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Study Guide in GE 8 - Ethics Module No. 2

STUDY GUIDE FOR MODULE NO.

2

THE MORAL AGENT

MODULE OVERVIEW

Module Outline:

A. Culture and Moral Behavior

1. Culture and Its Role in Moral Behavior

2. What is Cultural Relativism? Why is it not tenable in ethics?
3. Why are There Universal Values?
4. The Filipino Way: An Asian and a Filipino Understanding of Moral Behavior
5. Strengths and weaknesses?

B. The Moral Agent: Developing Virtue as Habit

1. How is Moral Character Developed: The Circular Relation of Acts that Build Character and
Acts that Emanate from Character
2. Stages of Moral Development and Conscience: How do we get to the highest level,
conscience-based moral decisions?

Introduction:

What does culture mean? There are several definitions of culture. It is commonly understood that
culture is found everywhere and appears to be part of our behavior and life.

The father of cultural anthropology, Edward Tylor stated that in general, culture is the way of life of a
group of people that “includes their knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, customs, and any other capabilities
and habits acquired by man as a member of society” (Gallinero, 2018).

In this Module, “the moral agent” that we are referring to is no other than YOU (or anyone) - the one
who is in-charge and responsible for all of your actions and decisions. Generally, you will learn from this
module how culture and Filipino moral identity affect your behavior as a “moral agent”. Likewise, you will
learn how to assess your own personal experiences and decisions against the Kohlberg’s Stages of Moral
Development.

MODULE LEARNING OUTCOMES

At the end of this Module, you should be able to:

1. Define what culture means.

2. Determine facets of personal behavior to culture.
3. Determine differences in moral behavior of different cultures and appreciate your
differences.
4. Evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of cultural relativism.
5. Identify universal values and outline why universal values are necessary for human
survival.

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Study Guide in GE 8 - Ethics Module No. 2

6. Analyze crucial qualities of the Filipino moral identity in your own moral experiences.
7. Evaluate elements that need to be changed.
8. Recall defining moments in your moral formation.
9. Describe each stage of moral development.
10. Assess your personal growth, and cases, against the stages of development.

LEARNING CONTENTS (Culture and Its Role in Moral Behavior)

Topic 1. Culture and Moral Behavior

Sub-Topic 1.1. Culture and Its Role in Moral Behavior

What is Culture?

Culture is a complex phenomenon. It contains nearly all aspects of shared human experiences.
Culture possesses five basic elements: symbols, language, beliefs, values and norm (Gallinero, 2018).

The Role of Culture in Moral Behavior

Plato implied that if a person’s cultural surroundings reward conformity to agreeable norms, it
would lead the person to behave much better and quell undesirable conduct (Gallinero, 2018).

Furthermore, moral rules and the sense of moral obligation and accountability are products of social
convention and social conditioning. The aspect of morality is taught, people learn moral and immoral from
cultural transmitters: the parents, teachers, novels, films, tv shows, etc. (De Guzman, 2018).

LEARNING ACTIVITY 1.1

“Gear-up” for the next lesson:

Below are 5 situations or cases highlighting different cultural practices. You can research on the cases on the
internet to know more details about them. Consider the following guide questions in the analysis of the
cases:

 Cite the facts (who are involved, where it happened, what is the dilemma, etc.)
 How do you feel about the situation/case?
 Is the given situation/case a moral issue?
 Should we allow or tolerate this kind of culture to happen or should we condemn it? Why or why
not?

Sharing:

Prepare for a sharing. For face-to-face session, you will be randomly assigned into groups to answer the
questions. If the sharing is done asynchronously, I will randomly select 5-10 “lucky” students among you to
share their answers to the guide questions above in our official MS Teams. Good luck!

