Chapter 1

Understanding Morality and Moral Standards Intended

Lesson 1- Course Orientation and Importance of Rules
Lesson 2 – Moral and Non-Moral Standards
Lesson 3 – Moral Dilemmas
Lesson 4 – The Three Levels of Moral Dilemmas
Lesson 5 – Freedom as the Foundation of Moral Acts
Lesson 6 – Culture: How It Defines Moral Behavior
Lesson 7 – Cultural Relativism
Lesson 8 – The Filipino Character
Lesson 9 – Universal Values

LESSON 1 - Rules and Its Importance

•Rules- refer to a set of guidelines which have been put in place in different
countries and communities and have been accepted by all.
•Rules are useful tools in guiding and monitoring the interactions of human in
the society.
•A rule is a prescribed guide for a conduct or action.
•Rules help guide actions toward desired results.
•Rules are specific sets of norms of behavior, regulations, and laws established
on purpose to regulate the life in the community.
•The availability of rules is a crucial criterion allowing to call nowadays society
civilized and well developed.
Why Do We Have Rules?
•They enable people to organize all the processes correctly, starting from house
chores and ending with more complicated issues as the functioning of a whole
country.
•Rules are specific modes of behavior that secure a regulated flow of all
processes.
•A well-developed system of rules help humanity to avoid chaos and many
problems that may be caused by the lack of regulations.
•Laws dictate what is proper and what is wrong.
•Moral rules assist people in the establishment of shared values and norms in
accordance to which an honorable member of society can be identified.
Importance of Rules
•Rules are important because they tend to protect the weaker class in the society
as they might be in disadvantageous position if rules are broker.
•They provide a stable environment and human co-existence in a society which
leads to peace and development. Example: Rules in School.
•Rules are vital in one’s life because peace and order are maintained, an
important ingredient for society’s development.
The Subject:
Ethics
•Ethics or moral philosophy as the study of moral judgments.
•It is the disciplined concerned with what is morally good and bad, right and
wrong.
•Consists of the fundamental issues of practical decision making, and its major
concerns include the nature of ultimate value and the standards by which human
actions can be judged right or wrong
•Derived from the Greek word ethos which can mean custom, habit, character or
disposition.
•Derived from religions, philosophies and cultures.
•About the goodness of individuals and what it means to live a good life.
•Particularly concerned with the moral character of human beings.
•At the heart of ethics is a concern about something or someone other than
ourselves and our own desires and self-interest.
•Ethics is concerned with other people’s interests, with the interests of society
with God’s interests, with “ultimate goods”.
Branches of Ethics
1. Normative. Actions are judged by their merits, allowing societies to develop
codes of conduct for behavior. Ex. Do Unto others as you would have them do
unto you.
It is the main branch of ethics that deals with how individuals decide upon the
right and appropriate moral action or deed that they should take. Eminent
philosophers such as Socrates and John Stuart Mill contributed largely to this
branch of ethics.
3 Categories of Normative Ethics
1. Deontological Ethics
As per this ethical theory, certain actions are right or wrong in their own and
involve absolute ethical standards that are required to be maintained.
Therefore, to make correct moral choices, an individual requires understanding
of his/her moral duties and about the rules that exist to regulate those duties.
2. Teleological Ethics
This theory defines that consequences of an action play an important role in
determining what to do and what not to do.
Therefore, this theory determines the rightness of an action in terms of goals or
purposes. In other words, it is the outcome or result that determines what is
right, instead of the input or actions.
In order to make correct moral decisions, an individual needs to evaluate which
action may result into what outcome. If someone makes choices which result in
the correct consequences, then he/she is acting morally. On the other hand, if
the made choices result in the incorrect consequences, then he/she is acting
immorally.
3. Virtue Ethics
This theory does not give any rule that people should follow. Instead, this ethic-
based theory focuses more on developing good character traits, such as kindness
and generosity among people.
According to this theory, if people have good and strong character traits, they will
make correct decisions in their lives.
Virtue theory also emphasizes over the need of learning how to break bad
character habits, such as greed and anger. It is important to get rid of these bad
character traits as they stand in the way of becoming a good person.
2. Descriptive. Asks what do people think is moral? It does not actually claim that
things are right or wrong, but simply studies how individuals or societies define
their morals.
•While normative ethics actually defines what is right and wrong, descriptive
ethics defines morals in terms of their cultural or personal significance.
•Morals are seen as part of a greater system that is not objective or unbiased but
is created by a culture, like language.
•These two branches of ethics are just a few of the ways we try and define
morality. Why Study Ethics?
•It will enable a person to understand better what his conscience, how he
acquired it, how far he is likely to be able to trust to its deliverances with safety,
and how he can improve it and make it more intelligent.
•He will gain a clearer insight into his claims upon society, and the duties that he
owes to society.
•He will learn to discriminate between the respects in which all individuals are
mutually interdependent and those in which each is responsible for his own life,
and ought to insist upon freedom of initiative.
•His understanding of moral problems will be widened, as he becomes
acquainted with the thoughts of other men upon problems of good and evil,
justice and injustice, virtue and vice, the rights and duties of the individual and of
society.
•His critical faculties will be trained. He will know the reasons for his moral
convictions and also the reasons for the moral conviction of others.

