Morality

Module 4

Learning Outcomes

At the end of this module, you are expected to:

1. To identify the meaning of morality.

2. To determine how morals are established
3. To understand the Norms of Morality
4. To learn what are Defective Moralities

What is Morality?

Pertains to the rightness or wrongfulness of an act and what is the basis of the judge
concerned. These are ethical questions that up to this time, baffled sages and persons
alike and remain unanswered.

Morality refers to the set of standards that enable people to live cooperatively in groups.
It’s what societies determine to be “right” and “acceptable.”

How Morals Are Established?

Morality isn’t fixed. What’s considered acceptable in your culture might not be
acceptable in another culture. Geographical regions, religion, family, and life
experiences all influence morals.

Scholars don’t agree on exactly how morals are developed. However, there are several
theories that have gained attention over the years:

1. Freud’s morality and the superego: Sigmund Freud suggested moral

development occurred as a person’s ability to set aside their selfish needs were
replaced by the values of important socializing agents (such as a person’s parents).

2. Piaget’s theory of moral development: Jean Piaget focused on the social-

cognitive and social-emotional perspective of development. Piaget theorized that
moral development unfolds over time, in certain stages as children learn to adopt
certain moral behaviors for their own sake—rather than just abide by moral codes
because they don’t want to get into trouble.

social-cognitive - the way in which people process, remember, and use

information in social contexts to explain and predict their own behavior and
that of others.
social-emotional is the process of developing the self-awareness, self-control,
and interpersonal skills

To understand adult morality, Piaget believed that it was necessary to study both
how morality manifests in the child’s world as well as the factors that contribute to
the emergence of central moral concepts such as welfare, justice, and rights. By

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 interviewing children, Piaget (1965) found that young children were focused on
authority mandates and that with age, children become autonomous, evaluating
actions from a set of independent principles of morality.

He developed two phases of moral development, one common among children

and the other common among adults.

1. Heteronomous Phase

This phase, more common among children, is characterized by the idea

that rules come from authority figures in one’s life, such as parents,
teachers, and God.
It also involves the idea that rules are permanent no matter what. Thirdly,
this phase of moral development includes the belief that “naughty”
behavior must always be punished and that the punishment will be
proportional.

This absolutism in moral development is seen in children’s play from the

age of 5, where they exhibit a blind belief in the rules and ideas of right
and wrong passed to them by their elders.

2. Autonomous Phase

This phase is more common after one has matured and is no longer a
child. In this phase, people begin to view the intentions behind actions as
more important than their consequences.

For instance, if a person who is driving swerves in order to not hit a dog
and then knocks over a road sign, adults are likely to be less angry at the
person than if he or she had done it on purpose just for fun. Even though
the outcome is the same, people are more forgiving because of the good
intention of saving the dog.

This phase also includes the idea that people have different morals and
that morality is not necessarily universal. People in the Autonomous
Phase also believe rules may be broken under certain circumstances.

For instance, Rosa Parks broke the law by refusing to give up her seat on
a bus, which was against the law but something many people consider
moral nonetheless. In this phase, people also stop believing in the idea of
immanent justice.

3. B.F. Skinner’s behavioral theory: B.F. Skinner focused on the power of

external forces that shaped an individual’s development. For example, a child who
receives praise for being kind may treat someone with kindness again out of a
desire to receive more positive attention in the future.

Learning is a process of ‘conditioning’ in an environment of stimulus, reward and

punishment. Skinner explains the difference between informal learning, which
occurs naturally, and formal education, which depends on the teacher creating
optimal patterns of stimulus and response (reward and publishment), or ‘operant
conditioning’:
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 4. Kohlberg’s moral reasoning: Lawrence Kohlberg proposed six stages of moral
development that went beyond Piaget’s theory. Through a series of questions,
Kohlberg proposed that an adult’s stage of reasoning could be identified.

Using a stage model similar to Piaget’s, Kohlberg proposed three levels, with six
stages, of moral development. Individuals experience the stages universally and
in sequence as they form beliefs about justice. He named the levels simply
preconventional, conventional, and postconventional.