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CASES ON DIFFERENT CULTURAL PRACTICES

CASE 1. The Greeks and the Callatians

“Darius, a king of ancient Persia, had found that Callatians, who lived in India, ate the bodies of
their dead fathers. The Greeks, of course, did not do that - the Greeks practiced cremation and
regarded the funeral pyre as the natural and fitting way to dispose of the dead.” (Rachels, J.
2004)
CASE 2. Eskimos of the early and mid 20th Century (Part 1)

“The Eskimos are the native people of Alaska. The Eskimos lived in small settlements, separated
by great distances. Infanticide was common among them. Knud Rasmussen, an early explorer,
reported that he met one woman who had borne 20 children but had killed 10 of them at birth.
Female babies were especially likely to be killed, and this was permitted at the parents’
discretion, with no social stigma attached. Moreover, when elderly family members became too
feeble, they were left out in the snow to die.” (Rachels, J. 2004)

CASE 3. Eskimos of the early and mid 20th Century (Part 2)

“The Eskimos are the native people of Alaska. The Eskimos lived in small settlements, separated
by great distances. Infanticide was common among them. Knud Rasmussen, an early explorer,
reported that he met one woman who had borne 20 children but had killed 10 of them at birth.
Female babies were especially likely to be killed, and this was permitted at the parents’ discretion,
with no social stigma attached. Moreover, when elderly family members became too feeble, they
were left out in the snow to die.” (Rachels, J. 2004)

CASE 4. Witch Hunting

“In some African and Asian communities, witch hunting is a prevalent practice. Women suspected
of being witches are tortured by the people, tied, covered in gasoline and burned alive. The
motivation of the people of doing the act of witch hunting is the fear of the suffering that the
witches might inflict on them.”

CASE 5. Human Sacrifice

“In Uganda and India, some communities practice Sati, a funeral custom whereby a widow will
throw herself (either willingly, or due to social pressure) on the pyre or lying place of her dead
husband and burn to death. According to source, women do it to show devotion and commitment
for their husbands.”

LEARNING CONTENTS (What is Cultural Relativism? Why is it not Tenable in Ethics?)

Sub-Topic 1.2. What is Cultural Relativism? Why is it not tenable in ethics?

Cultural relativism is the view that an action is morally right if one’s culture approves of it. James
Rachels laid 5 claims of cultural relativists as to why right or wrong is only a matter of cultural standards.
Additionally, Rachels identified two positive lessons we can learn from cultural relativism:
1) “It warns us from assuming that our preferences are the absolute rational standard”, and 2) “it teaches us to
keep an open mind and to be more amenable in discovering the truth” (Rachels, 2004).

Cultural relativism is not acceptable in ethics because of the dangers that it brings when

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making moral decisions. As cited by Gallinero, the dangers of cultural relativism are: 1) “we cannot call out
societal practices to promote harm, 2) we cannot justifiably criticize our own culture’s harmful practices, and
3) the idea of societal progress becomes doubtful” (Gallinero, 2018).

Sub-Topic 1.3. Why are There Universal Values?

Universal values refer to the values that are common to all cultures. According to Rachels, when it
comes to important moral issues, “there are some moral rules that all societies will have in common,
because those rules are necessary for society to survive” (Rachels, 2004).

The existence of the universal values is the strong proof that solely adhering to cultural relativism is not
acceptable in ethics.

Required Reading: To learn more about the lessons, please read “The Challenge of Cultural
Relativism” by James Rachels.

LEARNING ACTIVITY 1.2 and 1.3

Self-Reflection

Read “The Challenge of Cultural Relativism” by James Rachels. Consider the following study questions
after reading:
 Knowing that there are (cultural) differences even among persons in one society, what should
be the most proper thing to do?
 Would a cultural relativist be correct in maintaining that nobody has the moral basis to complain
about his/her actions because he/she was just following what he/she believed was right?

Sharing on Sub-Topic 1. 2 and Sub-Topic 1. 3

Consider the following case and study question:

In the Philippines, one moral argument against the RH Law is that it violates universal
human rights and values such as the right to life and health of children. On the other hand,
proponents of the Law assert that family planning and sexual education consistent with
one’s own beliefs and moral convictions is exercising one’s freedom to choose. (Gallinero,
2018)

 If the basis of universal values is true and, taking into consideration our social problems due to
overpopulation, what is your moral stand on the debate about having a comprehensive
reproductive health program in the Philippines?

