Different Moral Trends & Ethical / Value Systems 2 KINDS OF ETHICAL SYSTEM (General categories) 1.

ATHEISTIC Assumes that only matter exists & that man is responsible only to himself since there is no God. Morality is an invention of man to suit his requirements & to preserve society. Moral truths are therefore temporary, mutable depending on the situation. The concept of good and evil is always relative and changeable. 2. THEISTIC Believes that God is the Supreme Lawgiver. Everything must conform to Gods eternal plan. Man must exercise his freedom in accordance with Gods will genuine freedom There are absolute principles of morality which are not changeable. Man is accountable for his actions in this life or in the next. CHRISTIAN FAITH AS THE FORCE OF MORAL TRANSFROMATION Faith IS NOT an opium which blurs mans vision with illusions that leads him to coward escaping. Genuine FAITH should be total & integral versus practical atheism/split-level/ritualism Different Ethical Trends/Systems Challenges to our Christian moral living DIFFERENT ETHICAL THOUGHTS All teach what a happy and good life is. BUT which is true? 1. Ethical Relativism, Subjectivism Holds the belief that there is no objective, and absolute Truth. What is true and good depends on the individual. All truths and moral principles are subjective. Good is dependent on mans subjective feeling. It is perceived by a kind of intuition. Each one has a set of values which he follows. There are NO standards of values. ALL values are EQUAL. No one can claim superiority over the rest, not even religion nor God. Each one is left to his own discretion to decide w/c are the moral that are to be accepted & realized. 2. Secularism It is an arrogant claim to self-sufficiency. Denies the religious dimension to human existence. It is the false absolutization of the secular & human means in the search for human fulfillment. The God language is disparagingly regarded as the language of a pious, naive, and unscientific view of reality. I did it my way is an assertion of mans growing autonomy as he recognizes his growing ability to control the world and to engineer his own potential. Science & technology dominates. Life is convenient we can manage on our own, we dont need God. Religion is superfluous. 3. Atheistic Existentialism I must do whatever I can to increase my own freedom. Freedom means doing what I want to do. To hell with other people. What is good is that which furthers my interest. It depicts an extremely individualistic way of looking at man/woman. EXISTENTIALISM (1754-1804) Atheistic Existentialism - IMMANUEL KANT Proponent Reliance on man not on God Autonomous morality : value lies in the dignity & autonomy of man. Each one formulates his own moral imperative by intuition. To act morally, man must act absolutely free. JEAN PAUL SARTRE - Condemns ALL restrictions by moral authority & law from outside.

Individualism a. I, Me, Myself Unlike John Donne who wrote that no man is an island unto himself, Sartre claimed that each person is radically alone and separated from all others. Also called as INDIVIDUALISM It is man curved in on himself. Being the norm unto himself, he interprets what is good only in terms of what is useful, convenient and profitable for himself. b. Tayo-tayo lang mentality. Another form of individualistic attitude. Family and barkada centeredness pushed to the extreme, that ones heart cannot expand beyond the circle of family/relatives and friends. 4. Hedonism Sensual pleasure is the highest good. Devotion to pleasure and self-gratification as a way of life. Corresponds to the playboy/playgirl theory of life. This philosophy is espoused through advertisements I am here for one purpose: to get as much out of life as I can. Pain and suffering are evils that must be avoided at all costs. The main thing in life is to always feel good. To avoid any forms of suffering in life even the legitimate & heroic suffering. A hedonist wants to have a pleasurable life. Hedonist would rather adhere to euthanasia to escape the natural dying process. 5. Consumerism Materialism It plagues the human spirit and tyrannizes it with the consuming need of the sensual and material. It is the constant need for the immediate gratification of the senses, a grasping for more & more to the point of satisfaction. It turns values upside down, as it gives more primacy to the things of the flesh, rather than to the things of the spirit. It tends to subordinate everything to its end. It is a false god which contemporary men/women worship. 6. Situationalism Joseph Fletcher Man is always in a situation & situation varies. Therefore ethics & morality also change. Judges moral values according to feelings of convenience of one in a particular situation. Circumstances become the criterion of morality. 7. Consequentialism The rightness or wrongness of an action is solely dependent on the results the action produces. It seeks to justify objectively evil actions as morally good based on the intention of the person committing them & the consequences of the actions. 8. Utilitarianism From utility which means useful. An act is right/moral if it is useful in bringing about a desirable good end (for the majority). The greatest moral good is that which gives the greatest happiness to the greatest number of people. We should judge right or depending on whether they cause more happiness or unhappiness. 9. Nazism So influenced by Kant regarding: Any person can make or formulate a universal moral law. Stress on biological qualities: the perfect race. FREIDRICH NIETZSCHE Ideal of an ethical man is the superman Strength of character seen in aggressiveness & the will to power. A strong man is the one who create & determine values; a creator of good and evil. A strong man must first be a destroyer.

