Republic of the Philippines

PHILIPPINE NORMAL UNIVERSITY

National Center for Teacher Education
The Indigenous Peoples Education Hub
North Luzon Campus

GROUP 3
Alipan, John Carlo
Castillo, Jenel Mae
Guiab, Frenette Marie
Omotoy, Winnie Rose
Serueles, Joshua Mhel
1. What are moral standards, and how they differ from each rules of lives? What are moral
and non – moral standards? Explain your answers

 A moral standard refers to the norms which we have about the types of actions
which we believe to be morally acceptable and morally unacceptable.
Specifically, moral standards deal with matters which can either seriously harm or
seriously benefit human beings. The validity of moral standards comes from the
line of reasoning that was taken to back or support them, and thus are not able to
be formed or changed by particular bodies of authority.

There are (5) Characteristics of Moral standard:

 Moral standards involve serious wrongs or significant benefits to man, animals,
and environment.
 Moral standards are not established by authority figures.
 Moral standards have the trait of universalizability.
 Moral standards are based on impartial considerations.
 moral standards are associated with special emotions (such as guilt and shame)
and vocabulary (such as right, wrong, good, and bad).

https://sevenpillarsinstitute.org/glossary/moral-standard/
 Non-moral standards refer to standards by which we judge what is good or bad
and right or wrong in a non-moral way. Examples of non-moral standards are
 standards of etiquette by which we judge manners as good or bad, standards we
call the law by which we judge something as legal or illegal
https://philonotes.com/index.php/2018/06/08/moral-standards/
 It is different from the rules of lives because in Moral Standards we “Judge”
whether the act is good or bad, while in rules of lives we “follow” the rules.
o For example: Make peace with your past, so it won't disturb your present.
o No one is in charge of your happiness except for you.

2. What is Moral Dilemma? What are the three levels of moral dilemma? Explain your answers
by giving examples
 Moral Dilemma is the situation wherein an individual will have to make a decision
between two choices each one has consequences that will affect the morality of the
person involved

o Individual
 A dilemma where only one or two person is involved
o Organizational
 A dilemma that will affect the whole group in the decision
o Systematic
 A dilemma that will affect 2 or more groups the making of the decision.

 Individual, Heinz dilemma. Where Heinz will make a decision between Stealing the
medicine that can cure his wife and he will get imprisoned or he will not steal the
medicine because he will break the law but his wife will die.

 Organizational, when a business’ sale is rapidly decreasing and need to fire staff that has
been part of the business for 20years because they can no longer give their salary, or let
his staff job and continue to go on with the business.

 Systematic, When a mayor is promoting the preservation of virgin forest and also support
the logging industry of their community, the mayor will be stuck in the decision making
to choose between the two.
References: Pair 1 Report

3. Freedom is the power, rooted in reason and will, to act or not to act, to do this or that, and so
to perform deliberate actions on one's own responsibility. By free will one shapes one's own life.
Human freedom is a force for growth and maturity in truth and goodness; it attains its perfection
when directed toward God, our beatitude.

1732 As long as freedom has not bound itself definitively to its ultimate good which is God,
there is the possibility of choosing between good and evil, and thus of growing in perfection or of
failing and sinning. This freedom characterizes properly human acts. It is the basis of praise or
blame, merit or reproach.

1733 The more one does what is good, the freer one becomes. There is no true freedom except in
the service of what is good and just. The choice to disobey and do evil is an abuse of freedom
and leads to "the slavery of sin."28

1734 Freedom makes man responsible for his acts to the extent that they are voluntary. Progress
in virtue, knowledge of the good, and ascesis enhance the mastery of the will over its acts
1738Freedom is exercised in relationships between human beings. Every human person, created
in the image of God, has the natural right to be recognized as a free and responsible being. All
owe to each other this duty of respect. The right to the exercise of freedom, especially in moral
and religious matters, is an inalienable requirement of the dignity of the human person. This right
must be recognized and protected by civil authority within the limits of the common good and
public order.32

1744 Freedom is the power to act or not to act, and so to perform deliberate acts of one's own.
Freedom attains perfection in its acts when directed toward God, the sovereign Good.

