Module 1: Basic Concepts in Ethics

Topic 1: Ethics and Morality:

I. Learning Outcome

Upon completion of this topic, the student must be able to:

1. distinguish Ethics from Morality;

2. explain the difference between good and right; and
3. explain the implications of following rules.

II. Learning Contents

Introduction

Ethics (Greek ethika, from ethos,), principles or standards of human conduct,

sometimes called morals (Latin mores, ―customs‖), and, by extension, the study
of such principles, sometimes called moral philosophy. From the etymology of
ethics and morality, they both speak of character and a customary way of doing
good/bad and right/wrong. Custom refers to tradition or community habit. Hence,
it is something a community of persons always does in a particular way; a way a
person or community usually or routinely behaves in a particular situation.
According to Gaffney (1979), the difference is basically between the realm of
theory and the realm of practice. Ethics refers to a set of ideas, principles or
convictions determining what one considers right and wrong in moral conduct,
whereas morality refers to practical behavior as judged according to someone‘s
ideas about right and wrong. Ethics points to how one thinks about right and
wrong and morality points to actual conduct with respect to its rightness or
wrongness. At the outset, ethics and morality have somehow almost a
comparable meaning, although ethics is sometimes limited to the concern for the
individual character and morality to the rules concerning good and bad. For the
purpose of this course, both ethics and morality will be used interchangeably
while keeping in mind the distinction to avoid a category error.

According to Meacham (2011), the primary task of ethics, or morality, is to guide

one‘s actions. To guide one‘s actions may seem obviously easy. Any person in
general, through the rule of thumb, would readily distinguish what is good from
what is bad, and what is right from what is wrong. A striking problem arises when
an individual could hardly make a fine line distinction between what is good from
what is right. This is because what is right does not necessarily mean that it is
good, and vice versa, what is good does not necessarily mean that it is right. In
other words, there are many ways of thinking about ethics whose focuses are on
whether specific actions are good or bad, or right or wrong. They help an

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individual decide what should be done in a particular case or class of cases, or
evaluate the actions that a person has done.

Meacham (2011) describes two ways of thinking about ethics, which manifest
themselves as two clusters of concepts and language, or domains of discourse,
used to recommend or command specific actions or habits of character: they are
called
the good and the right (The subsequent discussion was availed with a special
permission from the author).

The Good and the Right

The good has to do with achievement of goals; the right, with laws and rules. The
goodness paradigm recognizes that people have desires and aspirations, and
frames values in terms of what enables a being to achieve its ends. The
rightness paradigm recognizes that people live in groups that require
organization and regulations, and frames values in terms of duty and
conformance to rules. Goodness and rightness ―are not complementary
portions of the moral field but alternative ways of organizing the whole field to
carry out the tasks of morality.‖

Another approach, virtue ethics, focuses on qualities of character and motives for
action. Within Virtue Ethics the distinction between the good and the right is also
applicable. Questions about what sort of character traits one should cultivate can
be answered on the basis either of what is good or of what is right. Compassion
and insight are typical goodness virtues, and a disposition of conscientious
obedience is a typical rightness virtue.

The good and the right each have their area of applicability; they often get
confused and students need to know the difference so that errors in ethical
judgements are avoided.

The Good

What is good has to do with benefits. Something that benefits something or

someone else is called good for that thing or person. We can think of this
instrumentally or biologically. Instrumentally, an android phone is good for
sending emails, sending and receiving text messages, watching movies, playing
online and offline games, shopping and many other activities; what is good for
the phone is what enables it to do so well. Biologically, air, water, and food are
good for living beings.

Instrumentally, what is good for a thing enables that thing to serve its purpose.
To make sense, an instrumental usage of the term ―good‖ requires reference to
somebody‘s purpose or intention. Thus, all products of technologies are good for
students, professionals, businessmen and everybody in this fast-paced

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environment for so many reasons. We want the comfort and utility they afford us.
The instrumental usage is expressed in terms of usefulness, of utility for
achieving a purpose or intention. Some gadgets are better than others in that
they have better and updated software and applications and thus can be used
more effectively and efficiently.
The instrumental usage leads to the biological usage. Why is it good for human
beings to have comfort and utility? It is because comfort and utility nourish us
and keep us alive. Unlike the instrumental usage, the biological usage does not
require reference to conscious purpose or intention.

