterns at the center of things.
▪ Ethnocentrism came from the Greek word “Ethnos”

meaning people, nation, or cultural groupings.
▪ Examples of this are eating chopsticks every meal

which may look using forks and spoons as
unnecessary; superiority of white race or white skin
▪ Problem: One’s perception of what is right or wrong

may not be appropriate and applicable in another
person or culture
Cultural Relativism
Cultural Relativism Ethnocentrism

Context It basically means we don’t have the right to judge It basically means we judge other cultures
other beliefs and culture just because they are different based on our standards of what is right
than us. We place our understanding based on their and wrong.
own standards not on our standards.
Definition It is the idea that norms, beliefs, and values are It means that the concept of right and
dependent on their cultural context and should be wrong is universal regardless of culture
treated as such.
Examples Polygamy is immoral in Catholicism but morally Eating using Chopsticks; eating exotic
appropriate in Islam; eating dinuguan ; foods
Remedies Read books, travel, emigrate Avoid judgements, teaching or learning

about ethnocentrism, believing that there
are no backward culture or ethics
Sources:
Sir Job TV (2020), UCSP-Q1-MELC3-P2: What Is Cultural Relativism? | Perspectives On Culture | Sir Job TV | 28. YouTube Video. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKItQOqNLQI . Retrieved date
January 20, 2022
Sir Job TV (2020). UCSP-Q1-MELC3-P1: When Do We Become Ethnocentric And What Is Our Way Out? | Sir Job TV | 27. YouTube. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IjLMH4KyAxY . Retrieved date
January 20, 2022
Cultural Relativism
Cultural Relativism & Filipino Culture
Positive Filipino Values Negative Filipino Values

• Hospitality • Extreme Family Centeredness
• Respect • Extreme Personalism
• Strong Family Ties • Lack of Discipline
• Strong Religious belief • Passivity and Lack of Initiative
• Generosity and Helpfulness • Colonial Mentality
• Flexibility, adaptability, and creativity • Crab mentality
• Hard work and industriousness • Lack of Self-Analysis and Reflection
• Joy and Humor • Emphasis on “porma” rather than
substance
Cultural Relativism
“ Culture shapes your belief in right and

wrong. The beliefs of your society and
the people around you may have
influenced how you view what is right for
you or not. “
-Ken Joseph Novilla
Supernaturalism
Ken Joseph Novilla

12
Supernaturalism
Ethical Supernaturalism
• Supernaturalism states that moral judgments describe
God's will. To call something "good" means that God
desires it.
• Supernaturalism holds that moral judgments describe

God's will. It is God's will creates the moral order.
• In Supernaturalism, Ethics is based on religion.
• Supernaturalism is defended as a Biblical teaching. In

this theory, God is the source of all basic laws and as the
only plausible source of objectively binding duties.
• We can best know God's will through combining four

sources: the Bible, the church, prayer, and reason.
Supernaturalism
Divine Command Theory

• Divine Command Theory believes that it is God who
commanded actions that are determined to be right or
wrong.
• Divine command theory provides an objective

assessment of what is ethical or moral because it is God
who commanded it.
• According to Pollock (2007), there are four assumptions

of divine command theory:
1. There is a god.
2. God commands and forbids certain acts.
3. An action is right if God commands it.
4. People ascertain what God commands or forbids.
Colonialism & Supernaturalism

• Colonialism has also brought changes on our
belief in supernatural powers and their concept of
what is right and wrong.
• Colonial powers have imposed their religious

beliefs on their subjects, abruptly changing the
latter’s (subject) religion and declaring it as
heretic.
• For example, the belief of ancient Filipinos in

animism was declared heretic and work of the
devil by the Spaniards who imposed Christianity;
Babaylan and anitos were banned and is now
“pangkukulam” (withcraft).
• Today, the beliefs in Christianity were a variable in

our decisions of what is right and wrong especially
in deciding to social issues such as abortion, same
sex marriage, divorce, etc.

15
Supernaturalism
Ethical Supernaturalism
Objections Arguments
Supernaturalism seems to make it impossible for The Bible doesn’t teach us Supernaturalism but rather
atheists to make positive moral judgments. teaches to obey God
It also raises the Socrates question : "Is a good thing There are some ways to ethics that it not based on
good because God desires it? Or does God desire what God wills. Some based their morality to their
it because it is good?” religion which may not always be the case
Supernaturalism
Euthyphro Dilemma
In Plato’s dialogue between Socrates and Euthyphro2,