1745 Freedom characterizes properly human acts. It makes the human being responsible for acts
of which he is the voluntary agent. His deliberate acts properly belong to him.

References:
https://www.vatican.va/archive/ccc_css/archive/catechism/p3s1c1a3.htm
Why freedom considered as the foundation of morality ?
responsible practice of freedom. Without freedom, we cannot speak meaningfully about
morality or moral responsibility. Human freedom is more than a capacity to choose between this
and that. It is the God-given power to become who he created us to be and so to share eternal
union with him. This happens when we consistently choose ways that are in harmony with God's
plan. Christian morality and God's law are not arbitrary, but specifically given to us for our
happiness. God gave us intelligence and the capacity to act freely. Ultimately, human freedom
lies in our free decision to say "yes" to God. In contrast, many people today understand human
freedom merely as the ability to make a choice, with no objective norm or good as the goal.
Another important foundation of Christian morality is the understanding of moral acts.
Every moral act consists of three elements: the objective act (what we do), the subjective goal or
intention (why we do the act), and the concrete situation or circumstances in which we perform
the act (where, when, how, with whom, the consequences, etc.).
Why is freedom crucial in our ability to make moral decisions?

For an individual act to be morally good, the object, or what we are doing, must be
objectively good. Some acts, apart from the intention or reason for doing them, are always wrong
because they go against a fundamental or basic human good that ought never to be compromised.
Direct killing of the innocent, torture, and rape are examples of acts that are always wrong. Such
acts are referred to as intrinsically evil acts, meaning that they are wrong in themselves, apart
from the reason they are done or the circumstances surrounding them.
The goal, end, or intention is the part of the moral act that lies within the person. For this
reason, we say that the intention is the subjective element of the moral act. For an act to be
morally good, one's intention must be good. If we are motivated to do something by a bad
intention—even something that is objectively good—our action is morally evil. It must also be
recognized that a good intention cannot make a bad action (something intrinsically evil) good.
We can never do something wrong or evil in order to bring about a good. This is the meaning of
the saying, "the end does not justify the means" (Catechism of the Catholic Church, nos. 1749-
1761).

http://www.usccb.org/beliefs-and-teachings/what-we-believe/morality/index.cfm

4. What is the advantage of owning moral standards (moral and ethics) over merely abiding by moral
standards? Elaborate your answer

 Morality is knowing how to accurately Calculate the differences between Right and Wrong,
and Good and Bad. There are many benefits of being right and good, and there are many negative
consequences that are the result of being bad or wrong. The more you understand
these differences, the more you will benefit, and the less you will suffer from mistakes. Similarly,
ethics are codes of conduct that decide what is wrong and what is right in a particular
circumstance.
 (https://www.researchgate.net/post/
Values_are_very_much_personal_while_ethics_is_very_much_societal_please_give_you
r_opinion)
 A moral standard refers to the norms which we have about the types of actions which we believe
to be morally acceptable and morally unacceptable. Specifically, moral standards deal with
matters which can either seriously harm or seriously benefit human beings. The validity of moral
standards comes from the line of reasoning that was taken to back or support them, and thus are
not able to be formed or changed by particular bodies of authority.
 (https://sevenpillarsinstitute.org/glossary/moral-standard/).
 Take a look to the word benefits. At the, theory of Lawrence Kohlberg specifically the last stage,
the Universal Principles. People at this stage have developed their own set of moral guidelines
which may or may not fit the law. The person will be prepared to act to defend his/her principle
even if it means going against the society in the process and having to pay the consequences of
disapproval and or imprisonment. If so, I would say the only advantage of it is you can do
whatever you’d like as long as you can justify it to yourself, because of the satisfaction and
 benefits it can give. A good example of complete freedom, “absolute freedom. It is the quality of
life which is devoid of ego “the center” through which all our ideas shows self-centeredness.
There is nothing which can hold you. Is it possible?
 https://www.simplypsychology.org/kohlberg.html
 Such freedom is only possible in absolute stillness. We are people and we live in a society.
Society is rules and laws, without rules no society can exist. With rules freedom cannot be
experienced, because society always moves with certain aim and dreams. Let’s say you decide to
use your absolute freedom to kill all who made the enemy of your family. And you start killing
all of them. All of a sudden a large number of the existing members, exercising also their absolute
freedom, eliminate you. Probably not the best analogy but you get my drift. If everyone had
absolute freedom, majority rules. You can’t have absolute freedom all by yourself. Others get to
decide if you are using your right properly.
 https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/hegel/works/ph/phc2b3.htm
 Man completely realizes his individual freedom as well as his personality only through the
individuals who surround him, and thanks only to the labor and the collective power of society.
Without society’s standards he would surely remain the most stupid and the most miserable
among all the other ferocious beasts. Society, far from decreasing his freedom, on the contrary
creates the individual freedom of all human beings. Society is the root, the tree, and liberty is its
fruit. He was born a ferocious beast and a slave, and has gradually humanized and emancipated
himself only in society, which is necessarily anterior to the birth of his thought, his speech, and
his will. He can achieve this emancipation only through the collective effort of all the members,
past and present, of society, which is the source, the natural beginning of his human existence.
 https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/bakunin/works/1871/man-society.htm