LESSON 2 - Moral Standards or Moral Frameworks and Non-Moral

Standards
•Moral standards are either consequences standards or non-consequences
standards (Aristotle’s Virtue, St. Thomas’ natural law or Immanuel Kant good will
or sense of duty.
•An act that results in the general welfare in the greatest good of the greatest
number is moral.
•The non-consequence standards are based on the natural law. Natural law is
the law of God revealed through human reason.
•It is the “Law of God written in the hearts of men”.
•To preserve human life is in accordance with the natural law, therefore it is
moral.
•The following are supposed to be examples of moral standards:
- Stealing is Wrong
- Killing is wrong
- Telling lies is wrong
- Environment preservation is the right thing to do
- Freedom with responsibility is the right way
•The non-moral standards:
- No talking while your mouth is full.
- Wear black or white for mourning following are; never red.
- The males should be the one to propose marriage not females.
- Observe correct grammar when writing and speaking in English.
Classification of the Theories of Moral Standards Garner and Rosen (1967)
classified the various moral standards formulate by moral philosophers as
follows:
•Consequence (teleogical from tele which means end, result or consequences)
standard. States that an act is right or wrong depending on the consequences of
the act, that is the good that is produced in the world. The consequence
standard can also be a basis for determining whether or not a rule is a right rule.
•Not-only-consequence standard (deontological). Holds that the rightness or
wrongness of an action or rule depends on sense of duty, natural law, virtue and
the demand of the situation or circumstances. The rightness or wrongness of an
action does not only depend or rely on the consequence of that action or
following that rule.
Under this theory, the rightness or wrongness of an action depends on all of the
following:
•Consequences of an action or rule, what promotes one’s greatest good or the
greatest good of the greatest number.
•Consideration other than consequences, like the obligations or the act based on
natural law, or its one’s duty, or it is promoting an ideal value. Deontology also
considers the object, purpose and circumstances or situation of the moral issue
or dilemma.
What Makes Standards Moral?
•For Theist, believers in God’s existence, moral standards are commandments of
God revealed to man through prophets. According to the Old Testament, the Ten
Commandments were revealed by God to Moses. One who believes in God vows
to Him and obliges himself/herself to follow His Ten Commandments.
•For Theist, God is the ultimate source of what is moral revealed to human
persons.
•For Non-theist, God is not the source of morality. Moral standards are based on
the wisdom of sages like Confucius or philosophers like Immanuel Kant.
•The universal necessity of the maxim, what makes it a categorical imperative is
what makes it obligatory.
•“Stealing is wrong” means “one ought not steal” and “Do not kill” means “one
ought not kill”.
•It is one’s obligation not to steal or kill. The obligation arises from the need of
self preservation.
Differences between Moral and Non-Moral Standards
•A moral standard refers to the norms which we have about the types of actions
which we believe to be morally acceptable and morally unacceptable.
•Deals with matters which can either seriously harm or seriously benefit human
beings.
•Non-moral standards refer to rules that are unrelated to moral or ethical
considerations.
•Either these standards are not necessarily linked to morality or by nature lack
ethical sense.
•Basic examples of non-moral standards include rules of etiquette, fashion
standards, rules in games and various house rules.
•Etiquette refers to the norms of correct conduct in polite society or more
generally to any special code of social behavior or courtesy. The rules of etiquette
are prescriptions for socially acceptable behavior.
•Statutes are laws enacted by legislative bodies. The law that defines and
prohibits theft is a statute.
Key Features of Morality
•People experience a sense of moral obligation and accountability. One cannot
doubt successfully a phenomenon of his own existence–namely, his moral
experience.
•Moral values and moral absolutes exist. It’s hard to deny the objective reality of
moral values- - actions like rape, torture, and child abuse are not just socially
unacceptable behavior but are moral abomination. (Craig, 1994)
•Moral law does exist. When we accept the existence of goodness, we must
affirm a moral law on the basis of which to differentiate between good and evil.
C.S. Lewis demonstrates the existence of a moral law by pointing to men who
quarrel–the man who makes remarks is not just saying that the other man’s
behavior does not happen to please him but is rather appealing to some kind of
standard of behavior that he expects the other man to know about. (Lewis,2003)
•Moral law is known to humans. Moral law is also called Law of Nature because
early philosophers thought that generally speaking, everybody knows it by nature.
Different civilizations and different ages only have ‘slightly different” moralities
and not a radically or “quite different moralities.”
•Morality is objective. Morality is absolute–there is a real right and real wrong
that is universally and immutably true, independent of whether anyone believes it
or not. Since almost all people assume certain things to be wrong–such as
genocide, murder of babies for feast, and rape–the best explanation is that such
things really are wrong and morality is objective. (Kleiman, 1999)
•Moral judgments must be supported by reasons. Moral judgments are different
from mere expressions personal preference–they require backing by reasons and
in the absence of such reasons, they are merely arbitrary. (James, 1999)
Man as a Moral Agent
 is capable of acting with reference to right and wrong.
 can be held responsible for behavior or decision.
 •who have rights and responsibilities, because it is moral agents whom we
take to have choices and the power to choose.
 •an intelligent being who has the power of choosing and scope to act
according to his choice.
 a living creature, as they must be able to comprehend abstract moral
principles and apply them to decision making.
 must have “self-consciousness, memory, moral principles, other values and
the reasoning faculty, which allows him to devise plans for achieving his
objectives, to weigh alternatives and so on”.
 who possesses the means of judging rightly, and power to act accordingly;
but whether he will do so or not, depends on the voluntary exercise of his
faculties.
LESSON 3 - Meaning of Moral Dilemma
•It is a problem in the decision-making between two possible options, neither of
which is absolutely acceptable from an ethical perspective.
•Ethical dilemma as a decision-making problem between two possible moral
imperatives neither of which unambiguous acceptable or preferable.
Based on these definitions, moral dilemmas have the following in common:
•The agent is required to do each of two or more actions which are morally
unacceptable;
•The agent can do each of the actions;
•But the agent cannot do both (or all) of the actions. A moral dilemma is a
situation where Meaning of False Dilemma
•It is a situation where the decision-maker has a moral duty to do one thing but
is tempted or under pressure to do something else.
•It is a choice between right and a wrong.
•For example, a lawyer or an accountant can face an opportunity to prioritize
self-interest over the client’s interest.
LESSON 4 - The Three Levels of Moral Dilemmas
Individual
 situation where a person faces conflicting moral choices,
making it difficult to decide the right course of action. This often
involves a struggle between two or more ethical principles,
where choosing one may violate another, leading to complex
decision-making.