The biological usage is expressed in terms of health and well-being. Biologically,

what is good for an organism is what helps it survive and thrive, what nourishes
it. Some things are better for us than others in this respect. For instance, a diet of
whole grains and vegetables is better, in the sense of providing better health for
humans, than a diet of simple carbohydrates and fats. Another example: some
plants need full sunlight to thrive, and others need shade; thus full sunlight is
good for the former, and shade is good for the latter. The good, in this sense, is
that which enables a thing to function well.

The instrumental usage intersects the biological when we consider what is good
for something that is itself good for a purpose or intention. For instance, keeping
one‘s clothes clean and taken cared of from dirt is good for the clothes; if they get
too dirty or tattered easily to provide a good impact on your personality, they are
not useful as clothes. So we can talk about what is good for the clothes in a way
that is analogous to what is good for a living being. The good, in this sense also,
is that which enables a thing to function well.

The approach to ethics that emphasizes goodness is called the teleological

approach, from a Greek word, telos, which means ―end‖, ―purpose‖, or
―goal‖. Biologically, what is good for an organism helps that organism survive
and thrive. Instrumentally, what is good for a thing enables that thing to serve its
purpose.

Just as good is defined in relation to an end, the value of the end is defined in
relation to another end. For instance, a hammer is good for driving nails. Driving
nails is good for, among other things, building houses. We build houses to have
shelter and warmth. And we desire shelter and warmth because they sustain our
life. This chain of goods and ends stretches in both directions from wherever we
arbitrarily start looking.

This approach is also sometimes called a consequentialist approach or an effect-

oriented approach because both usages give meaning to the term ―good‖ by
reference to the consequences or effects of an action or event. That whole grains
are good for humans means that the effect of eating them is healthful. That a
cellphone is good for faster communication means that using it for that purpose is
likely to have the effect you want.

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There are degrees of goodness and its opposite, badness. That some plants
need full sunlight to thrive and others need shade means that full sunlight is good
for the former and not so good for the latter.

An ethics – a set of moral principles or values – based on goodness applied to

concerns about choices between courses of action will ask questions about the
anticipated or hoped-for benefits of one course of action as opposed to another.
An
ethics based on goodness applied to concerns about character will ask questions
about the anticipated or hoped-for effects on one‘s habitual way of approaching
life of one course of action as opposed to another.

The Right

What is right has to do with conformance to rules or regulations. This is easy to

see in non-ethical situations. For instance, the right answer to ―9 divided by 3‖
is 3. We apply a mathematical rule, the rule for how to do long division, and
derive the right, or correct, answer. In ethical situations, we apply a moral rule to
determine what the right course of action is. If one finds a wallet with some
money in it and the owner's identification as well, the right thing to do is to return
the money to the owner because it is wrong to keep something that does not
belong to one, especially if one knows who the owner is. The moral rule in this
case is ―it is wrong to keep something that does not belong to you.‖

The approach to ethics that emphasizes rightness is called the deontological

approach, from a Greek word, deon, that means ―duty. A person does her duty
when she acts according to the moral rules. We could also call this a rules-based
approach. (By ―rules‖ we mean prescribed guides for conduct, not
generalizations that describe physical reality, such as the laws of nature).

According to the deontological approach, an action is justified based on a quality

or characteristic of the act itself, regardless of its consequences. That
characteristic is its conformance to a rule. Morality is concerned with identifying
and obeying moral rules. It is right to obey the rules and wrong to disobey them.
Any particular act can be judged right or wrong according to whether and to what
extent it conforms to the moral rules. A central concern, then, is to identify the
rules so one can make sure one is acting in accordance with them. Once the
rules are established, all one needs to do to be moral is to do one's duty, which is
to act in accordance with the rules.

The primary meaning of ―right in an ethical context is conformance to moral

rules. There are several other uses of the term ―right‖ in addition to
conformance to moral rules, such as the following:

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Correct, truthful, as in ―the right answer. This implies that rightness is exclusive,
that there is one right answer or opinion and that others are wrong.
The best possible option or a very good option, as in ―the right choice. This also
implies exclusivity, but is problematic. Often one does not need to do what is
best. Sometimes one only needs to do something good enough to get a useful
response, a response that gives feedback so one can further hone one's
strategy, one's response to what is happening.

