Ethical Dilemmas Explained

• Morality of an action is based on the morality of the agent acting.
• An action can be moral or immoral depending on the decision of the person acting.
• A dilemma is when a situation produces both good and evil results, and inaction also produces an evil effect.

Understanding Dilemmas

• Dilemma originates from the Greek words "dis" (twice) and "lemma" (assumptions/premise).
• From a logical perspective, a dilemma is an argument with a major premise of two conditional hypothetical statements.
• The minor premise is a disjunction of the antecedent in the major premise, leading to a conclusion that is a disjunction of the consequent.
• The minor premise ensures any alternative chosen will be against the opponent.
• Studying dilemmas is important for its rhetorical implication, serving as a powerful tool for persuasion by forcing the opponent to choose between two unpleasant options.
• Ethically, dilemmas are experiences where an agent is confused about the right decision due to competing values.

Moral Agent and Dilemmas

• A moral agent's decisions in dilemmas reveal how they live their life.
• Wisdom is applying knowledge to situations, particularly dilemmas, distinguishing between moral standards.
• Moral standards involve matters that significantly impact human well-being, actions benefiting more people are considered morally good, while those causing greater pain are morally evil.
• The validity of moral standards relies on the justification of one's actions.
• An action is morally acceptable based on its goodness to others, not just majority acceptance.
• Moral standards should override self-interest, requiring a moral agent to discern right from wrong and be accountable for their actions.
• Accountability is influenced by moral formation and cultural beliefs, affecting decisions on practicality and morality.

Baby Theresa Case

• Theresa Ann Campo Pearson, "Baby Theresa," born in 1992, had anencephaly with missing brain parts but a functioning brain stem, allowing autonomic functions.
• Most cases are detected during pregnancy and aborted.
• Of those not aborted, half are stillborn and the remaining usually die within days.
• Parents made the unusual request to donate her organs, but Florida law prohibited removal until the donor is dead, causing deterioration before transplant.
• Ethicists opposed organ removal, citing principles against using people as means to others' ends.
• Moralists have differing opinions on whether parents' request was morally justifiable.
• Some Christians believe taking organs is akin to killing, contradicting "the end does not justify the means."
• Others find it uncharitable to prolong her suffering, supporting organ donation to save other babies.
• The principle of the greatest number, which states that an action is considered good if it is for the sake of upholding the happiness of the greatest number, can be applied.
• Selling organs could alleviate the family's financial burden.

Moral Decision-Making

• Determining which ethical views are morally sound is crucial, requiring a moral agent to have a good standard of morality.
• Moral decisions depend on culture and moral behavior.
• Norms and values of a person's community influence moral upbringing.
• Influences include family, community, religion, school, and social media.
• Filipino families teach "pagmamano" to seek elders' blessings, emphasizing respect.
• Pop culture and media also play a significant role, with Filipinos adapting moral perspectives from other cultures.
• Conflicting values and norms can arise from multiple sources.
• Some home behaviors may conflict with community or school expectations.
• Religious moralists ground morality in God's law, while others suggest it develops from natural selection.
• Morality is often based on whether an action is moral, right, good, or legal.

Cultural Relativism

• Cultural relativism asserts that ethical systems and cultural beliefs differ across cultures.
• All ethical systems are equal in validity and relevance, based on the idea that moral standards are a product of society.
• Protagoras of Abdera (490-420 BCE) was the Greek philosopher that founded this philosophical principle.
• Protagoras claimed that (I) man is the measure of all things, (2) he could make the worse argument appear better, and (3) one could not tell if the gods existed.
• Knowledge is limited to individual perceptions, with no standard for testing the correctness of perceptions.
• Moral judgments are relative, leading to laws and moral rules based on convention.
• Each society has its own laws, and no one can claim their laws are truer than others.

Ethical Relativism

• Protagoras did not advocate for individual moral decisions, but supported state laws that should be accepted by all.
• He believed in respecting customs, laws, and moral rules for a peaceful society, with the young educated to support tradition for stability.
• In ethical problems, moral judgments are relative, and laws/moral rules are based on convention.
• Ethical relativism is also known as moral relativism.
• Moral relativists argue for standards of right/wrong relative to a particular culture/society.
• The plurality of social groups with differing mores means no universal/absolute criteria exist for criticism.
• Insisting on absolute and objective ethical principles is considered ambitious.
• The example of Arctic Eskimos is used to understand ethical relativism.
• Wife-sharing and leaving old folk to die of starvation are morally acceptable to them but not to Filipinos.
• Some cultures deem abortion permissible, while others consider it immoral.
• Moral relativists claim that the correctness of an action depends on the society judging it, with no culture's moral beliefs being superior.
• Ethical relativism contradicts common beliefs, such as condemning Adolf Hitler's actions as immoral regardless of cultural perspective.
• It appears self-contradictory by insisting its theory should be accepted by everyone, undermining its claim of no absolute truth.