 Organizational
It is a puzzle posed by the dual necessities of a social organization and
member’s interest. It may exist between personal interests and
organizational welfare or between group interests and organizational well-
being. (Wagner, 2019)

 Structural
Structural level dilemmas are conflicts between sectors, groups, and
institutions that may be affected by decisions made at a higher level.
Examples include tensions between centralized vs decentralized decision
making and differentiation vs integration of divided groups.
•Differentiation vs. Integration in Structural Dilemma.
With decentralization, local governments have become more empowered to
direct their affairs just as schools have become empowered to address their
problems or are given opportunity to localize the given curriculum. In effect,
local governments and school have likewise become more differentiated and so it
becomes more difficult to integrate them for a unified structure.
•Gap vs. Overlap.
If key responsibilities are not clearly assigned, they may be gaps or overlaps in
important tasks. If there are gaps, organizations end with no one doing the
responsibility. If there are overlaps, things become unclear and may lead to more
confusions and even conflict and worse wasted effort and perhaps even resources
because of the unintended overlap.
•Lack of Clarity vs. Lack of Creativity.
If employees are unclear about what they supposed to do, they often tailor their
roles around personal preferences instead of system wide goals, frequently
leading to trouble.
LESSON 5 - Freedom and Moral Acts
•In Kant Philosophy, freedom is defined as a concept which is involved in the
moral domain, at the questions: What should I do?
•In summary, Kant says that the moral law is only that I know myself as a free
person.
•Kantian freedom is closely linked to the notion of autonomy, which means law
itself: thus, freedom falls obedience to a law that I created myself.
•It is respects its commitment to compliance with oneself.
•Practical reason legislates of free beings, or more precisely the causality of free
beings. Practical reason is based on freedom, it is freedom. Kant’s Morality and
Freedom
•“To act freely is to act autonomously”
•“To act autonomously is to act according to a lawI give myself. “
•“Whenever I act accordingly to the laws of nature, demands of social
convention, when I pursue pleasure and comfort, I am not acting freely. To act
freely is not to simply choose a means to a given end. To act freely is to choose
the end itself, for its own sake”.
•This is the central to Kant’s notion of freedom. For Kant, acting freely
(autonomously) and acting morally are one and the same thing.
•The capacity to act autonomously in this manner gives humans that special
dignity that things and animals do no have.
•Respecting this dignity requires us to treat others not as means to an end, but
as ends in themselves. Ethics Applies Only to Human Persons
•Unlike the lower forms of animals, human persons have a choice or freedom,
hence morality applies only to human persons.
•We cannot say a cat is “unethical” when it eats the foodat table intended for
you or when a dog urinates on your favorite bag lying on the floor.
•Freedom loving societies have customary ways of training the young to exercise
their freedom.
•Parents regularly give their children opportunities to choose.
•If there no ability or power to choice, then any incident simple happens without
any interference.
•There would be also be no obligation to do any act in expectation of the
responsibility following the act.
Freedom and Moral Choice
•Without freedom it is impossible to make a moral choice.
•If we are to have free will we must have the ability to make a decision that is
unhindered. Kant believed that we must have free will if we are to be held
morally responsible for our actions.
•If God did not give us free will then our decisions cannot be considered immoral
or moral as we would have had to act in way we did.
•Making moral choice is a necessary consequence for being free, a consequence
of being a human person.
Because a human person has freedom, he/she a choice and so is responsible for
the consequences of his/her choices. To be Ethical: Own Not Merely Abide by
Moral Standards
•Having free will or freedom to choose among alternatives, which implies prior
analysis and study, is coming to terms with what you finally affirm or deny.
•When you arrive at a personal conviction and self-affirmation, you begin to
own the moral standard.