Fitting, appropriate, in harmony with the way things are. This sense is more akin
to the goodness paradigm. It asserts an aesthetic component of rightness, as
when one artistically puts an element of a composition in ―the right place.
What the speaker approves of or assumes people generally approve of. This is
an uncritical usage and is the least useful.

Confusion between the Good and the Right

All too often people confuse the notions of good and right. Both concepts apply to
what one should do, and often the debate is really about persuading someone to
act in a certain way. Clarity of language and conceptual rigor seem to be less
important than rhetoric. Here is an example on iPhones and android phones:
Some phones are problematic to unsuspecting consumers. We certainly respect
companies' desires to protect their products, but the whole thing has become a
mess. You want to install some very important applications, and guess what, they
do not work as they should, and you have to ask for help from a lot of people to
make them work, and worst, you are paralyzed in an activity if they do not totally
function well. That's just wrong.

This argument quoted is partly in terms of the effects of some phones on

unsuspecting consumers – they have to jump through hoops, and doing so is
undesirable – and partly in terms of some unstated moral rule.
.

Why It Matters

If someone says something is good, one can always ask ―Good for what? If
someone says something is right, one can always ask ―according to what rule?
The two domains of discourse really are separate, and it is not useful to mix
them. Mixing them is a form of category error, that is, an error ―by which a
property is ascribed to a thing that could not possibly have that property. That
something has good effects does not make it right. That something is in
accordance with a moral rule does not make it good.

Implication to Following Rules

Rules are not just sufficient but rather necessary to social beings in the

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promotion of the common good in every society. Making the distinction between
good and right is important because it promotes clarity of thought and allows an
individual to assess oneself and understand why rules have to be followed. It
does not mean, however, that clarity of language is a necessary condition for
clarity of thought, but it certainly helps. The clearer one's thinking; the more likely
one is to follow rules. Accurate thinking based on accurate perception leads to
accuracy of action, action that leads to attainment of one's goals.

III. Enrichment Activities

Activity 1:
Direction: The students are grouped (ten groups with five members each). Each
group is required to pay close attention to rules which are experienced in daily
life from different institutions (e.g. school, community, religious group, student
organization, etc.). Each group will list down rules in these different organizations
and evaluate these rules by responding to the following questions.

1. Which of the rules do you find constricting? Why?

2. Why are rules important to human beings?

Examples of topics: religious commandments, laws, public regulations of different

kinds, accounting systems, inter-organization rules, organization rules, etc.

Activity 2:
Direction: Answer the essay question. Please see attached rubrics. (15-point
item) How does the shutting down of ABS-CBN and non-renewal of its franchise
fall under the category of either good or right? Or both good and right?

Assessment Task

True or False: Write T if the statement is true and write F if the statement is
false. Erasures will void your answer (10 pts).

1. Ethics refers to a set of ideas about what is right and wrong, whereas
morality refers to practical behavior as judged according to someone ‘s ideas
about right and wrong.
2. Goodness and rightness are complementary portions of the moral field and
alternative ways of organizing the whole field to carry out the tasks of
morality.
3. Something that benefits something or someone else is called right for that
thing or person.

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 4. A consequentialist approach to ethics gives meaning to the term ‗good‘ by
reference to the effects of an action or event.
5. When we say moral rules, we mean prescribed guides for conduct and
generalizations that describe physical reality, such as the laws of nature.
6. The rightness paradigm recognizes that people live in groups that require
organization and regulations, and frames values in terms of duty and
conformance to rules.
7. Ethics is from the Latin term ethika, referring to principles or standards of
human conduct, sometimes called morals, from the Greek term mores.
8. Some synonyms for ―good are ‗proper‘, ‗legal‘ and ‗correct‘.
9. According to deontological approach, an action is justified based on a quality
or characteristic of the act itself, regardless of its consequences.
10. The biological usage of ‗good‘ as expressed in terms of health and well-
being leads to instrumental usage.

