morality

2. Etymology of Morality
Morality
❑ “moral qualities,” “moral instruction; morals, manner,
character,”
❑ directly from Latin moralis “proper behavior of a person
in society,” literally “pertaining to manners,” coined by
Cicero (“De Fato,” II.i) to translate Greek ethikos. Latin
mos (genitive moris) “one’s disposition,”

3. Etymology of Morality
Disposition
❑ “arrangement, order; mood, state of mind,”
❑ “arrange, order, control, regulate” from dis- “apart” + ponere
“to put, place“
❑ from Latin positionem “act or fact of placing, situation,
position, affirmation,”
❑ ponere “put, place,” from po-s(i)nere, from apo- “off, away”
+ sinere “to leave, let”

4. ▪ Morals are qualities of behavior. It can broadly refer
to our way of living, the manner, character, and
disposition of our lives.
▪ Morals are an arrangement and order that we
create through a state of being from our will to
control and regulate ourselves.

5. Through understanding and living
more morally, we are placed apart
from the unregulated and
uncontrolled automatic and
reactive subconscious,
unconscious, passions, desires,
whims and wants of the “carnal”,
“beastly”, lower basic animalistic
consciousness that focuses on it’s
own gains and enjoyment above
all.

6. ▪ Morality is to affirm ourselves into a position and
situation of higher order living in alignment with
the “higher will” of recognizing moral law and
choosing to live in accordance with that
understanding of a better way to live. Our will is
then to be more moral and live more morally.

7. ▪ Beings who can discern morals are of a higher
order consciousness, like humans. This sets us
apart from others who are not as capable of
harnessing this moral force of good to such a
degree of potential manifestation. This applies
not only to the general genus of human
animals compared to non human animals, but
also within our own species between each
other.

8. ▪ With this higher order consciousness potential,
comes higher order creative capacities as well.
Not only for art and construction of materials, but
also for creating good instead of evil.

9. ▪ This is the ultimate personal
responsibility we have, to truth,
and moral truth as the force of
good/”god”.
▪ Failure to understand reality,
others within it, and navigate it
with humility under truth and an
understanding of a “natural moral
law“, will result in the creation of
evil/”devil” (the opposer/adversary
against what is good that we
become) and devolution of our
way of life towards chaos is what
results.

10. • Five Approaches to Morality
o Morality as Law
o Morality as Inner Conviction
o Morality as Personal Growth
o Morality as Love
o Morality as Social Transformation

11. One of the questions I had to answer was what formed my morality. I really had to ponder
this question. I decided that my upbringing by two parents who lived a very loving, and
Christ like life, along with raising me in the Catholic Church, which means I went to church
weekly, went to a Catholic School, and prayed daily with my family, and alone, all
influenced my morality. The sacrament of Reconciliation also influenced my choices to do
right or wrong. As a child it probably influenced me out of fear of punishment to do the
right thing. But when I think back to moral dilemmas they were based more on the
example that was set by my parents. My parents were loving to one another, they were
kind, not sarcastic or negative. They gave to charities, they talked about God, prayer, and
lived a life that was authentically Christ like. I wanted to be like my parents.
Another huge influence on my morality was and still is my personal relationship with God. I
have known God since I was a little girl. I have talked, and walked with him daily my entire
life. I always knew if I choose wrong he would take me back. But I did not like to tempt that
idea by doing wrong. As a child I wanted to please him. As an adult I not only want to
please him I want to give others the love he has given me. To make morally bad choices
means that I will hurt people and I have no desire to hurt others.
I am so thankful that God chose my parents for me. I will be eternally grateful for being
raised in the Catholic Church and having the opportunity to know, serve, and love God
from a young age. I believe these are the elements that have formed my morality. What
do you think formed your morality?

12. Reflection Question
▪ What formed my morality?

13. • Five Approaches to Morality
o Morality as Law
▪ This view of emphasizes the external
▪ It’s not something that originates from us
▪ It’s something that is imposed on us
▪ People, such as our parents, our teachers, and priests are
sources of this view.
▪ We see our moral role in terms of duty or obedience.
▪ The words “reward” and “punishment” are very much a
part of this way of looking at morality.

