CHAPTER I-UNDERSTANDING MORALITY sense of duty, a sense of duty that you wish will apply

AND MORAL STANDARDS to all human persons.

MORAL AND NON-MORAL STANDARDS On the other hand, non-moral standards are social
rules, demands of etiquette and good manners. They
Ethymology and Meaning of Ethics are guides of action which should be followed as
expected by society. Sometimes they may not be
The term "ethics" comes from the Greek word followed or some people may not follow them. From
"ethos" meaning “custom” used in the works of time to time, changes are made regarding good
Aristotle while the term “moral” is the Latin manners or etiquette. In sociology, non-moral
equivalent. Based on Greek and Latin etymology of standards or rules are called folkways. In short, non-
the word “ethics”, ethics deals with morality. When moral actions are those where moral categories
the Roman orartor Cicero exclaimed, “O tempora o cannot be applied.
mores” (Cicero, 1856) (Oh, what time and what Examples of non-moral standards are rules of good
morals), he may have been trying to express dismay manners and right conduct, etiquette, rules of
of the morality of his time. behavior set by parents, teachers, and standards of
grammar or language, standards of art, standards of
Ethics or moral philosophy, is a branch of philosophy sports set by other authorities. Examples are "do not
which deals with moral standards, inquires about the eat with your mouth open;"
rightness or wrongness of human behavior or the "observe rules of grammar," and "do not wear socks
goodness and badness of personality, trait or that don't match."
character. It deals with ideas, with topics such as
moral standards or norms of morality, conscience, An indicator whether or not a standard is moral or
moral values and virtues. Ethics is a study of the non-moral lies in it compliance as distinguished from
morality of human acts and moral agents, what makes its non-compliance. Non-compliance with moral
an act obligatory and what makes a person standards causes a sense of guilt, while non-
accountable. compliance with a non-moral standard may only
cause shame or embarrassment.
"Moral" is the adjective describing a human act as Classification of the Theories of Moral Standards
either ethically right or wrong, or qualifying a person,
personality, character, as either ethically good or bad. Gamer and Rosen (1967) classified the various moral
standards formulated by moral philosophers as
Moral Standards or Moral Frameworks and Non- follows: 1) Consequence (teleological, from tele
Moral Standards which means end, result, or consequence) standard
states that an act is right or wrong depending on the
Since ethics is a study of moral standards, then the consequences of the act, that is, the good that is
first question for the course is, what are moral produced in the world. Will it do you good if you go
standards. The following are supposed to be to school? If the answer is right, because you learn
examples of moral standards: "Stealing is wrong." how to read and write, then going to school is right.
"Killing is wrong." "Telling lies is wrong." "Adultery The consequence standard can also be a basis for
is wrong." "Environment preservation is the right determining whether or not a rule is a right rule. So
thing to do". "Freedom with responsibility is the right the consequence standard states that the rightness or
way." "Giving what is due to others is justice". wrongness of a rule depends on the consequences or
Hence, moral standards are norms or prescriptions the good that is produced in following the rule. For
that serve as the frameworks for determining what instance,
ought to be done or what is right or wrong action, if everyone follows the rule of a game, everyone will
what is good or bad character. enjoy playing the game. This good consequence
proves the rule must be a correct rule. 2) Not-only-
Moral standards are either consequences standards consequence standard (deontological), holds that
(like Stuart Mill's utilitarianism) or non-consequence the rightness or wrongness of an action or rule
standards (like Aristole's virtue, St. Thomas' natural depends on sense of duty, natural law, virtue and the
law, or Immanuel Kant' good will or sense of duty). demand of the situation or circumstances. The
rightness or wrongness of an action does not only
The consequence standards depend on results, depend or rely on the consequence of that action or
outcome. An act that results in the general welfare, in following that rule.
the greatest good of the greatest number, is moral. To
take part in a project that results in the improvement Natural law and virtue ethics are deontological moral
of the majority of people is, therefore, moral. standards because their basis for determining what is
right or wrong does not depend on consequences but
The non-consequence standards are based on the on the natural law and virtue. Situation ethics, too, is
natural law. Natural law is the law of God revealed deontological because the rightness or wrongness of
through human reason. It is the "law of God written an act depends on, situation and circumstances
in the hearts of men." To preserve human life is in requiring or demanding exception to rule.
accordance with the natural law, therefore it is moral.
Likewise, the non-consequence standard may also be Rosen and Garner are inclined to consider
based on good will or intention, and on a sense of deontology, be it rule or act deontology, as the better
duty. Respect for humanity, treatment of the other as moral standard because it synthesizes or includes all
a human person, an act that is moral, springs from a the other theory of norms. Under this theory, the
rightness or wrongness of an action depends on (or is communicated to man through signs or revelation, or
a function of) all the following: did they arise in the course of man's evolution?
a) consequences of an action er rule, what promotes
one's greatest good, or the greatest good of the With the Divine source concept, moral standards are
greatest number; b) consideration other than derived from natural law, man's "participation" in the
consequences, like the obligatoriness or the act based Divine law. The moral principle, "Do good and avoid
on natural law, or its being one's duty, or its evil" is an expression of natural law. Man's obliging
promoting an ideal virtue. Deontology also considers himself to respect the life, liberty, and property of his
the eject, purpose, and circumstances or situation of fellowman arises from the God-given sacredness,
the moral issue or dilemma. spirituality, and dignity of his fellow man. It arises
from his faith, hope, and love of God and man.
What Makes Standards Moral?
With the evolutionary concept, the basics of moral
The question means what obliges us to follow a standards - do good, avoid evil - have been observed
moral standard? For theists, believers in God's among primates and must have evolved as the
existence, moral standards are commandments of process of evolution followed its course.
God revealed to man through prophets. According to
the Old Testament, the Ten Commandments were Are these theist and non-theist (evolutionary)
revealed by God to Moses. One who believes in God origin of moral standards reconcilable?
vows to Him and obliges himself/herself to follow
His Ten Commandments. For theists, God is the The evolutionist claims that altruism, a sense of
ultimate source of what is moral revealed to human morality, can be observed from man's fellow
persons. primates- the apes and monkeys and, therefore, it can
be said that the altruism of human persons evolved
How about non-theists? For non-theists, God is not from the primates. However, the evolutionist cannot
the source of morality. Moral standards are based on satisfactorily argue, with factual evidence, that the
the wisdom of sages like Confucius or philosophers rudiments of moral standards can be observed from
like Immanuel Kant. the primates. Neither can it be scientifically
established that the theist view, that man's obliging
In China, B. C., Confucius taught the moral standard, himself to avoid evil, refrain from inflicting harm on
"Do unto others what you like others to do unto you" his fellowman, is a moral principle implanted by God
and persuaded people to follow this rule because it is in the hearts of men. But the concept of creation and
the right way, the gentleman's way. Later, Immanuel evolution are not necessarily contradictory. The
Kant, the German philosopher, formulated criterion revelation of the norms of Divine origin could not
for determining what makes a moral standard moral. have been instant, like a happening "in one fell
It is stated as follows: "Act only according to that swoop." It could have happened gradually as man
maxim whereby you can at the same time will that it evolved to differ from the other primates. As the
should become a universal law." (1993) In other evolutionists claim, creation may be conceived as a
words, if a maxim or standard cannot pass this test, it process of evolution. Hence, the biblical story of
cannot be a moral standard. For instance, does the creation could have happened in billions of years
maxim "Stealing is wrong" pass this test? Can one instead of six days.
will that this maxim be a universal maxim? The
answer is in the affirmative. The opposite of the
maxim would not be acceptable. Moral standards are
standards that we want to be followed by all, MORAL DILEMMAS
otherwise, one would be wishing one's own ill
fortune. Can you wish "do not kill" to be a universal Meaning of Moral Dilemma
maxim? The answer has to be yes because if you say
"no" then you are not objecting to someone killing A moral dilemma is a problem in the decision-making
you. Thus, the universal necessity of the maxim, between two possible options, neither of which is
what makes it a categorical imperative is what absolutely acceptable from an ethical perspective. It
makes it obligatory. "Stealing is wrong" means "one is also referred to as ethical dilemma. The Oxford
ought not steal" and "Do not kill" means "one ought defines ethical dilemma as a "decision-making
not kill." It is one's obligation not to steal or kill. between two possible moral imperatives, neither of
Ultimately, the obligation arises from the need of which is unambiguously acceptable or preferable. It
self-preservation. is sometimes called an ethical paradox in moral
The Origin of Moral Standards: Theist and Non- philosophy." (Oxford Dictionary)
Theist
Based on these definitions, moral dilemmas have the
Related to the question on what makes moral following in common: 1) "the agent is required to do
standards moral is how do moral standards arise or each of two (or more) actions which are morally
come into existence? A lot of new attempts to explain unacceptable; 2) the agent can do each of the actions;
the origins of morality or moral standards have been 3) but the agent cannot do both (or all) of the actions.
made. The theistic line of thought states moral The agent thus seems condemned to moral failure; no
standards are of divine origin while 20th century matter what she does, she will do something wrong
thinkers claim state that they simply evolved. The (or fail to do something that she ought to do).
issue is: Are moral standards derived from God,
This means that moral dilemmas are situations where
two or more moral values or duties make demands on A. Individual
the decision-maker, who can only honor one of them,
and thus will violate at least one important moral This refers to personal dilemmas. It is an individual's
concern, no matter what he or she decides to do. damn-if-you-do-and-damn-if-you-don't situation.
Moral dilemmas present situations where there is
tension between moral values and duties that are The case of Heinz as given in the Activity phase of
more or less on equal footing. The decision-maker the lesson is one of the best known individual
has to choose between a wrong and another wrong. dilemma's of Kohlberg's (1958).
The decision-maker is a deadlock.
Kohlberg's dilemma questions were as follows:
In the case of The Pregnant Lady and the Dynamite, "Should Heinz have stolen the drug." (Mackinnon,
there were two options - use the dynamite and kill the B., etal 2015) If he did not steal the drug that would
pregnant woman but save the other 5 or don't use the mean his wife's death. He was torn between stealing
dynamite and all the 5 will get drowned except the the drug and saving his wife. The dilemma is faced
pregnant woman whose head is out. by an individual who is torn between 2 obligations -
to save the wife or obey the law. So this an example
To have a genuine dilemma, one of the conflicting of an individual dilemma.
solutions should not override the other. For instance,
"... the requirement to protect others from serious B. Organizational
harm overrides the requirement to repay one's debts
by returning a borrowed item when its owner so An organizational dilemma is a puzzle posed by the
demands." Hence,... "in addition to the features dual necessities of a social organization and members'
mentioned above, in order to have a genuine moral self-interest. It may exist between personal interests
dilemma it must also be true that neither of the and organizational welfare or between group interests
conflicting requirements is overridden" (McConnell, and organizational well-being... (Wagner, J. 2019)
T. 2019). This means that none of the conflicting
requirements is solved by the other. The persons The example of the Catholic school in the Activity
involved in the dilemma are in a deadlock. They find phase of the lesson shows the dilemma between the
themselves in a "damn-if-you-do and damn-if-you- goal of the school to give quality education for the
don't" situation. poor and so must charge the lowest tuition fee
possible and yet to keep quality faculty the school
Another example of a moral dilemma is the story must raise their salary and consequently, must raise
from the Bible about King Herod. On his birthday, his tuition.
stepdaughter, Salome danced so well in front of him
and the guests at his party that he promised to give Organizational dilemmas may likewise occur in
her anything she wanted. Salome consulted her business, medical, and public sector.
mother about what she should wish for, and decided
to ask for the head of John the Baptist on a platter. The following hypothetical case highlights the story
The king now had a choice between honoring the of Mr. Brow , a 74-year old man who is seriously ill
promise to his stepdaughter, or honoring the life of of metastatic lung cancer. Mr. Brown completed a full
John the Baptist. And Herod chose to have John the course of radiation therapy as well as chemotherapy
Baptist beheaded. for treatment of his cancer, and he is now hospitalized
with severe shortness of breath and pneumonia. His
The king had inadvertently designed a moral trap for physician has managed the symptoms associated with
himself, a dilemma where whatever he decided to do the lung disease, including chest pain, fever,
would be morally wrong. infection, and respiratory distress, but believes that
there are no other options available to aggressively
Meaning of a False Dilemma treat the underlying cancer... Both Mr. Brown and his
wife clearly state that they 'want everything done.'...
On the other hand, a false dilemma is a situation
where the decision-maker has a moral duty to do one The dilemma here lies in the conflicting concerns: a)
thing, but is tempted or under pressure to do the financial problems of Mr. Brown and his wife, b)
something else. A false dilemma is a choice between the hospital concern of focusing its attention on this
a right and a wrong. For example, a lawyer or an hopeless patient when there are other cases which
accountant can face an opportunity to prioritize self- have still possible remedies, c) the other hospital
interest over the client's interest. patient's concern, particularly their need of the
medicine used by Mr. Brown, c) the concern of the
What to Do When Faced with a Moral Dilemma medical staff, et al.

