GROUP 1: THE MORAL AGENT

Milkie Irish P. Alimoot

Members: Lady Mitzi Mongcano
Ronel B. Amamio
Alfe Erilla Jr.
Angel Bracamonte
Jhon Kian A. Salem
Erika D. Mejido
Jan Russel Rontos
CULTURE
Culture denotes the practices, beliefs
and perceptions of a given society.

• Culture refers to the cumulative • Culture consists of patterns, explicit and

deposit of knowledge, experience, implicit, of and for behavior acquired and
beliefs, values, attitudes, meanings, transmitted by symbols, constituting the
hierarchies, religion, notions of distinctive achievement of human groups,
time, roles, spatial relations, including their embodiments in artifacts.
concepts of the universe, and
material objects and possessions
acquired by a group of people in
the course of generations through
individual and group striving.
The essential core of culture consists of traditional ideas and
especially their attached values; culture systems may, on the one
hand, be considered as products of action, on the other hand, as
conditioning influences upon further action.

• Culture is the sum total of the learned behavior of a group of

people that are generally considered to be the tradition of that
people and are transmitted from generation to generation.
• Culture is cultivated behavior; the totality of a person’s learned,
accumulated experience which is socially transmitted, or more
briefly, behavior through social learning.
• Culture is symbolic communication.
Some of its symbols include a group’s skills, knowledge,
attitudes, values, and motives. The meanings of the symbols
are learned and deliberately perpetuated in a society through its
institutions.

Culture includes all the things individuals learn while growing up

among particular groups:

Attitudes - Standards of morality - Rules of etiquette -

Perceptions of reality - Language - Notions about the proper way
to live - Beliefs about how females and males should interact -
Ideas about how the world works, etc. All of these are called
CULTURAL KNOWLEDGE.
 Elements of Culture
The five basic elements of culture are: symbols,
language, beliefs, values, and norms.

Symbols
Symbols can be anything that a group
of people find meaningful. For example,
in religious groups, the cross is a
symbol for Christianity while the
crescent is for Islam.
Values
Values are culturally acceptable standards of behavior. It is what a person considers
important or beneficial in life. For example, in the pre-colonial Philippines, there was
evidence that women were equally valued and held central roles in society just as did
men (Perez, 2013). This was in stark contrast to the Spanish colonizers, however, who
valued women mainly as domestic caretakers.
 CULTURAL RELATIVISM
• Why can't all cultural practices be
always correct?

• Cultural relativism, first introduced

by philosopher Alain Locke in 1924,
explains why certain behaviors are
acceptable by certain groups while
taboo in others. It suggests that
values, knowledge, and behavior
must be understood within their
own cultural context, rather than
based on the standards of other
cultures. This means that all moral
and ethical standards are valid,
and there is no "better" standard
among all others.
Philosopher and university professor Dr. James Rachels (1941-2003), in
his book “The Elements of Moral Philosophy”, laid out five claims of
cultural relativists as to why right or wrong is only a matter of cultural
standards. These claims are:
• Different societies have • The moral code of a
different moral codes. particular society has no
• The moral code of a special status.
society determines what is • It is but one among many.
right or wrong. It is dangerous for one
• There is no objective culture to judge
standard considered better another culture. There
than others. should be tolerance among
cultures.
The Advantages and Disadvantages of Cultural Relativism

Rachels identified two positive On the other hand, the dangers of

lessons we can learn from cultural relativism are:
cultural relativism.
1. We cannot call out societal
1. It warns us from
practices that promote harm.
assuming that our
preferences are the
Cultural relativism suggests that
absolute rational standard.
condemning societal practices that
2. It teaches us to keep an
promote harm, such as Nazis'
open mind and to be more
actions against Jews and
amenable in discovering the
Apartheid's South African policies,
truth.
is not acceptable.
2. We cannot justifiably criticize our
own culture's harmful practices.
We cannot criticize our own culture's
harmful practices, as it is based on
determining if actions align with
societal standards. This means that
we cannot criticize other cultures, as
they are accepted as a way of life.
For instance, the 2016 Metro Manila
Film Fest officials could not reclaim
the Fernando Poe Jr. Memorial
Award for a film that slaughtered a
dog.
3. The idea of social progress
becomes doubtful.
The concept of social progress
is questioned due to cultural
relativism, which limits the
evaluation of one society as
superior. For instance, the
Spanish colonial era,
characterized by slavery, does
not imply a significant shift in
social norms or progress
towards freedom.
 Living with justice and
compassion