14. o Morality as Inner Conviction
▪ It emphasizes the value of conscience
▪ The Church in the Modern World(Vat.II) teaches that deep
within our conscience, we discover a law that we have not laid
upon ourselves, but which we must obey.
▪ This is the inner law that has become part of our inner
convictions.
▪ Inner Peace versus Inner Disquiet
▪ The Inner Peace of a Good Conscience accompanies the
knowledge that we have been true to our principles.
▪ The Inner Disquiet of a Bad Conscience accompanies the
realization that we have failed ourselves by going against what
we know to be right.
▪ I feel guilty, my conscience is pained (nakukunsensya ako)

15. o Morality as Personal Growth
▪ This view is quite different from the first two approaches
that focuses on our behavior – what we do and what we
shun.
▪ This view shifts from the actions that we do, to us, who are
doing the action. We question what happens to us, as a result
of the action.
▪ The person can either grow or regress
▪ We the start to use the language of moral conversion that gives
access to the dynamics of challenge and change, or of what it
is like for us to try to change for the better.

16. o Morality as Love
▪ The other is as important as the I.

17. • Five Approaches to Morality
o Morality as Law
o Morality as Inner Conviction
o Morality as Personal Growth
o Morality as Love
o Morality as Social Transformation

18. The Five Approaches to Morality
Morality as Law
Duty, Obedience
Reward versus Punishment
Morality as Inner Conviction
Conscience, Integrity
Inner Peace versus Disquiet
Morality as Personal Growth
Value, Conversion
Wholeness versus Fragmentation
Morality as Love
Faithfulness, Response
Communion versus Isolation
Morality as Social Transformation
Justice, Solidarity
Social Peace versus Division

19. You are a very skilled doctor with five dying patients, each of whom
needs a different organ in order to live. Unfortunately, there are no
organs available to perform any of the transplants. It just so happens
that you have a sixth dying patient, suffering from a fatal illness, who will
die sooner than the other five if not treated. If this sixth patient dies, you
will be able to use his organs to save the five other patients. However,
you have a medicine you can give to this sixth patient that will cure his
illness and he won’t die.
Would you:
a: Wait for the patient to die and then harvest his organs or
b: Save the patient even though the other patients won’t get organs. If you chose to
administer the medicine, would you still do so even if the medicine will not cure the
patient, but, instead, delay his death to some short term future date or time after
the five patients will have died? Why?

20. Robin Hood Robber
Robin Hood You have witnessed a man rob a bank, but then, he did something
completely unusual and unexpected with the money. He donated it to an
orphanage that was poor, run-down and lacking in proper food, care, water and
amenities. The sum of money would be a great benefit to the orphanage, and the
children’s lives would turn from poor to prosperous.
Would you:
a: Call the police and report the robber, even though they would likely take the
money away from the orphanage, or
b: Do nothing and leave the robber and the orphans alone?
Friend’s Wedding
Your best friend is about to get married. The ceremony will be performed in one
hour, but you have seen, just before coming to the wedding, that your friend’s
fiancée has been having an affair. If your friend marries this woman, she is unlikely
to be faithful, but on the other hand, if you tell your friend about the affair, you will
ruin his wedding. Would you, or would you not, tell your friend of the affair?7

21. Plagiarized Report
Plagiarism999You are head of a student council at a high school, and are faced with a
difficult decision regarding a grade-twelve girl’s risky, last-resort choice. This girl is an
honor student. All through her academic years, she has obtained straight A’s, has many
friends and has never been disciplined by the principal. However, near the end of her
grade twelve year, she fell ill with the flu and fell way behind in her school work. She
missed three weeks of class, which resulted in her having to rush a report that would be
worth 40% of English, a required graduation subject in her curriculum. She was so
desperate about the report that she went online and passed off a report she found on
that subject as her own. Her English teacher caught her and has referred her to you. If
you enter on her academic record that she plagiarized, she will likely not be eligible to
be accepted into St. Steven’s University, a school she has dreamed of attending all
through high school and needs in order to fulfill her academic and future dreams.
What would you do?