The Norms of Morality

Norms of morality is the criteria of judgment about the sorts of person we ought to be
and the sorts of action we ought to perform. The quality of things manifesting their
conformity or non-conformity with the norm or criteria (that which conforms is good or
moral, that which do not conform is evil or immoral)

1. The subjective norm of morality – Conscience

2. The objective norm of morality – Law (natural)

Both natural law and conscience are rooted in Eternal Law, the ultimate norm, thus,
there is only one norm.

Rationally speaking man acts in accordance to his nature, that human nature quantify
as justification as to why an act be it good or bad is performed. In doing so it conflicts
with the higher intelligence endowed to men. Is man basically good? We can say yes
but of what context of goodness is man supposed to follow? The morality of man follows
a proximate norm and an ultimate norm so where does human nature come in? As
mentioned earlier man has baser tendencies that are human nature equivalent to brutes
that may come in the form of stimuli. The proximate norm there is to follow human
nature which is the low end of a human being. On the other hand, the ultimate norm is
to follow divine nature which are decisions that are based on morality. For example the
stimulus of hunger based on proximate norm simply means to eat the food regardless

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as to whether it is for somebody else, spoilt or poisonous. Human nature dictates that
man has to satiate his hunger no matter what and may be considered moral if we are to
consider human nature. If man decides to study the situation by not initially grabbing the
“opportunity”, then he acted in relation to the ultimate norm.

However, we are not discarding human nature as a basis of human existence; man is a
social animal which is the nature of man’s need for association. In truth we can never
reach divine status but we must keep in mind that there is no conflict with the Natural
law and the Eternal law (the Law of God). The Natural is patterned after the Eternal
Law; man must adhere to his nature of man which is using his intellect unlike human
nature that is only to follow his passions.

Defective Norms of Morality

Human Nature is a simple foundation of man but there are philosophies and they are:

1. Hedonism – this is also known as the Philosophy of Pleasure that pleasure

alone is the primary purpose of man’s existence. It is true man desires for
happiness but a happy life need not be composed of pleasure alone. True
happiness is seeking good but wallowing in pleasure made man’s life baser
than brutes.

The basic argument on hedonism is that “the maximization of pleasure and

minimization of pain” motivate human behavior. In other words, all the actions
of humans are driven by the forces of pleasure and pain. Thus, it will always
strive to attain pleasure.

Hedonism is an ethical theory that holds that the supreme end of man
consists in the acquisition of pleasure. Sensible pleasures are the highest
good of life.

2. Utilitarianism

It is an ethical theory founded by Jeremy Bentham and developed and

popularized by John Stuart Mill. It is simply the ends of an action must be
good, if it is not then the action is unjustified. From the word “utility” adheres
to the belief that: an act is good or right if it promotes happiness, and bad or
immoral if it is tends to produce pain.

There are two types of utilitarianism and they are individual utilitarianism and
social utilitarianism – the first is known as egoism which is the definition given
– the agent is the one who will gain. Altruism is the other term for social
utilitarianism but the receiving factor is the society where the agent belongs.

Both Hedonism and Utilitarianism propose an earthly goal for man, that is, the
temporal welfare here on earth, and make or tend to make morality relative.
The theories make morality extrinsic because they make it depend on the
effect or on a concomitant factor of an act. Satisfaction/pleasure may indicate
and accompany the doing of a good act; but the act is good not because it
brings satisfaction, but rather, it brings satisfaction because it is good

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 3. Moral Rationalism – simply states that human reason is the only foundation
of morality as postulated by German Philosopher Immanuel Kant which he
dubbed as “Categorical Imperative”. However as Kant further explained we
have to do good because we ought to be good in doing so he is implying blind
obedience. In his philosophy “autonomy of reason”, inasmuch as reason
creates the law, it is “reasonable” for men to obey it without question nor
ambiguity. The general rule is that everyone thinks the same for men are
reasonable so conflict is a remote possibility.

