LESSON 1

THE IMPORTANCE OF RULES

Rules are important to social beings. Just imagine the chaos that results from the
absence of rules. What happens when students and professors alike come to school in any
attire they want? Imagine what happens when in the classroom everyone wants to talk at the
same time. Let’s go out of the classroom for more examples. What if there were no traffic rules?
Rules can be expanded to include the Philippine Constitution and other laws. What if there were
no Constitution and other laws of the land?
Rules are meant to set order. Rules (the Philippine Constitution and other laws included)
are meant for man. The greatest Teacher, Jesus Christ, preached emphatically, “The Sabbath is
made for man and not man for the Sabbath”. The law of the Sabbath, i.e. to keep it holy and
observe rest, is meant to make man whole by resting and by giving him time to thank and spend
time in prayer and worship for his own good.
For the sake of order in society, everyone is subject to rules. In a democratic country like
the Philippines, we often hear the statement “No one is above the law,” not even the President.
We are all subject to rules or else court chaos.
Rules are not meant to restrict your freedom. They are meant to help you grow in
freedom, to grow in your ability to choose and do what is good for you and for others. If there
are rules or laws that restrict your ability or strength to do good, they are suffocating laws and
they are not good laws. They must be abolished. Any rule or law that prevents human persons
from doing and being good ought to be repealed. They have no reasons to exist.
In fact, if you are a rule or a law-abiding citizen, you don't even feel the restricting presence of a
rule or law because you do what the law or what the rule states everybody should do. Looking
from a higher point of view, this is the state when one acts not because rules demand it but
because one sees he has to act the way. It is like saying one no longer needs the rules or law
because one has become mature and wise enough to discern what ought to be done. This is an
ideal state which the ancient Chinese sages (Confucius, Lao Tzu) referred to as state of no-
more rules, no-more rules, because people discern what is right or good and do what is right or
good without thinking a rule or law; people are no longer in need of a government because they
can govern themselves. It is a state where one owns the moral standard not just abide by the
moral standard.

LESSON 2
MORAL AND NON-MORAL STANDARDS

Ethymology and Meaning of Ethics

The term “ethics” is a Greek word for “ethos” meaning “custom” used in the works of
Aristotle, while the term “moral” is the Latin equivalent. Based on the Greek and Latin etymology
of the word “ethics”, ethics deals with morality. When the Roman orator Cicero exclaimed, “O
tempora o mores” (Cicero, 1856) (Oh what time and what morals), he may have been trying to
express dismay of the morality of his time.
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 Ethics or moral philosophy, is a branch of philosophy which deals with moral standards,
inquiries about the rightness or wrongness of human behavior or the goodness or badness of
personality, trait or character. It deals with ideas, with topics such as moral standards or norms
of morality, conscience, moral values and virtues. Ethics is a study of the morality of human acts
and moral agents, what makes an act obligatory and what makes a person accountable.
Moral is the adjective describing a human act as either ethically right or wrong, or
qualifying a person, personality, character, as either ethically good or bad.

Moral Standards or Moral Frameworks and Non-Moral Standards

Since ethics is a study of moral standards, then the first question for the course is, what
are moral standards. The following are supposed to be examples of moral standards: “Stealing
is wrong.” “Killing is wrong.” “Telling lies is wrong.” “Adultery is wrong.” “Environment
preservation is the right thing to do.” “Freedom with responsibility is the right way.” “Giving what
is due to others is justice.” Thus, moral standards are prescriptions that serve as the
frameworks for determining what is the right thing to be done.
Moral standards are either consequences standards (like Stuart Mill’s utilitarianism) or
non-consequence standards (like Aristotle’s virtue, St. Thomas’ natural law, or Immanuel Kant’s
good will or sense of duty).
The consequence standards depend on results, outcome. An act that results in the
general welfare, in the greatest good of the greatest number, is moral. To take part in a project
that results in the improvement of the majority of people is, therefore, moral.
The non-consequence standards are based on the natural law. Natural law is the law of God
revealed through human reason. It is the "law of God written in the hearts of men." To preserve
human life is in accordance with the natural law; therefore it is moral. Likewise, the non-
consequence standard may also be based on good will or intention, and on a sense of duty.
Respect for humanity, treatment of the other as a human person, an act that is moral, springs
from a sense of duty that you wish will apply to all human persons.
On the other hand, non-moral standards are social rules, demands of etiquette and good
manners. They are guides of action which should be followed as expected by society.
Sometimes they may not be followed or some people may not follow them. From time to time,
changes are made regarding good manners or etiquette. In sociology, non-moral standards or
rules are called folkways. In short, non-moral actions are those where moral categories cannot
be applied.
Examples of non-moral standards are rules of good manners and right conduct,
etiquette, rules of behavior set by parents, teachers, and standards of grammar or language,
standards of art, standards of sports set by authorities. Examples are “do not eat with your
mouth open;” “observe rules of grammar,” and “do not wear socks that don’t match.”
An indicator whether or not a standard is moral or non-moral lies in compliance as
distinguished from its non-compliance. Non-compliance with moral standards causes a sense of
guilt, while non-compliance with a non-moral standard may only cause shame or
embarrassment.

