LESSON 1 Example.

Murder or any attempted damage to another

person - a direct effect to another individual that is also a
Ethics and morals relate to "right" and "wrong" conduct.
question of the violator's character.

ETHICS
Non-moral Standards focus on matters of personal preference or
- refer to rules provided by an external source, e.g., codes of social etiquette that do not necessarily involve moral implications nor
conduct in workplaces or principles in religions. impacting the well-being of others. There are different kinds of
- They are the rules of conduct recognized in respect to a matters that fall under Non moral Standards and these include:
particular class of human actions or a particular group or
1. Etiquette - refers to any social norms and expectations on how to
culture.
behave around certain people in a specific time and place. These
- They come from social systems – external.
norms regulate a certain expected attitude.
- We do it because society says it is the right thing to do.
- Ethics are dependent on others for definition. They tend to Example. Table Manners/Etiquette
be consistent within a certain context but can vary between
2. Preference - refers to a greater liking of a person to one thing over
contexts.
another. A preference could also refer to choosing another object or
- A person strictly following Ethical Principles may not have
person for reasons that will depend on the person.
any Morals at all. Likewise, one could violate Ethical
Principles within a given system of rules in order to maintain Example. Having a greater liking to pink dresses than blue
Moral integrity. dresses (color)
- Greek word "ethos" meaning "character"
- Ethics are governed by professional and legal guidelines 3. Opinion - a view, judgment, appraisal formed by a person about a
within a particular time and place particular matter

MORAL Example. A person thinks that vanilla is the best flavor of ice
cream.
- refer to an individual’s own principles regarding right and
wrong. 4. Aesthetics - a branch of philosophy that deals with the nature of
- They are principles or habits with respect to right or wrong beauty and it's principles
conduct. Example. A preference of a certain artform or type of arts.
- They come from individual – internal.
- We do it because we believe in something being right or 5. Laws that does not involve moral implications - While there are
wrong. laws and rules that have heavy moral implications, like the examples
- Usually consistent, although can change if an individual' s mentioned above (see Moral Standards no.5), there are also laws and
beliefs change. rules that do not necessarily involve values or virtues nor do they
- A Moral Person although perhaps bound by a higher affect other individuals.
covenant, may choose to follow a code of ethics as it would Example. Traffic laws that dictate safety and order.
apply to a system. "Make it fit"
- Latin word "mos" meaning "custom"
- Morality transcends cultural norms.
LESSON 3

Culture and Behavior

LESSON 2
Culture and behavior are closely linked, as culture shapes how people
Moral and Non moral Standards are standards that both guide think, feel, and act. Cultural behaviors are the actions, beliefs, and
behavior of an agent. Both types of Moral standards can be interactions that are influenced by cultural norms, values, and
influenced by cultural norms and personal beliefs. symbols.

Moral Standards are concerned with ethical principles of what is How does culture affect behavior?
considered right and wrong. There are many kinds of actions that fall
• Values and Beliefs - Culture shapes how people think, feel,
under Moral standards and these include:
and act.
1. Values - Any human conduct that embodies a certain Values • Identity - Culture can impact how people perceive
(Virtues) themselves and others.
• Social Norms - Culture influences how people create their
Example. Honesty - any action that involves the virtue of
rules and normalize certain actions in their community
honesty in a positive or negative manner
• Perspective - Cultural behaviors can now be perceived by
2. Human Conduct affecting Individuals - Any human conduct that individuals through understanding Values and Beliefs,
directly affects other individuals may it be physical or nonphysical (in Identity and Social Norms
any manner that necessary benefits or harms another person)
Examples of cultural influences:
Example. The act of corrupting public funds for one's benefit
• Gender roles - How people behave based on gender
3. Code of Ethics - Any institutionalized code of conduct that guides • Social norms - How people behave based on social norms
its members to a positive behavior and restricts any negative • Moral values - How people behave based on moral values
behavior within the group. • Collectivism - Cultures that emphasize group harmony
• Individualism - Cultures that promote personal achievements
Example. Punctuality and abiding to a standard time frame
agreed upon. This also constitutes a certain degree of respect
within the group, in which this action can be traced back into
any action that involves values/virtues (see no. 1 above) Understanding cultural influence

