Republic of the Philippines

BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY

Pablo Borbon Main I
Rizal Avenue, Batangas City
COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING, ARCHITECTURE & FINE ARTS

WEEK THREE LECTURE: Ged 107 - ETHICS

THE MORAL ACT
• Human beings are complex beings.

• Unlike other organisms that are simply driven by the survival instinct,
human beings experience the world in a variety of ways through a variety
of perceptive capacities

• Apart from our rational capacity which allows us to reckon reality with
imaginative and calculative lenses, our feelings also play a crucial part in
determining the way we navigate through various situations that we
experience.

• We do not simply know the world and others; we also feel their existence
and their value.

• Although feelings provide us with an initial reckoning of a situation, they

should not be the sole basis for our motives and actions.

• Feelings seek immediate fulfillment, and it is our reason that tempers these
compulsions.

• Feelings without reason are blind.

• Reason sets the course for making ethical and impartial decisions especially
in moral situations although it is not the sole determining factor in coming
up with such decisions. Reason and feelings must constructively
complement each other whenever we are making choices.

• Reason can sometimes be blinded in implementing and following its own

strict rules that it becomes incapable of empathy for the other.

• In other words, if one’s reasoning does not consider the interests of people
that are affected by his/her actions, then he/she is actually being prejudicial
to his/her own interests.

• Saying that the actions do not harm anybody is not a sufficient moral
justification until one actually takes into rational account the effects of the
actions on others.

• Simply put, morality involves impartiality because it ensures that all

interests are accounted for, weighed rationally, and assessed without
prejudice.

• Prejudices make decisions impartial. Reason recognizes not only the good
of oneself but also the good of others.

• Moral situations often involve not just one but others as well. Our decisions
have consequences and these have an effect on others. Matters of moral
import need to be analyzed with a perspective that takes the welfare and
feelings of others into consideration. What is good for one may not be good
for others.
REASON AND IMPARTIALITY
• Reason is the basis or motive for an action, decision, or conviction.
• As a quality, it refers to the capacity for logical, rational, and analytic
thought; for consciously making sense of things, establishing and verifying
facts, applying common sense and logic, and justifying, and if necessary,
changing practices, institutions, and beliefs based on existing or new
existing information.
• In the case of moral judgments, they require backing by reasons.
• Thus, reason commends what it commends, regardless of our feelings,
attitudes, opinions, and desires.
• Impartiality involves the idea that each individual’s interests and point of
view are equally important.
• It is a principle of justice holding that decisions ought to be based on
objective criteria, rather than on the basis of bias, prejudice, or preferring
the benefit to one person over another for improper reasons.
• Impartiality in morality requires that we give equal and/or adequate
consideration to the interests of all concerned parties.
• The principle of impartiality assumes that every person, generally speaking,
is equally important; that is, no one is seen intrinsically more significant
than anyone else.