Essay: Contrast the two concepts and give an example: ―whatever is right does
not mean it is good and whatever is good does not mean it is right‖ (25 points).

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Topic 2: Moral versus Non-Moral Standards

I. Learning Objectives:

Upon completion of this topic, the student must be able to:

1. differentiate Moral from Non-moral standards;

2. cite the metaphors for moral standards; and
3. explain the characteristics of moral standards.

II. Learning Contents:

Introduction

Moral Standards are principles, norms or models an individual or a group has

about what is right or wrong, what is good or bad. It is an indication of how
human beings ought to exercise their freedom. Norms are expressed as general
rules about our actions or behaviors. Some examples are: ―Take responsibility
for your actions‖;
―Always tell the truth‖; ―Treat others as you want to be treated‖; ―It is wrong
to kill innocent people‖. Values are underlying beliefs and ideals that are
expressed as enduring beliefs or statements about what is good and desirable or
not. Some examples are: ―Honesty is good‖; ―Injustice is bad.‖ Moral
Standards are a combination of norms and values. They are the norms about the
kinds of actions believed to be morally right or wrong, as well as, the values
placed on what we believe to be morally good and morally bad. In other words,
they point us towards achievable ideals (De Guzman, 2018).
What moral standards do? First, they promote human welfare or well-being;
second, they promote the ―good‖ (animals, environment, and future
generations); and third, they prescribe what humans ought to do in terms of a.)
Rights (responsibilities to society); and b.) Obligations (specific values/virtues).

Non-Moral or Conventional Standards are standards by which we judge what is

good or bad and right or wrong in a non-moral way. Some examples are: good or
bad manners, etiquettes, house rules, technical standards in building structures,
rules of behavior set by parents, teachers, other authorities, the law, standards of

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grammar or language, standards of art, rules of sports, and judgments on the
way to do things. Hence, we should not confuse morality with etiquette, law, and
aesthetics or even with religion. As we can see, non-moral standards are matters
of taste or preference. Hence, a scrupulous observance of these types of
standards does not make an individual a moral person. Violation of said
standards also does not pose any threat to human well-being.

Some individuals may have heard the term ―Amoral‖ (n.d). What makes this
word different from the descriptions above? It means not influenced by right and
wrong. If a person who is immoral acts against his conscience, a person who is
amoral does not have a conscience to act against in the first place. Infants could
be said to be amoral since they have not yet developed a mature mind to
understand right and wrong. Some extreme sociopaths are also amoral, since
they lack a conscience as a result of a cognitive disorder. In other words, an
immoral person has a sense of right and wrong but fails to live up to those moral
standards. An amoral person has no sense of right and wrong and does not
recognize any moral standard.
Another word that needs clarification is the adjective ―Unmoral‖ (n.d.). It refers
to something to which right and wrong are not applicable, such as animals,
forces of nature, and machines. For example, Typhoons cause damages to
properties and loss of lives but they are unmoral, since they are formed by
unconscious natural processes that exist outside the bounds of morality. When
talking about non-moral agents, such as animals or weather patterns, we use
unmoral.

―Moral norms‖ (n.d.) have different forms. They can be expressed as principles,
dispositions, character traits, and even through the life of a person. These are
different ways of specifying criteria for moral judgments.

Metaphors for Moral Standards

1. Carpenters Square
Moral norms are like a carpenter ‘s square used to measure human freedom and
construct morally good character and right actions. Moral norms are standards or
criteria for judging and acting. Its purpose is first, to provide moral standards,
criteria, or measures for judging; and second is to guide one ‘s conscience in
making moral judgments.

2. Moral Road Signs

Moral road signs are guides to being and doing; they are indications or directions
to types of actions that are right or wrong, obligatory or permitted. Its purpose is
to preserve and protect moral goods and values by guiding us; and to focus our
attention on what is morally important.

3. A Model for an Art Class

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Moral norms are ideals indicating who we ought‘ to become and what we ought
to do. They are models and patterns for how to do so. Hence, the purposes of
moral norms are to provide models to help us concretize our values and realize
our ideals, and to prioritize our values and help us to fit them with our
circumstances.