Prepare for a sharing. For face-to-face session, a few of you will be randomly selected to answer the
questions. If the sharing is done asynchronously, I will randomly select 3-5 “lucky” students among you to
share their reflections under cultural relativism and universal values in our official MS Teams or messenger
group chat. Good luck!

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LEARNING CONTENTS (The Filipino Way; Strengths and Weaknesses)

Sub-Topic 1.4. The Filipino Way: An Asian and a Filipino Understanding of Moral Behavior

The Filipino culture is a mix of both Eastern and Western cultures. Patricia Licuanan, a former
commissioner of CHED and a distinguished Filipino psychologist, wrote that the strengths and weaknesses of
the Filipino Character are rooted in the following factors. These factors are the home environment, culture and
language, history, educational system, religion, the economic system, political environment, mass media and
leaders/role models (Licuanan, 1994).

Sub-Topic 1.5. Strengths and Weaknesses of the Filipino Character

The most common strong aspects of the Filipino character are: pakikipagkapwa-tao, family
orientation, joy and humor, flexibility, adaptability and creativity, hardwork and industry, faith and religiosity,
and ability to survive. The most common weak aspects of the Filipino character are: extreme personalism,
extreme family centeredness, lack of discipline, passivity and lack of initiative, colonial mentality, kanya-
kanya syndrome and lack of self-analysis and self-reflection (Licuanan, 1994).

Required Reading: To learn more about the lessons, please read “Building a People, Building a
Nation…A Moral Recovery Program” by Patricia B. Licuanan.

LEARNING ACTIVITY 1.4 and 1.5

Short-Films Viewing

You will be watching (face-to-face or asynchronously) the following short films about Filipino ways and
moral behavior:
 Chris Cahilig: “Pitaka”: Shortfilm
 Paul Soriano: “An Open Door” Shortfilm
 Nestle Philippines: “Cooking Mo, Cooking Ko” Kasambuhay Habambuhay Short Film
Anthology

Short Film Analysis:

Write a short film analysis on the three short films to be submitted through MS Teams. As an output of your
assigned reading “The Filipino Way”, answer the guide questions about the three short films that you have
watched:
 Short narrative of the story - facts/details of the film (brief, 2-3 sentences only).
 What Filipino value/s are evident in the film? Cite same personal experience about these values.
 Is the value/are the values considered strength or weakness of the Filipino character? Explain.
 Based on what you have learned from the short-films, evaluate and discuss your own
personal values that you think is needed to be changed.

Please follow this format of the short film analysis:

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Name:
Course, Year, Section:

Title of the Film: PITAKA by Chris Cahilig Short Narrative of the Film:
An inspiring film that highlights cherished Filipino values, Having an older siblings take over the role of parents in
absence. A hardworking older brother who set aside his own dreams to do anything for his brother to provide his brother
needs and for his brother to be successful. Eventually the young brother express andreciprocated his gratitude for his
older brother through heartwarming gesture.

Filipino Value/s in the Personal Experience Strength or Retain or Change the

Film about the value/s Weakness of the said Filipino Value
Filipino Character (briefly
discuss)

1. Family-Oriented My father is super family This Filipino value is a Retain in the Filipino values,
oriented he still supporting his strength because it shows the importance of always put
sibling even they have their heroism of Filipino our family first before others
own families too. He always members, One value of for me as a family member
thinking whats the best for us being Filipino is family the commitment and
and that he prioritizes us and oriented, the sacrifice and responsibility of being a
his family more than himself perseverance of a family family member and we do
member to his family, we are not lose the generosity and
taught to believe that family sacrifices.
members should be cared
for and supported
sometimes we become
selfless when it comes to
our family so it also become
a weakness where you have
nothing left to yourself.

