Lesson 4

• Moral agent


  A being who is capable of acting with reference to right and wrong
• Moral agents


  • They are those agents expected to meet the demands of morality choosing between good and evil
  • They must be capable of conforming to at least some of the demands of morality
• Moral agents are human beings because they have the capacity to discern their actions as good or bad, though the consequences are consequential in nature
• The human being is subject to a "moral responsibility not to cause unjustified harm"
• Kant's moral agent


  A rational agent endowed with free will who is the decision maker, but is also the object of moral laws and the subject to do what is right/good
• Aristotle/Plato's moral agent


  • The "role of knowledge" is a vital part in taking proper course of action
  • Voluntary Action - The moving principle of the action is in the agent himself, thus, the action are self-caused
• Moral agent


  Giver of the moral action
• Moral patient


  Receiver of the moral action
• Moral agency


  Individual's ability to make moral judgements based on some notion of right and wrong to be held accountable for these actions
• Conditions of moral agency are the agents should have: an enduring self with free will and an inner life, understanding of the relevant facts as well as moral understanding, moral sentiments, such as capacity of remorse and concern for others
• Moral agents are usually the normal adult, not all human beings like infants or those with mental disabilities are considered moral agents
• Moral agency


  The capacity to make moral decisions based on the perception of right and wrong
• Infants, children, and people with mental disabilities are not moral agents because they cannot make informed moral decisions
• Culture


  An aggregate of learned beliefs, attitudes, values, norms, and customs of a society or group of people, shared by them and transmitted from generation to generation within a society
• Types of culture


  • High culture
  • Cultural diversity
  • Subculture
  • Popular culture
  • Multiculturalism
  • Global culture

  
• Importance of culture


  • It affects our perceptions, influences our behavior, shapes our personalities, and shapes our values and belief system
• Moral behavior


  Physical actions or attitudes that align with the principles of a specific ethical system
• Components of moral behavior

  • Moral sensitivity
  • Moral judgment
  • Moral motivation
  • Moral character
• Culture plays a significant role in shaping moral behavior
• Components of moral behavior

  • Moral sensitivity
  • Moral judgment
  • Moral motivation
  • Moral character
• Moral sensitivity


  The ability to see an ethical dilemma, including how our actions will affect others
• Moral judgment


  The ability to reason correctly about what 'ought' to be done in a specific situation
• Moral motivation


  A personal commitment to moral action, accepting responsibility for the outcome
• Moral character


  Courageous persistence in spite of fatigue or temptations to take the easy way out
• Culture undeniably does play a significant pseudo role within shaping moral behavior and extends even further to social norms
• Culture is "everything" and not just in the arts and entertainment that we occasionally enjoy
• Culture is not just the inert repository of ideas and customs we all live with, but that is shaped by various factors. Culture shapes us, but many events mold culture and we shape these just as much
• Culture indeed influences human behavior at any given society's belief system, laws, mores, practices, language and attitudinal variables which make a people unique from others
• Despite of our cultural uniqueness and differences, people can still exercise their power to choose what is morally right and morally wrong
• Culture has a great impact in the development of the human person in varied ways; may it be in physical, knowledge, thought, relationship, religious or moral development
• Culture functions to mold and establish a social identity that brings people as well to provide the knowledge of common objectives which members would try to achieve. Culture, indeed, provides norms, customs, laws, and moral demands that are to be followed
• There are principles, attitudes and behaviors that actually hinder good relationships and violate the welfare of others. These are actually difficult to eliminate immediately in a culture, yet, they should be subject to people's discernment that proper changes and modifications have to be done for the sake of the welfare and justice for everybody
• Cultural relativism


  A principle of regarding the beliefs, values, and practices of a culture from the view point of that culture itself

  
• Cultural relativism claims that ethical truths are relative- that the rightness of an action and the goodness of an object depend on or consist in the attitude taken towards it by some individual or group, and hence may vary from individual to individual or from group to group

  
• Ethical relativism


  The theory that holds that morality is relative to the norms of one's culture. That is, whether an action is right or wrong depends on the moral norms of the society in which it is practiced
• Ethical relativism holds that there are no universally valid moral principles, but rather all moral principles are valid relative to culture or individual choice
• Ethical relativism represents the position that there are no absolutes – no moral right or wrong because moral judgements are merely another name for cultural norms

  
• Cultural relativism is an affirmation that holds that societies are dissimilar in their moral standards, their laws and culture protocols. To expand, cultural relativism holds that what one culture believes is immoral, another culture may believe is moral

  
• Ethical relativism denies the existence of one universal moral law. Ethical relativism supports the idea because cultures of societies are dissimilar in astronomical ways they accept, it follows that there is not one correct set of precepts everyone should adopt. According to the definition, instead, people should follow the moral laws and protocols that their own unique society sets forth or accepts
• Moral relativism


  The view that moral judgments are true or false only relative to some particular standpoint (for instance, that of a culture or a historical period) and that no standpoint is uniquely privileged over all others