4. Laws or any Institutionalized rules - Refers to any legal actions or Understanding how culture influences behavior can help improve
rules that involve human virtues or affecting individuals (see no.1 & communication, education, and healthcare. It can also help
2) consumers be more vigilant against attempts to manipulate them.
Cultural Relativism freedom is not. When a person has mouths to feed, but no hands
to acquire the necessities of life, a man would no longer want to
Cultural relativism is the idea that different cultures have their own
revitalize the mind through questions of philosophy.
values and standards, and that these standards should be
respected. It encourages people to understand other cultures' To keep things simple, the conclusion of this lesson is just to let
practices instead of judging them based on their own cultural you know that Man ultimately has the idea of freedom and in
norms. an ideal world is free, therefore Man has a choice in what he
does. Moreover, the fact that man has a choice means that their
Key points of Cultural Relativism
actions can indeed have moral weight unlike those of animals.
• Respect other cultures - Avoid judging other cultures based
Some animals are wild and are therefore naturally free, they do
on your own standards.
not act because they know they are free. It is the natural way of
• Understand other cultures - Try to understand the things for animals to be wild, it is only through evolution and
experiences and challenges of people from other cultures. interaction of mankind that some animals are now domesticated.
• Recognize the relative nature of truth - Truth is relative to a Animals, unlike people, act not because they are free but because
culture or individual. of scientific reasons: stimulus and instincts.
• Recognize the equal validity of all points of view - There is
no universal standard of morality or truth. Although animals are considered “free” because of their inherent
nature of being wild, this does not mean that they understand
Examples of Cultural Relativism that they are truly free, nor do they have an idea of what freedom
• The practice of foot binding in China was considered a is. Animals unlike human beings cannot morally reason and
symbol of beauty and status, but was seen as torture by critically think. Thus, this concludes that human persons are
Western cultures. subject to moral judgment only when they have freedom and
• The Greeks believed it was wrong to eat the dead, while the knowledge of this freedom. Being truly free in the first place is
Callatians believed it was right. difficult, you must consider many external factors and ultimately
your acceptance of this concept. We may or may not be
• The burning of women in India was seen as an honorable
physically constrained or denied of our human rights but that
death in following their husbands in their death beds, but
does not mean we are truly free.
deeply rooted misogyny has been determined in this
phenomenon, which led to the abolishment of this cultural Freedom is a metaphysical philosophical concept. Freedom does
practice. not only mean a person is not in chains (This is not a statement
that devalues the struggles experienced by enslaved groups of
The difference of Ethnocentrism from Cultural Relativism
people), but freedom is also beyond natural science or the social
Ethnocentrism compares other cultures by using a group's specific sciences. Yes, we can statistically identify if a country is a victim
culture as the basis of that comparison, believing theirs to be superior of agents that abhor freedom as a basic need and violates the
and the standard to be used in comparison to other cultures. Cultural rights of humans. However, freedom is personal as well. No
relativism, on the other hand, believes that culture is understood matter how many times a human person is physically free, he can
best through its own people. also act as if he is not truly free for reasons that he thinks cannot
be understood by those who are around him. But then again, you
may ask yourself since the person had a choice of acting, he is not
LESSON 4 truly free, does that mean he is free?

Freedom All we know is that mankind has the natural right to freedom, and
this can only be understood when man seeks for the knowledge
- as a concept of Philosophy is a complicated topic as it serves
of what it really means to be free.
as a building block to many other concepts such as justice,
fairness, and so many other concepts concerning the
knowledge of a human person. This is due to its nature of
being a foundation of any action under moral standards.
- freedom acts as a foundation for moral acts, this means that
when a human person has no freedom, his actions are not
subject to moral judgment.

“A man who is not free is a man whose act will neither be moral nor
immoral.”

- It is true, logically speaking, when a person is not free, his

actions is not his doing.
- A person who cannot control his actions is a man who is free
from its consequences. But isn’t that rather a phenomenon
that can pique man’s interest:

“In a phenomenon where I am not free, I become free from the

consequences of what I have done.”

However, one may ask themselves again, am I really free from

the consequences of what I have done, when in the first place I
may be the harbinger of what has happened, but I wasn’t the
master of my body. I was not free, so how come I can call myself
free from the consequences of that action, “my action”. I was not
a free person when I did that act, then I can never call myself free
from the consequences of that action.

Freedom as a foundation of moral acts pose these series of

questions as a cycle of always questioning what is and what is
not. Questions like this are disregarded by people who have no
care of their knowledge nor any interest in the philosophical
concept of freedom. Freedom is sought after by the poorest of
the poor up to the richest of the rich. However, knowledge of