CHAPTER 6:

Conclusion: Ethics through

Thick and Thin
Lesson1
Globalization and Pluralism: New Challenges
in Ethics
 Globalization and Pluralism

 Globalization has made the world into a single interconnected community.

 Politically, economically, and culturally therefore, communities across the
world not function in what is fundamentally a shred space although divided
into artificial political condominiums called nation-states.
 In a globalized era, peoples and community across the world have become
culturally connected, the distinction between the global and the local has
become progressively blurred and actions and events in one locality can
carry with it the potential to breed transnational and transgenerational
impacts.
 Pluralism

 Pluralism is a concept used in many diverse ways, but in

general terms, it is the philosophical theory that there is
more than one basic substance or principle, whether it be
the constitutions of the universe of the mind and body, the
sources of truth, or the basis of morality.
 MORAL Pluralism
 Also known as ethical pluralism and value pluralism, moral pluralism is
the idea that there can be conflicting moral views that are each worthy of
respect.

 It this implies that there are some values which may be equally correct and
fundamental, and yet in conflict with each other.

 Moreover, moral pluralism proposes that in many cases, such incompatible

values may be incommensurable, in the sense that there is no objective
ordering them in terms of importance.
 MORAL Pluralism

 Moral pluralism is a meta-ethical theory, rather than a theory of normative

ethics or a set of values in itself.
 Russian-British social an political theorist, philosopher, and historian of idea
Isaiah Berlin (1909-1997) is credited with being the first to popularize a
considerable work describing the theory of objective value-pluralism; taking it
to the attention of the academe.
 However, the pertinent idea that basic values can and, in some cases, do
conflict with each other has already been prominent in the thought of the
German sociologist and philosopher Max Weber (1864-1920).
 MORAL Pluralism

 Moral pluralism seems to advocate flexibility when faced with competing

perspectives. It evaluates issues from various moral standpoints in deciding
and taking action.
 An example if value-pluralism is the notion that the moral life of a nun is
incompatible with that of a mother, yet there is no strictly rational measure of
which is preferable.
 It thus concludes that ethical decisions frequently necessitate radical
preferences with no rational calculus to decide which alternative to be chosen.
 GLOBALIZATION

 Globalization may be defined as the world-

wide integration of government policies,
cultures, social movements, and financial
markets through trade and the exchange of
ideas.
 GLOBALIZATION

 Globalization emphasizes the increasing trans-

border or transnational relations, which are
occurring in the contemporary world.

 Globalization, in effect restructure our social space

or geography from one that is mainly territorial to
one that is increasingly transnational.
 GLOBALIZATION

 Globalization is said to have began after World War II and has

accelerated since the mid 1980s, driven by two factors.
 The first is the technological advances that have reduced
the cost of transportation, communication, and
computation.
 The other factor has to do with business escalating
liberalization of trade and capital markets. (establishment
of the IMF. GATT, and the World Trade Organization.
PROBLEMS WITH GLOBALIZATION

 Author Gail Tverberg enumerates some reasons why

globalization is not living up to what was ideally expected to it,
and is, in fact, our very major problem today.
 The following are the entries from “Twelve Reasons Why
Globalization is a Huge Problem” by Tverberg:
1. Globalization uses up finite sources more quickly.
2. Globalization increases world carbon dioxide emissions.
3. Globalization makes it virtually impossible for regulators
in one country to foresee the worldwide implications of
their actions.
PROBLEMS WITH GLOBALIZATION

4. Globalization acts to increase world oil prices.

5. Globalization transfers consumption of limited
oil supply from developed countries to developing
countries.
6. Globalization transfers jobs from developed
countries to less developed countries.
PROBLEMS WITH GLOBALIZATION

7. Globalizations transfers investment spending

from developed countries to less developed
countries.
8. With the dollar as the world’s reserve currency,
globalization leads to huge US balance of trade
deficits and other imbalances.
9.Globalization tends to move taxation away from
corporations and onto individual citizens.
PROBLEMS WITH GLOBALIZATION

10. Globalization sets up a currency “race to the

bottom,” with each country trying to get an export
advantage by dropping value of its currency.
11.Globalization encourages dependence on other
countries for essential goods and services.
12.Globalization ties countries together, so that if one
country collapses, the collapse is likely to ripple through
the system, pulling many other countries with it.
ETHICAL CHALLENGES OF
GLOBALIZATION

 Rising neoliberal globalization and

laissez-faire capitalism.
 Loss of state sovereignty and the takeover
of international financial institutions.
 Environmental and ecological
consequences.
 CHAPTER 6:
Conclusion: Ethics through
Thick and Thin
Lesson2
Challenges of Filinnials and Millennials
 MILLENIALS

 Also known as “Generation Y” or the “Net

Generation,” are the demographic cohort directly
following Generation X.
 There are no exact dates when this cohort starts and
ends, although demographers and researchers
normally use the late 1970s to early 1980s as
starting birth years and the mid-1990s to early
2000s as ending birth years.
 MILLENIALS AND FILINNIALS

 The Center for Generational Kinetics mentions five

generations that presently make up our society and
specifies birth years for each generation as follows:
 Gen Z, iGen, or Centennials: Born 1996 and later
 Millennials or Gen Y: Born 1977 to 1995
 Generation X: Born 1965 to 1976
 Baby Boomer: Born 1946 to 1964
 Traditionailists or Silent Generation: Born 1945
and before
 MILLENIALS AND FILINNIALS

 Millennials are generally the children of baby

boomers and older Gen Xers, Fillinnials is a term
used to denote the Filipino Millennial.

 Filinnials’ generation is commonly characterized by

an increased use and familiarity with
communications, media, and digital technologies.
 MILLENIALS AND FILINNIALS
 Seven basic traits are ascribed to Millennials:
Special, sheltered, confident, team-oriented,
conventional, pressured, and achieving.
 Their being “team-oriented”, nonetheless, is questioned,
as one study reveals that they have “a sense of
entitlement and narcissism, based on personality surveys
showing increased narcissism among Millennials
compared to preceding generation when they were teens
in their twenties.”
 Some psychologists this consider Millennials to be part of
what is called “Generation Me” instead of “Generation
We.”
 MILLENIALS AND FILINNIALS
 Ethical Outlook and Cultural Identity
 Millennials are also labeled as the “Boomerang Generations” or
“Peter Pan Generation”, because of their perceived tendency for
delaying some rites of passage into adulthood for longer periods
than most generations before them and for living with their parents
for longer periods than previous generations.

 Generation Y members are very upbeat and more open to change

than older generations. Based on a survey by the Pew Research
Center in 2008, Millennials are “the most likely of any generation to
self-identify as liberals and are also supportive of progressive
domestic social agenda than older generations”.
MILLENIALS AND FILINNIALS
 Secularism and Humanism

 Secularism is basically a non-theistic belief system or

a worldview which does not acknowledge supernatural
or divine views of reality. As such, it includes atheism,
agnosticism, naturalism, materialism, scientism,
Darwinism, and other ideologies that reject all spiritual
explanations of the world.

 Humanism is a system of thought which gives

emphasis to the value of human beings and favors
man’s thoughts over faith or religious doctrine.
MILLENIALS AND FILINNIALS
 Secularism and Humanism

 Millennials are less openly religious than the

older generations. About one in four millennials
are unaffiliated with any religion, which is more
than the older generations when they were the
ages of Millennials.

 Especially in dealing with morality, Millennials are

more likely to advocate secularism and
humanism.