Ultimately, dilemmas are conflicts in the application Organizational dilemmas arise due to different
of moral standards. The question is which moral opposing concerns between various groupings in an
standards must be followed? In a state of emergency, organization.
necessity demands no moral law. You have to decide
based on your best judgment or choose based on the C. Structural
principle of lesser evil or greater good or urgency.
The case of the principal whether to be participatory
THE THREE LEVELS OF MORAL DILEMMA or non-participatory in school
affairs but due to her not so favorable the buzzer.
experience of attempting to be participatory ended up (www.humancapitalreview.org/content/default.asp?
to one-woman rule is an example of a structural Article ID528#
dilemma.
To illustrate further the consequence of gap and
Below are more examples of structural dilemma. overlap, here is a story to show what happens when
there is a gap or overlap. A boy wanted his pants
Differentiation Versus Integration in Structural shorter. So he went to his mother to ask him to
Dilemma shorten it. His mother was busy computing grades
and told het son to ask his sister to do it. His sister
Different divisions have their own different culture was busy reviewing for the final exams and asked her
and so coordination between divisions or bringing brother to ask their elder brother to do it. But his
them together for becomes more difficult. older brother was also busy with his school project
and so could not also attend to it. The boy highly
With decentralization, local governments have frustrated went to sleep. His pants were beside him.
become more empowered to direct their affairs just as After finishing her grades, Mother peeped into her
schools have become empowered to address their son's room, saw the pants and remembered her son's
problems or are given opportunity to localize the request. So she took a pair of scissors and shortened
given curriculum. them. Before she went to bed, the sister also
remembered her brother's request. Full of remorse she
In effect, local governments and schools have went to her younger brother's room, saw the pants,
likewise become more differentiated and so it got a pair of scissors and shortened them, too. The
becomes more difficult to integrate them for a unified older brother finally completed his school project and
structure. Local governance and schools curricula suddenly remembered his brother's asking for help to
have become more complex. There is need for more shorten the pants. So he went to his younger brother's
costly coordination strategies. room, got a pair of scissors and cut them, too. When
the younger brother woke up, he was surprised to see
Any attempt to introduce reform in society or a pair of extremely short shorts. The pants which he
government creates structural dilemma. For instance, wanted to make just a little bit shorter ended up too
promoting or introducing universal health care, which short to him!
is tantamount to socialized health care, gives rise to a
structural dilemma, that is, a conflict of perspective That is what happens when there are gaps or overlaps
of sectors, groups and institutions that may be in an organization. The gaps leave an important thing
affected by the decision. Why would those who in an organization undone. The overlap results in
contribute less to the social fund enjoy the same unnecessary and counterproductive, redundant
benefits as those who contributed big amounts of procedures which ultimately lead to waste of
premium? In a study on the prices of medicines in the resources.
Philippines, it was established that "patients are
buying medicines from the private sector at many Lack of Clarity Versus Lack of Creativity
times their international reference price" (Ateneo de
Manila University 2019). If the government If employees are unclear about what they are
intervenes by introducing price control; the drug supposed to do, they often tailor their roles around
stores may lose so much that they may close shop. If personal preferences instead of system wide goals,
the government does not do anything at all, the frequently leading to trouble. Most McDonald's
patients will continue to suffer because they may not customers are not seeking novelty and surprise in
be able to afford the high prices of medicines. their burgers and fries. But when responsibilities are
over defined, people conform to prescribed roles and
Gap Versus Overlap protocols in "bureaucratic" ways. They rigidly follow
job descriptions regardless of how much the service
There may be gaps and overlaps in roles and or product suffers and so end up uncreative.
responsibilities. If key responsibilities are not clearly
assigned, there may be gaps or overlaps in important "You lost my bag!" an angry passenger shouted,
tasks. If there are gaps, organizations end up with no confronting an airline manager. The manager's
one doing the responsibility. If there are overlaps, response was to inquire, "How was the flight?" "I
things become unclear and may lead to more asked about my bag," the passenger said. "That's not
confusion and even conflict and worse wasted effort my job," the manager replied. "See someone in
and perhaps even resources because of the baggage claim." The passenger did not leave as a
unintended overlap. happy airline customer. www.
humancapitalreview.org/content/default.asp?
Here is an example. A patient in a teaching hospital Article_ID528# The job of the manager was
called her husband to report how disturbed she is and overdefined and made the manager uncreative and
how sleepless she was during the night. At night, she inefficient. Her job in relation to the airline system
couldn't sleep because hospital staff kept waking her wide goals was neither clear and so ended up giving
up, often to repeat what someone else had already the wrong answer that turned off the airline
done. This is an overlap of nurse duty. Conversely, passenger.
when she wanted something, her call button rarely
produced any response. This is a gap. There is a gap Flexibility versus Strict Adherence to Rules
as to who according to rule is supposed to respond to
You accommodate by bending rules to help someone Succinctly put, a structural dilemma in a world
or you stick strictly to rules no matter what and so organization like the UN is the problem of the
unable to help someone who is thrown into a helpless balance between world order and national
situation. Or you may become being too sovereignty re-stated as the balance between the
accommodating that all rules are no more. measure of international authority essential to the
establishment of an organized common peace and the
Your jobs are defined so clearly that you will stick to continued freedom of action of the separate members
them even f circumstances are such that by sticking of the world community or the balance between
to your job description the service or product that interdependence and independence. (Jenks, 1971)
your organization provides suffers. Source: digitalcommons.law.uga.edu/cgi/viewcontent
cgi?article=2186& context=giicl

Some Structural Dilemmas of World Organization*

C. Wilfred Jenks** Georgia Journal of International
Excessive Autonomy Versus Excessive & International & Comparative Law Volume 3 1973
Interdependence Issue 1

This refers to being too isolated versus too much Resolving Moral Dilemmas
coordination.
The following offer some techniques in resolving
To illustrate: moral dilemma:
One way is to think of available alternative options
When individuals or groups are too autonomous, revealing that the dilemma does not really exist. This
people often feel isolated and disconnected. School happens where there are available alternative options.
teachers working in self-contained classrooms and For instance one is experiencing a dilemma between
rarely working with other teachers may feel lonely stealing or not stealing otherwise his family will
and unsupported. Yet, efforts to create closer either die of hunger or survive. The creative moral
teamwork have repeatedly failed because of teachers' agent will try to think of other alternatives, like
difficulties in working together. In contrast, if units "alternative means of income or support such as
and roles are too tightly linked, people are distracted social safety net, charity, etc."
from work and waste time on unnecessary or too
much coordination. IBM lost an early lead in the Another way is "choosing the greater good and lesser
personal computer business in part because new evil" or..," Or one may apply the situation ethics
initiatives required so many approvals - from levels approach, following the rule, one must do only what
and divisions alike - that new products were over he can where he is. Do not resort to extraordinary or
designed and late to market. supernatural means.
Hewlett - Packard's ability to innovate in the late
1990'$ was hindered by the same problem. Joseph Fletcher offers some principles in resolving
(www.humancapitalreview.org/content/default. asp? moral dilemma. He uses Kant's "ought implies I can"
Article_ID528#) rule. If I ought to do something, then I can do it. By
contraposition, if I cannot do something, then 1
Structural dilemma is the dilemma arising from cannot be obliged to do it. Or by implication, either I
conflicting concerns among various sectors of cannot be obliged to do something or I can do it. In
society, In the first instance of differentiation versus other words, one is only obliged to do something if
integration, the dilemma is how to enforce a decision, and only if he can do it. So Fletcher says, "do what
policy, or rule intended for everybody among many you can where you are." Or quoting St. Augustine's,
different or unique groups or individuals. In the "Dilige, et quod vis fac" (love and do what you will).
second, the dilemma arises because of either gaps or The extent of one's obligation and responsibility is
overlaps in the procedure of implementation of the extent of one's ability and the measure of the
certain projects or policies among involved agencies "extent" is one's capacity for love.
like the FBI and CIA in the U.S.A. or like the NBI
and the INP in the Philippines. GAPS creates serious Here is a situation: You are a father of seven children.
consequences. Read about the unforgettable On your support, seven children plus your wife
Mamasapano massacre in Mindanao, Philippines. depend. You work in the mines and receive only a
minimum wage. After working like a "carabao" in the
Centralized versus Decentralized Decision Making mines, you need to ease your pains with a bottle of
gin before you lie down to rest and sleep. You also
In decentralized decision making, organizations can need to eat food sufficient enough to replace your
respond to change more rapidly and effectively wasted energy. Hence, you spend for wine, food, and
because the decision makers are the people closest to cigarette. Minus these expenses, the balance of your
the situation. However, top managers may lose some wage is just enough for the food of your children.
control. This is the dilemma of tight Nothing is left for their education, and other
overcentralization or diffusing authority which is expenses. Question: Should you be faulted for not
loose. being able to sacrifice enough by giving up your
needs, so that your dependents can have something
Structural Dilemma in a World Organization Like left for their education? You love your family, but you
the UN have a need you cannot give up. Is your case what
Fletcher wants to picture? Your obligation ends where
your capacity for love ends. Love is supposed to be To be Ethical: Own Not Merely Abide by Moral
unconditional, no limits of sacrifice or boundaries. Standards
But your love is human, you are only human. "You
can only do what you can where you are." Others can Having free will or freedom to choose among
sacrifice more by giving up their gin and cigarette alternatives, which implies prior analysis and study, is
and eat less expensive food. Yes others can, but can coming to terms with what you finally affirm or deny.
one be faulted for not being like the others, not When you arrive at a personal conviction and self-
having the strength to overcome a vice? Can one not affirmation, you begin to own the moral standard.
argue that the extent of his ability is the limit of his The moral standard begins to be integrated,
responsibility? On the other hand, can it not be said internalized. You follow the norm not because it is
that resorting to human frailty is just a convenient or imposed by others, not because others say so or
comfortable way of justifying one's lack of moral authoritatively impose it on you. On the other hand,
will? That may be easier said than done, although it is merely abiding by moral standards means applying
possible for one who has virtue as his moral strength. them as basis to resolve a moral problem without
But what can be said of one who has no moral virtue necessarily having internalized them. Merely abiding
or strength to sacrifice with the discomfort of self- by them means once the enforcer is not around, the
giving? Endless condemnation? That would be un- moral standard is not followed.
Christian.
Or if you do not own or internalize the standard, you
FREEDOM AS FOUNDATION FOR MORAL will tend to use it for convenience, to evade
ACTS responsibility, to put the blame on the standard itself
when things do not end well. You simply become
Ethics Applies Only to Human Persons legalistic, and adopt the maxims, "follow the rule or
law, even if the sky falls down"; "the law
The song, My Way/Born This Way, implies choice or says so"; the law is hard, but it is the law (dura lex
freedom "I did it my way". Unlike the lower forms of sed lex). You follow the law because others,
animals, human persons have a choice or freedom, authorities, regulators say so; not because you say so.
hence morality applies only to human persons.
Ethics, therefore, applies only to human persons. We Owning moral standards means internalizing them,
cannot say a cat is "unethical" when it eats the food at making them part of your conviction. Internalized or
table intended for you or when a dog urinates on your embodied moral standards are being followed with or
favorite bag lying on the floor. without anyone telling you.
Dilemmas presuppose freedom. Freedom-loving
societies have customary ways of training the young You internalize a rule after using reason to
to exercise their freedom. Parents regularly give their understand. When you are persuaded of its wisdom, it
children opportunities to choose. "Guys, what do you becomes your basis of resolving an ethical problem.
want for breakfast - ham and egg or pancake?" Later You decide to do something not because the law says
in life, they come face to face with hard choices. so but because you yourself say so.
Then dilemmas come along. There is such a thing as
a dilemma because there is such a thing as freedom. This may be termed as the embodiment of the moral
If there is no ability or power of choice, then any standard in you. The moral standard becomes one
incident simply happens without any interference. with the moral agent. As the moral agent, this moral
There would also be no obligation to do any act in standard becomes your natural and immediate basis
expectation of the responsibility following the act. in your ethical decision making.