Classification of the Theories of Moral Standards

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 Garner and Rosen (1967) classified the various moral standards formulated by moral
philosophers as follows:
1) Consequence (teleological, from tele which means end, result, or consequence)
standard states that an act is right or wrong depending on the consequences of the act,
that is, the good that is produced in the world. Will it do you good if you go to school? If
the answer is right, because you learn how to read and write, then going to school is
right. The consequence standard can also be a basis for determining whether or not a
rule is a right rule. So the consequence standard states that the rightness or wrongness
of a rule depends on the consequences or the good that is produced in following the
rule. For instance, if everyone follows the rule of a game, everyone will enjoy playing the
game. This good consequence proves the rule must be a correct rule.
2) Not-only-consequence standard (deontological), holds that the rightness or
wrongness of an action or rule depends on sense of duty, natural law, virtue and the
demand of the situation or circumstances. The rightness or wrongness of an action does
not only depend or rely on the consequence of that action or following that rule.
Natural law and virtue ethics are deontological moral standards because their basis for
determining what is right or wrong does not depend on consequences but on the natural law
and virtue. Situation ethics, too, is deontological because the rightness or wrongness of an act
depends on situation and circumstances requiring or demanding exception to rule.
Rosen and Garner are inclined to consider deontology be it rule or act deontology, as
the better moral standard because it synthesizes or includes all other theory of norms. Under
this theory, the rightness or wrongness of an action depends on (or is a function of) all the
following: a) consequences of an action or rule, what promotes one’s greatest good, or the
greatest good of the greatest number; b) consideration other that consequences, like the
obligatoriness or the act based on natural law, or it’s being one’s duty, or it’s promoting an ideal
virtue. Deontology also considers the object, purpose, and circumstances or situation of the
moral issue or dilemma.
What Makes Standards Moral?
The question means what obliges us to follow a moral standard? For theists, believers in
God's existence, moral standards are God's commandments revealed to man through prophets.
According to the Old Testament, the Ten Commandments were revealed by God to Moses. One
who believes in God vows to Him and obliges himself/herself to follow His Ten Commandments.
For theists, God is the ultimate source of what is moral revealed to human persons.
How about non-theists? For non-theists, God is not the source of morality. Moral
standards are based on the wisdom of sages like Confucius or philosophers like Immanuel
Kant.
In China, B. C., Confucius taught the moral standard, “Do unto others what you like
others to do unto you” and persuaded people to adhere this rule since it is the right way, the
gentleman’s way. Later, Immanuel Kant, the German philosopher, formulated a criterion for
determining what makes a moral standard. For example, does the maxim “Stealing is wrong”
pass this test? Can one 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, otherwise, one would be wishing one’s own ill fortune. Can
you wish “do not kill” to be a universal maxim? The answer has to be yes because if you say
“no” then you are objecting to someone killing you. Thus, the universal necessity of the
maxim, what makes it a categorical imperative is what makes it obligatory. “Stealing is
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wrong” means “one ought not steal” and “Do not kill” means “one ought not kill.” It is one’s
obligation not to steal or kill. Ultimately, the obligation arises form the need of self-
preservation.