Moral Rationalism is a theory which maintains that all knowledge and all
truths are derived from human reason.

Why we must do good? We must do good because we must, it is our duty to

obey unconditionally without questioning (Principle of Deontology).

Moral Rationalism is based on heteronomy of reason. Human reason only

sees things, but it does not make things. Human reason tells us the law, but
it does not make the law. The moral law is not from human reason, it is not
our own making, but it is imposed on us from a higher source.

4. Moral Positivism – states that morality is adherence to State Laws as

philosophizes by the English sage Thomas Hobbes. The State is the
foundation of morality since laws are geared for the common good
apparently, an act is moral it obeys the law and evil if he disobeys it.
Comparing to Moral Rationalism where reason is the law, Moral Positivism
only has the State Law as its source of morality.

Moral Positivism this theory holds that the basis/source of all moral laws is the
laws of the State. It makes morality relative and reverses the natural order of
things.
5. Moral Evolutionism – In relation to Sociologist Herbert Spencer, morality just
like evolution is ever-changing until it reached its perfect form. Friedrich
Nietsche added that man was born with hardly any basis for right and wrong
and their collective lives is a never-ending struggle for change until they reach
perfection.

He was convinced that traditional values represented a “slave morality, a

morality created by weak and resentful individuals who encouraged such
behavior as gentleness and kindness because the behavior served their
interests.

Nietzsche developed the idea of the “Superman/Overman”. The

“Superman/Overman” is an individual who overcame the slave morality of
traditional values, and lived according to his own values/morality.

6. Moral Sense – Contrary to Moral Evolutionism men are born with a special
moral sense (not reason) that is comparable to the five senses. For example,
man can easily differentiate noise from music, salty from sweet as well as
pleasant and unpleasant that may also serve as means to moral judgment.

Moral Sensism Is an ethical theory which holds that man is endowed with a
special moral sense (other than reason) by virtue of which man distinguishes
between right and wrong. It also makes morality relative.

7. Communism - Although this is more of an economic theory its social implication

cannot be denied and is geared for a classless society. They believed in the
philosophy of material dialectics that means two material things are the only
ingredients necessary for change. They deny the existence of God, the free will

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 and immortality for they do not matter being immaterial. Ergo, anything that will
lead to a classless society is good and moral and anything otherwise is evil and
immoral. It is vitiated with the fallacy of exclusiveness and misproportion.

The moral philosophy of communism is the logical consequence of it s metaphysics or

view of
reality known as dialectic materialism. This is founded on theory of change,
evolution and
revolution. According to this theory, what only matters is the reality. It logically follows:
a. The denial of the existence of God since God is a spirit and nothing exists but the
materials.
b. The denial of the freedom of the will of man, since matter the sole existent
reality. c. The denial of immorality
The moral philosophy of communism is the logical consequence of it s
metaphysics or view of reality known as dialectic materialism.
This is founded on theory of change, evolution and revolution.

According to this theory, what only matters is the reality. It logically follows:
a. The denial of the existence of God since God is a spirit and nothing
exists but the materials.
b. The denial of the freedom of the will of man, since matter the sole
existent reality
c. The denial of immorality

The moral philosophy of

communism is the logical
consequence of it s metaphysics or
view of
reality known as dialectic
materialism. This is founded on
theory of change, evolution and
revolution. According to this
theory, what only matters is the
reality. It logically follows:

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a. The denial of the existence of
God since God is a spirit and
nothing exists but the
materials.
b. The denial of the freedom of the
will of man, since matter the sole
existent
reality. c. The denial of immorality
The moral philosophy of
communism is the logical
consequence of it s metaphysics or
view of
reality known as dialectic
materialism. This is founded on
theory of change, evolution and
revolution. According to this
theory, what only matters is the
reality. It logically follows:
a. The denial of the existence of
God since God is a spirit and
nothing exists but the
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materials.
b. The denial of the freedom of the
will of man, since matter the sole
existent
reality. c. The denial of immorality

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