Baliwag Polytechnic College

Dalubhasaan Kong Mahal

2nd Semester
A.Y. 2020 – 2021

STUDY GUIDES
Your success to finish this module lies in your hand. This module is prepared for you to
learn new concepts and invaluable skills diligently, intelligently, and independently. As a future
young professional, doing these will greatly help and prepare you to become a responsible
student. Set your goals and invest for your future. This is your first step towards your priceless
investment for a brighter tomorrow. Do not waste your time, effort and energy. Always stay
motivated and inspired to make your dreams come true. The following guides and house rules
will help you further to be on track and to stay at the end of the module.

1. Schedule and manage your time wisely for you to accomplish the given tasks
in this module.
2. If there are things that you do not understand, go over and focus on the lesson.
If this will not work, seek the help of your family members or leave me a
message so I can give assistance.
3. Before you start doing anything else, read and understand the learning tasks
carefully. Always aim for the best and do not settle with low grades.
4. Think before you write. In answering all the assessment activities, write
legibly and follow the instructions as needed.
5. Do not hesitate to keep an open communication with me through any available
platforms. I am more than willing to help you to accomplish your goals.
6. Once you are done in the module, you can proceed doing other tasks in the
succeeding units that are scheduled for the finals.
7. You are expected to answer all the printed-based activities, assignments and
reflection guides for you to pass in this course.
8. Remember you are the student hence you are expected to accomplish and
study the module on your own. You can seek help and support from your
family members and friends but the actual activities must be done by you.

GRADING SYSTEM
Midterm Grade
 Self-paced activities, Quizzes -60%
Examination -40%

Tentative Final Grade

Self-paced activities, Quizzes, Portfolio -60%
Examination -40%

Final Grade Midterm 50% + TFG 50%

STUDY SCHEDULE

Dates Module /Topics

Module 1 The Scope and Meaning of Ethics
Week 1 Future Growth
Lesson 1 A Deeper Understanding of Ethics
January 4-8, 2021 Lesson 2 Morality and Other Phases of
Human
Life
Lesson 3 Morality and Human Acts

Weeks 2 Module 2 Moral Standards and Human

January 11-15, 2021 Freedom
Lesson 1 Moral Standards
Week 3 Module 3 Morality
Lesson 1 The Norms of Morality
January 18-22, 2021 Lesson 2 Defective Norms of Morality
Week 4 Module 4 Dilemma
January 25-29, 2021 Lesson 1 What is Dilemma?
Week 5 Module 5 Culture in Moral Behavior
February 1-5, 2021 Lesson 1 Culture in Moral Behavior
Explained

Week 6 Module 6 Filipino Culture and Morality

February 8-12, 2021 Lesson 1 Culture Relativism
Lesson 2 Filipino Psyche and Morality

Week 7 Module 7 Morality and Conscience

February 15-19, Lesson 1 Morality
 2021 Lesson 2 Kinds of Values
Week 8 Module 8 Feelings and Moral Decisions
February 22-26, Lesson 1 The Ethics of Love
2021
Week 9 Module 9 Human Reasoning
March 1-5, 2021 Lesson 1 Types of Human Reasoning
Week 10 Module 10 Courage and Moral Courage
March 8-12, 2021 Lesson 1 Virtue and Types of courage
Week 11 Module 11 Aristotle on Virtue
March 15-19, 2021 Lesson 1 Virtue According to Aristotle and
his
Definition of Happiness
Week 12 Module 12 The Philosophy of St. Thomas
March 22-26, 2021 Aquinas
Lesson 1 St. Thomas Aquinas on the Natural
Law
Week 13 Module 13 The Philosophy of Immanuel Kant
April 5-9, 2021 Lesson 1 Man and Duty
Lesson 2 Kant’s Philosophy of Good Will
Lesson 3 Kant’s Categorical Imperative
Lesson 4 The Kingdom of Ends
Week 14 Module 14 Rights
April 12-16, 2021 Lesson 1 Types of Human Rights

Week 15 Module 15 The Philosophy of Utilitarianism

April 19-23, 2021 Lesson 1 Utilitarianism
Lesson 2 Positive and Negative Utilitarianism
Lesson 3 Business Utilitarianism
Week 16 Module 16 Justice and Fairness
April 26-30, 2021 Lesson 1 State and Law
Lesson 2 Government and Justice
Week 17 Module 17 Pluralism versus Fundamentalism
May 3-7, 2021 Lesson 1 What is Social Justice
Lesson 2 Globalization and Pluralism
Lesson 3 The Filipino Millennials aka
Filinnials
Lesson 4 The Role of Religion in Ethics
Course Description:
Ethics is the study of how we ought to live. Since the ancient Greeks,
philosophers have held ethics as one of the most important fields in philosophy
because of its intimate ties with everyday life. During the first part of this course, we
will consider and critique different principles and theories which purport to explain
what makes an action right or wrong, and what sort of character traits we ought to
develop. In the second part of the course, we will investigate the status of ethical
theories and claims. We will attempt to discover whether there are objective truths
about how we ought to live, or if ethics is ultimately a matter of subjective opinions
and desires. In the final part of the course, we will consider some practical ethical
issues such as global poverty and animal welfare.

