CHAPTER 3:UNIVERSAL VALUES

| Ethics for College Students| Dominican College of Tarlac

LESSON 1: BASIC UNIVERSAL VALUES
| Ethics for College Students| Dominican College of Tarlac
 - W H AT I S -
Universal Value
A value is a quality that weans people, things, events, or
situations. The term is used to designate the moral
characteristics that are inherent in subject piety,
responsibility, secularism, respect, etc.

Universal, however, is an adjective that is related to what

belongs or which relates to the universe. The concept refers
to the set of all things created and what is common to all its
kind.
Universal Values
• are formed by implied behavioral standards that are
necessary to live in a harmonious and peaceful society.
• It is a notion that is not obvious to define, because, a value is
associated with morality and ethics, which is difficult to transpose
or refer to the level of the group.
• In addition to cultural differences, we can say that goodness,
solidarity, volunteerism, and honesty are virtues you want in any
country or region. So, these are universal values.
• It is acquired with family education and school because the
process of socialization involves new generations internalizing
timeless concepts.
The Universal Values

S. H. Schwartz, defined “values” as conceptions of the

desirable that influence the way people select action and
evaluate events.
Schwartz’s results from a series of studies that included
surveys of more than 25,000 people in 44 countries with a
wide range of different cultural types suggest that there are
fifty-six specific universal values and ten types of universal
values.
 - VA L U E T Y P E S -
With the specific
Related Values
1. Power: Social status and prestige, control or dominance
over people and resources.
2. Achievement: Personal success through demonstrating
competence according to social standards.
3. Hedonism: Pleasure or sensuous gratification for oneself.
4. Stimulation: excitement, novelty, and challenge in life.
5. Self-Direction: Independent thought and action –
choosing, creating, exploring.
 - VA L U E T Y P E S -
With the specific
Related Values
6. Universalism: Understanding, appreciation, tolerance, and
protection for the welfare of all people and for nature.
7. Benevolence: Preservation and enhancement of the welfare of
people with whom one is in frequent personal contact.
8. Tradition: Respect, commitment, and acceptance of the customs
and ideas that traditional culture or religion provide.
9. Conformity: Restraint of actions, inclinations, and impulses likely
to upset or harm others and violate social expectations or norms.
[Link]: Safety, harmony, and stability of society, of relationships,
and of self.
 Schwartz also tested an 11th possible universal value,
“spirituality” or the ‘goal of finding meaning in life’,
but found that it does not seem to be recognized in all cultures.
LESSON 2
DEVELOPMENT OF MORAL CHARACTER
What is Moral Character?
•Moral Character or character is an evaluation
of an individual’s stable moral qualities.
•The concept of character can imply a variety of
attributes including the existence or lack of
virtues such as empathy, courage, fortitude,
honesty, and loyalty, or of good behaviors or
habits.
 What is Moral Character?
• Lawrence Pervin defines moral character as “a
disposition to express behavior in consistent
patterns of functions across range of situations.
• A moral Character is defined as an idea in which one
is unique and can be distinguished from others.
• In another words, it is “human excellence,” or
unique thoughts of a character.
 CHARACTER TRAITS THAT IMPACT ONE’S HAPPINESS
Good Character consists of defining your values and integrity based on time-tested
principles and self-reflection and having the courage to live your life accordingly.