Freedom and Moral Choice The presupposition is that you have come to own the
moral standard after having been convinced of its
Without freedom it is impossible to make a moral wisdom, having chosen it among other principles or
choice." If we are to have free will we must have the standards. Any dilemma regarding the standard has
ability to make a decision that is unhindered. Kant been resolved. Under the Chinese Taoist concept of
believed that we must have free will if we are to be harmony, this is where the thought, the word, and the
held morally responsible for our actions. If God did action become one. This author once visited a Taoist
not give us free will then our decisions cannot be temple and had a chance to ask what a Taoist live by
considered immoral or moral as we would have had as a principle of life. He replied, "what I think must
to act in the way we did. Thus we cannot be held be the same as what I say, and what I say must be the
responsible; a good moral action cannot be praised as same as what I do." The result is oneness of thought,
you had no other option, whilst an immoral action word and action, and its effect is an integrated
cannot be punished as once again there was no free personality, personality made whole.
choice. In other words, making moral choice is a
necessary consequence for being free, a consequence Making your mind, word, and action, a unity is not
of being a human person. easy. You have in mind the maxim, "honesty is the
best policy." As a teacher you always tell that to
Because a human person has freedom, he/she has a students. But deep in your heart you know it has been
choice and so is responsible for the consequences of difficult to be honest all the time. There was the joke,
his/her choice. The lower forms of animals have no of which no one knew the source, regarding the motto
choice since they are bound by instinct and so cannot of the Philippine Military Academy (PMA) "Integrity,
be held responsible for their behavior. Courage, Loyalty." This is a signage at the gate of
PMA in Baguio City. At that time, some military
officials, alumni of PMA, were being investigated for Cultures change or evolve. There are various ways by
corruption, the word "Integrity" disappeared. which cultures change - by enculturation,
inculturation and by acculturation.
CULTURE: HOW IT DEFINES MORAL
BEHAVIOR Enculturation, an anthropological term, was coined
by J.M. Herskovits Margaret Mead has, however,
What is Culture? was the one who defined the term as "the process of
learning a culture in all its uniqueness and
Culture "is the integrated patten of human particularity".
knowledge, beliefs, and behaviors. This consists of Enculturation is a process of learning from infancy
language, ideas, customs, morals, laws, taboos, till death, the components of life in one's culture. The
institutions, tools, techniques, and works of art, contents of this learning include both the material
rituals and other capacities and habits acquired by a and non-material culture. The latter refers to values
person as a member of society." (Taylor as quoted by while the former refers to tools such as a hoe or
Palispis, 1997). mask. In the said process of learning, a person grows
into a culture, acquires competence in that culture
The Magisterium of the Church explains culture as and that culture takes root in that person and
"the set of means used by mankind to become more becomes the cognitive map, the term of reference for
virtuous and reasonable in order to become fully acting.
human. In its fullest sense, culture means opening up
to the divine, and ultimately, to a religious For instance, African girls (South of the Sahara) grow
dimension." Based on this Church definition, it is up learning that as a woman she has less rights and
clear that culture is meant to serve human persons. privileges as the African man. For instance, a man
can marry more than one woman while she cannot.
Sociologists categorize culture into material and non- While the African wife cannot share her love with
material culture. "Nonmaterial culture consists of other men, the man can share his with other women
language, values, rules, knowledge, and meanings in the system. It turns women into an appendage, a
shared by members of society. Material culture is the property of the man - one of the man's laborers.
physical object that a society produces tools; streets, Umoren, U.E (1992)
homes and toys, to name a few." (Brinkerhoff, 1989).
If you review your lists again in the Activity phase, Another marriage practice that shows that the African
you will be able to categorize those that belong to woman is the property of the husband and this family
material culture and to the non-material culture. is levirate marriage. Levirate marriage is the
marriage between the widow and the brother of her
Culture is passed on to the next generation by deceased husband. Therefore at the husband’s death
learning not through the genes or heredity. "Culture" the woman is generally expected to stay on (as
includes all human phenomena which are not purely property of the family) without any choice in the
results of human genetics. (Kroeber et al, 1952) matter. She raises children to immortalise the
deceased husband's name. Umoren, U.E. 1992.
The Human Person and Culture
This is enculturation in concrete terms. The African
As a moral agent you are born into a culture, a factual girl grows up and becomes a woman through the said
reality you have not chosen. You are not born process of enculturation. This enculturation process
nothing. It may be said that the Aristotelico- has both cognitive and emotional elements. The girl
Thomistic tradition is one dominant, if not the most child who later becomes a woman learns and
dominant culture. This Aristotelico-Thomistic culture internalizes the idea that she, because she is a
is a Greco-Roman culture, which has influenced and woman, has less privileges than the African man.
shaped the moral life of those who have been This learning takes place through example, direct
exposed to it. Those who were born into this culture, teaching and in patterns of behavior. What is learned
educated under this culture, are persuaded that there becomes her cognitive map, her term of reference
is God, that a divine order and law keep and govern that directs her behavior.
the world, which includes you. But what happens
when there are different cultures with their own Another term is inculturation. Inculturation refers to
different views of man's direction and destiny? For the "missiological process in which the Gospel is
instance, the Greek culture introduced the idea of rooted in a particular culture and the latter is
perfection. In terms of numbers, a perfect thing is transformed by its introduction to Christianity."
100%; in terms of figures, it is a whole circle. A Umoren, U.E. (1992)
perfect thing has no privation, no lack, no absence of
being. What if a new culture redefines perfection as In the Special Assembly of the Synod in 1985, Pope
any created and present model, which may be John Paul II defined inculturation in Redemptoris
recreated, remolded like clay? Any change in the Mission, n. 52, as ...
model may be perceived as the creation of a new
model of perfection, not the actualization of what was the intimate transformation of authentic cultural
lacking. Every created model is a perfection in its values through their integration in Christianity and
own right. the insertion of Christianity in the various human
cultures. " This means that inculturation is
Enculturation, Inculturation and Acculturation characterized by a dual movement, ie. a dialogic
movement towards cultures via the incarnation of the
Gospel and the transmission of its values, and a alright gathering vegetables at the backyard of their
movement towards the Church that involves the neighbor considering the act as getting a share. In
incorporation of values that come from the cultures such societies, the act would not be called stealing. In
the latter encounters. Therefore, a fruitful cross- most societies, the act is stealing. In ancient times,
fertilisation can follow. (moren, U.E., 1992) human sacrifice was not wrong. Today it is a criminal
act. In some culture like Islamic culture, and African
In other words, inculturation raises two related culture (South of Sahara) having several wives is
problems, that of the evangelisation of cultures allowed. In other cultures, it's concubinage or
(rooting the Gospel in cultures) and that of the adultery.
cultural understanding of the Gospel. It was this
movement that led Pope John Paul II to say in 1982, Culture has a very long-lasting hold on an individual.
"The synthesis between culture and faith is not only a A person may have become highly educated, may
requirement of culture, but also of faith... Faith that have even obtained a doctorate degree, educated with
does not become culture is not fully accepted, nor Christian values of forgiveness, but if he comes from
entirely reflected upon, or faithfully experienced" a society with a culture of vengeance ("an eye for an
eye and a tooth for a tooth") having the sense of
This means that inculturation is not an action but a obligation to make an act of revenge when a member
process that unfolds over time, one that is active and of his tribe has been killed or harmed by another
based on mutual recognition and dialogue, a critical tribe, and when a case arises where a member of his
mind and insight, faithfulness and conversion, tribe is harmed by another, he becomes ultimately
transformation and growth, renewal and innovation. vindictive and joins his tribe seeking revenge. No
amount of graduate education can prevent him from
Inculturation is a two way process: it roots the joining his tribe to seek revenge. He forgets about his
Gospel in a culture and introduces that transformed doctorate degree in Values Education.
culture to Christianity. For example, to root the
Gospel in the African culture is to initiate two events.
The first event is to transform the African culture of CULTURAL RELATIVISM
oppressing women into a culture where men and
women are treated as human persons equal in What is cultural relativism? First, relativism says
dignity, rights and privileges. The second event is to "what is true for you is true for you, and what is true
develop the African culture's latent potential towards for me is true for me." Analogously, cultural
the human development of the woman, created like relativism would say, "what you believe, value or
her male counterpart in the image and likeness of practice depends on your culture while what I
God. The other aspect is to introduce the woman and believe, value and practice, depends on my culture."
her transformed culture to Christianity, for example, In other words, cultural relativism is "the idea that a
by allowing the woman a meaningful place among person's beliefs, values, and practices should be
the agents of inculturation. (cf. understood based on that person's own culture, rather
Umoren, U.E. 1992) than be judged against the criteria of another." Stated
in another way:
Acculturation is another big term. It is the "cultural
modification of an individual, group, or people by Cultural relativism is the view that moral or ethical
adapting to or borrowing traits from another culture". systems, which vary from culture to culture, are all
It is also explained as the merging of cultures as a equally valid and no-one system is really "better"
result of prolonged contact. Immigrants to the United than any other. This is based on the idea that there is
States of America become no ultimate standard of good or evil, so every
acculturated to American life. Refugees and judgment about right and wrong is a product of
indigenous peoples (IP) likewise adapt to the culture society. Therefore, any opinion on morality or ethics
of the dominant majority. is subject to the cultural perspective of each person.
Ultimately, this means that no moral or ethical
There are cultural practices that should be stopped system can be considered the
because of the painful harm they do. The practice of "best," or "worst," and no particular moral or ethical
human sacrifice has somehow been stopped. But the position can actually be considered "right" or
circumcision of women still goes on in some parts of "wrong." (https://www.allaboutphilosophy.
the world, like Africa. Some approaches have been org/cultural-relativism.htm)
successful, like what one NGO tried to introduce in In the context of cultural relativism, the manner by
Africa. It is called a buying in. To gradually stop the which the African woman is treated in comparison to
circumcision of women, the approach was to buy in, that of the African man should not be judged against,
like introducing into the place good health facilities other culture's standards. This should be judged in the
and other forms of assistance to alleviate their context of African culture, not in the context of
economic hardships in return to their stopping the Christian culture.
practice.
Cultural Relativism vs Cultural Perspective
How Culture Shapes the Moral Agent
However, what the cultural relativist fails to see is the
Culture definitely affects the way we evaluate and difference between cultural perspective and
judge things. Consider the African women not as cultural relativism. A perspective is a standpoint or
privileged as the African men described in the earlier viewpoint of something. For instance, there are as
section of this Lesson. Some societies consider it many perspectives of a building, a house, as there are
standpoints. You try to appreciate the design of a Below is an excerpt of the Report "A Moral Recovery
house considering its various perspective, but you Program: Building a People, Building a Nation"
never judge the design based on only one perspective. submitted on April 27, 1988 by the Task Force to
Trying to understand one's culture, having a President Corazon Aquino, the Senate and the
perspective of one's culture, is needed to understand members of the press by then Senator Leticia
people. But it does not follow that morality must be Shahani, the moving spirit behind the program.
based only on said culture:
The weaknesses of the Filipino character as cited in
... the problem with moving from cultural perspective the Report are as follows:
to cultural relativism is the erosion of reason that it 1. Extreme family centeredness - Excessive concern
causes. Rather than simply saying. "we need to for family means using one's office and power to
understand the morals of other cultures, " it says, promote family interests and thus factionalism
"we cannot judge the morals of other cultures," patronage, political dynasties and the protection of
regardless of the reasons for their actions. There is erring family members. It results in lack of concern
no longer any perspective, and it becomes literally for the common good and acts as a block to national
impossible to argue that anything a culture does is consciousness.
right or wrong. If we hold on to strict cultural 2. Extreme personalism - "Takes things personally,"
relativism, it is not possible to say that human cannot separate objective task from emotional
sacrifice is "wrong," or that respect for the elderly is involvement. Because of this the Filipino is
"right." After all, those are products of the culture. uncomfortable with bureaucracy, with rules and
This takes any talk of morality right over the cliff, regulations and with standard procedures. He uses
and into meaningless gibberish. (Mckinnon, et al., personal contacts and gives preference to family and
2015) friends in hiring, services and even voting. Extreme
personalism leads to the graft and corruption evident
Likewise, logical analysis- of cultural relativism in Philippine society.
yields contradictory implications: 3. Lack of discipline - A casual attitude toward time
and space, manifested in lack of precision and
Relativism in general breaks down when examined compulsiveness, in poor time management and
from a purely logical perspective. The basic premise procrastination. Aversion to following procedures
is that "truth is relative." If every truth statement is strictly results in lack of standardization and quality
valid, then the statement "some truths are absolute" control. Impatience results in short cuts, palusot,
must be valid. The statement "there are no absolute ningas cogon. Lack of discipline often results in
truths" is accurate, according to relativism -- but it is inefficient work systems, the violation of rules and a
an absolute truth itself. casual work ethic lacking follow through.
These contradict the very concept of relativism, 4. Passivity and lack of initiative - Waiting to be told
meaning that absolute relativism is self-contradictory what to do, reliance on others (leaders and
and impossible. government), complacence, lack of a sense of
urgency. There is high tolerance for inefficiency, poor
Stated in another way: service, and even violations of one's basic rights. Too
patient and matiisin, too easily resigned to his fate,
Tolerance is certainly a virtue... If morality is simply the Filipino is easily oppressed and exploited.
relative to each culture then if the culture does not 5. Colonial mentality - Lack of patriotism, or of an
have a principle of tolerance, its members have no active awareness, appreciation and love of the
obligation to be tolerant... from a relativistic point of Philippines and an actual preference for things
view, there is no more reason to be tolerant than to be foreign
intolerant and neither stance is objectively morally 6. Kanya-kanya syndrome, talangka mentality -
better than the other. Done by tsismis, intriga, unconstructive criticism ...
It is evident in the personal ambition that is
If... valid criticism supposes an objective or impartial completely insensitive to the common good, e.., the
standard, relativists cannot morally criticize anyone lack of a sense of service among people in the
outside their own culture. Adolf Hitler's genocidal government bureaucracy. This results in the
actions, so long as they are culturally accepted, are dampening of cooperative and community spirit and
as morally legitimate as Mother Teresa's works of in the trampling upon other's rights.
mercy. If Conventional Relativism is accepted, 7. Lack of self-analysis and self-reflection - The
racism, genocide of unpopular minorities, oppression tendency to be superficial and somewhat flighty. In
of the poor, slavery and even the advocacy of war for the face of serious personal and social problems,
its own sake are as equally moral as their opposites. there is lack of analysis or reflection and instead
And if a subculture decided that starting a nuclear satisfaction with superficial explanations and
war was somehow morally acceptable, we could not solutions.
morally cricize these people. (MacKinnon, et al., 8. Emphasis on porma rather than substance - ...
2015) This lack of analysis and emphasis on form is
reinforced by an educational system that is more from
THE FILIPINO CHARACTER than substance…