4. An Architects Blueprint for a Building

Moral norms are a set of instructions and expectations for the moral life. Their
purposes are: to teach moral wisdom of a community and serve as moral
reminders of communal wisdom; and, to set moral expectation that shape how
we see and act.

Five Characteristics of Moral Standards

1. Involved with serious injuries or benefits

They deal with situations, conditions and behaviors we think can seriously injure
or significantly benefit the well-being and the good of human beings, animals and
the environment. Some examples are fraud, theft, murder, assault, rape, slander,
etc…

5. Not established by law or legislature

Moral standards are not formed or changed by the decision of
particular authoritative bodies such as the senate or congress or even the
college of bishops of the Church. The validity of these moral standards lies
on the adequacy of the reasons that are taken to support and justify them.
We do not need a law to back up our moral conviction that killing innocent
people is absolutely wrong.

6. Overriding
They should be preferred to other values including self-interest. If a
person has a moral obligation to do something, then the person ought to do
that even if this conflicts with other non-moral values or self-interest. At work,
for instance, moral values of honesty and respect for lives come first rather
than compromising them for keeping a well-paid job.

7. Based on impartial considerations

Moral standards do not evaluate on the basis of the interest of one
particular individual or group but one that goes beyond personal interests
to a universal standpoint in which everyone ‘s interest are objectively counted
as equal.

8. Associated with special emotions and vocabulary

Emotions such as guilt and shame, and vocabulary such as right, wrong,
good and bad revolve around moral standards. The feeling of guilt, shame
and remorse arise as an individual acts contrary to certain moral standards. If

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your heart and mind tell you an action you have done had an unsettling and
seemingly disconcerting ending, then the action was probably morally wrong
and not the best way to react. For example: A young man helps an old lady to
cross the street in order to impress the ladies on the other side of the road
but then he feels guilty about it when he reflects on what he just did.

III. Enrichment Activities

Teaching and Learning Activities

Activity 1
Direction: At home, the student together with some members of his/her family will
make a video clip skit, showing moral standards, non-moral standards, amoral
acts and unmoral acts.

Assessment Task

Exercise 1

True or False: Write T if the statement is true and write F if the statement
is false. Erasures will void your answer (10 pts).

1. Ethics refers to a set of ideas about what is right and wrong, whereas
morality refers to practical behavior as judged according to someone ‘s
ideas about right and wrong.
2. Goodness and rightness are complementary portions of the moral field
and alternative ways of organizing the whole field to carry out the tasks of
morality.
3. Something that benefits something or someone else is called right for that
thing or person.
4. A consequentialist approach to ethics gives meaning to the term ‗good‘ by
reference to the effects of an action or event.
5. When we say moral rules, we mean prescribed guides for conduct and
generalizations that describe physical reality, such as the laws of nature.
6. The rightness paradigm recognizes that people live in groups that require
organization and regulations, and frames values in terms of duty and
conformance to rules.
7. Ethics is from the Latin term ethika, referring to principles or standards of
human conduct sometimes called morals from the Greek term mores.
8. Some synonyms for good are ‗proper‘, ‗legal‘ and ‗correct‘.
9. According to the deontological approach, an action is justified based on a
quality or characteristic of the act itself, regardless of its consequences.

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 10. The biological usage of ‗good‘ as expressed in terms of health and well-
being leads to instrumental usage.

II. Essay: Contrast the two concepts and give an example: ―whatever is right
does
not mean it is good and whatever is good does not mean it is right‖ (25
points).

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Topic 3: Moral Dilemmas

I. Learning Objectives:

Upon completion of this topic, the student must be able to:

1. recognize and recall a moral experience;

2. detect a moral dilemma; and
3. give examples of the three levels of moral dilemmas.

Introduction

A dilemma is a situation in which a difficult choice has to be made between two

or more alternatives, especially equally undesirable ones. It is a conflict in which
you have to choose between two or more actions and have moral reasons for
choosing each action.

1) An individual is presented with two or more actions, all of which the

individual can perform.
2) There are moral reasons for the individual to choose each of the actions.
3) The individual cannot perform all of the actions and has to choose which
action, or actions, to perform when there are three or more choices.