A strong man must destroy: humility and pity of the weak. 10. Darwinist Ethics What matters in life is survival. Anything that enables you to survive that is what is good. 11. Communism MARXISM (Karl Marx) Communism No individual rights, only society matters. Individuals exist for society. The greatest good is absolute equality. The State rules absolutely. Does not respect the right to private ownership. Mans dignity lies not on God nor religion but on himself. Religion is an opium of society. Religion as Harmful to the Moral Life Karl Marx: Religion as the opiate of the masses, used to enslave them For Marx, religion was only a tool for oppression. Proposes a sense of justice & respect for man ; tries to eradicate abuses & exploitation BUT does it in VIOLENCE. 12. Freemasonry Considers all religions in the world as mere competitive attempt to know God, who remains unknowable. Christianity is not considered as a true religion. The truth about God is unattainable. Whatever sounds dogmatic (in Christian faith & morals) is dismissed as bigotry and fanaticism. Seeks the perfection of man only in the development of his natural virtues. Grounds mans enlightenment & moral perfection on ones human effort alone. Freemasonry is founded on: Deism Naturalism Relativism DEISM Teaches that after God created man & the world, he left man on his own such that man is no longer accountable to God in all that he does in the world. Man becomes the master of the world in an absolute sense. God is called Great Architect of the Universe a non-personal God Prepared the ground for the so called Enlightenment the cultural trend in Europe in the 18th century which promoted agnosticism and atheism. In the Enlightenment, Reason was deified; faith was condemned as superstition. NATURALISM Teaches that man has no supernatural destiny. Mans purpose is simply to cultivate his natural powers, especially his reason. His perfection is not found in his union with God. Naturalism is the heart of Deism. RELATIVISM/SUBJECTIVISM No one can claim to possess the truth in an absolute way. Applied to mans religious life, this means that no one can say that he has the true religion. Applied to morality, this means this means that objective & universal moral standards do not exist. 13. New Age Self-spirituality No clergy, no holy text, no dogma A free-flowing spiritual movement Astrology, Pantheism (God exists in all), Reincarnation The New Age (also known as the New Age Movement, New Age spirituality, and Cosmic Humanism) is a decentralized Western social and spiritual movement that seeks "Universal Truth" and the attainment of the highest individual human potential. It combines aspects of

cosmology, astrology, esotericism, alternative medicine, music, collectivism, sustainability, and nature. New Age spirituality is characterized by an individual approach to spiritual practices and philosophies, while rejecting religious doctrine and dogma. The New Age Movement includes elements of older spiritual and religious traditions ranging from atheism and monotheism through classical pantheism, naturalistic pantheism to polytheism combined with science and Gaia philosophy particularly astronomy, ecology, environmentalism, the Gaia hypothesis, psychology, and physics. New Age practices and philosophies sometimes draw inspiration from major world religions: Buddhism, Chinese folk religion, Christianity, Hinduism, Judaism; with particularly strong influences from East Asian religions, Gnosticism, Neopaganism. The modern New Age Movement emerged as a distinct lifestyle from the late 1960s through the early 1970s, although elements can be traced back to the 19th and early 20th centuries. It gained momentum in the 1980s and strengthened with the Harmonic Convergence event in 1987. Diverse individuals from around the world practice New Age spirituality. SOURCES: Christian Morality in Contemporary Society by Esteban Salibay, Jr. Mans Search for God and Living the Faith Option: Christian Morality by Ma. Christina Astorga Dictionary of Philosophy by Anthony Flew Ethics & the Filipino by Ramon Agapay Ethics by Felix M. Montemayor CBCP Statement on Freemasonry http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Age_Movement http://ethics.sandiego.edu/ http://www.ethicscenter.net/People/ExecutiveCommittee/Hinman.html THE CHRISTIAN CONCEPT OF THE HUMAN PERSON Christian Foundations on the Dignity of the Human Person 1. Created in Gods image 2. Child of the Father 3. Redeemed by the Incarnate Son of God 4. Temple of the Holy Spirit 5. Called to a Noble Destiny There are 2 kinds of human dignity: 1. Ontological 2. Moral Ontological Dignity based on being a human person. Tayo ay may dangal dahil TAO tayo. Therefore even a criminal or a sinner (who have lost his MORAL DIGNITY because of what he did) has still his/her ontological dignity. That is why it is forbidden by LAW to maltreat prisoners. Though they are serving their sentence in prison they are to be treated as human beings. ONTOLOGICAL DIGNITY The dignity (value/worth) of the human person is based on the fundamental fact that he/she is a human being. The ontological dignity of the human person must be respected, protected (from womb to tomb) Should NOT be violated NEVER be exploited The worth of the person is NOT based on educational/economic/moral status, etc. Even if he lost his moral dignity, the ontological dignity remains because he is a human person. His moral dignity (mans moral standing) may be lost because of sin but he can still regain it by remorse, genuine repentance, change of life, sincerely/justly paying for your sins/crime. However, his ontological dignity remains. Man as long as he lives can still regain his moral dignity--to live as a true child of God, friend-brother-disciple of Christ, temple of the Holy Spirit. CHARACTERISTICS OF HUMAN PERSONS God created us as: 1. Open, Relational No man is an island. Being a person means being BY, WITH, and FOR others.