22. Photo Shop
Darkroom Lawrence 38808S You are a developer at a photo outlet. There have been six
instances over the past several weeks in which the same parents have taken film to you for
developing. In those pictures you have processed, you have seen those parents with a little
boy, obviously their young son. In three of those six cases, the child appeared to be injured in
some way. One time, he had a bruise, one time he had a burn, one time he had multiple
bruises and a cast. The first time you saw him with some degree of injury, you just thought to
yourself, “Well, kids will be kids,” but, now that you have seen him this way three out of six times,
you are starting to grow concerned that these parents could be abusing their child. You know
the policy at your outlet is to “Report questionable photos”, but you fear that if you do so, the
police will take outrageous measures to try to “protect” this child. The parents could be totally
innocent after all, but a child protective agency may take the child without any thought. This
would leave the parents facing criminal charges, an expensive court case and possibly have to
keep fighting to win their child back, even if found not guilty. On the other hand, maybe the
parents are harming their son and to not intervene would mean he will have to endure more of
this cruel treatment, maybe indefinitely.
You consider asking his parents what the relationship is between them and their child, but for all
you know, they might just lie to protect themselves.
What would you do?

23. 5
Fountain of Youth
A man/woman (whichever is opposite your gender), is immortal, because (s)he and
his/her family have drank from a fountain of youth, not knowing what it was. You are
now in love with this person and have felt this way long enough that you know (s)he
to be your destiny. However, the only way you can stay together forever is if you drink
from the fountain of youth and become immortal, too. If you do this, however, your
family and everyone else you know will grow old and eventually die, and you will
never be reunited in heaven with them, or your loved ones that you have known, who
have already died. On the other hand, if you don’t drink from the fountain, you will
grow old and eventually die, and the person with whom you are in love will never see
you again, and be condemned to an eternity of loneliness and only memories of you.
What would you do?
(From Tuck Everlasting, by Natalie Babbitt)

24. Concentration Camp, Revised
Concentration Camp. You are an inmate in a concentration camp. A sadistic guard
is about to hang your son who tried to escape, and is telling you to pull the chair out
from under him. He says that if you don’t do so, the guard will kill not only your son
who tried to escape, but also your other son, who is another innocent inmate. You
have no doubt that he means what he says. What would you do?
Son and Granddaughter
There is a train that, much to your horror, is about to run over your grown up son, who
has been tied to its track. It just so happens that you have just enough time to flip a
switch that will send the train down a different track, saving your son. However, tied to
the other track, is your granddaughter, the daughter of the very son in danger of
being run over. Your son is begging and pleading with you not to flip the switch, not
to kill his daughter. What would you do?

25. Son’s Sacrifice
A very evil, uncontrollably murderous man tried to kill your son as a baby, but only
succeeded in killing your son’s aunt and uncle, who were babysitting him. Since the
murders, you fled into hiding, but now, you have discovered, in a prophecy, that when
he tried to kill your son, a piece of the murderer’s soul left him and went into your son. For
your son to defeat him, he must go forth and let the murderer kill him, destroying the
piece of the murderer’s soul within your son. Otherwise, his piece of soul, within your son,
will make the villain able to return if his body were destroyed. Your son has courageously
accepted his fate and decides that he must die in order for his friends and allies to bring
about the death of the villain and bring peace to the world, because it’s the only way.
As his mother or father, would you:
a: Hold him back, because you love him too much to let him go, and feel you need to
protect him as a parent, or
b: Accept his fate and choice just like he did and let him die. (Modified from Harry Potter
by Joanne Rowling)

26. Friendship
Two-Guys-Talking-In-Coffee shop. Jim has the responsibility of filling a position in
his firm. His friend Paul has applied and is qualified, but someone else seems
even more qualified. Jim wants to give the job to Paul, but he feels guilty,
believing that he ought to be impartial. That’s the essence of morality, he
initially tells himself. This belief is, however, rejected, as Jim resolves that
friendship has a moral importance that permits, and perhaps even requires,
partiality in some circumstances. So he gives the job to Paul. Was he right?