The Filipino Character: Strengths and These weaknesses are rooted in many factors: home,
Weaknesses social and economic environment; culture and
language; history; religion; educational system;
mass media; leadership and role models. Change is
possible, however, and the following goals are Values Education or Edukasyon sa Pagpapakatao but
proposed to develop in the Filipino: (1) a sense of core courses such as Introduction to the Philosophy
patriotism and national pride; (2) a sense of the of the Human Person and Personal Development, are
common good; (3) a sense of integrity and in essence Values Education subjects and Moral
accountability, (4) the values and habits of discipline Education subjects themselves.
and hard work; (5) the value and habits of self-
reflection and analysis; the internalization of To help every Filipino child grow morally and
spiritual values and the emphasis on essence rather ethically, he/she must be helped acquire the strengths
than on form. (Shahani, Leticia. 1988). A Moral of the Filipino character at the same time, he/she
Recovery Program: Building a People, Building a must be made to realize that his/her strengths also
Nation.) become his/her source of weaknesses.

In the same report in 1988, Senator Leticia Shahani Other Studies on Filipino Moral Character
said, The strengths of the Filipino character are: 1)
pakikipagkapwa-tao, 2) family orientation, 3) joy and There had been studies of the Filipino moral life, the
humor, 4) flexibility, adaptability and creativity, 5) more popular of which were those Fr. Jaime Bulatao,
hard work and industry, 6) faith and religiosity and 7) Fr. Leonardo Mercado, Fr. Francis Senden, and Fr.
ability to survive. Vitaliano Gorospe. Fr. Bulatao's research identified
the "kami" mentality of Filipinos. In "kami (a
There is so much good in the Filipino but so much Filipino term which means "us") he says, "I identify
needs to be changed, too. Many of our strengths as a with my family and relatives...We are opposed to all
people are also sources of our weaknesses. Shahani's who are not kami." Fr. Vitaliano Gorospe, SJ referred
report explains that "family orientation becomes in- to this way of thinking as "group-centeredness" or
group orientation that prevents us from reaching out "group thinking" characterized as follows:
beyond the family to the large community and the
nation." For the Filipino, charity begins at home and One norm of morality in the Philippines is based on
at the same time ends there. "group-centeredness" or "group-thinking." One's in-
group determines for the individual what is right or
Values Education in Schools wrong. The individual who has not yet attained moral
independence and maturity will ask: "What will my
Senator Shahani's Report was given in 1988. But its family, or my relatives and friends, or my barkada
findings as reported may still be true today. If the think or say?" "What will others say" usually
Department of Education has to be true to its vision determines Filipino moral behavior; it is "conscience
to help develop ... "Filipinos who passionately love from the outside. "For instance, parents tell their
their country and whose values and competencies daughter who is being courted: "Iha, please entertain
enable them to realize their full potential and your boyfriend at home. Do not go outside. What will
contribute meaningfully to building the nation" and to the neighbors say? Nakakahiya naman. "Shame or
its core values - maka-Diyos, maka-tao, hiya makes the parents and the girl conform to the
makakalikasan and makabansa - it is an uphill battle social expectations of the neighbors lest they become
for Philippine schools to realize these considering the object of tsismis or gossip.
the weaknesses of the Filipino character: 1) extreme
family centeredness, 2), extreme personalism, 3) lack Here again there is a conflict between the individual
of discipline, 4) passivity and lack of initiative, 5) and social morality, between internal and external
colonial mentality, 6) kanya-kanya syndrome, morality. The norm of morality should be internalized
talangka mentality, 7) lack of self-analysis and self- so that the mature individual should form his own

reflection and 8) emphasis on porma rather than

moral "conscience from the inside." (Gorospe, 1977)

substance. The "group thinking" cited by Fr. Gorospe is called

"sakop mentality" by others like Fr. Leonardo
So that it will not be "more form than substance" as Mercado. (1977) The sakop may refer to "person's
described in Senator Shahani's Report, Philippine relatives, peers, classmates, townmates, officemates,
schools have to intensify values education in the etc." This thinking or mentality explains the
curriculum which in essence is moral education. In "pakikisama" in both positive and negative sense; it
fact, in response to this Report, Values Education explains the barkada attitude, euphemism, the
now Edukasyon sa Papapakatao in the K to 12 laughter of affirmation of gutter language; it explains
Curriculum was introduced as a separate subject in subservience to an illegal or immoral order. Hence,
the basic education curriculum under the Values Dr. Brenda B. Corpuz (1986) observed in her article
Education Framework program of Dr. Lourdes published in the St. Louis University Research
Quisumbing, then Department of Education, Culture Journal:
and Sports Secretary in 1988-1990. The Values
Education Framework was conceptualized in 1987. In One can estimate the consequences of this sakop
2002, the Basic Education Curriculum (Grade 1-6, mentality by imagining how it works in decision
and First-Fourth Year High School) integrated values making. Since sakop welfare is the ultimate value,
in the major learning areas or subjects. Beginning then a lot of principles may be sacrificed for the sake
with the K to 12 Curriculum in 2013, Values of it. One can kill and hide the body of the crime by
Education was renamed Edukasyon sa Pagpapakatao reason of being part of the sakop. One can tell a lot
(EsP) for Grades 1-10. In the Senior High Curriculum of lies for the sake of the sakop. One can pick some
(Grades 11-12), there is no course with the title, vegetable from his neighbor's backyard and is... not
bothered by a sense of guilt because one does not Commandments can be reduced to the value or rule
steal from a member of the sakop. The sakop of love. This is because no one can wish or will the
determines for the individual what is right or wrong. opposite, hatred, killing, stealing, to be universal.
Values are universalized because they can only be
Impact of Culture on Morality wished to be the values of all. For instance, one
cannot wish that killing be obligatory because it is
Speaking of the significant impact of culture on the like wishing anyone to come and kill you.
morality of people, let us think of the Japanese
"shame culture." "Guilt cultures emphasize Using Kant's criteria, can these identified "universal
punishment and forgiveness as ways of restoring the values" be willed as universal. Can one will these
moral order; shame cultures stress self-denial and values be the values of all? Certainly, the answer is in
humility as ways of restoring the social order." What the affirmative.
keeps Japanese from acting contrary to moral
standards is the fear of being put to shame. At most Related to the empirical findings on the universal
they would do when put to shame is hara-kiri, values, Dr. Kent M. Keith (2003) came up with a list
(suicide). Contrast this to the "guilt culture" in the of fundamental, or universal moral principles that can
Philippines. When a Filipino commits an immoral be found throughout the world. These are grouped
act, he would of course feel guilty, but after into negative and positive statements as follows:
confessing his sin, he may feel as if he is back to the
normal thing and can sin again. DO NO HARM. Do not do to others what you would
not like them to do to you. Do not lie. Do not steal.
Can it be said that a society that easily resorts to mob Do not cheat. Do not falsely accuse others. Do not
rule, mob mentality, where only a few have the guts commit adultery. Do not commit incest. Do not
to stand up and insist on what conscience dictates, is physically or verbally abuse others. Do not murder.
in need of moral development? Filipino homes and Do not destroy the natural environment upon which
schools have to do something, to teach the moral all life depends.
development they want or hope to see.
DO GOOD. Do to others what you would like them
UNIVERSAL VALUES to do to you. Be honest and fair. Be generous. Be
faithful to your family and friends. Take care of your
Despite the claims of cultural relativism, the concept children when they are young. Take care of your
on the reality of universal values persists. Are there parents when they are old. Take care of those who
universal values? Is honesty a universal value? Plato cannot take care of themselves. Be kind to strangers.
talked about the values or virtues of temperance, Respect all life. Protect the natural environment upon
courage, and wisdom. Jesus Christ preached the value which all life depends.
of love from which spring patience, kindness,
goodwill, forgiveness, and compassion. Confucius CHAPTER II- THE MORAL AGENT
taught righteousness, human-heartedness, filial piety.
Are not these universal values, that is, they remain The Human Person as a Moral Agent
values at all times and in all places? Yes, Plato would
say, they exist apart from the concrete world. On the "Moral" comes from the Latin "mores," referring to
other hand, Aristotle would say that they exist society's patterns, standards, rules of doing things.
embodied in the concrete individual as common or "Agent" comes from Latin "agere," to do, act. A
essential characteristic. St. Thomas agreed with them, moral agent is one who performs an act in accordance
but the universals do not exist apart from the with moral standards. A moral agent is the moral
individual; they exist as universal features actor, one who acts morally.
individuated, instantiated in the individuals. In other
words, the universals are abstracted common features A moral agent is "a being who is capable of those
from individuals. For example, the universal actions that have moral quality and which can be
characteristics of man are that he is a "rational, properly denominated good or evil in a moral sense."
sentient, living, body" are abstracted as (Edwards, 1754) Only a moral agent is capable of
characteristics common to all persons. A human human acts. That's why "morality is for persons."
person differs from a stone because he/she is alive. (Haring, 1971). As will be discussed later, human acts
He/she differs from living things like plants because are "those of which a man is master, which he has the
he/she is sentient, and differs from sentient things like power of doing or not doing as he pleases" or "those
animals because he/she is rational. This universal acts which proceed from man as a rational being"
character of a human person exists in the mind as (Edwards, 1754).
idea. Universals are immaterial and immutable,
beyond (transcendent) space and time, or spatio- What is a sufficient condition for moral agency?
temporal conditions. In the words of Van Peursen,
they are termed as "logical structures" underlying the .. it will suffice if the agent has the capacity to
material world and making the world possible. conform to some of the external requirements of
morality. So if certain agents can obey moral laws
The same thing is true with moral standards and such as 'Murder is wrong' or 'Stealing is wrong,' then
values. The values of honesty and respect for human they are moral agents, even if they respond only to
life are characteristics individuated in all people who prudential reasons such as fear of punishment and
respect, do not harm, injure or kill, human beings. All even if they are incapable of acting for the sake of
the standards and values implied in the Ten moral considerations. According to the strong
version, the Kantian version, it is also essential that
the agents should have the capacity to rise above their The road of life may have many diversions. Hence,
feelings and passions and act for the sake of the the decision and choice to take one way, like Robert
moral law.... (Haksar, V., Frost's "one less traveled by," one that proceeds to the
Encyclopedia of Philosophy) end expected of men, the determination to abide by
such end, is referred to as adopting the "fundamental
Capacity to conform to moral standards, to act for the option," a free choice to say "yes," like a "yes" to
sake of moral considerations, that is, for the sake of God, an affirmative response to God's invitation to
moral law, qualifies one to be a moral agent. The follow His way. In an article published in the SLU
absence of that capacity to conform to moral Research Journal, Fr. Emmanuel R. Fernandez (1988)
standards, as in the case of an insane person, excludes explained clearly the theological concept of
you from moral agency. responding to the call of God "by making a
fundamental option for Him and ordering one's life
A dog is not, therefore, a moral agent because it accordingly." The fundamental option is "the stance
doesn't have the capacity" to conform to moral or position I decide to take vis-à-vis the Absolute
standards. It cannot knowingly, freely and voluntarily Value (God) which then influences ultimately all my
act. It does not have a mind and freewill. The same other individual actions and decisions.
things apply to a robot that is why like the dog, it
cannot be a moral agent. Fernandez 1988) Fernandez quotes Janssens (1966):
We understand as a consequence the essential
The Purpose-driven Moral Agent importance of the fundamental judgment of
conscience; it determines in our actual life the
Where do you go (quo vadis), moral agent? measure of knowledge that we attain concerning
moral good, by pursuing, that is, in the total meaning
For this old question we find an old answer from the of existence, the ideal of me to be realized. At all
textbook written by Rev. Charles Collens, S.J. (1924). events, If this Judgment conditions what we consider
It is based on the principles laid down by St. Thomas right to be the content of our fundamental choice, our
Aquinas. "Every human act is directed toward an first obligation is to form it sincerely and to perfect it
end". An end may be pursued merely as a means to assiduously by trying to scrutinize in a better way the
another end, that is, merely an instrumental end. As objective requirements of our destiny: Considering,
Aristotle put it, that end which is sought for itis the moreover, that it is impossible to realize the ideal of
sake, that is, it is no longer sought for the sake of moral perfections only in the light of this judgment,
another end, is the summum bonum, the highest we are compelled to follow it faithfully.
good. That highest good is happiness. For St.
Thomas, the highest good or end is happiness, but the One theologian says that if one is used to a life in
absolutely final end is GOD. accordance with the fundamental option, at the
moment of death, he/she would be asked by God
Alfredo Panizo (1964) cites the three Thomistic what his/her option will be, and he/she definitely will
principles regarding the end or purpose of the moral say yes to God. An insight is provided by
agent: "First Principle: Every agent that performs an Troisfontaines (cited by Dy, 2001) on what happens
action acts for the sake of the end or purpose to be at the moment of death:
attained. In other words, a moral agent is purpose-
driven. Second Principle: Every agent acts for an ...at the moment of dying, the being takes measure.
ultimate end. Third Principle: Every agent has the He chooses his degree of intimacy with others.., or on
power of moving for an end which is suitable or good the contrary his centering on self which seems
for him." Among the various ends or purposes of the preferable to him. He adopts for eternity the attitude
actions of the moral agent, there is an ultimate end, which pleases him.... The fundamental orientation of
and this is happiness. "From the Christian point of the soul towards communion or towards isolation,
view, a human person's destiny in the world is not will have significance. Every man, whatever his state
only to achieve cultural and moral perfection, but to in life, his heredity or the conditions of his existence,
attain the eternal happiness of the soul after death of has gradually adopted his orientation for himself...
the body. To know, to love, and to serve God is our The person oriented towards charity, who all his life
present duty. To see God Himself, Uncreated has sought a more profound union with God and with
Splendor, face to face, to be united to Him by an others, will open with full spontaneity the moment
unbroken and everlasting operation of the mind, shall this communion is proposed to him.... Finally, it can
be our eternal destiny." (Panizo,1964) happen that, in spite of the entirely new condition of
choice, the completed and egoistic person remains
Such direction of the moral development of the obstinate in refusing charity, and elects to be
human person is derived from the nature or essence separated for eternity in hell. (Dy, 2001)
of man as contemplated in the works of Aristotle,
Plato, and St. Thomas Aquinas. His moral life is In other words, one's choice of his way of life, may
evaluated or assessed in the light of his ultimate be gradually established and may be difficult to
destiny. His destiny depends on all the God-given change it, except by God's grace, at the moment of
potentials he is born with. His act is moral if it death.
realizes his potentials and brings him nearer to this
goal in life, immoral if it deviates from it. No Pre-fixed Plan for Man