1. Integrity 8. Fairness [Link]

2. Honesty 9. Forgiveness [Link]
3. Loyalty [Link] [Link]
4. Respectfulness [Link] [Link]
5. Responsibility [Link] [Link]
6. Humility [Link] [Link]-discipline
7. Compassion [Link]
LESSON 3
STAGES OF MORAL DEVELOPMENT
 Kohlberg’s Stages of Moral Development
• Lawrence Kohlberg’s stages of moral development, a
comprehensive stage theory of moral development based
on Jean Piaget’s theory or moral judgment for children
(1932)
• It focuses on the thinking process that occurs when one
decides whether a behavior is right or wrong.
• The framework of Kohlberg’s theory consists of six stages
arranged sequentially in successive tiers of complexity. He
organized his six stages into three general levels of moral
development.
LEVEL 1: PRE-CONVENTIONAL LEVEL
• At the pre-conventional level, morality is externally
controlled. Rules imposed by authority figures are
conformed to in order to avoid punishment or receive
rewards, this perspective involves the idea that what is right
is what one can get away with or what is personally
satisfying.
• Stage 1: Punishment/obedience orientation -Behavior is
determined by consequences. The individual will obey in
order to avoid punishment.
•STAGE 2: INSTRUMENTAL PURPOSE ORIENTATION
•– Behavior is determined again by
consequences. The individual focuses on
receiving rewards or satisfying personal needs.
Level 2: Conventional Level
• Conformity to social rules remains important to the
individual. However, the emphasis shifts from self-
interests to relationships with other people and
social systems. The individual strives to support rules
that are set forth by others such as parents, peers,
and the government in order to win their approval or
to maintain social order.
• Stage 3: Good boy/Nice girl orientation – Behavior is
determined by social approval. The individual wants to
maintain or own the affection and approval of others by
being a “good person”.
• Stage 4: Law and order orientation: Social rules and laws
are determined behavior. The individual now takes into
consideration a larger perspective, that of societal laws.
Moral decision making becomes more than consideration of
close ties to others. The individual believes that rules and
laws maintain social order that is worth preserving.
LEVEL 3: POST-CONVENTIONAL OR PRINCIPLED LEVEL
• The individual moves beyond the perspective of his/her own
society. Morality is defined in terms of abstract principles and
values that apply to all situations and societies. The individual
attempts to take the perspective of all individuals.
• Stage 5: Social contract orientation – Individual rights determine
behavior. The individual views laws and rules as flexible tools for
improving human purposes. That is, given the right situation, there
are exceptions to rules. When laws are not consistent with
individual rights and the interests of the majority, it does not bring
about good for people and alternatives should be considered.
• Stage 6: Universal Ethical Principle orientation -
According to Kohlberg, this is the highest stage of
functioning. However, he claimed that some
individuals will never reach this level. At this stage,
the appropriate action is determined by one’s self-
chosen ethical principle of conscience. These
principles are abstract and universal in application.
This type of reasoning involves taking the perspective
of every person or group that could potentially be
affected by the decision.
Arguments against Kohlberg’s Theory
• How does this theory apply to males and females?
• Kohlberg (1969) felt the more males than females move
past stage four in their moral development.
• He went on to note that women seem to be deficient in
their moral reasoning abilities.
• These ideas were not well received by Carol Gilligan, a
research assistant of Kohlberg, who consequently
developed her own ideas of moral development.
• In her groundbreaking book, in a “Different Voice:
Psychological Theory and Women’s Development”,
Gilligan criticized her former mentor’s theory because
it was based only on upper class white men and boys.
• She argued that women are deficient in their moral
reasoning – she proposed that males and females
reason differently.
• Girls and women focus more on staying connected
and the importance of interpersonal relationships.
CHAPTER 4
THE ACT
 ‘Only human beings can be ethical’
Only human beings can be Ethical (lifted from the
book of De Guzman, (2017) -Ethics: Principles of
Ethical Behaviour in Modern Society)

Only human beings are rational,

autonomous, and self-conscious

Only human beings can act that can

be labeled morally or immorally
Only human beings are part of the moral
community
 Human Acts
vs.
Acts of Man
Human Act
An act that proceed from the deliberate free will of man

Acts of man
Acts that man performs inadvertently and without the
exercise of free choice.
 1. Knowledge
- has intellectual knowledge in doing the
act
- Awareness to the means and end of act
2. Freedom
Elements of - Acted under control of his will
Human Acts - no influence or constraint
- no force
3. Voluntariness
- presence of knowledge and freedom
Modifier Of Knowledge: Ignorance
Ignorance is the absence of knowledge that a person ought to
possess
Ignorance is either vincible or invincible. Vincible ignorance can
easily be reminded through ordinary diligence and reasonable efforts.
The ignorance of a visitor regarding a particular address in a certain
place is vincible, since he can easily ask for information from a
policeman or pedestrian.
Invincible ignorance is the type in which a person without being
aware of it, or having awareness of it, lacks the means to rectify it.
Ignorance regarding missing persons or objects is often invincible.
Thus, a cook might be unaware that the food he is cooking is
contaminated.
 1. Elicited Acts
- Acts which are started by
the will, performed by the will, and
completed by the will.
Human Acts in e.g. “I wish” , “I want” , “I like”
relation to the Will 2. Commanded Acts
- Acts which are begun in the
will, performed by the
will,completed by the will through
another medium which is under
the control of the will.
e.g. controlling emotions
Observable actions like running,
walking, lifting etc.
 Elements of Elicited Acts
I WANT TO BE AN ATTORNEY TO ENSURE THAT
JUSTICE WILL BE SERVED TO POOR INDIVIDUALS.