WE ARE SOCIAL BEINGS. WHATEVER IS OUR TEMPERAMENT/PERSONALITY, WE ARE MADE BY GOD TO BE OPEN AND RELATIONAL WITH PEOPLE. We are not to be individualistic the I, me, myself syndrome or the tayo-tayo lang or group mentality syndrome. 2. Conscious, Rational Self-awareness We are conscious of our outgoing acts We should not be impulsive in our actions, in the words that comes out our mouth, in our decision. Huwag tayo pabigla-bigla sa ating desisyon, sa ating kilos. May isip tayo at nakikilala na natin an gating mga kahinaan. We are becoming aware (we begin to notice) of our weaknesses and tendencies or bad habits so we should do something about it. Its not an excuse to say Maam nabigla lang po ako especially when we know our tendencies/habits, or in the past people have called your attention or were offended, etc [As Rational beings we realize that we are MORAL BEINGS] 3. Embodied Spirit Unity between our body & soul. The prostitute cannot say that she is just using her body, and she is not selling her soul. Katawan ko lang naman, di naman kaluluwa. Whatever we do to our body affects our moral center, affects everything about us (biologically, emotionally, psychologically, spiritually, morallyand yes including our soul). We may have the technology of medical science that can do sexual reassignment or sex-change, but it cannot change the soul. We are natural sacraments of Jesus Christ in this world. Our human body is the instrument the Lord uses for other people to encounter God through our words and actions. THE DIGNITY OF THE HUMAN BODY: a. Created by God b. Dignified by Christs Incarnation (the Son of God becoming man. Nagkatawang tao ang Diyos. Therefore he gave dignity to the human body when he became man like us) Redemption (Hindi lang niya iniligtas an gating kaluluwa, iniligtas niya an gating katawan. Jesus saved and continues to save our soul and our BODY) Resurrection (When Christ resurrected and then ascended back to heaven he did not leave his body, He brought it in heaven. In one of the last articles of the APOSTLES CREED I believe in the resurrection of the dead it refers to our own resurrection. We will have a new resurrected body in the Last Judgement. We will not remain spirits when we die. In the last judgment God will give us a body that will no longer be subject to sin and corruption. A body that will not get sick, suffer, or die, or get hungry a body that will not be corrupted or weakened by sin/temptation. This is the body that in Gods original plan is made sacred/holy before the first sin was committed and corrupted the body.) c. Temple of the Holy Spirit 4. Historical Reality We develop as persons in discernible stages Our personal history began when we were conceived in our mothers womb. Therefore, NO to abortion! In exercising freedom, we form ourselves WALK towards true freedom Improve ourselves We are not static. We have a goal, a journey, a race to finish, a task given by God To HOPE is to march back on our feet, even to crawl to do Gods will with Gods GRACE. Therefore, NO to suicide! Let us not lose hope. God made us homoviator journeying man. We can, in Gods grace, with His saving hand, crawl, stand up, walk, march back, or run towards the right path to wholeness, holiness, true freedom, peace and happiness in Gods arms! 5. Unique yet Fundamentally Equal Despite physical, intellectual, social, & moral differences we are EQUAL.

The basis of our equality is rooted on the truths of the dignity of human persons. We should not discriminate other people, other culture/races. And we should not be envious of others. How then should we treat: Our body, our life? Other people? Our patient? The poor & destitute? The handicapped, the old, the sick & the dying? Those in prison? Our enemies? The developing human being? What you did to the least of your neighbors, you did for Me. Mt. 25