Since there are moral reasons to choose each action, and the individual cannot
choose them all, it follows that no matter what choice the individual makes, he or
she will be failing to follow his or her morals. In other words, someone or
something will suffer no matter what choice he or she makes.

Three Levels of Moral Dilemmas

1. Individual Moral Dilemma

This is a moral dilemma that involves the individual on a personal level. Factors
such as personal health issues, family issues, personal financial issues, peer
pressures, and socio-economic issues, among many others, may lead to ethical

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tensions within the person himself. Example: A child in the family is in a dilemma
whether to donate his kidney for the sake of his sister or not considering that
there may be some health complications that may arise in the future.

9. Organizational Moral Dilemma

This is a moral conflict that occurs in the organization or institution where
individuals within the organization will face the dilemma of personal choices
against the working ethics of the organization or institution. Example: a network
administrator who found out about the infidelity of his best friend's wife through
her emails is in a dilemma whether to inform his best friend about it or not
considering the policy of the company on personal emails. Other examples
may be found in businesses, scholarship policies, medical field, and
employment discriminations among others.

10. Systemic Moral Dilemma

This is a moral dilemma that occurs at a macro level. Factors such as political
pressures, economic conditions, societal attitudes, government regulations
and policies may bring about a moral dilemma. These factors affect
operations and relationships which drives an impact to the people, the
market, the workplace and others on a local, national and international
level. Examples are death penalty, Contractualization, War on Drugs Program
of the Government, RH Law….

III. Enrichment Activities

Teaching and Learning Activities

Activity 1:

Direction: Determining the Crux of a Moral Dilemma (30 mins). The class will be
divided into ten groups with five members each.

a. In a ¼ sheet of paper, each student will give an example of a personal

moral dilemma. In the group, each student will share his/her example so
that the other group members will determine the crux of the moral
dilemma.

b. With the same grouping, the students will come up with one good example
of an organizational moral dilemma. They will deliberate and determine
the crux of the moral dilemma.

c. With the same grouping, the students will come up with one good example
of a systemic or structural moral dilemma.

Note: b and c activity will be shared in class

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Assessment Task

1. Why do we have moral dilemmas?

2. Why can only humans be ethical?

Topic 4: Freedom as a Foundation of Ethics

I. Learning Objectives:

Upon completion of this topic, the student must be able to

1. explain freedom as an essential characteristic of ethics;

2. explain the moral dimension; and
3. identify other basic foundations of morality.

Introduction

Why do matters of right/wrong and good/bad need a foundation? What difference

would a foundation make? Let‘s consider these comments from someone:
―I am going to obey my conscience regardless of whether it is or it is not
grounded in any foundation. I am going to obey it even if some reliable
foundation tells me not to. Even if a god suddenly appears and tells me to do
something that my conscience won‘t let me do, I am not doing it. So, where did
this conscience come from? How about if a person‘s conscience contradicts the
conscience of another individual?

The comment above leads us to the question of choice, freedom or liberty and
decision. It also leads to the question of end.

Freedom or liberty may be described as the power or right to act, speak or think
as one wants without hindrance or restraint. But this power is not absolute. It has
limitations. ―Great power comes with great responsibility. Imagine the world if
there is no limit to freedom and no appeal for responsibility. When one changes
the question from ―what do I want to do? to ―what do I ought to do, all moral
acts become clearer and point to freedom of choice. There is the invocation for
people to use their freedom in way that they won‘t harm anyone including
animals, plants and the whole of nature, to not abuse their freedom and to give
limitation to it. The exercise of freedom to act morally liberates us from our selfish
passions and desires. If we are not free in making decisions, then the ethical
value of our decisions are questionable.

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Kant points to freedom as the autonomy or self-determination of rational beings.
This type of freedom plays a crucial role in the ethical journey of each individual,
of societies and humanity as a whole. Our everyday choices allow us to pursue
our goals that in a way enable us to live well and pursue the kind of human
beings we ought to be. We want to be virtuous by choice, for example, because
reason and experience teaches us that there is no fulfillment in life if we are
coerced to live a life that we do not like. There is no true happiness from slavery
within. Human potential and creativity flourishes when there is liberty.