The Fundamental Option

According to some 20th Century thinkers there are no It means, instead of avoiding "this world" as a sinful
pre-existing directions. "There are no signs in the world of flesh, we involve ourselves in it, improving
heavens." There are no pre-designed, pre-fixed it, refining it, constructing and developing it,
design, plan, purpose of man's being according to perfecting it to bring out the world to come. As Buber
some 20th century thinkers. For the existentialist, like was saying, "if you hallow this world, you meet the
Jean Paul Sartre, a human person is or becomes what living God." The modern saint is out there fighting
he/she makes of himself/herself by choice. He/she is for justice, building schools and hospitals, clothing
nothing, no "essence", until he/she starts his/her” the naked, and feeding the hungry, instead of
existence” by making choices. (Sartre, 2007) In other spending most of his time in contemplation.
words, one who lives a life of blindly following what (Brabander 1970)
others think, say, and do, is nothing, zero; he/she lives
a hollow, empty or meaningless life. To the process In Robert Francoeur's Perspective of Evolution, the
philosophers like Teilhard de Chardin (1948) and future world toward which a person should direct
Alfred Noth Whitehead, (1996) whatever a human his/her life is this same material world but
person is or will be a result of a creative process. In spiritualized, that is, material world spiritualized, a
other words, for all these thinkers, a human person world devoid of its material limitations, a world
has to create his/her end, purpose, of directions. liberated and freed from its spatio-temporal
He/she has to invent his/her destiny. Since there is no conditions. To contribute to the making of this future
goal or end designed for him/her, he/she would world the human person has to participate through
completely be the author of What he/she turns out to his/her creative acts of unifying, ordering
be. He/she will be totally responsible for what he/ synthesizing things.
She will be. The existentialists and process
philosophers do not want any other being to be co-
responsible with them for what they decide to do. In
other words, the fundamental option for these
thinkers is to remain open to what they are able to
create, discover, or invent which will guide them to THE DEVELOPMENT OF MORAL
the next chapter of their lives, to choose whatever CHARACTER OF THE MORAL AGENT
their self-invention leads them to, which, of course, is
difficult to imagine. Meaning of Defining Moment

But other groups, like Martin Heidegger, Gabriel What is meant by the defining moments in one's life.
Marcel and Martin Buber see themselves as being- Defining moment refers to a significant life-changing
with-others, inseparably related to their fellow man. event or moment that reverberates throughout your
By placing their biases and prejudices between career and personal life and so changes everything.
brackets, that is, by suspending their obstructive
effects on their vision, they realize who the other The following quotation explains defining moment
being is in their presence. The other is another subject further:
like them; the other is emitting signals
communicating a message calling for their creative You make thousands of decisions every day.... Each
response. The other is saying, "let us learn to live choice shapes what is to come in some small way, but
together", to affirm each other's being. Together we occasionally, a decision has the magnitude to be life-
go through life, designing our end and purposes, changing. This kind of moment can change who we
guided by messages unveiled in a life of dialogue are and what we value, with reverberations
with ourselves, with other selves, and with the world. throughout our careers and personal lives.
Consequently, the end, purpose, or direction of
beings-with-others, is what they discover as they While it's still up for debate exactly how much of our
learn to live together. Says Buber, (1957) "All real morality comes from personal experiences, many of
living is meeting", a life of dialogue. us can think of at least one experience that has
defined us and our beliefs.
"World to Come" Means "World to Come Out of
this World" Lain Hensley, chief operating officer at Odyssey
Teams, recalls the fear and loneliness he felt when he
Fr. Rene de Brabander, CICM, former professor in St. was diagnosed with cancer, for example. His illness
Louis University, Baguio City, wrote an article exposed weaknesses in his leadership and as a result,
entitled, "Christianity in the Modern World." The he writes, he has become "a better man, husband,
modern Christian departs from the view that earthly father, employer, speaker and friend."
life, the world of flesh, is a sinful thing and has to be
abandoned for the sake heavenly life. But "(h)eaven Other influential moments can come down to a single
and earth are one and the same thing, you cannot love conversation....
one and despise the other." The world to come, that
is, the heavenly world that every Christian desires to The Defining Moments of the Saints
direct their life to, can only come out or emerged
from this world of flesh. A person should direct St. Paul's defining moment was when suddenly a
his/her life toward this end, the making of the world light from heaven flashed around him on his way to
to come out of this world. What does it mean making Damascus. When he and his men were very near the
the "world to come" out of "this world"? city, they were suddenly surrounded by a light so
bright that it knocked Saul to the ground. "They heard
a voice from heaven that said: 'Saul, Saul, why do right and wrong," that is, one who is capable being
you persecute Me?' And Saul said, "Who are you, moral, having a moral character.
Lord?' And He said, 'I am Jesus, Whom you are
persecuting; but rise and enter the city, and you will Social psychologists look at the moral agent as he is,
be told what you are to do.' (Acts of the Apostles, where he is, in the society where he lives. From birth,
Chapter 9). From that time on, Paul preached Jesus to he/she is cared, nurtured and influenced by the world
all men, the one whose followers he persecuted and around him/her. He/she grows up in a family,
became one of greatest disciples of Jesus. develops in a society, and thus he/she is exposed to
all the do's and dont's of his/her family and his/her
St. Augustine's defining moment came while society. His/her moral life, his/her norms and moral
spending time in Milan in standards, are shaped by the prevalent cultural
386 A.D. Here is the story of his conversion: influences. In other words, as disclosed and unveiled
as he/she is, the moral agent undergoes development.
While outdoors, he heard the voice of a child singing
a song, the words of which were, "Pick it up and read Moral development refers to the "process through
it. Pick it up and read it." He thought at first, that the which a human person gains his/her beliefs, skills and
song was related to some kind of children's game, but dispositions that make him/her a morally mature
could not remember ever having heard such a song person. William A. Kay (1970) has the following to
before. say regarding the nature of moral development.