SEVEN STEP MORAL REASONING: A MODEL FOR MAKING

MORAL DECISIONS
• Scott B. Rae, Ph.D. suggest the following procedure for making moral
decisions. His work is not to get you to the right answer but to help you ask
the right question in your ethical deliberation
• Rae says his model is free from cultural, ethnic, and religious background
biases.
• Though it is consistent with the bible and uses biblical principles, it is not a
distinctively “Christian model”
• It is oriented towards virtues and principles with consideration of
consequences as a supporting role.
1. GATHER THE FACTS
• The simplest way of clarifying an ethical dilemma is to make sure the facts
are clear.
• Do you have all the facts that are necessary to make a good decision?
• What do we know?
• What do we need to know?
• In this light, it might become clear that the dilemma is not ethical but about
communication or strategy
2. DETERMINE THE ETHICAL ISSUES
• Ethical interests are stated in terms of competing interests or goods.
• The competing interest are what creates the dilemma.
• Moral values and virtues must support the competing interest in order for
an ethical dilemma to exist.
• If you cannot identify the underlying values/virtues, then you do not have
an ethical dilemma.
• Often people hold these positions strongly and with passions because of the
value/virtue beneath them
3. DETERMINE THE VIRTUES/PRINCIPLES THAT HAVE A BEARING ON
THE CASE
• In an ethical dilemma, certain values and principles are central to the
competing positions. Thus, you must identify this.
• Determine if some should be given more weight than others.
• Ask what the source of principle is (constitution, culture, law, etc.).
4. LIST THE ALTERNATIVES
• Creatively determine possible courses of action for your dilemma.
• Some will almost immediately be discarded but generally the more you list,
the greater potential for coming up with the really good one.
• It will also help you come up with a broader selection of ideas
5. COMPARE ALTERNATIVES WITH VIRTUES/PRINCIPLES
• This step eliminates alternatives as they are weighed by the moral principles
which have a bearing on the case.
• Potentially, the issue will be resolved here as all alternatives except one are
eliminated.
• Here, you must satisfy all the relevant virtues and values (so atleast some
alternatives will be eliminated).
• Often here, you have to weight principles and virtues (make sure you have
a good reason for each weighting).
6. CONSIDER THE CONSEQUENCES
• If principles have not yielded, a clear decision consider the Consequences
of your alternatives. Take the alternatives and work out the positive and
negative consequence of each
• Estimate how beneficial positive and negative consequence is because some
might have greater weight than others
7. MAKE A DECISION
• Ethical decisions rarely have pain-free solutions
• It might be possible that you have to choose the solution with the least
number of problems/painful consequences
• Even when making a good decision, you might still lose sleep over it.
APPLYING THE MODEL (FROM RAE’S EXAMPLES)
• 67-year-old Indian woman diagnosed with a form of cancer which is usually
treated with chemotherapy
• At admission, she is fully competent and able to make her own decisions
• She knows something is wrong with her and appears fearful and anxious
about what getting well might involve.
• She lives with her son and his wife (family appears to be happy)
• The son has taken responsibility for her as her husband has died.
• The son translates for her with almost all information.
• The son does not want her to know anything more that the bare minimum
about the treatment as he fears she will give up on life and resign herself
to dying.
• The son is strongly motivated by cultural and family values.
• The patient does not know her full diagnosis or the full effects of
chemotherapy.
• She knows she is sick and treatment will make her feel sick to her stomach
as well as losing her hair
• IF YOU ARE THE DOCTOR, WHAT WOULD YOU DO?
• Follow the family’s wishes?
• Decide the patient need to know what is happening (tell her even if it
increases her fear).
GATHER THE FACTS
• Go back over the information given and write all the facts
DETERMINE ETHICAL ISSUES
• Patient autonomy, including giving consent for treatment versus what a
caring family think is best for the patient
• In such a situation, nurses are bound by what the doctor decides (yet still
they have to solve the problem of obedience to the doctor with the patient’s
integrity in being able to give informed consent)
DETERMINE WHAT VALUE/PRINCIPLES HAVE BEARING ON THE CASE
• The right of the patient to give informed consent (chemotherapy is a very
invasive treatment).
• This is recognized by law; the person has a right to control what happens
to their body.
• Such dignity comes from being made in the image of god.
• The obligation of medical team to act in the patient’s best interest. They
should do good for the patient whenever they can (to act with compassion
(family and medical team))
• Respect for family’s wishes and culture.
• Humility is the virtues which says the doctor must realize not all they think
is best.
• How heavily do they respect family/cultural values? The family may think
they are taking some of the burden for their mother by making the decisions
and not telling her everything (such caring is highly valued by them)
• Also, the law regarding informed consent must be applied and the nursing
staffs’ obedience to doctors
LIST THE ALTERNATIVES
• Attempt to convince the family of the seriousness of the treatment and why
she need to know.
• Call an ethic committee conference to discuss the case and try to convince
the family to tell her (this should be discussed prior to any further
treatment).
• Override the family’s wishes and tell the patient of her condition and the
treatment.
• Continue to follow the family’s wish. The son continues to translate and she
knows nothing more.
• Wait for the patient to ask questions about the treatment and then
encourage her to ask very direct questions of her family and doctor (another
translator is required here).
• Bring another translator and ask the woman is she wants to know the details
of all that is happening (this would likely cause cultural offense to the son)
COMPARE THE ALTERNATIVES
• Initially try to pursue all possibilities of taking with the family and the
doctors trying to get them to disclose the information themselves
• If above is unsuccessful. You can either withhold or disclose information to
the patient.
• Use another translator and tell the patient (or ask if she want to know the
full details of what is going on (this alternative respects her autonomy)).
• She can make it clear at this time she wants her son to make the decision
for her.
• If she wishes to know then it is her who is challenging the culture, yet she
retains her dignity and has full information
• If nurses are unhappy with what is happening, the most viable option is for
them to be requested to be removed from the case.
CONSIDER THE CONSEQUENCES
• IF YOU CONTINUE WITHHOLDING:
• Patient continues to be fearful and anxious about the treatment
• Patient finds somehow and trust is compromised
• Family is happy (culture is being respected)
• IF YOU DISCLOSE THE INFORMATION DIRECTLY:
• Family feel alienated, cultural values have been violated
• Family may take patient to another hospital
• Patient may give up
• Patient might be happy finally knowing the truth
• IF YOU ASK THE PATIENT IF SHE WANT TO KNOW THE TRUTH THROUGH
ANOTHER TRANSLATOR:
• Family are unhappy at disrespect for their cultural values.
• Patient gets to speak for herself and make own decisions.
• She can choose to let her son continue making the decisions (both
law and culture are satisfied here).
• Patient will be relieved as she knows her wishes have been
respected.
MAKE A DECISION
• think about our ideas of respect for family and culture
• How far should we go in respecting this cultural approach, is the patient’s
best interest compromised, is her dignity as an individual respected?
• Rae suggests:
Here, it seems the alternative that involves asking the patient if she want
to know the details of her situation satisfies most of the virtues and values
at stake and produces the best balance of consequence too.

