ETHICS Midterm

Culture in Moral Behavior

Culture And Moral Behavior
Principle:
“ Culture Influences Moral Behavior”

Individual behavior - is connected to the person’s situation (circumstances) that contributes to his action.

Cultural orientation - culture frames one’s understanding of good and bad

Culture - generally, shapes the moral framework/ behavior of persons and even of groups

Cultural relativism - is a doctrine that asserts validity of culture in the process of thinking
- it is a doctrine which asserts that culture dictates ones behavior and even the morality of
one’s act.

Cultural relativism and ethics

- It is culture specific such that truth is measured dependent upon cultural logic and consistency

Ethical thinking in cultural relativism

- doing of good is greatly dependent on one’s culture

Concrete manifestation of cultural relativism

- what can be true to one culture may not necessarily be true to another.

Virtue Ethics and Moral Development Theory

Moral Development Theory

by Lawrence Kohlberg

Moral Development Theory

- it emphasizes the gradual progress experienced
by the individual who in turn can only realize his
or her own status of personal development after
passing through a lower level
Kohlberg’s Six Stages of Moral Development

Kohlberg’s Theory of Moral Development

Level 3 Postconventional Step 6 - Individual principle of conscience
(11 years on) Step 5 - Conforms to maintain communities
- Emphasis on individual rights
Level 2 Conventional level Step 4 - Conforms to avoid censure by
(7-11 years) authorities
Step 3 - Good boy/girl morality
- Conforms to avoid disapproval or
dislike by others
Level 1 Preconventional Step 2 - Naive hedonism
(younger than 6) - Conforms to get rewards and to have
favors returned
Step 1 - Punishment and obedience orientation
- Obey rules to avoid punishment
Pre-Conventional Level
- the norms of morality are understood through physical pain and pleasure orientation
Stages of Moral Development
Level Stage Description
Preconventional 1 Punishment and obedience
- Motivated by the fear of punishment
- A child will act in order to avoid punishment
2 Instrumental-relativist mentality/ Individualism
- One is motivated to act by the benefit that one may obtain
 later.
- “You scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours.”

Conventional Level
- Concerns are the values of family, of the nation, of the group, or in short, the society where one
belongs
Stages of Moral Development
Level Stage Description
Conventional 3 Interpersonal concordance
- One is motivated by what others expect in behavior good
boy, good girl orientation
- He values how he appears to others.
4 Law and order mentality
- One is motivated to act in order to uphold law and order
- The person will follow the law because it is the law

Post Conventional Level

- An individual shows an independent attitude in his or her regard to values used to be prescribed by his
or her society.
Stages of Moral Development
Level Stage Description
Post conventional 5 Social contract
- Laws that are wrong can be changed
- One will act based on social justice and the common good
6 Universal principles
- This is associated with the development of one’s conscience
- Having a set of standards that drives one to possess moral
responsibility to make societal changes regardless of
consequences to oneself

Feelings and Moral Decision-Making

Emotions
- Are constitutive of being human on personal and collective levels
- Are momentary feelings; unsuitable to moral decision making
- Are unwilled and subjective; are fleeting feelings hence, there can hardly be accountability

Emotions And Morality

Emotions
- Conscious mental reaction subjectively experienced as strong feeling usually directed toward a specific object
and typically accompanied by physiological and behavioral changes in the body

PHILOSOPHERS convinced that EMOTIONS play crucial role in moral decision-making.

BLAISE PASCAL:
- “ The HEART knows what the MIND does not. ”
- The mind is not the sole arbiter of what is right and wrong.
- Emotions operate with precision and consistency of its own.

Two Schools of Thought on Emotions

- Emotion is a hindrance and a help.
(Why they can be obstacles in making the right decision?)
(How can they help in making the right decision?)
- Emotions should be guided by reason.

Emotions and Reason Principles

1. Emotions should be guided by reason.
2. When moral claims could not be supported by reasonable arguments, then such claims would in no way
resolve a moral issue.
3. The neutral position (relativism) carried out by feelings implies a double standard.
4. Emotions unaided by reason do away with critical analysis for objectivity, disconnecting ethics.

ST. AUGUSTINE SAYS:

Animal passion is different from human rationality.
 Animals – instinctive tendencies
Humans – control instinct with reason.
Feelings maybe helpful but it should be guided by reason.