Freedom has a Moral Dimension

1. The moral dimension belongs to the realm of human freedom.

The act or conduct that is not the result of free choice is without moral quality.
Morality relates to what we are accountable for. Freedom is not just about
what we can do but also about what we must do. It does not follow that just
because we can do something so we must do it.

2. The moral dimension refers to the concern for the good and happy life.

Moral philosophy claims an essential connection between goodness and

happiness. The moral dimension is concerned with defining ultimate goal of
man or what constitutes his happiness. The path to being happy is the way of
goodness.

3. The moral dimension speaks to our sense of moral responsibility.

The moral dimension pertains to what freedom entails – the freedom to commit
– and the limits that the freedom of others imposes on our own. The moral
dimension is about developing the skills for sound decision making based on
ethical principles.

Basic Foundations of Morality (n.d.)

1) Harm/Care
This is related to our long evolution as mammals with attachment systems and
an ability to feel (and dislike) the pain of others. This foundation underlies virtues
of kindness, gentleness, and nurturance. This foundation makes us sensitive to
signs of suffering and need. In order to maximize care and minimize harm, we
enact laws that protect the vulnerable. We punish people who are cruel and we
care for those in suffering.

2) Fairness/Reciprocity
This is related to the evolutionary process of reciprocal altruism. This foundation
generates ideas of justice, rights, and autonomy. This foundation leads us to

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seek out people who will be good collaborators in whatever project we are
pursuing. It also leads us to punish people who cheat the system. People on both
the right and the left believe in fairness, but they apply this foundation in different
ways. Haidt explains: ―On the left, fairness often implies equality, but on the
right it means proportionality – people should be rewarded in proportion to what
they contribute, even if that guarantees unequal outcomes

3) In-group/Loyalty
This is related to our long history as tribal creatures that are able to form shifting
coalitions. This foundation underlies virtues of patriotism and self-sacrifice for the
group. It is active anytime people feel that it‘s ―one for all, and all for one.‖ We
love the people on our team, and loyalty makes our team more powerful and less
susceptible to our failure. Likewise, we have a corresponding hatred for traitors.

Those who betray our ―team‖ for the other side are worse than those who
were
already on the other side.

4. Authority/Respect
This is shaped by our long primate history of hierarchical social
interactions. This foundation underlies virtues of leadership and followership,
including deference to legitimate authority and respect for traditions. Authority
plays a role in our moral considerations because it protects order and fends off
chaos. ―Everyone has a stake in supporting the existing order and in holding
people accountable for fulfilling the obligations of their station.

5. Purity/Sanctity
This is shaped by the psychology of disgust and contamination.
This foundation underlies religious notions of striving to live in an elevated,
less carnal, nobler way. It underlies the widespread idea that the body is a
temple which can be desecrated by immoral activities and contaminants (an
idea not unique to religious traditions). No matter the era, humans have
always considered certain things
- untouchable- for being dirty and polluted. The flipside is that we want to
protect whatever is hallowed and sacred, whether objects, ideals, or institutions.

6. The Liberty/Oppression Foundation

This foundation builds on Authority/Subversion because we all
recognize there is such a thing as legitimate authority, but we don‘t want
authoritarians crossing the line into tyranny. Oppression is hated and liberty
desired. It is liberty for the underdogs and liberty from intrusion.

Concluding reflection on freedom: Whether morality is subjective,

objective or a social construct, they all point to one thing: the individual is a
choice-maker. A believer makes a choice; and so with the non-believer; and
members of society make their own choices. The individual ‘s freedom is
essential to any levels of morality. Hence, human freedom is the primal

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foundation of morality.

III. Enrichment Activities

Teaching and Learning Activities

Activity 1: Watch the video entitled ―philosophy of liberty‖ (HD with voiceover)
on [Link]. Write down two personal realizations and submit online (This
depends on the applications your teacher uses). Check this link:
[Link]
Assessment Task

Essay: (45 points).

1. Write something about freedom of expression in relation to fake news in

Philippine mass media.
___________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________

2. Make a critic on the Philippine government‘s control versus freedom of

speech and thoughts.
___________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________

3. Make an assessment on freedom and television effects among young

Filipino students today.

___________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________

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