The Origin of Moral Standards: Theist and Non-Theist

Related to the question on what makes moral standards moral is how do moral
standards arise or come into existence? A lot of new attempts to explain the origins of morality
or moral standards have been made.
The theistic line of thought state moral standards are of divine origin while 20 th-century
thinkers claim state that they simply evolved. The issue is: Are moral standards derived from
God, communicated to man through signs or revelation, or did they arise in the course of man's
evolution?
With the Divine source concept, moral standards are derived from natural law, man’s
“participation” in the Divine law. The moral principle, “Do good and avoid evil” is an expression
of natural law. Man’s obliging himself to respect life, liberty, and property of his fellowman arises
from the God-given sacredness, spirituality, and dignity of his fellowman. It arises from his faith,
hope, and love of God and man.
With the evolutionary concept, the basics of moral standards – do good, avoid evil –
have been observed among primates and must have evolved as the process of evolution
followed its course.
Are these theist and non-theist (evolutionary) origin of moral standards
reconcilable?
The evolutionist claims that altruism, a sense of morality, can be observed from man’s
fellow primates – the apes and monkeys and, therefore, it can be said that the altruism of
human persons evolved from the primates. Neither can it be scientifically established that the
theist view, that man’s obliging himself to avoid evil, refrain from inflicting harm on his
fellowman, is a moral principle implanted by God in the hearts of men. But the concept of
creation and evolution are not necessarily contradictory. The revelation of the norms of Divine
origin could not have been instant, like a happening “in one fell swoop.” It could have happened
gradually as man evolved to differ from other primates. As the evolutionist claim, creation may
be conceived as a process of evolution. Hence, the biblical story of creation could have
happened in billions of years instead of six days.

LESSON 3
MORAL DILEMMAS

Meaning of Moral Dilemma

A problem in the decision-making between two possible options, neither of which is
absolutely acceptable from an ethical perspective is a moral dilemma which is also referred as
ethical dilemma. The Oxford Dictionary defines ethical dilemma as a “decision-making problem
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between two possible moral imperatives, neither of which is unambiguously acceptable or
preferable. It is sometimes called an ethical paradox in moral philosophy.” (Oxford Dictionary)
Based on these definitions, moral dilemmas gave the following in common: 1) “the agent
is required to do each of two (or more) actions which are morally unacceptable; 2) the agent can
do each of the actions; 3) but the agent cannot do both (or all) of the actions. The agent thus
seems condemned to moral failure; no matter what she does, she will do something wrong (or
failure to do something that she ought to do).
This means that moral dilemmas are situations where two or more where two or more
values or duties make demands on the decision-maker, who can only honor one of them, and
thus will violate at least one important moral concern, no matter what he or she decides to do.
Moral dilemmas present situations where there is tension between moral values and duties that
are more or less equal footing. The decision-maker has to choose between a wrong and
another wrong. The decision-maker is a deadlock.
To have genuine dilemma, one of the conflicting solutions should nor override the other.
For instance, “… the requirement to protect others from serious harm overrides the requirement
to repay one’s debts by returning a borrowed item when its owner so demands.” Hence,… “in
addition to the features mentioned above, in order to have a genuine moral dilemma it must also
be true that neither of the conflicting requirements is overridden” (McConnell. T. 2019). This
means that none of the conflicting requirements is solved by the other. The persons involved in
the dilemma are in a deadlock. They are in a “damn-if-you-do and damn-if-you-don’t” situation.
An example of a moral dilemma is the story from the Bible about King Herod. On his birthday,
Salome, his stepdaughter, danced so well in front of him and the guests at his party that he
promised to give her anything she wanted. Salome asked her mother’s opinion about what she
should wish for and decided to have John the Baptist's head on a platter. The king now had a
choice between honoring the promise to his stepdaughter, or honoring the life of John the
Baptist. And Herod chose to have John the Baptist beheaded.
The king had unintentionally designed a moral trap for himself, a dilemma where whatever he
decided to do would be morally wrong.
Meaning of a False Dilemma
On the contrary, a false dilemma is a situation where the decision-maker has a moral
duty to do one thing, but is tempted or under pressure to do something else. A false dilemma is
a choice between a right and a wrong. For example, a lawyer or an accountant can face an
opportunity to prioritize self-interest over the client’s interest.
What to Do When Faced with a Moral Dilemma
Ultimately, dilemmas are conflicts in the application of moral standards. The question is
which moral standards must be followed? In a state of emergency, necessity demands no moral
law. You have to decide based on your best judgment or choose based on the principle of
lesser evil or greater good or urgency.

