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Lesson 4 in Ethics

The document discusses two necessary conditions for morality according to John Mothers head: freedom and obligation. [1] Freedom involves making choices and taking responsibility for one's life and actions. [2] Obligation is one's duty to exercise freedom as a rational moral being and plan for the future. [3] For morality to exist, humans must be free to make choices about what is right and wrong while also being obliged to exercise this freedom rationally and take responsibility for their actions.

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Sirr Ben
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476 views3 pages

Lesson 4 in Ethics

The document discusses two necessary conditions for morality according to John Mothers head: freedom and obligation. [1] Freedom involves making choices and taking responsibility for one's life and actions. [2] Obligation is one's duty to exercise freedom as a rational moral being and plan for the future. [3] For morality to exist, humans must be free to make choices about what is right and wrong while also being obliged to exercise this freedom rationally and take responsibility for their actions.

Uploaded by

Sirr Ben
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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LESSON 4

Necessary Conditions for Morality:


Freedom and Obligation
According to John Mothers head, there are two necessary conditions for morality

to occur: freedom and obligation. As explained above, freedom is assumed when one is

making choices and is the agent taking full responsibility for planning his/her life, and in

the process, planning and budgeting his/her actions for some future goal. This is in

accordance with the individual’s moral and rational capacity to know and discern what is

right and wrong. This condition of freedom can be seen as limiting or constraining the

realm of morals for human beings. Animals do not have the capacity to look forward and

consciously plan for the future. Even when ants hoard their food for the rainy days, this

action is based on instinct. Only human beings are capable of planning for their future,

planning their life, and setting their goals as a result of these plans. The assumption of

freedom entails another assumption, which is obligation. In its moral sense, obligation is

construed as a one’s duty to him/herself to exercise freedom as a rational moral being. In

other words, it is seen as his/her duty to him/herself to do this budgeting and planning for

the future because the future is yet to be and the only way to make it better is by being

obliged to do so. In other words, you are not free to be unfree. In making moral decisions

and choices, it is within the capacity of the human person as an active and free moral

agent to exercise his/her freedom of choice as his/her obligation to him/herself. Our

discussion of freedom entails this basic presupposition: That the human person is free in

the exercise of making choices in the realm of morality — that is, in making choices with

regard to determining what is the right thing to do in situations and circumstances in


his/her own life. This can be summarized in our Filipino saying, “Buntot mo, hila mo!” It is

taking full responsibility for your actions and being obliged to do so. When was the last

time you blamed other people for a mistake that you made? There is a tendency for

people to blame others for their choice of a course of action. For example, a couple who

freely choose to marry each other out of love could, when the marriage sours, blame each

other for their predicament and end up saying he/she was forced or coerced by the other

into the marriage. However, it is one’s obligation to oneself to exercise one’s capacity for

deliberation and reflection by thinking about the consequences before making a decision.

In other words, this is an exercise of one’s rationality to the fullest without for-getting one’s

humanity and his/her capacity for empathy.


Activity 4

1. When does a value become a moral value? Is money a value? Can money become a

moral value? Why yes/Why not? Can you think of other examples?

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