CULTURE

 cumulative deposit of knowledge, experience, beliefs, values, attitudes,

meanings, hierarchies, religion, notions of time, roles, spatial relations,
concepts of the universe, and material objects and possessions acquired by a
group of people in the course of generations through individual or group
striving
 consists of patterns, explicit or implicit, of and for behavior acquired and
transmitted symbols, constituting the distinctive achievement of human
groups, including their embodiments in artifacts
 sum total of the learned behavior of a group of people that are transmitted
from generation to generation
 cultivated behavior
 symbolic communication
 Culture is a ‘way of life’ of a group of people.
 Culture is learned as children grow up in a society and discover how their
parents and others around them interpret the world.
 People learn moral and aspects of right or wrong from transmitters of culture.
Social Learning
 it is the process by which individuals acquire knowledge from others in the
groups to which they belong as a normal part of childhood.
Enculturation/Socialization
 the process by which infants and children socially learn the culture of those
around them
Theories Explained
 Things we regard as moral laws are nothing but
“social conventions”
Convention – the usual or customary ways through which
things are done within a group
 Moral standards is merely a human invention.
Theories Explained
 Morality is nothing but an effect of social conditioning
 Richard Robinson, an atheist, claimed that morality is
nothing but an outcome of social conditioning.
 Demands of conscience are also due to society.
Theories Analyzed
 Not all that we’ve learned in our homes or schools are
social convention.
 Some of the things that we’ve learn from our teachers,
parents, and other siblings are mere conventions,
which might have been different.
 Many of the things taught in schools and homes are
real truths and not mere convention.
Which class does moral law belong?
 According to C.S. Lewis, morality belongs to the same class as
mathematics for two reasons:
a) Although there are differences between moral ideas of one time
or country and those of another the differences are not really
very great.
b) We affirm that the morality of one people is better or worse
than that of another, which means that there is a moral
standard or rule by which we measure both moralities and
that standard is real.
 Changes in people’s morality have been deemed as
improvements.
 if moral law or rule of decent behavior means simply “whatever
each nation happens to approve”, there would be no sense in
saying that one nation had ever been more correct in its
approval than any other.
Social Conditioning Theory
when one says that a particular action ‘ought’ or ‘ought not’ to
be done, he/she is not simply echoing social approval or
disapproval.
 Moral obligation cannot be squarely explained by social
conditioning.
 We do not submit that social conditioning does not in any way
affect our ethical knowledge.
 Ethical decisions are supposed to be made in relation to
something not itself due to social conditioning but due to some
sort of moral law that presses down on every person.
Cultural Relativism
 most famous/ dominant form of moral relativism
 defines “moral’ as what is socially approved by majority in a
particular culture.
 every standard is culture-bound
 other culture is “not wrong’, just simple ‘different’
Valuable lessons from ethical relativism
 moral relativism does encourage tolerance
 all our practices are mere cultural products
The theory’s ethical faults
 cultural relativism contains various ethical faults
 it discourages analytical thinking and independent decision-making in
Ethics as it requires unsuspecting compliance and subscription to social
norms.
Rachel’s evaluation of cultural relativism
 James Rachel’s Cultural Differences Argument
Greeks believed that it was wrong to eat the dead, whereas the
Gallatians believed it was right to eat the dead.
 Eskimos see nothing wrong with infanticide, whereas for us,
infanticide is immoral.
 Different culture have different moral codes.
The bad consequences of cultural relativism
 we would no longer say that the customs of other societies are
morally inferior to our own
 we could decide whether actions are right or wrong just by
consulting the standards of our society.
 the ideas of moral progress is called into doubt.
 Western Ethics Eastern Ethics

Focus Finding Truth Protocol and Respect

Basis Rational Thought Religious Teachings

Emphasis Logic, Cause and Effect Respect towards Family

Roots in Athens, Rome, and Hinduism, Buddhism,

Judeo Christianity Confucianism, and
Taoism
Approach Rational Holistic and Cultural

Conflict and Harmony Good must triumph over Good and Bad, Light and
Evil Dark all exist in
equillibrium
 Filipino cultural morality centers on ideally a ‘smooth
interpersonal relationship’
 pakikisama
 hiya
 amor propio
 utang na loob
 Filipino Hospitality
 respect for elders
Pakikisama
 having and maintaining ‘good public relations’
Hiya
 a feeling of lowliness, shame or embarrassment, and
inhibition or shyness which is experienced as
somewhat distressing.
 it is related to the concept of ‘face’
Amor Propio
 derived from the concept of the ‘face’
 commonly translated as ‘self-respect’ or ‘self-esteem’
 high degree of sensitivity that makes a person
intolerant to criticism and causes him to have an easily
wounded pride.
Utang na Loob
 a fundamental aspect of upholding group harmony
and relationships that demands balancing of
obligations and debts.
Filipino Hospitality
 innate ability and trait of Filipinos to be courteous
and entertaining to their guests.
Respect to Elders
 Filipinos are not only respectful to elders, but we have
unique ways of expressing this respect.
 generally shared by cultures
 it is a strong proof that cultural relativism is wrong
 some shared values of different cultures:
 truth telling
 respecting life
 “there are some moral rules that all societies will have in
common, because those rules are necessary for society to exist.
Cultures may differ in what they regard as legitimate exceptions
to the rules, but this disagreement exists against background of
agreement on the larger issues.”