Then realizing that this song might be a command ... Just as the pattern of intellectual growth can be
from God to open and read the Scriptures, he located simply described as passing through stages of animal
a Bible, picked it up, opened it and read the first behavior, pre-logical thinking, thought governed by
passage he saw. It was from the Letter of Paul to the empirical logic and finally by formal logic, so
Romans, Augustine read: morality can be described as passing through stages
of behavior controlled first, by taboo; then second, by
Not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual law; third by conscience i.e. irrational, intrajected
excess and lust, not in quarreling and jealousy. values); fourth, by reciprocity; fifth, by social
Rather put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no consensus and finally by personal moral principles,
provision for the desires of the flesh. (Romans 13:13- though not necessarily in that order.
14)
Stated differently, the five stages may be reduced to
While he read the scripture, Augustine felt as if his three as follows:
heart were flooded with light. He turned totally from
his life of sin. He was baptized by Bishop Ambrose • The amoral stage - egocentric, hedonist and
during the Easter Vigil, April 24, 287. prudential considerations.
Later, St. Augustine wrote his famous prayer: "You • The pre-moral stage - authoritarian, ego-idealist,
have made as for yourself, Lord, and, our hearts are social and reciprocal considerations.
restless until they rest in you." • The moral stage-personal, autonomous, altruistic,
rational, independent and responsible
Relationship Between Moral acts and Character considerations

The following essay serves as good explanation of If your reasons to go to school are "I am afraid to be
the relationship between moral acts and character: dropped and fail" and "to show to my parents that I
am a “good student" you are in the a-moral's ego-
This essay examined the question of whether moral idealist stage. If you go to school everyday because "I
character is necessary for moral behavior. I argued promised to my parents I will never be absent" that is
that moral character is relevant to moral behavior in William Kay's pre moral stage (social and reciprocal
two important ways. First, given that I am already consideration.) If your reason is "it is the right thing
aware of what I ought to do (i.e. of what the "moral" to do," you have reached Kay's moral stage -
action is), moral character facilitates doing that personal, autonomous, rational, independent and
action. The person who has moral character does rational considerations.
moral actions more readily - more easily and more Kohlberg's Stages of Moral Development
willingly than one who does not. I also argued that
moral character matters in a second, much more Moral development refers to the "process through
fundamental way: the person who has moral which a human person, gains his/her beliefs, skills
character is able to recognize what is moral and and dispositions that makes him/her a morally mature
occasions for moral behavior in a way that those who person". Kohlberg (2013) describes the stages of
lack moral character cannot. Those who lack moral moral development in 3 stages, namely: Level 1 -
character often fail to act morally because they Preconventional morality, Level 2 - Conventional
simply fail, in many instances, to recognize the morality, and Level 3 - Post-Conventional morality.
morally relevant aspects of the situations they find Each level has two stages each so that there are six
themselves in (Knobel, 2019) stages of moral development. They are described in
detail below:
THE STAGES OF MORAL DEVELOPMENT
Level 1 - Pre-conventional morality
As previously explained, the moral agent, the human
person, is a being capable of acting "with reference to
This is the lowest level of moral development in rules in order to uphold the law and to avoid guilt. It
Kohlberg's theory. At the pre-conventional level is a matter of "I have to do this because the law says
children don't have a personal code of morality. so." It is still blind obedience to the law so morality
Instead, their moral code is controlled by the still lacks internalization. "It is the right thing to do;
standards of adults and the consequences of "school rules say so" as reasons for going to school
following or breaking adults' rules. Authority is are in stage 4.
outside the individual and reasoning is based on the
physical consequences of actions. There is no Level 3 - Post-conventional Morality
internalization of moral values.
This is the level of full internalization. Morality is
• Stage 1. Obedience and Punishment Orientation completely internalized and not based on external
The child/individual does good in order to avoid standards. Individual judgment is based on self-
being punished. If he/she is punished, he/ she must chosen principles and moral reasoning is based on
have done wrong. Children obey because adults tell individual rights and justice. According to Kohlberg
them to obey. Moral decisions are based on fear of this level of moral reasoning is as far as most people
punishment. It is a matter of obey or you get get.
punished. e.g. Josef does not cheat because he is
afraid of a punishment, a failing grade and "I go to • Stage 5. Social contract orientation
school because I am afraid to be dropped and fail. The child/individual becomes aware that while
rules/laws might exist for the good of the greatest
• Stage 2: Instrumental Orientation number, there are times when they will work against
Right behavior is defined by whatever the individual the interest of particular individuals. In this level,
believes to be in his/her best interest. "What's in it for individuals reason out that values, rights and
me?" In this stage there is limited interest in the needs principles transcend the law.
of others, only to the point where it might further the
individual's own interests. It is a matter of "you Laws are regarded as social contracts rather than rigid
scratch my back, and I'll scratch yours" mentality. An orders. Those that do not promote the general welfare
example would be when a child is asked by his should be changed when necessary to meet the
parents to do a chore. The child asks "what's in it for greatest good for the greatest number of people.
me?" and the parents offer the child a reward by
giving him a treat. • Stage 6. Universal, ethical, principle orientation
Individuals at this stage have developed their own set
In this stage, right involves equal exchange. e.g. of moral guidelines which may or may not fit the law.
Mario sees Juan get Miguel's pen. Soon he sees They have developed moral judgments that are based
Miguel retaliate by taking Juan's favorite pen. Mario on universal human rights .The principles apply to
does not report the incident to the teacher because everyone.
they involve equal exchanges.
e.g., human rights, justice, and equality. The person
• Level 2: Conventional will be prepared to act to defend these principles even
if it means going against the rest of society in the
Throughout the conventional level, a child's sense of process and having to pay the consequences of
morality is tied to personal and societal relationships. disapproval and/or imprisonment. When faced with a
Children continue to accept the rules of authority dilemma between law and conscience, the person
figures, but this is now due to their belief that this is follows his conscience.
necessary to ensure positive relationships and societal
order. Adherence to rules and conventions is Kohlberg doubted few people reached this stage.
somewhat rigid during these stages and a rule's (McLeod, 2013)
appropriateness or fairness is seldom questioned.
Development of conscience-based moral decision
• Stage 3: "Good Boy, Nice Girl" Orientation
In stage 3, children want the approval of others and Moral development includes development of
act in ways to avoid disapproval. Emphasis is placed conscience-based moral decision. This is in the post-
on good behavior and people being "nice" to others. conventional level of Kohlberg's stages of moral
The individual is good in order to be seen as being a development. Panizo defines conscience as "an act of
good person by others. Therefore, answers relate to the practical judgment of reason deciding upon an
the approval of others. The individual values caring individual action as good and to be performed and as
and loyalty to others as a basis for moral judgments. evil and to be avoided." It is metaphorically referred
E.g. if a politician is around in times of calamities to as the "inner or little voice of God." Panizo (1964)
primarily because he wants to appear "good boy" or quotes St. Thomas regarding the obligatory force of
"good girl" to electorates, he displays stage 3 moral conscience: "Every conscience, whether right or
developmental stage. "To show to my parents and erroneous, whether with regard to acts which are evil
teachers that I am a good student" and "I promised by in themselves or acts which are indifferent, is
parents never to be absent fall under this stage of obligatory, so that he who acts in opposition to his
good boy, nice girl orientation. conscience, does wrong."

• Stage 4. Law and Order Orientation Rev. Thomas V. Berg, (2012) defines conscience as
The child/individual becomes aware of the wider follows:
rules of society, so judgments concern obeying the
In the NL (natural law) tradition, conscience is Berg, 2012.
understood to be a judgment emanating from human
reason about choices and actions to be made, or It may be added, as clarified in Fr. Vitaliano Gorospe
accomplished, or already opted for and performed... (1974), that getting to the highest-level, conscience-
based moral decision can mean the widening human
Aquinas held that conscience, in the strict sense, was consciousness. It is a growth or development from
as an act of human reason called a judgment- family consciousness to clan consciousness,
following upon, and concluding, a time of community consciousness, town consciousness,
deliberation. In this sense, conscience is the interior provincial, regional, national, and international or
resounding of reason. Conscience is reason's global consciousness. As one's consciousness
awareness of a choice, or an action's harmony or widens, the moral parameters or standards of
disharmony, with the kind of behavior which truly one's decision making widens, one's moral
leads to our genuine well-being, and flourishing. conscience widens, one matures.

If our choice or action is not in accord with the CHAPTER III- HUMAN ACT
judgment of a rightly formed and active conscience,
then that judgment will linger in our conscious THE MEANING OF HUMAN ACT
awareness, presenting itself as a felt disharmony
between the choice, and the moral norm (and Act of Man versus Human Act
corresponding virtue), being violated. While such felt
disharmony is indeed of an emotive nature (e.g. a After studying the nature of the moral agent, the next
healthy emotional guilt), the judgment of conscience thing to do is to study the nature of human act itself.
remains something distinct and irreducible to the Says Fr. Coppens, (2017) "(h)uman acts are those of
negative feeling which happens to accompany it. which a man is master, which he has the power of
doing or not doing as he pleases." In the words of
The formation of conscience Panizo, (1964) "(h)uman acts are those acts which
proceed from man as a rational being." Observing are
Corresponding therefore to the prior discussion on examples of human acts. In other words, human acts
moral development is the formation of conscience. are the exams prescribed diet, tutoring the slow
What then is meant when it is said that the conscience learners and preparing for board exams a moral
must be "formed"? agent. Hence, "actions committed by unconscious and
insane persons, infants, or by those who are
.. First, conscience formation begins with the deep- physically forced to do something, are not considered
seated decision to seek moral truth. One adopts, as as human acts but acts of man." Likewise, "actions
a way of life, the habit of seeking out answers to which merely happen in the body or through the body
questions about right and wrong, persevering in that without the awareness of the mind or the control of
quest until one arrives at a state of moral certainty, the will are not human acts but merely acts of man."
after having made the most reasonable effort possible Examples of acts of man are breathing, blinking of
to arrive at those answers. Second, a sound the eyes, dilation of pupil of the eye, perspiring and
conscience must stand on the firm foundation of jerking of the knee.
integrity, sincerity and forthrightness. Duplicity,
personal inconsistency and dishonesty undermine any The Determinants of the Morality of Human Act
hope of forming a properly functioning conscience.
Third, conscience formation is sustained by the In his book earlier cited, Rev. Coppens, S.J: says
habit of consistently educating oneself by exposure that to know whether an individual human act is
to objective moral norms and the rationale behind morally good, three things are considered. These are
those norms. called the determinants of morality, namely, a) the
object of the act, b) the end, or purpose, and c) its
Conscience needs a guide.... The Church's moral circumstances.
teaching, while certainly enlightened by divinely
revealed law, is, at its core, the application of what For an act to be morally good, all three determinants
this tradition has discovered over the centuries about must be without a flaw, according to the received
the kinds of behavior that lead us to live genuinely axiom: "Bonum ex integra causa, malum ex
fulfilling, human lives. You do not place yourself at quocumque defectu" --"A thing to be good must be
odds with such a tradition lightly. wholly so; it is not vitiated by any defect."

Consequently, conscience formation requires a habit The object of an act is the thing done. In reality, it is
of ongoing self-formation (what we might call moral not distinct from the act itself; for we cannot act
information gathering) through study, reading, and without doing something, and that thing that is done
other types of inquiry. This includes consultation with is the object of the act; say, of going, eating, praising,
persons whose moral judgment we know to be sound etc. The act or object may be viewed as containing a
and in accord with the Church's moral tradition. further specification - e. g., going to church, praising
Finally, conscience, if it is to be correct, needs the God, eating meat. Now, an act thus specified may,
assistance of the virtue of prudence. By "prudence," when considered in itself, be good, bad, or
we mean the virtue as understood within the NL indifferent; thus, to praise God is good in itself, to
(natural law) tradition. This should not be confused blaspheme is bad in itself, and to eat meat is in itself
with timidity, "covering one's back"or dissimulation an indifferent act. But for an individual human act to
(hiding the truth). be good, its object, whether considered in itself or as
further specified, must be free from all defect; it must
be good, or at least indifferent. Bases of Moral Accountability