Wish Consent “decide

Intention
what means to
“desire” “attainability”
use”

Election “right Fruition

Use“ the will’s command
to pick from “satisfaction of
to make use of selected
variety of means”
attaining desired
end”
means”
 1. Internal Acts
- Actions by man by way of
internal mental powers under the
Types command of the will.
of
Commanded e.g. Act of remembering
Acts Imagination
Controlling anger
 Types of
2. External Acts Commanded Acts
- Acts that are
affected by bodily powers
of man under the
command of the will.
e.g. eating
jumping
singing
 3. Mixed Acts
Types - Acts that include the use of
body and mental powers
of
Commanded e.g. exam/quiz
Acts driving
debating/speaking
 Human Acts in Relation to Reason
1. Good Acts
- Actions “in harmony with the dictates of right reason”
e.g. Businesses paying the right amount of taxes
Appropriate use of authority of the law enforcers
2. Evil Acts
- Actions “contradiction to the dictates of right reason”
e.g. Selling expired products
Manipulated raid and arrest
 Voluntary Act (freewill)
Voluntariness is the act which
of proceeds from an intrinsic
principle with knowledge
Human Acts of the end.
 Philosophers nowadays tend to divide
ethical theories into three areas:
metaethics, normative ethics and
applied ethics.
• Meta-ethics deals with the nature of
moral judgement. It looks at the
Approaches origins and meaning of ethical
principles.
to ethics • Normative or Prescriptive ethics is
concerned with the content of moral
judgements and the criteria for what
is right or wrong.
• Descriptive or Applied ethics looks at
controversial topics like war, animal
rights and capital punishment
 There is no ethical theory that can
resolve every situation perfectly.
Moral dilemmas are inevitable.

Not every ethical Should you tell a lie to protect a

family member who has done
question has one something wrong? Lots of people
would say lying is always wrong.
right answer. But those same people probably
think we have special duties to
That's ok. take care of our families. Our
answer in a case like this depends
on how much we value certain
ideals - truth or family.
CHAPTER 4
THE ACT
 Lesson 1: REASON AND IMPARTIALITY
❑The ultimate basis for ethics is clear:
human behavior has consequences for
the welfare of others.
❑We are capable of acting toward others
in such a way as to increase or decrease
the quality of their lives.
REASON AND IMPARTIALITY
❑Reason and Impartiality are not absolute to any particular
group of people, while morality is absolute.
❑Whatever is considered wrong morally within a certain
group cannot be debated through reason. Morality decides
the outcomes first and then employs reason to justify it.
❑For impartiality, fairness is given more importance where
people are supposed to be treated equally before the law.
❑While morality may apply generally to a particular group of
people, the same cannot be said of reason and impartiality
because the two take a more individualized approach.
WHAT IS REASON?
• Reason is the capacity for consciously making sense of things,
establishing and verifying facts, applying logic, and changing or
justifying practices, institutions, and beliefs based on new or
existing information.
• Reason, is sometimes referred to as rationality.
• Reasoning is associated with thinking, cognition, and intellect.
• The philosophical field of logic studies ways in which humans
reason formally through argument.
IMPARTIALITY
• Also called evenhandedness or fair-
mindedness is a principle of justice
holding that decisions should 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 makes no discrimination
as to nationality, race, religious beliefs,
class or political opinions.
Consequences of the fundamental
principle of Impartiality
It establishes one of its key values: non-
discrimination, which is one of the most
important elements of all aspects of the
protection of the human being: human
rights law, humanitarian law, and
refugee law.
•Impartiality is one of the more commonly
recognized aspects of the role of the
Mediator.
•This does not mean that the mediator should
somehow become inhuman and not have a
feeling of bias towards one party or another,
but that/he or she practices in a way that
minimizes any manifestation of this bias.
•Impartiality serves a purpose in
supporting conflict resolution
whether we are a mediator or not,
•The mediator creates a channel for
communication and not an obstacle
to it and remaining impartial allows
for the channel to be as unimpeded
as possible.
Reasons and Impartiality
as Requirement of Ethics
• In the Euthyphro, Socrates expresses astonishment that a young
man would prosecute his own father for murder.
• The conventional assumption he seems to be making is that filial
relationships impose special constraints that may override other
considerations, even in the gravest matter.
• For Euthyphro, by contrast, a murder is a murder, the fact us was
committed by his father has no bearing upon what he is required
to do about it. He must prosecute his father just as he would a
stranger.
• This brief passage can serve as an emblem of a perplexing range of
problems that bedevil ethical theory.
 There are at least three distinct elements that run
through these problems, namely:
1. We grant the powerful and persistent force of self-interest in our
lives, and assume that morality must somehow give us reasons for
constraining such motives;
2. We grant that rules and principle of conduct will be useless or
counter-productive in purely local or short-range terms, and
assume that morality must give us reasons for acting in principle
in spite of it;
3. We grant that our favorites and friends have special claims on our
attention, and assume that morality must give us reasons for
occasionally denying such claims.
Morality, thus, requires that we should
not play favorites, or manipulate rules to our
personal advantage, or make ad hoc
exceptions for ourselves. In that sense it
requires us to be Impartial.
 What is Ethical Case Analysis?
Ethical case analysis is a common exercise for identifying and reasoning
about ethical challenges in complex situations.