The 7-Step Moral Reasoning Model

A Theory by Michael Davis
1. State the Problem
- the acknowledgement that there is an existing problem is crucial prior to its full determination
- by stating that some things have to be fixed, one is able to pinpoint to where the problem originates
2. Ascertain the Facts
- not all problems identified would be considered as legitimate problems
- difficulties result from miscommunication
- ascertaining the facts clear out all the doubts present
3. Identify Relevant Facts
- one has to circumnavigate the variables involved in the issue
- ex: as a teacher, you have caught someone cheating. upon doing the first two in the process, now you
can check the name of the student, the degree/extent of his action, the specific rules that his action is
based on in the handbook, all while also asking him about his side of the story.
4. Develop a List of Options
- developing a list of options should lead to a focused choice
- choosing effectively solves identified problem, therefore, it must address the problem both possibly
and plausibly
5. Test Options
- returning to the old problem earlier, there are myriad of options one can look into before judgment.
- The following can be used as a test:
5.1. Virtue Test: If I were to ignore this, how does this reflect my own virtue?
5.2. Harm Test: What will be the effect of the possibility of non-disclosure?
5.3. Reversibility Test: Would I be also affected by it if I were in his/her position?
5.4. Professional Test: How does my discipline or field see this action?
5.5. Organization Test: How does the organization or my institution observe the following problem?
5.6. Colleague Test: How does my colleague see the same issue?
5.7. Publicity Test: How should this be treated publicly?
5.8. Defensibility Test: How could this issue be defended, and where?
6. Tentative Choice
- the first five steps lead you to make for yourself an informed choice that can still be evaluated.
7. Make A Final Decision
- the final choice is now set for a new ethical decision. . . happens upon further evaluation of the steps
- this also leads to its significance to a further whole: society and other institutions like the church.

The Moral Agent and Virtue Ethics

Moral Agent
- Doer/ Performer/Actor of moral value
- Has the full accountability for his action. One cannot point at other reasons
- Is capable of thinking what is good (or bad)
- Possesses the virtues which do not develop overnight.

Principles on Moral Agency

- doing what is morally good (bad) is not sufficient to make the moral agent good (bad)
- intention or motivation before the act has been done should be investigated
The agent possesses the virtues
- Virtues are formed character of a person who through time has consistently exercised these
values
The Virtues
Vice (Deficiency) Virtue (Mean) Vice (Excess)
Cowardly Brave Rash
Addictive Temperate Ascetic
Stingy Generous Extravagant
Self-deprecating Truthful Boastful
Boorish Witty Buffoonish
Quarrelsome Friendly Bootlicking
Melancholy Spirited Boisterous
 Depraved Conscientious Deferential
Envious Indignant Retributive
Mean Benevolent Self-sacrificing
Lazy Industrious Single-minded

Vices
- Opposite of virtues
- The inconsistency towards values
- The repetition of doing bad

Qualities of an Individual who has Grown through Life

- maturity
- decisiveness
- uprightness

Virtue
- (Etymologically) manliness, i.e. strength, courage
- Disposition, ability, or habit inclining man to think and act correctly to follow what is right and avoid what is
evil
- A highly regarded personality trait or aspect of character
- Deeply held value by a person that intrinsically leads him or her to behave in a certain way
- Good universal values, all of us should have
- It affect how we absorbed the world around us and act in the world
- Virtuous people are not perfect, but it does not affect the purity or inspirational component of the virtue itself
- Virtuous actions make a person good
- It is a good quality of the mind by which one lives rightly, which no one uses badly and which God works in
us but without us (St. Augustine)
- It is a good habit perfecting man in any of his rational potencies and inclining him to the right and perfect use
of his potencies (St. Thomas)

Virtue Ethics
- Considers excellence or goodness in terms of performance
- Any activity that is good reflects the doing of things in an excellent way
- Actualization or perfection of human excellence
- Virtues that give rise to a good life
- A good life and the manner by which it is lived, and exemplification of the virtues

Approaches To Virtue Ethics

A. Eudaimonism (synonymous with virtue ethics)
- The ideal goal of human existence is individual eudaimonia
Eudaimonia - happiness; wellbeing; good life
- his goodness is attainable by acting out those virtues, called phronesis
Phronesis - prudence or practical wisdom
- a tool to achieve happiness.
B. Ethics Of Care
- 20th Century
- Outgrowth of feminist theory of Annette Baier
- Gender role influences a person’s action and thinking
- Taking care of others, patient and nurturing, willing to sacrifice one’s own happiness for the sake of
other’s happiness

