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Module 2 Lecture Supplement

The document discusses several questions related to morality, including how we know right from wrong, whether morality is about actions or character, and what influences our moral decisions. It defines morality as "knowing the difference between right and wrong" and notes that moral choices involve deciding between what is good or bad and that our actions have consequences. The document also explores how our values, family, friends, and other factors shape our sense of morality.
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0% found this document useful (0 votes)
57 views27 pages

Module 2 Lecture Supplement

The document discusses several questions related to morality, including how we know right from wrong, whether morality is about actions or character, and what influences our moral decisions. It defines morality as "knowing the difference between right and wrong" and notes that moral choices involve deciding between what is good or bad and that our actions have consequences. The document also explores how our values, family, friends, and other factors shape our sense of morality.
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPT, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Religious Education Support, SLSS

MODULE 2 Supplemental lesson


1
WHAT IS MORALITY?
 How do we know what is right and wrong?
 Is something right if it causes pleasure?

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 How do we know that something is good?

 Does evil exist?

 Why do we choose to do wrong when we know it is


wrong?
 Is morality about actions or character?

 How do we become good people?

 Do we need religion to be moral?

 What is the relationship between what is good for


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me and for others?
HAVING CONSIDERED THE
PREVIOUS QUESTIONS, ONE
MIGHT SAY THAT .....
 Human beings have free will - they can
therefore make moral choices (decide
between right and wrong).

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 Human beings, by their nature, tend to seek
or aspire to what is good;
 Human beings are social, and therefore act
in a way that reflects awareness of others;
 Human beings have the capacity of reason,
which enables them to reflect upon what is
good and to act in accordance with this
reflection, rather than acting on instinct. 3
SO WHAT THEN IS MORALITY?
 Morality may be defined as “knowing the difference
between right and wrong”.

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 We make the majority of our decisions on this basis.

4
MORAL CHOICES
 Read the following statements and decide which
ones have moral implications and which ones do
not.
 Drinking and driving is wrong
 I’d like to help people in need
 I got a B on my religion test
 Bullying is wrong and hurtful
 I would never steal
 I’m going to have fruit for lunch
 I am always honest – lying is wrong
 I can see Mary’s exam, I’m going to copy her answers
 How do you know the difference between moral and
non-moral choices? 5
MORAL CHOICES
Moral choices:

 Involve a decision between what is right and what is


wrong, or going something good or bad.
 Each individual is responsible for the consequences of
their moral decisions.

The basis for making moral choices is called morality.

6
HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS
 When making moral decisions, we must remember
that we have relationships with other people and
our actions will affect them in different ways.
 We connect with other people on three levels:
 Interpersonal relationships
 One on one
 Family and friends

 Communal relationships
 Groups of people
 Clubs, communities etc.

 Global relationships
 How you relate to people all over the world 7
 Using Fair-trade products affects the people in the third world
HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS

8
FREEDOM
 Do you agree with this phrase:

“I have the right to do whatever I please”!

 Although we have free will to make any choice, we


also have a responsibility to consider others before
we make decisions
 Respecting the freedom of others builds up human
relationships and helps us make responsible moral
decisions
9
ACTIONS AND CONSEQUENCES

 It is safe to say that almost every action has


consequences.
 These may be positive or negative.

 Sometimes, making a moral decision will result in


hardship for ourselves (negative consequence).
 In these situations, we must still ensure that the
decision we make is the right one.

10
ACTIONS AND CONSEQUENCES
 Read the following story:
Lotto winner pays tribute to honesty of Centra worker
Thursday, June 18th, 2009 - Mary Minihan

THE LUCKY Lotto winner who left his ticket in the shop where
he bought it has collected his €350,000 prize.
Dermot Finglas from Drogheda, Co Louth, was tracked down
by Tom Heavey, who works in the McDonnell’s Centra store in
the town.
Speaking to his local radio station LMFM, Mr Finglas paid
tribute to Mr Heavey. Mr Heavey marked the forgotten ticket
as “paid for” and put it away for safekeeping until Mr Finglas
was identified on CCTV footage.
“If people just aspire to be somebody even remotely like Tom.
He is richer than anybody I can imagine,” Mr Finglas said. “At
the end of the day it gives all of us a bit of hope about all this
job situation in this country, people feeling down losing their
jobs, and things like this.”
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Mr Finglas said he was going to “probably hit the Canary
Islands with a couple of friends” with his winnings
“Sitting around here thinking about it isn’t going to
help me. I’m going to need to go somewhere where
nobody knows my name to think about it.”
He said friends in Chicago had sent him messages
saying they had read the story in their local
newspapers.