5. How culture shape behavior

Culture shape moral behavior because we grew with it. The beliefs and the way of life have been
napasaloob in our way of life. Living with your culture in our whole life, you will conditioned with the
culture and it will shape your behavior just like what Pavlov Classical Conditioning and Thorndike’s Law
of Effect, the continuous practice and constant presence of stimulus, it will be conditioned response and
it will develop your behavior.

6. What is cultural relativism? Why it is not tenable in ethics? Why should culture not be the
ultimate determinant of values?
Cultural relativism is understanding other culture in your own cultural context

7. Is there a Filipino understanding of Right and Wrong? Why this interpretation? What are its
influences.
- Filipinos respect people and culture, No one is necessary right or wrong we just differ from
one another.
 Influences
1. History
 a. Filipinos have been colonized by many countries and Filipinos have inherited
some of the values and norms of the colonizers.
2. Religion
a. Philippine is a God fearing country and almost all of Filipinos have been
raised in accordance with the religion’s doctrine.
3. Family
a. Family is the beginning of understanding, and it influences the morality of
Filipino.
4. Filipino Values
a. Filipino have many values unique from other countries, like Utang na loob,
Pakikisama, and Hospitality.

8. How is moral Character developed? How do we get to the highest level, conscience based
moral decisions
Moral character is developed through Interaction with significant others
Moral character is developed with step by step development moral character
Micro to chrono
Ecological system
Pinanganak – kulong

WE cannot attain

Moral Character Defined • Evaluative orientation that distinguishes good and bad and prescribes
good • Sense of obligation toward standards of a social collective • Sense of responsibility for
acting out of concern for others • Concern for the rights of others • Commitment to honesty in
interpersonal relationships • State of mind that causes negative emotional reactions to immoral
acts. * Damon, W. (1988). Moral child: Nurturing children’s natural moral growth. New York:
Free Press.
Components of Moral Character • Moral behavior (prosocial, sharing, donating to charity, telling
the truth) • Moral values (believe in moral goods) • Moral emotion (guilt, empathy, compassion)
• Moral reasoning (about right and wrong) • Moral identity (morality as an aspect self-image) •
Moral personality (enduring tendency to act with honesty, altruism, responsibility • “Metamoral”
characteristics meaning they make morality possible even though they are not inherently moral
Berkowitz, M. (2002). The science ofcharacter education. In W. Damon (Ed.), Bringing in a new
era in character education (43-63). Stanford, CA: Hoover Institute Press.
Theories of Moral Character Development • External/Social (behaviorists and sociologists): view
morality as a product of external imposition in the form of consequences and/or the intentional
transmission of social rules and norms; • Internal (nativists and sociobiologists): focus on genetic
and maturational influences; • Interactional • Instinctual--psychoanalytic, psychosocial, and
socio-analytic theories that view human nature as instinctual, undeveloped, and in need of
control or socialization; • Maturational--cognitive- and affective-developmental theories and
social-learning theories that view human nature as good; • Personality/Identity: includes theories
that find virtue rooted in personality and personal identity.