C. Agent-Based Theory (Michael Slote)

- Uses the largest, most normal and most lauded virtues across time and culture
(ex. kindness and mercy)
- Moves the burden of ethics to the inner life of the agent who performs those actions

The Four Cardinal Virtues

1. Prudence
- Regulates the intellect to think of the right thing and to avoid evil
2. Justice
 - Regulates the will of giving what is due to others
3. Fortitude
- Regulates weakness of character
4. Temperance
- Voluntary self-restraint

Charity
- The mover, the mother and root of all virtues and the source of good will, kindness, mercy, and
forgiveness
- Supernatural virtue of loving God above all things and loving one’s neighbour because of God
- Gives unity and harmony to individual moral life and to the whole humanity
- Helping the poor, the unfortunate, the underprivileged

Justice
- Giving what is due to others
1. Legal
- Binding all men to do what is for the common good in accordance with the law
2. Distributive (community to individuals)
- Directs the state to share out to the people benefits and offices according to the merits and
capabilities
3. Commutative justice (between individuals)
- Duty of one individual to give what is due to another.
4. Social Justice
- Direct individuals to give society its due
- It imposes the obligation to assist those in need so that they too can live their life worthy of
dignity as persons
5. International justice
- Common welfare of all nations
- Main duties are preservation of world peace, unity, and brotherhood

Virtue-Based Morality
- The extent of excellence performed by an individual and as to where that individual is expected to
function well
- The two great thinkers espoused a virtue-based moral system: Aristotle & St. Thomas Aquinas

Aristotelian Virtue Ethics

- Teleological and eudaiministic
- Telos
- Latin term for “end” which mean a product which the agent seeks to make or an action that is to be
done or accomplished
- Human beings have the natural inclination to pursue an end which is happiness
- In Aristotle’s society, students are trained to acquire moral knowledge and skills
- Teachers and social political institutions, ensure the cultivation of moral disposition in their young citizens.
- Two realms of social affair:
- Intellectual reals (education of young citizens)
- Socio-political realm (provides the education)
- Reassure the honing of the two-fold virtues to human excellence (intellectual virtue, courage)
- Moral education or ethical instruction is the key in fostering good habits (virtues) and discouraging bad habits
(vices)
- Doctrine of the mean

Happiness as a Virtue
- Anything good makes a human happy
- Aristotle believes in happiness that is pursued with pleasure
- Pleasure or happiness
- is the end goal of human act
- Lasting enjoyment experienced by higher beings
- human beings enjoy higher pleasures guided by higher faculty (rationality)
- Lower form of animals enjoy lower pleasures directed by lower faculties (appetites)
- Human beings who heed to lower appetitive tendencies experience the same lower pleasures as that of
animals.
- Aristotle asserts that there can hardly be happiness without virtue.

St. Thomas Aquinas on Natural Law

- Doctor of the Roman Catholic church, theologian, philosopher
- Thomism
- pillar in theological approach
- Scholasticism
- pillar of philosophical movement
- Puts forward that there is within us a conscience directing our moral thinking
- This sense of right and wrong must be informed, guided, and grounded on morality
- We are called to heed the voice of conscience and maintain a life of virtue
- For Thomas Aquinas, Natural law is the basis of ethics and the ultimate ground directing our sense of what is
right and wrong
- All beings including man, came from God (first efficient cause), who is essentially good
- All beings will return to Him (final cause)
- God’s goodness is perfect, man’s is imperfect
- God directs man to arrive at his perfection and reach their proper end which is returning to God

The Essence and Varieties of Law

- Law makes man concern about common good (good of the community or whole people)
- Law is an ordinance of reason, made and promulgated by man for the common good

Divisions of Law
Eternal Law
- A norm whereby God governs the universe and most of which are unknowable to man
- What God wills for creation
- Keeps the universe (Kosmos) in proper working order
- It always exist, and always will within the mind of God (Logos)
- All creatures are part and participate in this law
- E.g. sun, moon, daytime, night time, high tide, ebb tide, time, etc.
Natural Law
- Aspect of eternal law knowable to man and applicable to human lives
- “an intellect-bit size of reality”
- Man has participation and contribution as a rational being
- E.g. procreation of man and woman, sustaining and defending life, protection of the environment, etc.
Human Law
- An application of the general principles of natural law to particular situations, by the human minds
- Morally-based earthly laws by which human societies function
- E.g. constitutional law, Republic acts, Decrees, Ordinances, Ecclesiastical law, etc.
Divine Law
- An aspect of the eternal law made known to human minds by God through historical revelations
- Laid out in Old and New testaments
- E.g. the 10 Commandments
The Old Law
- An aspect of the Divine law made known by God thru pre-Christian revelation to the Jewish
people
The New Law
- An aspect of the Divine law made known by Christ to the church