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Meanwhile, Mr Heavey revealed people had written
to him to compliment him on his honesty. “Another
man sent me a Quick Pick ticket,” he said.
He insisted he had no regrets.
“I never had any regrets. The ticket wasn’t mine. It
was good news in a sea of bad news,” he said.
Mr Heavey said he was pleased Mr Finglas had
collected his winnings yesterday, after being told on
Tuesday that a number of routine inquiries would
have to be made. 12
Article reprinted with kind permission of The Irish times
ACTIONS AND CONSEQUENCES
Research the story of Niall Mellon to see how the
consequences of our actions can affect all our
relationships: interpersonal, communal and global.

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13
RIGHTS AND RESPONSIBILITIES
 Rights:
 A right is something that you are entitled to in order to

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live a dignified and meaningful life.
 Examples: Food, shelter, clothing
 A moral person will respect and protect the rights of
others.
 In 1948, the United Nations issued the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights to establish the rights
of every human being
 Examples: The right to life, the right to nationhood, the
right to freedom from slavery etc.
14
RIGHTS AND RESPONSIBILITIES
 Responsibilities:
 ... are something that you should do as a moral person

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 Rights and responsibilities go hand in hand.
 You have a right to education, and you have a
responsibility to work hard at school.
 You also have a responsibility to respect other students
right to education, and not be disruptive.
 We also have a responsibility to take care of the
earth, to preserve and protect it for future
generations. This is known as ‘Stewardship of the
Earth’.
15
INFLUENCES ON MORALITY
 An influence is something that affects the
decisions that we make and the way we feel

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about things.
 We are influenced by many different people,
situations and things. These influences
change as we get older.
 Your values are a major influence on your
moral decisions.

16
VALUES
 What are values?
 Values are anything that you consider good, worthwhile

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or important.
 Your decisions are always influenced by your
values, causing you to do something good or avoid
something that goes against your values.
 Examples of values:
 Honesty
 Freedom
 Friendship

17
SOURCES OF MORALITY
Our morality (our sense of right and wrong) comes
from a number of different sources

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1. FAMILY
 First and most important source of
morality.

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 Parents teach children to differentiate
between good and bad, right and
wrong.
 Children learn to treat other people
with respect and they carry that value
with them throughout their lives.
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2. FRIENDS
 Friendships help us to become confident,
building our self esteem.

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 Valuing friendships encourages us to respect
others and be considerate towards other
peoples feelings.
 However, friends can also have a negative
influence on our morality.
 Peer pressure can influence you to do things
that are morally wrong because you want to
fit in with your group of friends. 20
3. SCHOOL
 School influences our morality in a number of ways.
 The ethos of the school describes the kind of place
that school should be and the way you should behave
in it:

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 What is your school ethos?
 The school has it’s own set of rules, outlining how you
should act while you are there:
 Think of some of your school rules that relate to
morality
 Many classes in school aim to teach you about
morality and about the consequences of your actions:
 In your opinion, what subjects (at both junior and
senior level) teach these topics? 21
4. RELIGION
 Every religion teaches it’s followers about morality,
and has it’s own set of religious values.

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 Many religious values influences state laws, for
example Catholic countries prohibit divorce,
Muslim countries prohibit relationships outside of
marriage.
 Christianity teaches followers to ‘treat others as you
would like to be treated’. This belief influences
Christians to make good moral decisions.
 The sacred text is a source of moral guidance for
followers of every religion.
22
5. STATE
 The government make laws based on the
common good – what will benefit the

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citizens of the country.
 It is illegal to kill another human being
 It is illegal to steal
 When you abide by the laws of the country,
you are looking to the state as a source of
morality.

23
OTHER SOURCES OF MORALITY
 Media
 Highlights important issues and encourages people to

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do the right thing (for example drink driving
advertisements)
 TV programs often carry moral messages, where the
characters face moral dilemmas and make moral
decisions
 Emotions
 Sympathy and compassion encourage us to help people
in trouble or in need
 Anger and hatred can have negative consequences on
our actions
24
MORAL VISION
 What is moral vision?
 Your outlook on life, from a moral point of view

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 Shaped by our values, what we believe to be important
 The decisions we make are influenced by our moral
vision and our values

25
MORAL VISION
 What kind of moral vision do you have?
 How do you think it developed?

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 What was the biggest influence on your
moral vision?

26
TO SUM UP...
 Morality is an issue that has concerned man since
the dawn of time.

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 With the Greeks came the study of morality in a
disciplined way... This became known as ethics.
 The study of morality raises a lot of questions
because by its very nature morality deals with
human relationships and decisions and the
situations that arise as a result of those
relationships/ decisions.

27

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