2. Hard Work My parents who always giving Stength Filipinos are hard Still Retain, We are well
their effort every single day in working, Filipinos have the known to be hardworking, ot
abroad for the sake of our capacity for hard work given shows us the true value of
future to provide us a decent proper conditions. The desire perseverance and dedication
life. to raise one’s standard of even during the rough times.
living and to posses the
essentials of a decent life for
one’s family, makes the
Filipino work very hard.

3. Ability to survive There this time where Keep still strength, being resilient Retain Filipinos we need to
moving forward even in our no matter what problems have the ability to survive
hardest time. There's only one come we are still able to stand despite of difficult times.
thing you can do when up and continue in life
confronted with difficult times:
Move forward. Don't allow the
challenges of life to break you.
Name:
Title of the Film: AN OPEN DOOR by Paul Soriano Short
Narrative of the Film:
Someone who open the door to someone who needs help. A person who is willingly help someone even if
they don’t know each other.

During the time of need, someone is there to help

Filipino Value/s in Personal Experience Strength or Retain or Change
the Film about the value/s Weakness of the the said Filipino
Filipino Character Value (briefly
discuss)
1. Pakikipagkapwa Tao As a Filipino it is normal for The strength of Filipino is Retain this Filipino Value
(Helpfulness and my family and even me Pakikipagkapwa tao as a person volunteering
Generosity) who has a soft side to help specifically being helpful your time, money, or
others when they have and concern for others, we energy to help others
nothing, when someone inherit this traits the doesn't just make the
need helps whether human willingness to help others world better—it also
or animal. It feels good to without asking for makes you a better
help others even helping something in return. person but Sometime
just a little like. being this to much
kindness, some people
will take advantage nor
abuse it.
2. Hospitality When we have visitors we give as a filipino it is normal for us it is embedded in our culture
impotance and attention to to be hospitable and kind to to have an open door to
them we make them feel being our visitors or those in need anyone who is in needy it is
comfortable in our house. It is of help. Food will be cooked in our heart.
deeply ingrained in the and the visitors will be very
Philippines' culture to treat welcoming in the house
visitors with utmost respect and
generosity.
Etcetera, if there are
many

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Name:
Course, Year, Section:

Title of the Film: COOKING MO, COOKING KO by Nestle Philippines Short

Narrative of the Film:
Cooking Mo, Cooking Ko” is a story of two families connected by friendship, separated by love and reunited
by love. It start with two families Monatano and Capule family, two star-crossed lovers born into warring
families who each happen to be proud owners of their own carinderias the Cooking Mo and Cooking Ko
carinderias battling for their town’s cuisine supremacy. Old wounds are reopened among the Montano and the
Capule families when the former’s loyal customers start patronizing the latter. Young lovers Romina
Montano and Julius Capule are caught in this web of intrigue, espionage and extra rice.”

Filipino Value/s in Personal Experience Strength or Retain or Change

the Film about the value/s Weakness of the the said Filipino
Filipino Character Value (briefly
discuss)
1. Family-Oriented We don't let our family Strength of the Filipino Retain being family
members go through Character because it oriented is important, in
difficult times alone as a shows the essence of the the family genuine and
family; instead, we help family and the deep love is important.
each other. For example, harmonious relationship Filipinos are known for
if my father's cousin among them. having strong and close
needs help on financial or family ties. They place
anything, we'll be there to high regard and put
lend a hand.our family importance on their family
also loves to cook and we before anything else.
have sometimes sharing
our foods from our
relatives, that’s what one
of the ways on how they
show our love.