•If you do not own or internalize the standard, you will tend to use if for
convenience, to evade responsibility, to put the blame on the standard itself
when things do not end well.
•Owning moral standards means internalizing them, making them part of your
conviction. Internalized or embodied moral standards are being flowed with or
without anyone telling you.
•This may be termed as the embodiment of the moral standard in you. The
moral standard becomes one with the moral agent.
•Making your mind, word and action, a unity is not easy. You have in mind the
maxim, “honesty is the best policy”. As a teacher you always tell that to students.
But deep in your heart you know it has been difficult honest all the time.
LESSON 6 - Culture: How it Defines Moral Behavior?
•Culture is the integrated pattern of human knowledge, beliefs and behaviors.
•This consists of language, ideas, customs, morals, laws, taboos, institutions, tools
, techniques and works of arts, rituals and other capacities and habits acquired
by a person as a member of society. (Taylor, 1997)
•Culture is passed on the next generation by learning not through the genes or
heredity.
•Culture includes all human phenomena which are not purely results of human
genetics.
Enculturation, Inculturation and Acculturation
•Enculturation is a process of learning from infancy till death, the components
of life in one’s culture.
•Inculturation refers to the “missiological process in which the Gospel is rooted in
a particular culture and the latter is transformed by its introduction to
Christianity.
•Acculturation is the “cultural modification of an individual group, or people by
adapting to or borrowing traits from another culture.
How Culture Shapes the Moral Agent
•Culture has a very long lasting hold on an individual. A person may have become
highly educated, may have even obtained a doctorate degree, educated with
Christian values of forgiveness, but if he comes from society with a culture of
vengeance (an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth”) having the sense of
obligation to make an act of revenge when a member of his tribe has been killed
or harmed by another tribe and when a case arises where a member of his tribe
is harmed by another.
LESSON 8 - The Filipino Character:
Strengths and Weaknesses The weaknesses of the Filipino character as cited :
•Extreme family centeredness. Excessive concern for family means using one’s
office and power to promote family interests and thus factionalism patronage,
political dynasties and the protection of erring family members. It results in lack
of concern for the common good, and acts as a block to national consciousness.
•Extreme personalism.“Takes things personally”, cannot separate objective tasks
from emotional involvement. Because of this the Filipino is uncomfortable with
bureaucracy, with rules and regulations and with standard procedures. He uses
personal contacts and gives preference to family and friends in hiring, services
and even voting. Extreme personalism leads to the graft and corruption evident
in Philippines society.
•Lack of discipline. A casual attitude toward time and space, manifests in lack of
precision and compulsiveness, in poor time management and procrastination. A
version to following procedures strictly results in lack of standardization and
quality control. Impatience results in short cuts, palusot, ningas cogon. Lack of
discipline often results in inefficient work systems, the violation of rules and a
casual work ethic lacking follow through.
•Passivity and lack of initiative. Waiting to be hold what to do, reliance on others
(leaders and government), complacent, lack of a sense of urgency, too patient
and matiisin, the Filipino is easily oppressed and exploited.
•Colonial Mentality. Lack of patriotism or of an active awareness, appreciation
and love of the Philippines and an actual preference for things foreign. •Kanya-
kanya syndrome, talangka mentality. Done by tsismis, intriga, unconstructive
criticism. It is evident in the personal ambition that is completely insensitive to
the common good, e.g. the lack of a sense of service among people in the
government bureaucracy. This results in the dampening of cooperative and
community spirit and in the trampling upon other’s right.
•Lack of self-analysis and self-reflection. The tendency to be superficial and
somewhat flighty. In the face of serious personal and social problems, there is
lack of analysis or reflection and instead satisfaction with superficial explanations