FROM THE ACT TO THE PERSON

• Focusing exclusively on human acts is limited.
• Contemporary ethicists point to the importance of “personhood.”
• It is the human being himself/herself who gives meaning and receives
significance from the acts that he/she executes.
• While human acts and personhood are always bound together and even
inseparable, the primacy of the person cannot be contested.
• Human acts are only human insofar as there is this center of identity and
integrity that grounds them.
• Human acts are particular actions that flow from the personhood of the
human being.
• Particular moral actions shape the “person” that one desires.

REASON AND WILL

• Reason has from the very beginning of the traditions of natural law been a
central element. Reason has made it possible for humans to understand the
underlying morals that the natural laws consisted of.
• For Plato, reason was important since it made it possible for the human
mind to understand the Ideas of good and evil and to recognize concrete
subjects existing in actual reality.
• Cicero explained reason as a gift for humanity that was given by the Gods.
This gift was given to all people so that they could be able to understand
what the natural law was and to enjoy certain rights stemming from that
natural law.
• St Thomas Aquinas went a step further and explained his view upon reason
and God being the same. He also stated that unmoral laws that were
unreasonable were in fact not law at all.
• During the time of Plato, natural law was an abstract idea that the human
mind could understand by reasoning. With the works of Hugo Grotius
natural law developed into a more graspable idea of a set of rules and duties
that consisted of the law of nations.
• Francisco Suárez presented ideas that related both to the concepts of
reason and free will. In his opinion, reason and will were two different
components in different ends of a chain consisting of human actions. Reason
represented the intelligence that human beings possessed. Humans used
this intelligence when assessing certain outcomes of different actions. Free
will was expressed through the desire within humans to choose an outcome
that was most desirable for oneself. Suárez stated that the desire within
human beings was steered by their reason. Their reason demanded a
certain choice of action and through that, a certain outcome.