2. Pride and Envy Not all families have healthy

relationships. In our situation,
my father's side is not in good
case because of the land to
inherit, and there's a lot of
envy because we have a good
life, so they trash you to other
people because of their
anxieties.
Etcetera, if there are
many

LEARNING CONTENTS (How is Moral Character Developed…)

Topic 2. The Moral Agent: Developing Virtue as Habit

Sub-Topic 2.1. How is Moral Character Developed: The Circular Relation of Acts that Build
Character and Acts that Emanate from Character

Moral Character

Moral character refers to “the existence or lack of virtues such as integrity, courage, fortitude, honesty
and loyalty” (Merriam-Webster, 2017). Moral characters are those dispositions or tendencies to act or think in
a particular way by which a person can be held morally responsible (Gallinero, 2018).

According to De Guzman, “in moral development, there is a circular relation between acts that build
character and moral character itself” (De Guzman, 2018). Your moral character will produce particular actions
that are related with it, and on the other hand, the individual actions that you execute will determine the kind
of moral character that you possess. For example, if you possess an “honest character”, it will always lead you
to do actions associated with honesty (and you may rarely do actions related to dishonesty). On the other way
around, when you “tell the absolute truth even at the risk of attracting troubles”, this particular action
determines the kind of moral character that you have – which is, honesty.

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Philosophical Views on Moral Character

In Confucian tradition, personality meant “an achieved state of moral excellence”. Moral development
was attributed to the “four beginnings” of the human personality, namely: 1) the heart of compassion (jen), 2)
the heart of righteousness (ren), 3) the heart of propriety (Li), and 4) the heart of wisdom (Zhi) (Internet
Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 2017).

According to Aristotle, each person has a built-in desire to be virtuous and that if a person is focused
on being a good person the right actions will follow effortlessly and you will do good things. The principle of
being virtuous is called the “Doctrine of the Golden Mean”, the principle that the one that is in the middle of
two extreme behaviors (Gallinero, 2018).

LEARNING ACTIVITY 2.1

Graphic Organizer

Before making your graphic organizer, consider first the following study question:
 What are the things that you consider as contributory elements to your moral character?

Develop a simple graphic organizer (chart) illustrating the circularity between your own actions and the
moral character that you possess. An example of the circular relation between acts and character is given
above (under sub-topic 2.1). Your graphic organizer should be submitted as an image file (jpeg) via MS
Teams or email.

Guidelines:
a. Your simple graphic organizer may be in the form of concept map, diagram, web, etcetera. You can
find examples of graphic organizers on the internet. Be creative, you can even paint or draw it.
b. Texts (titles, definitions, or descriptions) should be concise and important to the given topic.
c. Make sure that there are more graphics (visuals/illustrations/photos/etc.) than texts
(words/phrases/paragraphs) in your organizer.

LEARNING CONTENTS (Stages of Moral Development and Conscience…)

Sub-Topic 2.2. Stages of Moral Development and Conscience: how do we get to the highest
level, conscience-based moral decisions?

Lawrence Kohlberg, an American developmental psychologist and philosopher, is known for his
theory on Moral Development. According to Kohlberg, there are three levels of moral development (pre-
conventional level, conventional level and post conventional level), each with two stages composing his so-
called “six stages of moral development”, namely: 1) punishment-obedience stage,
2) reward orientation, 3) good boy/ good girl orientation, 4) authority orientation, 5) social contract
orientation, and 6) ethical-principle orientation.

Required Reading: To learn more about the lesson, please read “Kohlberg’s Stages of
Moral Development” by McLeod.

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LEARNING ACTIVITY 2.2

Sharing on Heinz Dilemma:

Each of you will be assigned by partner to analyze Heinz Dilemma using guide questions leading to the
understanding of the stages of moral development. After the analysis, prepare for sharing. For face-to-face
session, you will be randomly assigned into groups to answer the questions. If the sharing is done
asynchronously, I will randomly select 3-5 “lucky” students among you to share their answers to the guide
questions above in our official MS Teams or messenger group chat. Good luck!