Socrates is attempting to understand the essence of piety
and holiness
Socrates: And what do you say of piety, Euthyphro? Is not

piety, according to your definition, loved by all the gods?
Euthyphro: Certainly.
Socrates: Because it is pious or holy, or for some other
reason?
Euthyphro: No, that is the reason.
Socrates: It is loved because it is holy, not holy because it is
loved?
“Is a thing good simply because the gods say it is? Or do

the gods say a thing is good because of some other quality
it has? If so, what is that quality?”
Intuitionism
Intuitions in Decision Making

and Moral Statement
Ken Joseph Novilla

Emotivism
Intuitionism
Intuitionism
• Intuition is a process that gives us the ability to know
something directly without analytic reasoning, between
instinct and reason (Cholle, 2011).
• Intuitionism believes that there are objective moral truths

independent of human beings.
• Simply put, Intuitionism teaches that moral truths can be found

by a person by himself
• Intuitionism in Filipino means “alam mong tama ka”

or”pakiramdam ko tama ako”
Cons: Seeming right is different from being right. Up: A.J. Ayer ; Right: Charles
Stevenson

Intuitionism
Factors that affect Intuitionism
Experience Risk Tolerance Limit

The more experienced a person Intuition is strengthened in an environment Knowing the limits of their
is in a particular field, the more that allows a person to experience both intuition, there know when to
their subconscious mind will be positive and negative experiences. rely on it and when not to.
able to observe and recognize People who are willing to take risks and
patterns, which translates to make mistakes learn more about their field
better intuition than those who follow a safe path
Networks Emotional Intelligence

The more a person interacts with a People with a higher emotional
network of people with a lot of intelligence – people who are
experience in a certain field, the more more in tune with their
they learn about the minute cues that emotions – tend to have a
help the others make their decisions more developed sense of
Intuition.
Intuitionism
Arguments of Intuitionism
Objective Truths Seeming right

don’t exist
Many philosophers Moral Intuition Seeming right about a Different Ethical
moral decision doesn’t
don't think that there doesn’t exist mean being right about
Conclusions
are such things as
it. If there are real objective
objective moral truths. The idea that human beings
For them, moral have something called moral moral truths, then they are
statements are not intuition is attractive but presumably the same for
factual statements doesn’t cannot be inspected everyone. Yet different
about how the world is. people come to different
It is neither another sense but conclusions faced with the
is not also part of the process same ethical problems.
of reasoning nor it is a feeling
of guilt

Intuitionism
Effects of Intuition in Decision Making
Advantages of Intuition Disadvantages of Intuition

• It allows you to make decisions in complex • It can sometimes be subject to bias and
and unfamiliar situations quickly and prejudices. Your emotions and prejudices
effectively . can sometimes result in poor intuitive
• It points you in the right direction and help decisions
you identify dreams that are aligned with • It is not sequential. It poses a challenge when
your core values and purpose in life you are working with another person or a
• It sees things that your rational mind is team
oblivious to, allowing you to recognize new • People with extensive experience and high
ideas and opportunities. sense of intuition may lead to overreliance
• It helps you sense signs and read other resulting to poor decisions when applied in
people which is crucial to success scenarios with little experience
• It acts as a cautionary voice of things you
overlook even after careful analyzation
• It gives you access to deeper intelligence
and wisdom
Emotivism
Feelings in Decision Making

and Moral Statement
Ken Joseph Novilla

Emotivism
Emotivism
• Emotivism is the view that moral judgements do not function as
facts but rather as expression of one’s feelings
• Emotivism proposed by Alfred Jules Ayer states that moral

judgments aren’t the sort of thing that can be true or false.
• Emotivism teaches that there are no objective truths and that

Moral statements only express the speaker’s view or feelings
• Simply put, Emotivism is the theory that holds that what can be
true for you maybe false to another person – thus there is no
objective moral standards only based on our emotions and
feelings
• Pro: Emotivism makes sense why we decide based on our Up: A.J. Ayer ; Right: Charles
Stevenson
intuitions about morally relevant practices
• Cons: Emotivism makes it impossible to make heinous and
terrible crimes wrong
Emotivism
Two viewpoints of Emotivism

Moral statements attempts to
Moral statements in Meaningless
influence people
• Moral statements only express the speaker's feelings • when people disagree about an ethical
about the issue. issue, Emotivism makes it clear that each
• moral statement isn't literally a statement is trying to persuade the other to adopt
about the speaker's feelings on the topic, their attitude and follow their
but expresses those feelings with emotive recommendations as to how to behave,
force. rather than giving information that might
• By expressing the speaker's feelings about be true or false.
a moral issue moral statements may
influence another person's thoughts and
conduct.

Emotivism
Why people decide based on Feelings?