The Natural and its Tenets (Thomistic Thought)

- Natural
- means any innate human inclinations (physical, moral) pertaining to one’s life
- Physically, we are naturally inclined to promote life and continue living despite its odds
- We do not simply settle on securing our earthly life but we deepen our relationship with God
- St. Thomas emphasizes that it is human nature to desire his/her ultimate end in God
- This natural tendency of man seeking fulfillment in God finds its fulfillment through the supernatural agent
who is God Himself
- Human will, as a nature (Voluntas ut natura)
- Our acts of will or volition arise from our natural desire for the ultimate end.
- Natural law
 - is instilled in us hence, it can be known naturally.
- Synderesis
- the habit of doing good and avoiding evil

Happiness as Constitutive of Moral and Cardinal Virtues

- Happiness (Felicitas)
- or Beatitudo or peace (pax)
- is the ultimate end or good pursued by human beings
- Total or ultimate happiness is in afterlife
- This is not the same with Aristotle’s “happiness” achievable on earth
- The ultimate happiness or Beautitudo Perfecta can never be perfectly actualized by human beings, yet
achieved by the grace of God
- The human activity is instrumental to the divine activity
- Happiness is not only achieved through natural virtues acquired by humans
- Otherwise, humans would end up in the illusion of imperfect happiness
- Ultimate happiness requires the virtue of:
- faith
- hope
- love
-Through this union with God, perfect happiness could be attained

Ethical Teachings of St. Augustine

- God is the focal point of St. Augustine’s moral imperative
- God is the starting and terminal point of existence
- God created everything out of love
- Love is the central basis of his ethics
- God favoured man among His creations, because of the freewill
- Man’s freewill is the primordial basis of the existence of evil
- Man authors evil, and not God
- Evil is the absence of good
- Despite the capacity to do evil,
man is still capable of attaining perfection by keeping himself good through:
- prudence
- justice
- fortitude
- temperance
- charity
- love

Ethical Teachings of Jesus Christ

- More preference to the poor and the oppressed
- Ethics of love
- Demands honesty and authenticity
- Teaches faith in the Father
- Espouses peace and reconciliation
- Demands sacrifice and peace
- the moral man is he who loves his/her neighbour and therefore loves God
- Doesn’t like people who wants to be moral to be recognized in public
- A believer should not worry for tomorrow, thus should develop a complete trust to the Father
- He who has enemies is not worthy to be in good terms with God
- Jesus says that the road to heaven is thorny; no beds of roses towards the glorious future, for it is wrapped up
with sorrow, pain, and all sorts of tribulations
- “if you follow me, you must deny yourself, take up your cross and begin to follow in my steps.”

Moral Courage
Moral Courage
- The power to act upon a moral situation on the basis of the agent’s moral decision
- Doing what is right when confronted with a problem
- Taking a moral stand despite the risk

Moral Courage: “the what is”

- rejected
- opposed
- threatened

Moral Courage: “what is not”

- in consistency towards moral conviction
- to impress
- failure to respond to situations significantly needing his response

Will As Important As Reason

Intellect or Reason
- is the principle of human action
- we act with an idea in mind of what we are going to do
Will
- intrinsic principle moving the agent towards an end
- being a prerequisite of an action to be considered human
- every agent acts with an end in the mind
- this end moves a person to act

According to St. Thomas Aquinas:

Will+ Intellect= Human Act
- Hence, moral courage is the interplay between reason and will
- Otherwise, it is Act of Man

Greek Philosophers
Plato
- Innate capacity
- The nature of a person is already given and out of this, the person can actualize his potentials
Aristotle
- Outside forces
- A person should acquire the skills to develop the virtues for personal growth

Remember: Whether such virtues are innate or acquired, a morally courageous person exhibits the
steadfastness of such virtues through the proper exercise of the will.

Doctrine of the Mean

by Aristotle
- A balance between a surplus of virtues and a lacking of vices
- Equilibrium between any excess
- A practice of moderation
-“Virtus stat in medio”