and solutions.
•Emphasis on porma rather than substance. This lack of analysis and emphasis
on form is reinforced by an educational system that is more form than substance.
Goals are proposed to develop in the Filipino
•Sense of patriotism and national pride;
•Sense of the common good
•Sense of integrity and accountability
•Values and habits of discipline and hard work
•Value and habits of self-reflection and analysis, the internalization of spiritual
values and the emphasis on essence rather than on form.
Other Studies on Filipino Moral Character
•One norm of morality in the Philippines is based on“group
centeredness”or“group-thinking”.
•One’s in group determines for the individual what is right or wrong.
•The “group thinking” is called “sakop mentality”. It may refer to person’s
relatives, peers, classmates, town mates, officemates etc.
•This thinking or mentality explains the “pakikisama” in both positive and
negative sense; it explains the“barkada”attitude.
•Euphemism, the laughter of affirmation of gutter language; it explains
subservience to an illegal or immoral order..
Impact of Culture on Morality
•Guilt cultures emphasize punishment and forgiveness as ways of restoring the
moral order.
•Shame cultures stress self-denial and humility as ways of restoring the social
order The Filipino Customs and Traditions
•Close family ties. It is one of the outstanding cultural values that Filipinos have.
•Bayanihan. It is the spirit of communal unity or effort to achieve a particular
objective.
•Courtship. Serenading or harana in Tagalog is one of the most popular forms of
courtships to show that a man is very serious with his intentions to a woman.
•Religion. Their habit of going to church and often praying reflects that Filipinos
have a deep faith and belief when it comes to religion.
•Superstition. Superstition beliefs have grown throughout the country. These
beliefs have come from the different sayings and beliefs of our ancestors that aim
to prevent danger from happening or to make a person refrain from doing
something in particular.
•Marriage and Wedding Customs. Marriage is a sacred union of man and woman
after a period of courtship and engagement. It is a sacrament between two
people who each other.
•Death. A death of a relative is an opportunity to strengthen ties in the family.
To pay respect and honor the relationship to the deceased, long lost relatives,
friends and even relatives working abroad are reunited.
•Society. The Philippines is a combined society, both singular and plural in form. It
is singular as one nation, but plural in that is fragmented geographically and
culturally.
•Christmas in the Philippines. It is considered as one of the biggest holidays in the
archipelago. We earned the distinction of celebrating the world’s longest
Christmas season with Christmas carols heard as early as September and lasting
until Epiphany, the feast of Black Nazarene on January 9 or the Feast of the Sto.
Nino de Cebu on the third Sunday of January.
•Fiestas. These are held to celebrate a patrol saint. It is part and parcel of Filipino
culture through good times and bad times, it must go on.
•Living with Parents. Filipinos highly value the presence of family more than
anything. Adult children living with their parents are another Filipino traditional
that make them exceptional.
Characteristics of Filipino Culture
•The Filipino people are very resilient.
•Filipinos take pride in their families
•Filipinos are very religious
•Filipinos are very respectful.
•Filipino help one another
•Filipinos value traditions and culture
•Filipino have the longest Christmas celebrations.
•Filipinos love are and architecture
•The Filipinos are hospitable people Filipino Family Values
•Paggalang (Respect)
•Pakikisama (Helping Others)
•Utang na loob (Debt of Gratitude)
•Pagpapahalaga sa Pamilya (Prioritizing Family)
•Hiya (Shame)
•Damayan System
•Compassionate
•Fun-loving trait
Social Values of the Filipinos
•Amor Propio (Self-Esteem)
•Smooth interpersonal relationships
•Personal alliance system
•The Compadre System
•Utang-na-loob
•Suki Relationship
•Friendship Universal Values
•It is a quality that weans people, things, events or situations.
•Designate the moral characteristics that are inherent in a subject piety,
responsibility, secularism etc.
•It is an adjective that is related to what belongs or which relates to the universe.
•These are formed by implied behavioral standards that are necessary to live in a
harmonious and peaceful society.