The end, or purpose intended by the agent is the Says Fr. Coppens (2017):
second determinant of an act's morality. The end here
spoken of is not the end of the work, for that pertains When I perform a free act - one which I am able to
to the object, but the end of the workman or agent. do or not to do, as I choose -- the act is evidently
No matter how good the object of an act may be, if imputable to me: if the thing is blameworthy, the
the end intended is bad, the act is thereby vitiated, blame belongs to me; if it is praiseworthy, I am
spoiled or impaired. Thus, to praise God is good in entitled to the praise. Every human act therefore,
itself, but, if in so acting the intention would be to since it is a free act, is imputable to him who
play the hypocrite, the act is morally bad. This holds performs it.
true whether the vicious end is the nearest, remote or
last end; whether it be actually or only virtually To whom are we accountable? For violation of
intended. On the other hand, a good end, though ever government laws, people are held accountable
so elevated, cannot justify a bad act; in other words, directly to the government, and indirectly to the
we are never allowed to do evil that good may result people. How about violations of moral standards?
from there. Robin Hood robbed the rich and Under Christian natural law ethics, God is deemed
distributed the money to the poor. No matter how the author of the law, hence violators are accountable
noble Robin Hood's intention was for robbing the to God. For non-theistic morality, violators are
rich, his act of robbing the rich is not morally accountable solely to themselves.
acceptable.
There are three bases for moral accountability,
The circumstances of time, place and persons have namely: knowledge, freedom and voluntariness.
their part in determining the morality of an individual These are the necessary conditions for the
act. The moral character of an act may be so affected accountability of actions. First, a human act must be
by attendant circumstances, that an act good'in itself done knowingly; second, it must be done freely and
may be evil when accompanied by certain third, it must be done voluntarily (intentional or
circumstances; for instance, it is good to give drink to negligent). To be credited for a good act or held
the thirsty, but if the thirsty man is morally weak, and morally liable or responsible for an evil act, a person
the drink is intoxicating, the act may be evil. must have done it knowingly, willingly and
(Coppens, 2017) voluntarily. Determining moral liability is analogous
to determining criminal liability. In criminal law, for
The object of the act is the act itself. The following instance, for you to be liable you must have done the
are instances: using the name of God with reverence; criminal act knowingly, freely and willingly. So
sincerely invoking God's name or the names of saints similarly, in ethics, for you to be morally liable, you
(the evil object is using the name of God and the must have done the unethical act knowingly, freely
saints in vain), honoring one's parent, going to Mass and willingly or voluntarily.
on days of obligation, saving human life, respecting
other's rights and property, having pure acts and In other words, for you to be morally responsible for
thoughts, being true to marital commitments, telling your act, you must, first, have knowledge, that is,
the truth, etc. you are in possession of a normal mind; you are not
insane or totally ignorant, sleep-walking due to
The end, or purpose is the intention of the acting somnambulism. Knowledge is "the awareness of or
subject, or what inspires the acting subject. For familiarity with a fact, situation, or truth, unveiled
example, rendering free service to a neighbor with through experience or disclosed in dialogue or
the intention of boasting about it. Or helping a encounter with persons or things." Knowledge that
neighbor inspired by love of God. The first instance stealing is wrong is the awareness of what stealing is
is immoral, while the second is moral. The guiding all about, that is, taking the property of another
rule is the end does not justify the means. The without consent, as well as the awareness of violating
intention of helping a neighbor, say giving food, by property rights, and all other unpleasant
stealing the food from another neighbor, is never consequences of violating other's rights. Knowledge
justified. This is what Robin Hood did. He stole from that stealing is wrong is the awareness of what makes
the rich and gave it to the poor. Of course no matter stealing wrong.
how good his intention was, i.e. to help the poor, his
stealing is not made right by his good intention. To have genuine knowledge, your mind must be
normal, not impaired or vitiated, by mental condition
The circumstances, including the consequences, or ignorance.
refer to the time, place, person, and conditions
surrounding the moral act. They either increase or Secondly, the act is freely done. This happens when
diminish the moral goodness or evil of human acts. you can exercise your power of choice. If the act you
A morally good act requires the goodness of the intend to do is a choice between stealing or not
object, of the end, and of the circumstances together. stealing, then you must have the freedom to choose
An evil end corrupts the action, even if the object is which to do. Your freedom should not be impaired by
good in itself (such as praying and fasting "in order to an irresistible force or uncontrollable fear. If the act
be seen by men"). you intend to choose is testifying as to your personal
knowledge, what you saw, heard, etc, you should be
ACCOUNTABILITY OF MORAL ACT
free to do so, without being subjected to an the law or of the facts, is either vincible or invincible.
uncontrollable fear of being silenced by death. When it cannot be overcome by the due amount of
diligence, it is invincible; otherwise, it is vincible.
Thirdly, the act must be voluntary, that is, the act is The latter is said to be gross or supine when scarcely
either intentional or negligent. An act is voluntarily an effort has been made to remove it; and if a person
intended when it is done with the aim, purpose, or deliberately avoids enlightenment in order to sin
goal of attaining a result. An act is negligent when it more freely, his ignorance is affected. " The basic rule
is done voluntarily, but with out care or precaution in is invincible ignorance, one that is beyond one's
avoiding the happening of a foreseeable event. You ability to overcome, is entirely involuntary, and hence
can be morally liable either by intentional act or removes moral responsibility; vincible ignorance
negligent failure to exercise care and precaution. "A does not free us from responsibility.
voluntary act proceeds from the will and depends
upon the will for its performance." When something Passion refers to positive emotions like love, desire,
is done purely by accident, this is referred to as delight, hope, and bravery and negative emotions like
fortuitous event, act of God. hatred, horror, sadness, despair, fear and anger.
"Antecedent passions those that precede the act, do
Judas was morally accountable for having betrayed not always destroy voluntariness, but they diminish
Jesus. He had knowledge. He knew what he was accountability for the resultant act. In criminal law,
doing. Jesus said "ore of you will betray me." He the commission of a criminal act "with passion and
freely chose to betray Jesus tempted by the thought of obfuscation" means the perpetrator is blinded by his
30 pieces of silver. He voluntarily and intentionally emotions lessening his accountability from maximum
did it. He led the soldiers to the Garden of to medium or from medium to minimum. Consequent
Gethsemane and kissed Jesus to signify to the passions are those that are intentionally aroused and
soldiers that he was the one to be arrested. kept. They do not lessen voluntariness, but may
increase accountability." (Panizo, 1964).
For instance, stealing is immoral. To be liable for this
immoral act, you must do it knowing that it is Fear is the disturbance of the mind of a person due to
immoral, you do it freely, that is, you are not forced an impending danger or harm to himself or loved
or coerced, and voluntarily, that is, with intentions to ones. Acts done with fear is voluntary, but acts done
do it. Sideswiping a pedestrian causing his death is because of intense or uncontrollable fear or panic are
immoral if the incident happens due to your involuntary.
negligence, like driving under the influence of liquor,
texting while driving, or driving without license. Violence refers to any physical force exerted on a
Accidentally dropping a gun causing the gun to fire person by another free agent for the purpose of
and hit and kill someone won't make anyone compelling said person to act against his will.
accountable, unless you have been negligently Actions performed by person subjected to violence or
playing with the gun. irresistible force are involuntary and not accountable.
Indiscriminate firing of gun during New Year merry
making leading to death of someone is criminal Moral Accountability for What Could Have Been
negligence and immoral.
It is termed as sin of omission. Whatever one fails to
Ultimately, it can be said that your degree of moral do but which should have been done is also
accountability depends on the degree or extent of imputable to him. This refers to failure to act despite
knowledge, freedom and voluntariness. Addiction of knowledge of being free, therefore different from
whatever kind, e.g. drugs, sex, power, money or negligence or lack of foresight. It is intentionally not
property, weaken all three bases: knowledge, doing same thing when one should have done it. It is
freedom, and voluntariness, so that instead of failing to act as a Good Samaritan when one should
eliminating them "like dregs of civilization," they have acted as such. Pilate had the case of Jesus Christ
should be treated with compassion, however, not investigated and found Him innocent. He could have
condoning their acts. set Jesus free but he did not. Withholding an
information could have prevented a disaster.
Modifiers of Human Act Damaging consequences could have been avoided.

There are various factors which either increase or FEELING AS MODIFIER OF MORAL
decrease accountability. They are called modifiers of DECISION-MAKING
human acts. These are analogous to exempting,
mitigating, aggravating and justifying Feelings in Decision-making
circumstances in criminal law. "They affect the
mental or emotional state of a person to the extent Feeling, in general, is an emotional state or reaction,
that the voluntariness involved in an act is either experience of physical sensation, like feeling of joy,
increased or decreased." They are as follows: 1) feeling of warmth, love, affection, tenderness, etc.
ignorance, 2) passions, 3) fear, and 4) violence. How do they affect moral decision-making? "Several
(Panizo, 1964) studies conclude that up to 90 percent of the
decisions we made are based on emotion. We use
Ignorance is the "absence of knowledge." There are logic to justify our actions to ourselves and to others."
various degrees of ignorance. Traditional ethics Researches also show that "actual emotional states
classifies them as vincible, invincible, affected, and can influence the process of moral reasoning and
supine or gross ignorance. "Ignorance, whether of determine moral judgment."
 Emotivism,.. is the view that moral judgments do
Feelings are instinctive and trained response to moral notfunction as statements of fact but rather as
dilemma. They can be obstacles to making right expressions of the speaker's or writer's feelings.
decisions but they can also help in making the right According to the emotivist, when we say "You acted
decisions. wrongly in stealing that money," we are not
expressing any fact beyond that stated by "You stole
Are there advantages of emotional decision making? that money." It is, however, as if we had stated this
According to recent research, feelings or emotions fact with a special tone of abhorrence, for in saying
have positive effects on decision making. Some are that something is wrong, we are expressing our
identified as follows: feelings of disapproval toward it. Emotivism was
expounded by d. J. Aver in Language, Truth and
• A totally emotional decision is very fast in Logic (1936) and developed by Charles Stevenson in
comparison to a rational decision. This is reactive Ethics and Language (1945) The emotivist thus goes
(and largely subconscious) and can be useful when further by saying that ethical. statements being
faced with immediate danger, or in decisions of emotional expressions are not verifiable. Emotional
minimal significance. expressions are not assertions of what is true or false.
They are like expressions of taste. There is no dispute
• Emotions may provide a way for coding and or there can be no dispute on matters of taste. "De
compacting experience, enabling fast response gustibus non disputandum est." One cannot argue
selection. This may point to why expert's "gut" level with one's taste, emotion.
decisions have high accuracy rates.
It may be said that an analogy between legal and
• Decisions that start with logic may need emotions to moral statement may be made to show that moral
enable the final selection, particularly when statements may treated like a factual statement. In
confronted with near equal options. criminal law, the allegation that "Juan's act of stealing
is wrong" may be established by evaluating the act in
• Emotions often drive us in directions conflicting the light of the elements of the crime of stealing
with self-interest. under the law. For instance, the law provides that
stealing is taking the property of another without the
Emotional decision making can also come with a latter's consent. So if there is an evidence that Juan
number of negatives. has taken a property, that the property belongs to
someone else, that the taking is without consent, then
• We make quick decisions without knowing why, it can be decided that a crime of theft is committed;
and then create rational reasons to justify a poor in other words, the statement has been verified.
emotional decision.
What then would prevent one in applying the same
• Intensity of emotions can override rational decision- procedure in establishing the truth or falsehood of a
making in cases where it is clearly needed. moral statement. For instance, the moral principle or
rule is "stealing is wrong" that it is explained by
• Immediate and unrelated emotions can create moral or ethics teachers that the statement is meant to
mistakes by distorting and creating bias in judgments. be referring to an act of taking someone else property
In some cases this can lead to unexpected and without the owner's consent. May not someone's act
reckless action. of stealing be verified by finding out if the actor has
indeed taken someone's property with the latter's
• Projected emotions can lead to errors because consent? And that, therefore, his act may be judged as
people are subject to systemic inaccuracy about how wrong?
they will feel in the future." (Source:
DecisionInnovation (file://Users/macos/Downloads/ The emotivist will still argue that such argument only
Emotional20Decsion20Making.htmlaccessed, 2-3- proves that a certain individual act has characteristic
2018) that can be described as stealing. It does not make the
statement "stealing is wrong" as a factual statement,
Moral statements as expressions of feelings which is correct, since all maxims or rules are non-
factual and only the particular instances evaluated on
Are moral statements or values mere expressions of the basis of these rules would be considered as
feelings or emotions as claimed by the linguistic factual.
philosophers? According to some linguistic
philosophers, called (emotivists) the statement Managing Feelings
"stealing is wrong" is not a statement of fact, it is an
expression of a desire or emotion. The rule or maxim Aristotle wrote:
"Stealing is wrong" means "I desire that you do not
steal." An emotional statement is not verifiable like "Anyone can get angry-that is easy--but to do this to
factual statement. "Pedro stole my cat" is verifiable, the right person, to the right extent, at the right time
can be established by evidence. But "Pedro's act of with the right motive, and in the right way, that is not
stealing my cat is morally wrong" which is equivalent for everyone, nor is it easy. (Book II, Nicomachean
to "I desire that Pedro should not steal" is not Ethics). In other words your anger should not be
verifiable. The following explains this ethical theory: displaced. The moral person manages his/her feelings
well.
REASON AND IMPARTIALITY AS MINIMUM Third, determine what virtues/principles have a
REQUIREMENTS FOR MORALITY bearing on the case. This is similar to identifying
the relevant factors (internal and external). "In an
The minimum requirements of morality are reason ethical dilemma certain values and principles are
and impartiality. "Moral judgments must be backed central to the competing positions. Identify these.
up by good reason and impartiality. "Morality Determine if some should be given more weight than
requires the impartial consideration of each others. Ask what the source for the principle is -
individual's interests." Moral judgments, or resolving constitution, culture, natural law, religious tradition...
a dilemma of moral judgments must be backed by These supplement biblical principles."
good reason.
Fourth, list the alternatives or develop a list of
Reason and impartiality refer to a mental activity options. "Creatively determine possible courses of
following the basic principle of consistency, the lack action for your dilemma. Some will almost
of contradiction between one idea and another. It is a immediately be discarded but generally the more you
process of deriving necessary conclusion from list the greater potential for coming up with a really
premises, avoiding all forms of deception or fallacy good one. It will also help you come up with a
of reasoning. It avoids ad hominem, by not attacking broader selection of ideas."
the personality of the opponent and instead directing
one's argument against his idea. Examples of Fifth, compare the alternatives with the
argumentum ad hominem are # 1, 4, 8 and 9 in the virtues/principles. "This step eliminates alternatives
Activity phase of this Lesson. Reason avoids ad as they are weighed by the moral principles which
misericordiam, appeal to pity, since appearing have a bearing on the case. Potentially the issue will
miserable does not improve an argument. Reason be resolved here as all alternatives except one are
does not resort to ad verecundiam, appeal to eliminated. Here you must satisfy all the relevant
authority, one's power and influence cannot make a virtues and values - so at least some of the
wrong right. Examples of argumentum ad alternatives will be eliminated (even if you still have
verecundiam are # 2, 5, 6, 7 and 10. In other words, to go on to step 6). Often here you have to weigh
good reasons include consistent and coherent reasons. principles and virtues - make sure you have a good
reason for each weighing."
A logical, impartial, objective reason avoids
ambiguities like equivocation, circular reasoning, Sixth, consider the consequences or test the
amphibology, etc. Coherent reasoning is needed to options. "If you disclose the information directly
establish truth and meaningfulness of moral possible consequences include; - family feel
judgments. alienated, cultural values have been violated - family
may take patient to another hospital - patient may
"Morality requires impartial consideration of each 'give up' - patient might be happy they are finally
individual's interest." In arriving at a sound moral being told the truth." If you continue withholding
judgment you must listen to everyone trying to speak. information possible consequences include; - patient
Biases and prejudices must be placed between continues to be fearful and anxious about the
brackets, suspended. Everyone's message, silent or treatment - patient finds out somehow and trust is
verbal, should be allowed to be unveiled. Everyone compromised - family are happy cultural values are
has always something to tell. No has a monopoly of being respected.
the truth. A moral subject must be seen from various
perspectives and standpoints. In general, the following may be used to test the
options: (Davis,1999)
SCOTT RAE'S 7 STEPS OF MORAL
REASONING • Harm test: Does this option do less harm than the
alternatives?
The following is another sample method of arriving • Publicity test: Would I want my choice of this
at an ethical or moral decision, the 7 steps of Scott option published in the newspaper?
Rae's moral reasoning. (1996) • Defensibility test: Could I defend my choice of this
option before a congressional committee or
First, gather the facts, information. "The simplest committee of peers?
way of clarifying an ethical dilemma is to make sure • Reversibility test: Would I still think this option was
the facts are clear. Ask: Do you have all the facts that a good choice if I were adversely affected by it?
are necessary to make a good decision? What do we • Colleague test: What do my colleagues say when I
know? describe my problem and suggest this option as my
solution?
Second, determine the ethical issues, similar to • Professional test: What might my profession's
"statement of the problem." ".... The competing governing body for ethics say about this option?
interests are what create the dilemma. Moral values • Organization test: What does my company's ethics
and virtues must support the competing interests in officer or legal counsel say about this?
order for an ethical dilemma to exist. If you cannot
identify the underlying values virtues, then you do Seventh, make a decision. "Ethical decisions rarely
not have an ethical dilemma. Often people hold these have pain-free solutions - it might be you have to
positions strongly and with passion because of the choose the solution with the least number of
value/virtue beneath them." problems/painful consequences. Even when making a
"good" decision you might still lose sleep over it!"
 repeatedly? In other words, are you pursuing the
Values Clarification course and make it as your career? Would you repeat
eating the food? Would continue playing the game,
Moral reasoning either arrives at what is right or given the chance? And do you always abide by the
wrong, good or bad (valuable or not valuable). The principle you have chosen to follow? The answers to
moral reasoning process may thus follow a model these questions will ultimately reveal what you really
called values clarification. value in life, they will clarify your values.