• Although we make rational decisions, most of our decisions are made unconsciously, without
much thinking such as deciding to breathe. Most of our decisions are created by the brain
automatically.
• However, you need emotions, if you don’t feel emotions, then you can’t make decisions as it is
how our brains are designed.
• The Ventro-medial Pre-Frontal Cortex (Front of your brain) is the part of the brain that regulates
fear. It tells us what to be afraid of. On one hand, the Amygdala mitigates the conditions of fear –
it stops you from feeling fear.
• In this sense, most of our decisions in life are actually made because of emotions or it involves it at
the very least.
• You should just assume that all decisions involve emotions. Rather than just making logical
arguments to persuade, you are more likely to persuade people to take an action if you
understand how they are feeling about the decision and feed their feeling. For example, If
someone is feeling unsafe in riding a bus, then you assure him that he is safe and secure

Emotivism
Positive Effects of Feelings in Decision Making
To make Fast To avoid Conflict of

Decisions Interest
Deciding based on Deciding based on
emotions is fast but Due to “Gut Feeling” To make the Final Choice
emotions drives us in
also reactive. It is useful situations where there is
in a decision
when you are in conflict of self-interest
Deciding based on
immediate danger Decisions based on logic
emotions provides a
compacting experience may need emotions to
enabling fast selection or make the final choice of
what we called as “gut what is right
feeling”

Emotivism
Negative Effects of Feelings in Decision Making
Breeds Poor decision Causes mistakes in

making judgements
Leads to Reckless
Deciding based on
Deciding based on Leads to Irrational immediate and unrelated
actions and errors
emotions may lead to
poor decisions which Choices emotions may cause Deciding based on
are justified through mistakes and biases in emotions may lead to
rational reasons Deciding based on judgments reckless actions while
(rationalization) emotions can override Projected emotions may
rational decision making lead to errors

Emotivism
How to make the right decisions?

How to make the “right decisions” when I feel lost in life?
1 Purpose: Look to where you came from; remind

yourself why are you doing this; Find your purpose
2 Direction: Use your compass to guide you. Use your moral

compass and Inner compass (Conscience); Listen to what
your conscience tells you
3 Process: Trust the process; be patient on the results while

being consistent; trust that God will carry you through the
obstacles in life and that he has allotted you better results

Prescriptivism
The Right Thing and Ought

thing to do in Moral
Statement
Ken Joseph Novilla

Prescriptivism
Prescriptivism
• Prescriptivism says that "You ought to do this" is a
universalizable prescription (not a truth claim), and means "Do
this and let everyone do the same in similar cases." We are to
pick our moral principles by trying to be informed and
imaginative, and then seeing what we can consistently hold.


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Metaethical Theories

Metaethical Theories &

GEETHICS101X Week 3: Metaethical Theories/ Ken Joseph Novilla / 2022 1

Introduction to Ethics Week 3

“Your belief on what is right and wrong is

Man as a Cultural Agent

▪ Culture can be learned in two ways:

Material Culture: aspects of culture that can be

Introduction to Ethics Week 3

Peer Group Church

Mass Media Workplace

▪ Cultural Relativism simply means that we view the

▪ It is the view that beliefs and ethics are relative to an

▪ Cultural relativist beliefs that all culture are equal and

▪ Problem: If the culture is deemed harmful, then it

Colonialism & Culture

• The takeover of Colonial powers have

• For example, the status of women during

▪ Ethnocentrism is coined by William Summers. It refers

▪ Ethnocentrism came from the Greek word “Ethnos”

▪ Examples of this are eating chopsticks every meal

▪ Problem: One’s perception of what is right or wrong

Cultural Relativism Ethnocentrism

Remedies Read books, travel, emigrate Avoid judgements, teaching or learning

Cultural Relativism & Filipino Culture

Positive Filipino Values Negative Filipino Values

“ Culture shapes your belief in right and

Introduction to Ethics Week 3

• Supernaturalism holds that moral judgments describe

• In Supernaturalism, Ethics is based on religion.

• Supernaturalism is defended as a Biblical teaching. In

• We can best know God's will through combining four

Divine Command Theory

• Divine command theory provides an objective

• According to Pollock (2007), there are four assumptions

Colonialism & Supernaturalism

• Colonial powers have imposed their religious

• For example, the belief of ancient Filipinos in

• Today, the beliefs in Christianity were a variable in

Introduction to Ethics Week 3

In Plato’s dialogue between Socrates and Euthyphro2,

Socrates: And what do you say of piety, Euthyphro? Is not

“Is a thing good simply because the gods say it is? Or do

Intuitions in Decision Making

Introduction to Ethics Week 3

• Intuitionism believes that there are objective moral truths

• Simply put, Intuitionism teaches that moral truths can be found

• Intuitionism in Filipino means “alam mong tama ka”

Introduction to Ethics Week 3

Factors that affect Intuitionism

Experience Risk Tolerance Limit

Networks Emotional Intelligence

Objective Truths Seeming right

Introduction to Ethics Week 3

Effects of Intuition in Decision Making

Advantages of Intuition Disadvantages of Intuition

Feelings in Decision Making

Introduction to Ethics Week 3

• Emotivism proposed by Alfred Jules Ayer states that moral