LESSON 9 - Schwarts Concept of Universal Values

•S.H. Schwartshas carried out empirical research investigating whether there are
universal values and what values are.
•He defines that values as conceptions of the desirable that influence the way
people select action and evaluate events. (Sen, 1999) Below are the value types,
with the specific related values alongside.
•Power.Social status and prestige, control or dominance over people and
resources.
•Achievement. Personal success through demonstrating competence according
to social standards.
•Hedonism. Pleasure or sensuous gratification for oneself.
•Stimulation. Excitement, novelty and challenge in life.
•Self-direction. Independent thought and action-choosing, creating, exploring.
•Universalism. Understanding, appreciation, tolerance and protection for the
welfare of all people and for nature.
•Benevolence. Preservation and enhancement of the welfare of people with
whom one is in frequent personal contact.
•Tradition. Respect, commitment and acceptance of the customs and ideas that
traditional culture or religion provide.
•Conformity. Restraint of actions, inclinations, and impulses likely to upset or
harm others and violate social expectations or norms.
•Security. Safety, harmony and stability of society of relationships and of self.

Basic Universal Human Values

•Happiness •Peace •Love •Freedom •Safety •Intelligence •Human respect
•Equality •Justice •Nature •Health
Prepared by: Prof. Leslie Ann U. Gamundoy Faculty, College of Business and