LESSON 1

MORAL AND NON-MORAL STANDARDS

 Non moral standards originates from social rules, demands of etiquette and good manners. They
are guides of action which should be followed as expected by societies
 Moral standards are based on the natural law, the consequences of one’s action and sense of
duty
 Moral standards are based on natural law, the law of God revealed through human reason or
the “law of God written in the hearts of men.”
 For theist, the origin of

LESSON 2

MORAL DILEMMA

 A moral dilemma is a decision making problem between two possible moral imperatives, neither
of which is unambiguously acceptable or preferable.
 A moral dilemma is a situation where a person has the moral obligation to choose between two
options both based on moral standards, but he/she cannot choose both, and choosing one
means violating the other.
 In a moral dilemma, one is caught between two options. It is a ‘damn-if-you-do and damn-if-
you-don’t” situation. One is in a deadlock.
 False dilemmas are situations where the decision-maker has a moral duty to do one thing, but is
tempted or under pressure to do something else. A false dilemma is a choice between a right
and a wrong unlike a moral dilemma where both choices are wrong.

LESSON 3

THE THREE LEVELS OF MORAL DILEMMA

 Moral dilemmas come in three levels – individual, organizational or structural.

 Individual dilemmas concern dilemmas that individual person face.
 Organizational dilemmas refer to dilemmas between organizational benefits versus individual
members’ welfare.
 Structural dilemmas concern dilemmas faced by groups or individuals as a result of structural
relationships.
 A world organization like the United Nations is usually faced with dilemma: sovereignty of
nations versus world order.
 If confronted with a moral dilemma, choose the greater good and lesser evil or..., do only what
you can where you are (Fletcher) or “love and do what you will” (St. Augustine) The extent of
one obligation and responsibility is the extent of one’s ability and the measure of “extent” is
ones capacity for love.
 LESSON 4

FREEDOM AS A FOUNDATION OF MORAL ACTS

 Choice or freedom is a prerequisite of ethics or morality.

 Every human person has freedom or choice and so is expected to be ethical or moral.
 Lower forms of animals have no choice. They are governed by instincts and so ethics or morality
does not apply to them.
 To be truly ethical or moral, we must internalize or possess not just adhere to moral standards.
“I did it My Way” because I am convinced, have to do it “My Way” and not because others tell
me so.

LESSON 5

CULTURE: HOW IT DEFINES MORAL BEHAVIOR

 Culture is the integrated pattern of human knowledge, beliefs and behaviors. It is people’s way
of life.
 Culture consists of non material and material culture. Non-material culture includes language,
values, rues, knowledge and meanings shared by members of society. Material culture refers to
the physical objects that a society produces such as tools and work of arts.
 Culture is learned not inherited. It is acquired through enculturation, inculturation and
acculturation.
 Enculturation is the process of learning the components of life – material as well as non-material
– in one’s culture.
 Inculturation is making the Gospel take roots in a culture and introducing that transformed
culture to Christianity.
 Acculturation is the process by which people learn and adapt a new culture.
 Culture influences the human person, who is the moral agent.
 Culture affects human behaviour. Not all cultural practices are morally acceptable. Examples are
the culture of vengeance and low regard for the African women in comparison to the African
men.

LESSON 6

CULTURAL RELATIVISM

 Cultural relativism is “the idea that a person’s beliefs, values and practices should be understood
based on that person’s own culture, rather than be judged against the criteria of another”.
 Morality is relative to the norms of one’s culture. That is, whether an action is right or wrong
depends on the moral norms of the society in which it is practiced. The same action may be
morally right in one society but be morally wrong in another.
 The danger of cultural relativism is the idea of relativism itself. Whether an action is right or
wrong depends on the moral norms of the society in which is practiced. What is good depends
on what society’s culture considers as bad.
 There is a difference between cultural perspective and cultural relativism. To have a cultural
perspective is to understand people’s beliefs, values and practices in the context of their culture.
Having a perspective of one’s culture, is needed to understand people. But it does not follow
that morality must be based on said culture.

LESSON 7

THE FILIPINO CHARACTER

 The Filipino has a number of strengths. His/her strengths when they become extreme, however,
also become his/her weaknesses.
 His/her strengths help him/her become ethical and moral but his/her weaknesses obstruct
his/her moral and ethical growth.
 Culture has a significant impact on morality.
 The Filipino group-centeredness and “kami” – mentality make it difficult for the Filipino to stand
up against the group when that is the moral thing to do.
 There is much need for home, school and society as a whole to help every Filipino grow into the
strong moral person everyone is called to become.
 For the Filipino to become the moral and ethical person, he/she should capitalize on his/her
strengths and eliminate his/her weaknesses.
 The strengths of the Filipino Character are:
o Pakikipagkapwa-tao
o Family orientation
o Joy and humor
o Flexibility, adaptability and creativity
o Hard work and industry
o Faith and religiosity
o Ability to survive
 The Filipino character has weaknesses:
o Extreme family centeredness
o Extreme personalism
o Lack of disciple
o Passivity and lack of initiative
o Colonial mentality
o Kanya-kanya syndrome, talangka mentality
o Lack of sel-analysis and self-reflection
o Emphasis on porma rather than substance
 LESSON 8

UNIVERSAL VALIES

 Universal values are for human survival

 Universal values are the ultimate bases for living together and learning how to live together.
Without respect for human life by all then people will kill each other. If honesty or truth telling is
not valued by all, there will be endless lack of trust among people.
 In spite of cultural relativism, there are values that are universal for human survival.