GEET1

• Respect for one's parent in Buddhism


  • Associated with filial piety
  • Children must repay the pains their parents took
  • Children should take care of their parents the same way
• Ways to take care of parents in Buddhism


  • Provide for their needs
  • Listen to the advice of elders since they have accumulated wisdom over a long lifetime
  • Practice filial piety to senior citizens so that elderly people can still be productive in their twilight years
• Confucian philosophy on Filial Piety

  • To be good to one's parents
  • To take care of parents
  • To engage in good conduct not just towards parents but also outside the home so as to bring a good name to one's parents and ancestors
  • To perform the duties to one's job well so as to obtain the material means to support parents as well as carry out sacrifices to the ancestors
  • Not be rebellious
  • Show love, respect and support
  • Display courtesy
  • Ensure male heirs, uphold fraternity among brothers
  • Wisely advise one's parents, including dissuading them from moral unrighteousness
  • Display sorrow for their sickness and death
  • Carry out sacrifices after their death
• Unlike other animals, humans do not leave the infirm behind when they move
• There is no corresponding commandment telling parents how to treat a child because the minimum requirements do not need to be spelled out
• If parents didn't care for their children, there would be no future generations
• Without adult protection, children could not survive, and without children, the human race would disappear
• 4th Commandment


  Raises society to a human level; as long as our parents are alive, we should honor them – that when they can no longer take care of themselves, we as children, must take care of them
• Family Obligations


  The obligation we have for our elderly parents is voluntary, at least under certain circumstances, but generally, we are required to ensure that our parents live as long and as comfortable as possible
• Principle of Reciprocity


  Entails the idea of returning something to the person who has given you something
• Loving vs. Honoring

  Love is a sentiment, and feelings can't be conjured on command. Honor is a set of actions, and behavior is a subject to direction and is sustainable whatever one's emotional state
• The honorable thing for grown children to do is at least to assure minimal care for elderly parents who cared for them, as a way of sustaining ties that make us more human
• Moral Character


  A set of qualities that can be used to differentiate between persons, referring to the moral dimension of a person
• Arete (Aristotle)


  Commonly translated as "virtue" which is better translated as goodness or "excellence"
• Excellence


  A quality that makes an individual a good member of its kind
• Factors Affecting Moral Character Development

  • Family
  • Biological constitution (age, sex, gender)
  • Peer (friends, classmates, colleagues)
  • School (teachers, lessons)
  • Community (shared beliefs and practices)
• Holmes (2007): 'Moral philosophy cannot be taught because the love of wisdom cannot be imparted the same way that facts about the world are imparted; but the love of moral wisdom can be encouraged in everyone and nurtured in those who actively seek to understand morality and its place in human life'
• Stages of Moral Development (Kohlberg)


  • Stage 1: Obedience and Punishment
  • Stage 2: Self-Interest
  • Stage 3: Interpersonal Accord and Conformity
  • Stage 4: Authority and Maintaining Social Order
  • Stage 5: Social Contract
  • Stage 6: Universal Ethical Principles
• Levels of Moral Development (Kohlberg)


  • Pre-Conventional Level
  • Conventional Level
  • Post-Conventional Level
• In a survey conducted by PEW in 2014, it was found out that there are still a lot of people who stated that belief in God is essential to be a moral person, thought this is only limited to the poorer countries. In the Philippines, 93% believe that belief in God is necessary to have morality
• Accessibility to information is a double-edged sword. It provides the ease of getting information but not the ease of processing it well
• Having a quiet time for self-reflection or just to take a break from the many physical and psychological noises surrounding us becomes elusive with the presence of mobile devices and the fear of missing out
• Developing a strong moral character takes exposure, practice, time and good role models. It id never perfected but the crucial part is the persistence to try, rise from every fall, learn from each mistake and forgive one's self
• In the process of forming our moral character, we understand ourselves better. May our moral character not be limited in our words and thoughts alone but may it overflow to our actions, behavior, and treatment to other people regardless of race, gender, belief, age, education, or socio-economic status
• Hume's law


  A moral imperative or an "ought" cannot proceed from an "is" or a mere factual observation
• Moral sentiments (Hume)


  The feeling of approval (esteem, praise) and disapproval (blame) felt by spectators who contemplate a character trait or actions
• David Hume: 'Reason alone cannot be a motive to the will, but rather is the "slave of the passions"<|>Moral distinctions are not derived from reason<|>Moral distinctions are derived from moral sentiments'
• Rational person ≠ Moral person
• Man's decision to act morally is not exclusively ensconced in reason. Reason only forms us about what transpired and how; so in assessing the moral value *or lack thereof) of an incident that man empirically bears witness to or participates in
• David Hume: '"What is intelligible, what is evident, what is probable, what is true, produce only the cool assent of understanding… extinguish all the warm feelings and prepossessions in favor of virtue, and all disgust or aversion to vice: render men totally indifferent towards those distinctions; and morality is no longer a practical study, nor has any tendency to regulate our lives and actions."'
• Man's decision to act morally

  Not exclusively ensconced in reason
• Reason


  Only strives to determine truths present in the external realities of objects
• Reason


  Only forms us about what transpired and how
• Assessing moral value


  Must turn to feelings, as there is no such thing as an objective moral truth, only subjective moral judgements anchored on feelings
• Immanuel Kant


  Man's moral agency can only be perfected if decisions are based solely on rationality and not on passions, which he sees as an "enemy of virtue"
• Ronald de Sousa


  Feelings and reason actually complement each other, not antagonize
• Emotions


  Can be considered rational, as there is a logical need in man to communicate emotional expressions
• Emotions


  Function is to fill the gaps left by pure reason
• "Kantian Monster"


  Man animated solely by an unwavering, one-sided devotion to reason alone
• "Heart-over-head" types


  Can do more harm than good when making decisions, as their emotions often supersede rational thought