LESSON 4
THE THREE LEVELS OF MORAL DILEMMA

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A. Individual
This refers to personal dilemmas. It is an individual's damn-if-you-do-and-damn-if-you-
don't situation.
Kohlberg's dilemma questions were as follows: “Should Heinz have stolen the drug.”
(Mackinnon, B., etal 2015) If he did not steal the drug that would mean his wife's death. He was
torn between stealing the drug and saving his wife. The dilemma is faced by an individual who is
torn between 2 obligations – to save the wife or obey the law. So this an example of an
individual dilemma.
B. Organizational
An organizational dilemma is a puzzle posed by the dual necessities of a social
organization and members' self-interest. It may exist between personal interests and
organizational welfare or between group interests and organizational well-being... (Wagner, J.
2019)
Organizational dilemmas may likewise occur in business, medical, and public sector.
The following hypothetical case highlights the story of Mr. Brown, a 74-year old man who
is seriously ill of metastatic lung cancer. Mr. Brown completed a full course of radiation therapy
as well as chemotherapy for treatment of his cancer, and he is now hospitalized with severe
shortness of breath and pneumonia. His physician has managed the symptoms associated with
the lung disease, including chest pain, fever, infection, and respiratory distress, but believes that
there are no other options available to aggressively treat the underlying cancer.... Both Mr.
Brown and his wife clearly state that they ‘want everything done.’
The dilemma here lies in the conflicting concerns: a) the financial problems of Mr. Brown
and his wife, b) the hospital concern of focusing its attention on this hopeless patient when there
are other cases which have still possible remedies, c) the other hospital patient's concern,
particularly their need of the medicine used by Mr. Brown, c) the concern of the medical staff, et
al.
Organizational dilemmas arise due to different opposing concerns between various
groupings in an organization.
C. Structural
The case of the principal whether to be participatory or non-participatory in school affairs
but due to her not so favorable experience of attempting to be participatory ended up to one-
woman rule is an example of a structural dilemma.
Below are more examples of structural dilemma.
Differentiation Versus Integration in Structural Dilemma
Different divisions have their own different culture and so coordination between divisions
or bringing them together for becomes more difficult.
With decentralization, local governments have become more empowered to direct their
affairs just as schools have become empowered to address their problems or are given
opportunity to localize the given curriculum.

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 In effect, local governments and schools have likewise become more differentiated and
so it becomes more difficult to integrate them for a unified structure. Local governance and
schools curricula have become more complex. There is need for more costly coordination
strategies.
Any attempt to introduce reform in society or government creates structural dilemma. For
instance, promoting or introducing universal health care, which is tantamount to socialized
health care, gives rise to a structural dilemma, that is, a conflict of perspective of sectors,
groups and institutions that may be affected by the decision. Why would those who contribute
less to the social fund enjoy the same benefits as those who contributed big amounts of
premium? In a study on the prices of medicines in the Philippines, it was established that
“patients are buying medicines from the private sector at many times their international
reference price” (Ateneo de Manila University 2019). If the government intervenes by
introducing price control, the drug stores may lose so much that they may close shop. If the
government does not do anything at all, the patients will continue to suffer because they may
not be able to afford the high prices of medicines.
Gap Versus Overlap
There may be gaps and overlaps in roles and responsibilities. There may be gaps or
overlaps in important tasks, if key responsibilities are not clearly assigned. If there are gaps,
organizations end up with no one doing the responsibility. If there are overlaps, things become
unclear and may lead to more confusion and even conflict and worse wasted effort and perhaps
even resources because of the unintended overlap.
Here is an example. A patient in a teaching hospital called her daughter to report how
disturbed she is and how sleepless she was during the night. She couldn't sleep at night
because hospital staff kept waking her up, most of the time, just repeating what someone else
had already done. This is an overlap of nurse duty. However, when she wanted something, her
call button rarely produced any response. This is a gap. There is a gap as to who according to
rule is supposed to respond to the buzzer.
(www.humancapitalreview.org/content/default.asp/Article_ID528#)
To illustrate further the consequence of gap and overlap, here is a story to show what
happens when there is a gap or overlap. A boy wanted his pants shorter. So he went to his
mother to ask him to shorten it. His mother was busy computing grades and told her son to ask
his sister to do it. His sister was busy reviewing for the final exams and asked her brother to ask
their elder brother to do it. But his older brother was also busy with his school project. The boy
being too frustrated went to sleep. His pants were beside him. After finishing her grades, Mother
peeped into her son's room, saw the pants and remembered her son's request. So she took a
pair of scissors and shortened them. Before she went to bed, the sister also remembered her
brother's request. Full of remorse, she went to her younger brother's room, saw the pants, got a
pair of scissors and shortened them, too. The older brother finally completed his school project
and suddenly remembered his brother's asking for help to shorten the pants. So he went to his
younger brother's room, got a pair of scissors and cut them, too. When the younger brother
woke up, he was surprised to see a pair of extremely short shorts. The pants which he wanted
to make just a little bit shorter ended up too short for him!
That is what happens when there are gaps or overlaps in an organization. The gaps
leave an important thing in an organization undone. The overlap results in unnecessary and
counterproductive, redundant procedures which ultimately lead to waste of resources.