THE FILIPINO WAY: STRENGHTS OF THE FILIPINO

CHARACTER
PAKIKIPAGKAPWA-TAO
Opening yourself to others and feel one with others with dignity and respect
deal with them as fellow human beings.
• Sense of fairness and justice
• Concern for others
• Ability to empathize with others
• Helpfulness and generosity
• Practice of hospitality
• Sensitive to other feelings and trust
FAMILY ORIENTATION
A genuine and deep love for family.
• Commitment and responsibility
• Honor and respect
• Generosity and sacrifice
• Sense of trust and security
JOY AND HUMOR
Filipinos have a cheerful and fun-loving approach to life and its up and down,
pleasant disposition, a sense of humor and propensity for happiness that
contribute not only to the Filipino charm but also to the Filipino Spirit. We
laugh at those we love and hate. We tend to make joke about our good and
even bad fortune, to smile even in the most trying of times.
• Emotional balance and optimism
• Healthy disrespect for power and office
FLEXIBILITY, ADAPTABILITY AND CREATIVITY
We can adjust and to adapt to circumstances and the surrounding
environment, both physical and social; adjusts to whatever happens even in
unplanned or anticipated events. We possess a tolerance for ambiguity that
enables us to remain unfazed by uncertainty or lack of information.
• The result is productivity, innovation, entrepreneurship, equanimity
• Creative, resourceful, and quick learners; can improvise and make use of
whatever is at, hand in order to create and produce.
• Accepts change; adapts to life in any part of the world, in the ability to make
new things out of old scraps.
• Creative in cultural sphere.
HARDWORK AND INDUSTRY
Capacity for hard work given to raise one's standard living of a decent life for
one's family. We are willing to take the risks with jobs abroad and, while there,
to work at two or three jobs. The result is productivity and entrepreneurship
for some and survival despite poverty for their families
FAITH AND RELIGIOSITY
Faith in God - accepting reality to comprehend as a human created by God.
Our innate religiosity enables us to comprehend and genuinely accept reality
in the context of God’s will and plan
ABILITY TO SURVIVE
Filipinos have an ability to survive. Filipinos make do with what is available in
the environment. This is the result of basic optimism, flexibility and
adaptability, hard work and a deep faith in God.
It is manifested in the millions of Filipinos who bravely live through the
harshest economic and social circumstances. What we might be able to do
under better circumstances?

THE FILIPINO WAY: WEAKNESSES OF THE FILIPINO

CHARACTER
EXTREME PERSONALISM
• Filipinos view the world in terms of personal relationships; no separation
between an objective task and emotional involvement.
• Always trying to give personal interpretation to actions i.e., take things
personally.
• Thus, a sincere question may be viewed as a challenge to one’s competence
or positive feedback may be interpreted as a sign of special affection.
• There is in fact some basis for such interpretations as Filipinos are quite
personal in criticism and praise.
EXTREME FAMILY CENTEREDNESS
• Strong family protection in good or bad condition
• Excessive concern for family manifests itself in the use of one’s office and
power as a means of promoting the interest of the family, factionalism,
 patronage and political dynasties, and in the protection of erring family
members.
• Family centeredness results to a lack of concern for the common good and
acts as a block to national consciousness.
LACK OF DISCIPLINE
• Relaxed attitude but poor time management
• Impatient and unable to delay gratification or reward
• Love to take short-cuts or 'palusot' system
• Carelessness
• We are impatient and unable to delay gratification or reward, resulting in
the use of short-cuts, in skirting the rules (the palusot syndrome) and in
foolhardiness.
• We are guilty of ningas cogon, starting out projects with full vigor and
interest which abruptly die down leaving things unfinished.
PASSIVITY AND LACK OF INITIATIVE
• Filipinos tend to be complacent and there rarely is a sense of urgency about
any problem.
• There is high tolerance for inefficiency, poor service and even violations of
one’s basic rights.
• In many ways, it can be said that the Filipino is too patient and long
suffering (matiisin) - too patient without any plan or action (matiisin).
• "Bahala na System" - No matter what, At least we tried.
• Doubt and debate first than study, discuss until planning and action
COLONIAL MENTALITY
• The Filipino colonial mentality is manifested in the alienation of the elite
from their roots and from the masses as well as in the basic feeling of
national inferiority that makes it difficult for Filipinos to relate as equals to
Westerners.
• Open outside but closed inside (adapting and incorporating the foreign
elements into our image of ourselves and not building around a deep core
of Philippine history and language).
• The result is cultural vagueness or weakness that makes Filipinos
extraordinarily susceptible to the wholesale acceptance of modern mass
culture which is often Western.
KANYA-KANYA SYNDROME
• Self-serving attitude that generates feeling of envy and competitiveness
towards others (status vs prestige).
• Personal ambition but insensitive to common good
• Crab mentality
• Lack of appreciation resulting unhealthy competition
LACK OF SELF ANALYSIS AND REFLECTION
• There is a tendency in the Filipino to be superficial and even flighty.
• In the face of serious problems, both personal and social, there is lack of
analysis or reflection.
• We joke about the most serious matters and this prevents looking deeply
into the problem.
• There is no felt need to validate our hypotheses or explanations of things.
• Thus, we are satisfied with superficial explanations and superficial solutions
to problems.