Heinz Dilemma
“In, Europe, a woman was near death from a special kind of cancer. There was one drug
that the doctors thought might save her. It was a form of radium that a druggist in the same town
had recently discovered. The drug was expensive to make, but the druggist was charging ten times
what the drug cost him to make. He paid 200 dollars for the radium and charged 2,000 dollars for a
small dose of the drug. The sick woman’s husband, Heinz, went to everyone he knew to borrow the
money, but he could only get together about 1,000 dollars which is half of what it cost. He told the
druggist that his wife was dying and ask him to sell it cheaper or let him pay later. But the druggist
said: “No, I discovered the drug and I’m going to make money from it.” So Heinz got desperate and
broke into the man’s store to steal the drug for his wife.” (by Kohlberg)”

Guide questions:
 Should Heinz have stolen the drug? If you were Heinz, would you be doing the same thing? On what
reason?
 Would it change anything if Heinz did not love his wife?
 What if the person dying was a total stranger, would it make any difference?
 Should the police arrest the druggist for murder if the woman died?

Self-Assessment:

Read/review “Kohlberg’s Stages of Moral Development” by McLeod. Consider the following study
questions after reading:
 How did you develop a sense of right and wrong?
 Where are you now in your moral development based on Kohlberg’s Stages of Moral
Development?

Quiz:

Review all the previous lessons (sub-topic 1.4, sub-topic 2.2) and prepare for a quiz. The schedule and
mode of the quiz will be posted in your MS Teams or Messenger Group Chat. Good luck!

SUMMARY

 Culture is all around us, it is a way of life. Culture includes moral values and behaviors, along with
knowledge, beliefs, symbols, etc. that are passed along by communication and imitation from one
generation to the next. Since moral behavior is part of culture, all the aspects of morality therefore are
taught – communicated and imitated.

 Cultural (moral) relativism is a theory that holds that there is no single objective universal

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standard through which we can evaluate the truth of moral judgments.

 Cultural relativism is not tenable in ethics. There are universal values (and moral norms) that are
objectively applicable across all cultures.

 Filipino culture is a conglomeration of western and eastern cultures. Just like any other cultures, there are
strong and weak aspects of the Filipino character. Likewise, many of our strong points are linked to our
weaknesses. The most important thing is that we know our values as Filipinos because these help us
grow and develop.

 Moral characters are rational, informed, stable and reliable dispositions.

 In moral development, a person’s actions determine his/her moral character, but moral character itself
generates acts that help in developing either virtue or vice.

 The three levels of Moral Development are 1) Pre-Conventional Level which includes punishment-
obedience orientation stage and reward orientation stage, 2) Conventional Level which includes good
boy/girl orientation stage and authority orientation stage, and 3) Post Conventional Stage which
includes social contract orientation stage and ethical-principle orientation stage.

REFERENCES

Chris Cahilig “Pitaka”: Shortfilm, May 11, 2017, https://www.youtube.com/watch?

v=LlMOSmRXtAQ

De Guzman, J. M., et.al. 2018. Ethics: Principles of Ethical Behavior in Modern Society. Malabon City:
Mutya Publishing House, Inc.

Gallinero, W.B., et.al. 2018. Ethics. Malabon City: Mutya Publishing House, Inc. Kohlberg,

Lawrence. Essays on Moral Development. Vol. 1 of the Philosophy of Moral

Development: Moral Stages and the Idea of Justice. San Francisco, CA: Harper & Row, 1981.

Licuanan, Patricia et.al. “A Moral Recovery Program: Building People – Building Nation” Values in
Philippine Culture and Education: Philippine Philosophical Studies I. Washington, DC: The Council
for Research in Values and Philosophy, 1994.

McLeod, S. Kohlberg’s Stages of Moral Development, updated 2013,

https://www.simplypsychology.org/kohlberg.html

Nestle Philippines “Cooking Mo, Cooking Ko” Kasambuhay Habambuhay Short Film Anthology, July 11,
2011, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y9gzS1XFt7E

Paul Soriano “An Open Door” Shortfilm, September 2, 2016, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IV235cFyjpY

Rachels, J. 2004. The Elements of Moral Philosophy, 4th ed. New York: McGRaw-Hill College.

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