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 Lack of Clarity Versus Lack of Creativity. If employees are unclear about what they
are supposed to do, they often tailor their roles around personal preferences instead of system
wide goals, frequently leading to trouble. Most McDonald's customers are not seeking novelty
and surprise in their burgers and fries. But when responsibilities are over defined, people
conform to prescribed roles and protocols in “bureaucratic” ways. They rigidly follow job
descriptions regardless of how much the service or product suffers and so end up uncreative.
“You lost my bag!” an angry passenger confronted the airline manager. The manager's
response was to inquire, “How was the flight?” “I asked about my bag,” the passenger said.
“That's not my job,” the manager replied, “See someone in baggage claim.” The passenger did
not leave as a happy airline customer. The job of the manager was overdefined and made the
manager uncreative and inefficient. Her job in relation to the airline system wide goals was
neither clear and so ended up giving the wrong answer that turned off the airline passenger.
Flexibility versus Strict Adherence to Rules
You accommodate by bending rules to help someone or you stick strictly to rules no
matter what and so unable to help someone who is thrown into a helpless situation. Or you may
become being too accommodating that all rules are no more.
Your jobs are defined so clearly that you will stick to them even if circumstances are
such that by sticking to your job description the service or product that your organization
provides suffers.
Excessive Autonomy Versus Excessive Interdependence
This refers to being too isolated versus too much coordination.
To illustrate:
When individuals or groups are too autonomous, people often feel isolated and
disconnected. School teachers working in self-contained classrooms and rarely working with
other teachers may feel lonely and unsupported. Yet, efforts to create closer teamwork have
repeatedly failed because of teachers’ difficulties in working together. In contrast, if units and
roles are too tightly linked, people are distracted from work and waste time on unnecessary or
too much coordination. IBM lost an early lead in the personal computer business in part
because new initiatives required so many approvals —from levels and divisions alike that new
products were over designed and late to market. Hewlett — Packard's ability to innovate in the
late 1990's was hindered by the same problem.
(www.humancapitalreview.org/content/default.asp?Article_ID528#)
Structural dilemma is the dilemma arising from conflicting concerns among various
sectors of society. In the first instance of differentiation versus integration, the dilemma is how
to enforce a decision, policy, or rule intended for everybody among many different or unique
groups or individuals. In the second, the dilemma arises because of either gaps or overlaps in
the procedure of implementation of certain projects or policies among involved agencies like the
FBI and CIA in the U.S.A. or like the NBI and the INP in the Philippines. GAPS creates serious
consequences. Read about the unforgettable Mamasapano massacre in Mindanao, Philippines.
(https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/01/25/19/families-of-saf-44-cry-for-justice-4-years-after-
mamasapano-massacre)
Centralized versus Decentralized Decision Making

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 In decentralized decision making, organizations can respond to change more rapidly and
effectively because the decision makers are the people closest to the situation. However, top
managers may lose some control. This is the dilemma of tight overcentralization or diffusing
authority which is loose.
Structural Dilemma in a World Organization Like the UN
Succinctly put, a structural dilemma in a world organization like the UN is the problem of
the balance between world order and national sovereignty re-stated as the balance between the
measure of international authority essential to the establishment of an organized common
peace and the continued freedom of action of the separate members of the world community or
the balance between interdependence and independence. (Jenks, 1971)
www.digitalcommons.law.uga.edu/cgi/viewcontent_cgi?article=2168&context=gjicl