Values clarification method as a part of the moral The 7 questions can be summed up into 3 big
reasoning model consists of a series of questions clarifying questions:
which one may ask himself or others in order to 1) Did you choose your action freely from among
arrive at one's true values, values that he really alternatives after thoughtfully considering the
possesses and acts upon. The following consists of consequences of each alternative;
the steps of the values clarification model: 2) Do you prize or cherish your choice by publicly
(Raths, L. et al, 1978) affirming it and by campaigning for others to choose
it?;
1. Choosing freely 3) Do you act on your choice repeatedly and
consistently? If the answers to the questions are a
1. Did you choose this value freely? Where do you YES, then the moral choice or moral decision can be
suppose you first got that idea?" or "Are you the only said to be a product of reason.
one among your friends who feels this way?"
2. Choosing from alternatives As a result of the process, one may discover an ideal
"What reasons do you have for your choice?" or priority of values. One may need to recollect and re-
"How long did you think about this problem before orient oneself to genuine moral values.
you decided?"
3. Choosing after thoughtful consideration Critique: Creative Responsibility
"What would happen if this choice were
implemented? If another choice was implemented?" When a moral problem comes one's way, which may
or "What is good about this choice? What could be be communicated as a silent or verbal message, or
good about the other choices?" through a happening or an incident, the serious
4. Prizing and being happy with the choice response would be a process of moral reasoning. One
"Are you happy about feeling this way?" or "Why may use the aforementioned reasoning models. One
is this important to you?" may automatically apply classic or traditional
5. Prizing and willing to affirm the choice publicly frameworks or norms. One may be legalistic or
"Would you be willing to tell the class how you situationist. But one significant guide to the moral
feel?" or reasoning process is what ethicist like Fr. Gorospe
"Should someone who feels like you stand up in (1974) termed as "creative responsibility," which has
public and tell people how he or she feels?" the following characteristics:
6. Acting on the choice
"What will you do about your choice? What will First, a creative and fitting response involves some
you do next?" or "Are you interested in joining this form of positive human action... Second, to give a
group of people who think the same as you do about fitting human response in some form of positive
this?" action inevitably means "create" a a response. The
7. Acting repeatedly in some pattern of life creative responsibility is something to be discovered
"Have you done anything about it? Will you do it and created and is best envisioned in concrete
again?" or "Should you try to get other people cases...
interested in this?"
Third, a creative response means one has to choose
To discover whether or not one really values from among many possible fitting responses. It is
something, one may go through the process of asking impossible to find only one possible fitting response
and answering the seven questions. First is choosing to a human situation....
freely. Are you free to choose? Are you not under Fourth, in order that creative response of the
duress? Second, are you choosing from alternatives? individual be authentic he must be in constant
If there is only one option, you may not be able to dialogue with the community and culture in which he
really choose what you really value. Third, are you lives. Creative responsibility is not only individual
choosing with a thoughtful consideration of the but collective; it is co-responsibility.
alternatives. Why are you considering one of the Creative responsibility is responding silently or
alternatives as your choice and not the others? verbally to a call and address an ethical problem
Fourth, after making a choice, are you happy with it? creatively by considering all possible points of view,
Or are you having second thoughts? Fifth, are you thinking outside the box, using relevant frameworks.
willing to let others know about your choice, affirm There are always available norms or rules to follow,
your choice publicly, and are happy to tell them about but one should apply them creatively, apply them in
it? Sixth, are you acting on your choice. If it is about the light situations and conditions and be ready to
a course in college, are you going to enroll and bend the rule where there is no other remedy in sight.
seriously pursue it? If it is about food, are you going It is easier to understand this concept from a wider
to eat it. If it is about a game, are you going to play point of view, like that of a ruler or government. For
it? If it is a choice of principles or rules, are you instance, the response of government to the problem
going to follow it? Seventh, are you acting on it of drugs, like adopting the policy of killing
(murdering) the drug addict, upon the assumption that that he is materially or economically strong, and so
he/she is dangerous and useless being, is uncreative on.
and irresponsible.
Emphasis is made on what freedom is, and not on
One technique of coming up with a creative response what it is not. To say that one is free when there is an
is applying the phenomenological method of absence of obstacle is to give a picture of a weak
suspending judgment, placing former knowledge, person who cannot walk to get out his room despite
biases, prejudices, etc. between brackets, letting the an open door. Freedom must not only be understood
thing be or show itself as itself. as the absence of obstacle; it must be an autonomous
energy. It is useless talking about being free to move,
THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN REASON AND walk, if you have not strength to move or walk. It is
WILL useless saying you are free to go to Manila by bus, if
you have no money for your fare. Freedom implies
The moral person is endowed with an intellect and power, energy, strength in all human dimensions, as
will. The "will» is what "disposes" what the "the the stuff of freedom. A free person is one who is
intellect proposes." Reason conducts the study, physically healthy and strong, psychologically
research, investigation, fact-finding. It uses logic, the normal, financially stable. It is useless shouting in the
principle of consistency, avoids fallacious reasoning streets for "economic freedom" if one is economically
to come up with a truthful and accurate proposition. weak. In terms of morality, moral strength is moral
In a research study, the product or work of reason is freedom. Morally strong people would not allow a
the body of facts gathered, organized, synthesized tyrant to thrive or last long. In the words of Jose Rizal
and evaluated. The job of the will is to make a is the statement, "there can be no tyrants where there
decisive conclusion. can be no slaves."

The will is the faculty of the mind that is associated The Courage To Be
with decision making. It's the one that says yes or no.
This author says this, that author says that, all others "Purity of heart is to will one thing," says
are saying the same thing. Now, decide with your will Kierkegaard. But to "will one thing" needs courage.
what you yourself should say or think. According to Paul Tillich (1952), "(c)ourage is cally
self-affirmation 'in-spite-of, that is in spite of that
Decision making which is an activity of the will can which tends to prevent the self from affirming itself."
be developed. Courage is "the affirmation of being inspite of non-
Early in life, like children, one should already be being." This implies affirming, accepting oneself
given the opportunity to exercise his will, like being inspite of one's defects, lack, or imperfections,
trained to make choices from alternative. Do you affirming the world we live in inspite all that it lacks.
want to eat or not? Rice or bread? Coffee or tea? This In specific terms, courage is affirming, allowing the
is true of societies where a culture of choice give drug addict or drug dependent to live inspite of his
opportunities for the development of the will. A drug addiction. "Our greatest glory is not in never
culture of spoon feeding does not develop the will. falling, but in rising every time we fall." Courage is
Banking education, a method of teaching where the not giving up because of setbacks and failures. It is
teacher simply deposits facts and concepts and keeping right on keeping on. In politics, courage is
withdraw the same periodically during quizzes and affirming or accepting one's people inspite of their
tests without encouraging the students to think and ignorance, poverty. Political will means the courage
reflect, does not promote the development of the will. to promote the greatest good of the greatest number
inspite of their selfishness, greed, and unruly
Jean Paul Sartre, the French Philosopher, and the behavior. Commitment, engagement, fidelity,
most popular existentialist was saying that an authentic existence are all forms of "affirmation of
individual person is nothing until he/she starts being inspite of non-being." Courage is affirming the
making decisions. What ultimately constitutes who a world inspite of its tragedies. The last line in
person is are his/her decisions. The essence of being a Desiderata says it so, "(w)ith all its sham, drudgery
person equals his/her bundle of decisions. Apparently, and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world."
the mark of the maturation of culture is manifested
through the development of a culture of moral
strength or virtue, or will power, its free will. "Free
Will" is the "capacity of rational agents to choose a
course of action from among various alternatives."

Free will is the ability to choose between different

possible courses of action unimpeded, the power or
right to act, speak, or think as one wants. It is the
power of self-determination. When the will is free,
there is freedom.

To Hornedo (1972), the stuff of the free will is a

multi-dimensional power, energy, or strength. One is
free to the degree that he has energy, that is,
physically free to the degree that he is physically
strong; materially or economically free to the degree