It is a systematic approach in figuring out the right moral decision in a

particular situation.

Its principles also encourage you to form an accurate picture of the

situation and think through the effect of your decisions before you act.
 What are Ethical / Moral Dilemmas?
Ethical or Moral dilemmas are situations in which conflicts between two
choices are present.
A mother, who has the sole responsibility of feeding her children but is
unemployed, has the tendency to commit theft.

In other words, the moral agent is faced with the difficulty of making a moral
decision between stealing or letting her children go hungry which could even
lead to death.

Ethical or moral dilemmas are complicated challenges that cannot be easily

solved. Therefore, the ability to find the optimal solution in such situations
is critical to everyone.
 SCOTT RAE’S 7-STEP MORAL
REASONING MODEL
Seven Steps to Ethical Decision Making which is developed by Scott B. Rae and Kenman L. Wong.
“A Model for Moral Decision Making”. Chap. 16 in Beyond Integrity: A Judeo-Christian Approach to Business Ethics.
Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1996.
 SCOTT RAE’S 7-STEP MORAL REASONING MODEL

1. GATHER FACTS 2. DETERMINE THE ETHICAL ISSUES

In order to know the situation—either After having identified the facts and overall
it involves a moral dilemma or an context of the moral situation, the ethical
ethical issue—before dealing with it, issue/s involved in the situation must be clearly
we must ask basic questions to gather stated in order to specify what issue one has to
information. make a decision to. This section must likewise
clearly state the major moral dilemma involved
in the case.
 SCOTT RAE’S 7-STEP MORAL REASONING MODEL

3. IDENTIFY THE VIRTUES OR PRINCIPLES 4. LIST THE ALTERNATIVES

THAT HAVE A BEARING ON THE CASE

These suggested courses of actions must then

Universal principles such as right to life, to
be evaluated based on its applicability,
security, to privacy, among others are
sensibility, practicality before selecting one as
imperatives for the human being to live
well. Thus, identifying the surrounding the course of action or decision to be made
principles of a certain case is a must in regarding the moral situation.
ethical decision making.
 SCOTT RAE’S 7-STEP MORAL REASONING MODEL

5. COMPARE THE ALTERNATIVES WITH THE 6. CONSIDER THE

VIRTUES / PRINCIPLES CONSEQUENCES

If principles have not yielded a clear decision,

The initial list of suggested courses of consider the consequences of your alternatives.
actions must then be evaluated from the Take the alternatives and work out the positive and
vantage point of the identified ethical negative consequences of each.
values and principles.
SCOTT RAE’S 7-STEP MORAL REASONING MODEL

7. MAKE A DECISION (INCLUDING ONE’S JUSTIFICATION

FOR THE DECISION)
After having analyzed the moral dilemma situation
(from steps 1 thru 6), one must now make a decision
based on what has been previously discussed and must
clearly justify the decision that has been made.