Resolving Moral Dilemmas

The following offer some techniques in resolving moral dilemma: One way is to think of
available alternative options revealing that the dilemma does not really exist. This happens
where there are available alternative options. For instance, one is experiencing a dilemma
between stealing or not stealing; otherwise, his family will either die of hunger or survive. The
creative moral agent will try to think of other alternatives, like “alternative means of income or
support such as social safety net, charity, etc.”
Another way is “choosing the greater good and lesser evil” or...,” Or one may apply the
situation ethics approach, following the rule, one must do only what he can where he is. Do
not resort to extraordinary or supernatural means.
Joseph Fletcher offers some principles in resolving moral dilemma. He uses Kant’s
“ought implies I can” rule. If I ought to do something, then I can do it. By contraposition, if I
cannot do something, then I cannot be obliged to do it. Or by implication, either I cannot be
obliged to do something or I can do it. In other words, one is only obliged to do something if and
only if he can do it. So Fletcher says, “do what you can where you are.” Or quoting St.
Augustine's, “Dilige, et quod vis fac” (love and do what you will). The extent of one’s
obligation and responsibility is the extent of one’s ability and the measure of the “extent” is one’s
capacity for love.
Here is a situation: You are a father of seven children. On your support, seven children
plus your wife depend. You work in the mines and receive only a minimum wage. After working
like a “carabao” in the mines, you need to ease your pains with a bottle of gin before you lie
down to rest and sleep. You also need to eat food sufficient enough to replace your wasted
energy. Hence, you spend for wine, food, and cigarette. Minus these expenses, the balance of
your wage is just enough for the food of your children. Nothing is left for their education, and
other expenses. Question: Should you be faulted for not being able to sacrifice enough by giving
up your needs, so that your dependents can have something left for their education? You love
your family, but you 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
unconditional, no limits of sacrifice or boundaries. But your love is human, you are only human.
“You can only do what you can where you are.” Others can sacrifice more by giving up their gin
and cigarette and eat less expensive food. Yes, others can, but can one be faulted for not being
like the others, not having the strength to overcome a vice? Can one not argue that the extent of
his ability is the limit of his responsibility? On the other hand, can it not be said that resorting to
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human frailty is just a convenient or comfortable way of justifying one’s lack of moral will? That
may be easier said than done, although it is possible for one who has virtue as his moral
strength. But what can be said of one who has no moral virtue or strength to sacrifice with the
discomfort of self-giving? Endless condemnation? That would be un-Christian.

LESSON 5
FREEDOM AS FOUNDATION FOR MORAL ACTS

Ethics Applies Only to Human Persons

Unlike the lower forms of animals, human persons have a choice or freedom. Hence,
morality applies only to human persons. Ethics, therefore, applies only to human persons. We
cannot say a cat is “unethical” when it eats the food at table intended for you or when a dog
urinates on your favorite bag lying on the floor.
Dilemmas presuppose freedom. Freedom-loving societies have customary ways of
training the young to exercise their freedom. Parents regularly give their children opportunities
to choose. “Guys, what do you want for breakfast — ham and egg or pancake?” Later in life,
they come face to face with hard choices. Then dilemmas come along. There is such a thing as
a dilemma because there is such a thing as freedom. If there is no ability or power of choice,
then any incident simply happens without any interference. There would also be no obligation to
do any act in expectation of the responsibility following the act.
Freedom and Moral Choice
“Without freedom it is impossible to make a moral choice.”
If we are to have free will we must have the ability to make a decision that is unhindered.
Kant believed that we must have free will if we are to be held morally responsible for our
actions. If God did not give us free will then our decisions cannot be considered immoral
or moral as we would have had to act in the way we did. Thus, we cannot be held
responsible; a good moral action cannot be praised as you had no other option, whilst an
immoral action cannot be punished as once again there was no free choice. In other
words, making moral choice is a necessary consequence for being free, a consequence
of being a human person.
Because a human person has freedom, he/she has a choice and so is responsible for
the consequences of his/her choice. The lower forms of animals have no choice since
they are bound by instinct and so cannot be held responsible for their behavior.

To be Ethical: Own Not Merely Abide by Moral Standards

Having free will or freedom to choose among alternatives, which implies prior analysis
and study, is coming to terms with what you finally affirm or deny. When you arrive at a personal
conviction and self-affirmation, you begin to own the moral standard. The moral standard begins
to be integrated, internalized. You follow the norm not because others impose it, not because
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others say so or authoritatively impose it on you. On the other hand, merely abiding by moral
standards means applying them as basis to resolve a moral problem without necessarily having
internalized them. Merely abiding by them means once the enforcer is not around, the moral
standard is not followed.
Or if you do not own or internalize the standard, you will tend to use it for convenience,
to evade responsibility, to put the blame on the standard itself when things do not end well. You
simply become legalistic, and adopt the maxims, “follow the rule or law, even if the sky falls
down”; “the law says so”; the law is hard, but it is the law (dura lex sed lex). You follow the law
because others, authorities, regulators say so; not because you say so.
Owning moral standards means internalizing them, making them part of your conviction.
Internalized or embodied moral standards are being followed with or without anyone telling you.
You internalize a rule after using reason to understand. When you are persuaded of its
wisdom, it becomes your basis of resolving an ethical problem. You decide to do something not
because the law says so but because you yourself say so.
This may be termed as the embodiment of the moral standard in you. The moral
standard becomes one with the moral agent. As the moral agent, this moral standard becomes
your natural and immediate basis in your ethical decision making.
The presupposition is that you have come to own the moral standard after having been
convinced of its wisdom, having chosen it among other principles or standards. Any dilemma
regarding the standard has been resolved. Under the Chinese Taoist concept of harmony, this
is where the thought, the word, and the action become one. This author once visited a Taoist
temple and had a chance to ask what a Taoist live by as a principle of life. He replied, “what I
think must be the same as what I say, and what I say must be the same as what I do.” The
result is oneness of thought, word and action, and its effect is an integrated personality,
personality made whole.
Making your mind, word, and action, a unity is not easy. You have in mind the maxim,
“honesty is the best policy.” As a teacher you always tell that to students. But deep in your heart
you know it has been difficult to be honest all the time. There was the joke, of which no one
knew the source regarding the motto of the Philippine Military Academy (PMA) “Integrity,
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 corruption, the word “Integrity”
disappeared.