Filipino Morality

• In other words, they seem to say, therefore, that an ethical relativist must not accept the ethical relativists' own ethical belief.
• The opposite of ethical relativism is ethnocentrism.
• Ethnocentrism is the view that one particular ethnic group is somehow superior to all others.
• Ethnocentrism is the view that a particular ethnic group's system of beliefs and values is morally superior to all others
• Theocentrism is the view that God's system of beliefs and values is morally superior to all others.
• Followers of theocentrism believe that God's law is the absolute standard by which we are to judge everyone else's system of beliefs and values.
• Both theocentrism and ethnocentrism uphold the idea that there is an absolute value system.
• Both of them contradict cultural relativism because the latter denies a universal moral standard.
• However, theocentrism is God-centered, whereas ethnocentrism is man-centered.
• It is common for every people to consider their culture as the best culture and their moral beliefs as the highest moral considerations.
• Filipinos are not different and they believe that the Filipino culture is the best culture because it is centered on God and it upholds the dignity of the nation.
• Filipinos of today would consider the event during the Edsa Revolution on February 25, 1986, as a primary consideration for saying that the Filipino culture is superior.
• The Filipino’s way of ousting a dictator without bloodshed became truly remarkable and was considered by other nations as worthy of emulation.
• This event had shown the world that the Filipinos did not only oust a dictator but also demonstrated to the world the strength of the Filipinos as a people.
• However, after more than three decades, the Filipinos realized that most of their problems as a nation still remain.
• They also realized that ousting a dictator was actually an easy part. But what is difficult is the task of building a nation.
• Today, Filipinos are confronted with the lack of discipline and rigor.
• The Filipino populace would generally expect their leaders to take all responsibility for solving the many problems that are haunting the nation.
• For this reason, people are already having difficulty identifying the demarcation line between the "what is" and "what ought to be."

Filipino Morality According to Fr. Vitaliano Gorospe

• The problem in the morality of the Filipino is the consideration of what Filipinos consider right and wrong
• A conflict between what they say as Christians and what they do as Filipinos arose.
• To build a nation, there is a need for economic recovery and to re-establish democratic institutions
• It is also necessary to understand the goals of peace and genuine social justice.
• It is necessary to eliminate the people's weaknesses and develop instead their strengths by analysis, understanding, and appreciation of the said strengths and weaknesses.
• Every Filipino should be asking themselves: "what role have I played or am I playing in order to help rebuild my nation?"
• According to Edmund Burke (1729-1797), "the only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing."
• The problem with the Filipinos today is that they do not only condition themselves to NOT act against evil
• The Filipinos do not care about the problems in the society staring them in the face.
• The Filipinos were lauded for their convictions in fighting against corruption and standing firm on their moral beliefs became or are becoming identified as one of the most corrupt people in the world.
• Goodness for the theocentric Filipinos is about following the laws of God the Father, Yahweh, Allah, Brahma, or by Buddha.
• Goodness for atheists is related to the humanistic actions of the people.
• It is important to note that Philippines is home to both religious and non-religious people, as well as those who are in between.
• Taking action is important if we want to put a decisive end to evil and corruption.
• During these days, it is too difficult to find anyone with strong opinions and a well-thought reason as to who will be leading the people in order to put into action the necessary change.
• the people only choose a leader who will carry the burden of leadership alone on his shoulder.

Strengths of the Filipino Character

• A typical Filipino has a high regard for others also known as pakikipagkapwa-tao.
• Filipinos have a basic sense of justice and fairness and a strong sense of concern for others.
• They Filipinos consider the family as the source of Filipino identity.
• They also consider the family as the source of personal identity, the source of emotional and material support, as well as the source as to where commitment and responsibility are learned.
• Filipinos have also a different sense and perception of joy and humor.
• Filipinos are also said to be flexible, adaptable, and creative.
• A typical Filipino is also known for his hardworking and his industriousness.
• Even before the coming of the Spaniards, Filipinos are already considered as very religious.
• Filipinos were able to develop patience and they are capable of making use of whatever is available in the environment - resourcefulness.