Module 3
Morality

This module is comprised of two lessons

Lesson 1 The Norms of Morality

Lesson 2 Defective Norms of Morality

At the end of this module, you are expected to:

1. To know the Two Fundamental Questions
2. To understand the Norms of Morality
3. To learn what are Defective Moralities

The Two Fundamental Questions

Two important questions are raised, one is “What is Morality” and “What is the meaning
of life?”. The first question pertains to the rightness or wrongfulness of an act and what is the
basis of the judge concerned. These are ethical questions that up to this time, baffled sages and
peons alike and remain unanswered. The second is about the summum bonum (ultimate good) of
human existence, what is the very reason why man exists on this world? In a nutshell, those two
questions are related – Ethics is about morality which is the basis of good, every time we decide
on dilemmas using morality men experienced happiness and that is “good”. The more we attain
happiness by being good – the closer we are to the Ultimate Good. To sum it up, both questions
boil down to two words “goodness” and “purpose”, a thing that is of use is good for it has
served its purpose. For example, a politician is good if he has fulfilled his promise to the people
after serving his term of office in doing so by being useful to his constituent, he felt that he lived
a worthy life. This will then be a step to reaching his ultimate goal – the ultimate good. A good
life will ultimately lead to ultimate happiness.

LESSON 1
The Norms of Morality
Rationally speaking, man acts in accordance to his nature, that human nature quantify
justification as to why an act be it good or bad is performed. In doing so it conflicts with the
higher intelligence endowed to men. Is man basically good? We can say yes but of what context
of goodness is man supposed to follow? The morality of man follows a proximate norm and an
ultimate norm, so where does human nature come in? As mentioned earlier man has baser
tendencies that is human nature equivalent to brutes that may come in the form of stimuli. The
proximate norm there is to follow human nature which is the low end of a human being. On the
other hand, the ultimate norm is to follow divine nature which are decisions that are based on
morality.
For example, the stimulus of hunger based on proximate norm simply means to eat the
food regardless as to whether it is for somebody else, spoilt or poisonous. Human nature dictates
that man has to satiate his hunger no matter what and may be considered moral if we are to
consider human nature. If man decides to study the situation by not initially grabbing the
“opportunity”, then he acted in relation to the ultimate norm. However, we are not discarding
human nature as a basis of human existence, man is a social animal which is the nature of man’s
need for association. In truth we can never reach divine status but we must keep in mind that
there is no conflict with the Natural law and the Eternal law (the Law of God). The Natural is
patterned after the Eternal Law, man must adhere to his nature of man which is using his intellect
unlike human nature that is only to follow his passions.

LESSON 2
Defective Norms of Morality
Human Nature is a simple foundation of man but there are philosophies and they are:
1. Hedonism – this is also known as the Philosophy of Pleasure that pleasure alone is the
primary purpose of man’s existence. It is true man desires for happiness but a happy life need not
be composed of pleasure alone. True happiness is seeking good but wallowing in pleasure made
man’s life baser than brutes.
2. Utilitarianism – is simply the ends of an action must be good, if it is not then the action is
unjustified. From the word “utility” it means that anything that is of use to the agent is moral.
There are two types of utilitarianism and they are individual utilitarianism and social
utilitarianism – the first is known as egoism which is the definition given – the agent is the one
who will gain. Altruism is the other term for social utilitarianism but the receiving factor is the
society where the agent belongs.
3. Moral Rationalism – simply states that human reason is the only foundation of morality as
postulated by German Philosopher Immanuel Kant which he dubbed as “Categorical
Imperative”. However, as Kant further explained we have to do good because we ought to be
good in doing so, he is implying blind obedience. In his philosophy “autonomy of reason”, in as
much as reason creates the law, it is “reasonable” for men to obey it without question nor
ambiguity. The general rule is that everyone thinks the same for men are reasonable so conflict is
a remote possibility.
4. Moral Positivism – states that morality is adherence to State Laws as philosophizes by the
English sage Thomas Hobbes. The State is the foundation of morality since laws are geared for
the common good apparently, an act is moral if he obeys the law and evil if he disobeys it.
Comparing to Moral Rationalism where reason is the law, Moral Positivism only has the State
Law as its source of morality.
5. Moral Evolutionism – In relation to Sociologist Herbert Spencer, morality just like evolution
is ever-changing until it reached its perfect form. Friedrich Nietsche added that man was born
with hardly any basis for right and wrong and their collective lives is a never-ending struggle for
change until they reach perfection.
6. Moral Sensism – Contrary to Moral Evolutionism men are born with a special moral sense
(not reason) that is comparable to the five senses. For example, man can easily differentiate
noise from music, salty from sweet as well as pleasant and unpleasant that may also serve as
means to moral judgment.
7. Communism - Although this is more of an economic theory its social implication cannot be
denied and is geared for a classless society. They believed in the philosophy of material
dialectics that means two material things are the only ingredients necessary for change. They
deny the existence of God, the free will and immortality for they do not matter being immaterial.
Ergo, anything that will lead to a classless society is good and moral and any-thing otherwise is
evil and immoral.

References and Supplementary Materials

Books and Journals Ethics Morality 3 Course Module
Agapay, Ramon B.; Ethics and the Filipinos; Mandaluyong Metro Manila, National Book Store
Inc. Babor, Eddie R.; Ethics – The Philosophical Discipline of Action; Manile, Rex Book Store
Montemayor, Felix; Ethics the Philippines; Navotas Metro Manila; National Book Store Written
by: Christopher S. Espiritu