LESSON 6
CULTURE: HOW IT DEFINES MORAL BEHAVIOR

What is Culture?
Culture “is the integrated pattern of human knowledge, beliefs, and behaviors. This
consists of language, ideas, customs, morals, laws, taboos, institutions, tools, techniques, and
works of art, rituals and other capacities and habits acquired by a person as a member of
society.” (Taylor as quoted by Palispis, 1997).

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 The Magisterium of the Church explains culture as “the set of means used by mankind to
become more virtuous and reasonable in order to become fully human. In its fullest sense,
culture means opening up to the divine, and ultimately, to a religious dimension.” Based on this
Church definition, it is clear that culture is meant to serve human persons.
Sociologists categorize culture into material and non-material culture. “Nonmaterial
culture consists of language, values, rules, knowledge, and meanings shared by members of
society. Material culture is the physical object that a society produces—tools, streets, homes
and toys, to name a few.” (Brinkerhoff, 1989).
Culture is passed on to the next generation by learning not through the genes or
heredity. “Culture” includes all human phenomena which are not purely results of human
genetics. (Kroeber et al, 1952)
The Human Person and Culture
As a moral agent you are born into a culture, a factual reality you have not chosen. You
are not born nothing. It may be said that the Aristotelico-Thomistic tradition is one dominant, if
not the most dominant culture. This Aristotelico-Thomistic culture is a Greco-Roman culture,
which has influenced and shaped the moral life of those who have been exposed to it. Those
who were born into this culture, educated under this culture, are persuaded that there is God,
that a divine order and law keep and govern the world, which includes you. But what happens
when there are different cultures with their own different views of man’s direction and destiny?
For instance, the Greek culture introduced the idea of perfection. In terms of numbers, a perfect
thing is 100%; in terms of figures, it is a whole circle. A perfect thing has no privation, no lack,
no absence of being. What if a new culture redefines perfection as any created and present
model, which may be recreated, remolded like clay? Any change in the model may be perceived
as the creation of a new model of perfection, not the actualization of what was lacking. Every
created model is a perfection in its own right.

Enculturation, Inculturation and Acculturation

Cultures change or evolve. There are various ways by which cultures change – by
enculturation, inculturation and by acculturation.
Enculturation, an anthropological term, was coined by J.M. Herskovits Margaret Mead
has, however, was the one who defined the term as “the process of learning a culture in all its
uniqueness and particularity”.
. . .Enculturation is a process of learning from infancy till death, the components of life in
one’s culture. The contents of this learning include both the material and non-material
culture. The latter refers to values while the former refers to tools such as a hoe or
mask. In the said process of learning, a person grows into a culture, acquires
competence in that culture and that culture takes root in that person and becomes the
cognitive map, the term of reference for acting.
For instance, African girls (South of the Sahara) grow up learning that as a woman she
has less rights and privileges as the African man. For instance, a man can marry more than one
woman while she cannot. While the African wife cannot share her love with other men, the man
can share his with other women in the system. It turns women into an appendage, a property of
the man — one of the man's laborers. Umoren, U.E. (1992)