Disman
tlin d in g cu ltural
Buil ation
culture g the re c on cili
of war. respect, ity
da r
and soli

PEACE
EDUCATION

Promo
n n er tin
Cultiva ti n g i rights a g human
nd
peace respon
sibilitie
s

Living in Harmony with

the Earth.
Peace as defined in relation to culture according to UNESCO is a
set of beliefs, values, attitudes, traditions and modes of behavior
and ways of life based on:

1. Respect for life

2. Respect for human rights and
fundamental freedoms
3. Rejection of all forms of violence
4. Adherence to the principles of justice,
democracy, tolerance, solidarity,
cooperation, diversity, dialogue and
understanding in all levels of society
 The three phases to accomplish peace:

1. Cognitive phase which is understanding

and being aware of the happenings in the society.
2. Affective phase which is being concerned and
responsible for learning to value peace since rational
beings are species of social interaction.
3. Active phase which is taking practical action in
which a course that will lead us to what is good for the
benefit of the majority
To quote a peace education literature in line with the Global
Campaign for Peace Education, “Peace education seeks the
abolition of war as an institution. Considering the death destruction,
and suffering that result from war, the abolition of war gains
practical relevance" (Navarro-Castro & Nario- Galace, 2010).
 Two types of peace:
1. Negative peace - Absence of direct/physical violence (both macro and
micro)

Direct Violence - War, Torture, child and woman abuse

2. Positive peace - Presence of conditions of well-being and just

relationships:

a. Economic, political, and ecological

b. Structural Violence - Poverty, hunger
c. Socio-cultural Violence - Racism, sexism, religious intolerance
d. Ecological Violence - Pollution, overconsumption
 PROMOTING A CULTURE PEACE
1. Personal and Family (spiritual) - Values
formation starts in the Family in the basic
unit of society.
2. Human Rights and Democracy (justice) -
Indicates the political respect.
3. Poverty Eradication (compassion) -
Poverty might be inevitable.
4. Inter-Cultural Understanding and
Solidarity (dialogue) -Dialogue is one of the
important factors towards attainable peace.
5. Disarmament and Cessation of
Hostilities (active/non violence) -
Promoting the culture of peace, we
must share the same idea of ceas
fire towards active non-violence.
6. Environmental Protection
(stewardship) -Stewardship must be
universal to all regardless of the
status influence and power.
UNIVERSAL VALUES
Why there are Universal Values?

The dangers that cultural relativism present led

thinkers such as ethics expert Dr. James
Rachels to reject cultural relativism because it is
implausible. The empirical basis of cultural
relativism is that cultures are dramatically
different in its views of what is right or wrong.
However, when it comes to important moral
issues, three are three are three values that are
universal (Rachels, 2004).
The three universal
values shared by all
cultures are:
1. Caring for the young

2. Murder is wrong

3. Tell the truth

 The theoretical point here is that "there are some moral rules that all
societies will have in common, because those rules are necessary for
society to survive" (Rachels, 2004). Imagine if human beings do not
care for their young.

Homo sapiens will eventually be an extinct species. In the same

manner, we will eventually be wiped out too if people were free to kill
other people.

Moreover, what kind of society will it be if the presumption of

everyone's statement is that it is a lie? What reason do you have to
pay attention to anyone? If lying is our way of life, how can you
believe what your teacher is teaching? What is the of having a teacher
in the first place? What the use of talking to each other at all?
THANK YOU FOR
LISTENING!!!