CHAPTER V: THE MORAL AGENT: DEVELOPING VIRTUE AS HABIT
Values or good moral values once they are habitually
practiced, they turned into virtues.
- from the Latin word 'VALERE' which means 'to be of worth’.
- It is price, worth or importance of a thing.
Value is also an abstract term which is commonly regarded as
an economic conception. According to John Dewey, a philosopher,
"value" primarily means pricing, valuing, and judging something. It's about
how much we appreciate and assess the importance of something, both in
terms of our feelings towards it and in comparison, to other things.
A. Human Values - the virtues that guide us to take into
account human element when one interacts with one other
human being. In simple terms, human values are like good qualities
that guide how we should treat other people.
1. Types of Human Values
Moral Values such as integrity, determination, loyalty,
truthfulness, help us distinguish between what's right and
wrong, good or bad for you as well as society.
2. Types of Moral Values (Katky Slattengren, 2018)
a. Acceptance: having an objective attitude toward others'
ideas and practices that differ from your own
b. Compassion: understanding the suffering of others or self
and wanting to do something about it
c. Courage: willingness to do difficult things.
d. Equality: believing everyone deserves equal rights and to
be treated with respect
e. Fairness: acting in a just way, sharing appropriately
f. Generosity: willingness to give resources, help or time to
others
g. Honesty: being truthful and sincere
h. Integrity: sticking to your moral and ethical principles and
values
i. Kindness: being considerate and treating others well
j. Perseverance: persisting in a course of action, belief or
purpose
k. Politeness: using good manners, acting in socially
acceptable ways
l. Respect: showing consideration for the worth of someone
or something
m. Responsibility: being reliable in your obligations
n. Self-control: staying in control of your words and behavior
3. Formation of Moral Values
Moral values are the standards of good and evil, which govern
an individual's behavior and choices. Individual's morals may
derive from society and government religion, or self.
4. Virtue and Its Formation
Virtues are good moral habits which make the person even
better to perform those good actions well and consequently
function well as human beings.
Formation of virtue then is the acquisition of the true
knowledge in the mind which is the "good". Knowing and
practicing virtue is knowledge to one's self. So, to be virtuous, one
simply needs to recall and practice the good things already present
in the mind.
The following are some of the principal virtues:
a. Cardinal virtues
Prudence is the virtue of knowing what to do under peculiar
circumstances which enables one to see the best means to
approach a given situation.
Justice is a virtue of giving anyone his/her due under no
condition.
Temperance is the virtue of curbing or managing the sensitive
appetites.
Fortitude is a virtue of keeping resolute in the face of
overwhelming odds.
b. Theological virtues
Faith is the virtue of believing in God's word without seeing.
Hope is the virtue of keeping trust in Divine Providence.
Charity is the virtue of loving God and His creatures.
5. Moral Character and its Formation
Ethics is fundamentally related to what kind of persons we
are.
Moral character - a function of whether he/she has or lacks
various moral virtues and vices.
6. Formation of Moral Character
Moral character is formed by one's actions. The habits,
actions, and emotional responses of the person of good
character all are united and directed toward the moral and
the good.
The idea is that going against one's conscience, even for
professional obligations, can harm and change one's character
negatively.
7. Moral Development
Moral development occurs as we grow and helps us choose
between right and wrong. The theory of Lawrence Kohlberg
states that the moral development of most people begins
with a desire to avoid personal punishment and may evolve
over time to a desire to make the world a better and more
just place for all people. It is also a process through which we
develop proper attitudes and behaviors towards other people
in society based on the existing norms, rules or laws. Moral
decision is relative to actual experiences that we are
confronted with particularly on moral issues that we
encounter in our lives.
B. Stages of Moral Development
Kohlberg's Stages of Moral Development
Kohlberg's theory focuses on the thinking process that occurs when
one decides whether a behavior is right or wrong. Thus, the
theoretical emphasis is on how one decides to respond to a moral
dilemma, not what one decides or what one actually does. He used
Piaget's storytelling technique.
C. Kohlberg's of Moral Development
Kohlberg identified three levels of moral reasoning: pre-
conventional, conventional, and post-conventional.
a. Level 1: Pre-conventional
Throughout the pre-conventional level, a child's sense of
morality is externally controlled.
Stage 1: Obedience-and-Punishment Orientation - focuses on
the child's desire to obey rules and avoid being punished.
Stage 2: Instrumental Orientation - expresses the "what's in it
for me?" position, in which right behavior is defined by
whatever the individual believes to be in his/her best interest.
As a result, concern for others is not based on loyalty or
intrinsic respect, but rather a "you scratch my back, and I'll
scratch yours” mentality.
b. Level 2: Conventional
Throughout the conventional level, a child's sense of morality
is tied to personal and societal relationships.
Stage 3: Good Boy, Nice Girl Orientation - 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 4: Law-and-Order Orientation - the child blindly
accepts rules and convention because of their importance in
maintaining a functioning society. They are ‘supposed’ to.
c. Level 3: Post-conventional
Throughout the post-conventional level, a person's sense of
morality is defined in terms of more abstract principles and
values.
Stage 5: Social-Contract Orientation - the world is viewed as
holding different opinions, rights, and values. Such
perspectives should be mutually respected as unique to each
person of community.
Stage 6: Universal-Ethical-Principal Orientation - 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. Laws are valid only insofar as they
are grounded in justice, and a commitment to justice carries
with it an obligation to disobey unjust laws.

D. Conscience-based moral decisions

Conscience from its Latin origin known as cum alia scientia; it
means the application of knowledge. So, having a conscience
means using our knowledge to make choices that lead to
good actions and avoiding actions that are considered bad or
evil.

Conscience, being an act of knowledge, is an act guided by

reason. The moral conscience is a person's judgment about a
given action's ordering to man's ultimate end based on the
person's knowledge of the action, its end, and circumstances.
Without conscience a person would doubt even the smallest
decisions (Velez, 2009).

E. Circular Relations of Acts and Character

Aristotle suggests that humans are active beings, and our
actions are influenced by our nature and the various things
we're inclined to do. Human acts vary however with different
understandings of "human nature" and the different social
roles and their correlative skills. Aristotle also emphasizes that
our actions, in turn, shape our character, and our character is
formed by the repeated acts we engage in. Essentially, our
nature, actions, and character are interconnected in a
continuous cycle.

1. Acts that Build Character

Character is developed through time, it is developed through
experiences, what humans choose to learn and to do. In
reality, every act builds character such as trying to resolve
conflict. When our overall character improves, it translates
into success in all the areas of our lives.

2. Acts that Emanate from Character

A strong character, for good or evil, is built up by the doing of
many human acts. So simply that character is what we are, it
is inside us, hidden, and shaped through times, while acts are
character.

Acts, therefore, are expressions of one's characteristics: act of

patience; act of faithfulness and diligence; gentleness,
courteousness; generosity; peacefulness; gratefulness; self-
control, encouraging; and self-discipline. These are just few
among the countless acts which manifest strong and good
character. However, there is the presence of countless acts as
well that manifest weak and bad characters.