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 Another marriage practice that shows that the African woman is the property of the
husband and his family is levirate marriage. Levirate marriage is the marriage between the
widow and the brother of her I deceased husband. Therefore at the husband's death the woman
is generally expected to stay on (as property of the family) without any choice in the matter She
raises children to immortalise the deceased husband’s name. Umoren, U.E. 1992.
This is enculturation in concrete terms. The African girl grows up and becomes a woman
through the said process of enculturation. This enculturation process has both cognitive and
emotional elements.
The girl child who later becomes a woman learns and internalizes the idea that she,
because she is a woman, has less privileges than the African man. This learning takes place
through example, direct teaching and in patterns of behavior. What is learned becomes her
cognitive map, her term of reference that directs her behavior.
Another term is inculturation. Inculturation refers to the “missiological process in which
the Gospel is rooted in a particular culture and the latter is transformed by its introduction to
Christianity.” Umoren, U.E. (1992)
In the Special Assembly of' the Synod in 1985, Pope John Paul Il defined inculturation in
Redemptoris Mission, n. 52, as…
the intimate transformation of authentic cultural values through their integration in
Christianity and the insertion of Christianity in the various human cultures. " This means
that inculturation is characterized by a dual movement, i.e. a dialogic movement towards
cultures via the incarnation of the Gospel and the transmission of its values, and a
movement towards the Church that involves the incorporation of values that come from
the cultures the latter encounters. Therefore, a fruitful cross-fertilisation can follow.
(Umoren, U.E., 1992)
In other words, inculturation raises two related problems, that of the evangelisation of
cultures (rooting the Gospel in cultures) and that of the cultural understanding of the Gospel. It
was this movement that led Pope John Paul Il to say in 1982, “The synthesis between culture
and faith is not only a requirement of culture, but also of faith.... Faith that does not become
culture is not fully accepted, nor entirely reflected upon, or faithfully experienced”
This means that inculturation is not an action but a process that unfolds over time, one
that is active and based on mutual recogniti0T1 and dialogue, a critical mind and insight,
faithfulness and conversion, transformation and growth, renewal and innovation.
Inculturation is a two-way process: it roots the Gospel in a culture and introduces that
transformed 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 oppressing
women into a culture where men and women are treated as human persons equal in
dignity, rights and privileges. The second event is to develop the Urican culture's latent
potential towards the human development of the woman, created like her male
counterpart in the image and likeness of God. The other aspect is to introduce the
woman and her transformed culture to Christianity, for example, by allowing the woman
a meaningful place among the agents of inculturation. (cf Umoren, U.E. 1992)
Acculturation is another big term. It is the “cultural modification of an individual, group, or
people by adapting to or borrowing traits from another culture”. It is also explained as the
merging of cultures as a result of prolonged contact”. Immigrants to the United States of

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America become acculturated to American life. Refugees and indigenous peoples (IP) likewise
adapt to the culture of the dominant majority.
There are cultural practices that should be stopped because of the painful harm they do.
The practice of human sacrifice has somehow been stopped. But the circumcision of women still
goes on in some parts of the world, like Africa. Some approaches have been successful, like
what one NGO tried to introduce in Africa. It is called a buying in. To gradually stop the
circumcision of women, the approach was to buy in, like introducing into the place good health
facilities and other forms of assistance to alleviate their economic hardships in return to their
stopping the practice.
How Culture Shapes the Moral Agent
Culture definitely affects the way we evaluate and judge things. Consider the African
women not as privileged as the African men described in the earlier section of this Lesson.
Some societies consider it alright gathering vegetables at the backyard of their neighbor
considering the act as getting a share. In such societies, the act would not be called stealing. In
most societies, the act is stealing. In ancient times, human sacrifice was not wrong. Today it is a
criminal act. In some culture like Islamic culture, and African culture (South of Sahara) having
several wives is allowed. In other cultures, it's concubinage or adultery.
Culture has a very long lasting hold on an individual. A person may have become highly
educated, may have even obtained a doctorate degree, educated with Christian values of
forgiveness, but if he comes from a society with a culture of vengeance (“an eye for an eye and
a tooth for a tooth”) having the sense of obligation to make an act of revenge when a member of
his tribe has been killed or harmed by another tribe, and when a case arises where a member of
his tribe is harmed by another, he becomes ultimately vindictive and joins his tribe seeking
revenge. No amount of graduate education can prevent him from joining his tribe to seek
revenge. He forgets about his doctorate degree in Values Education.

REFERENCES:
o Ruben A. Corpuz and Brenda B. Corpuz (2020). Ethics. Cubao, Quezon City, Metro
Manila: Lorimar Publishing, Inc.
o www.humancapitalreview.org/content/default.asp?Article_ID528#
o https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/01/25/19/families-of-saf-44-cry-for-justice-4-years-after-
mamasapano-massacre
o www.digitalcommons.law.uga.edu/cgi/viewcontent_cgi?article=2168&context=gjicl
o https://youtu.be/6E2hYDIFDIU
o https://youtu.be/0BsLd4Y060Q

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