Learning Week 1: Norms of Morality

JETHRO A. ODOY, MAEd                                                                                     May 5, 2018

EdD-EM

Social and Moral Philosophy

Professor: Dr. Minerva Fabros

Learning of the Week No.1

Morality is a quality of a thing manifesting its conformity or non-conformity with its norms or criteria. Hence, I must say, in my opinion, morality is relative and it is influenced by culture, tradition and beliefs of a certain individual. For instance, giving tip to someone who offers service may be acceptable in the Philippines but in Japan it’s a big no, the same case with asking ice for your water in the restaurants in the Philippines is quite okay but never do that in the country like France. Yes, indeed it is relative and the culture that was bounded in it is undeniably indispensable. On the other hand, we may define morality as the way we judge certain thing whether acceptable or not, however, I have learned also that as we grow older and have developed so much our consciousness by learning some wisdoms, we tend to argue with the morality and tried to confront it as if we force ourselves to be the one as fit and correct. What I mean is, sometimes, out of self-denial, it is the emotion that works more and drives us away from sound judgement and we tend to forget that we are not actually doing what is morally right because we tend to present reasons favorable to our own sake and indeed it is the battle between self-pride as a product of knowledge and conscience. I have learned as well that, conscience is the soldier of guilt that will haunt you and reveals you some wisdom to take and teach you to do things right the next time, and I’m glad, my conscience is super active and must say I’m normal psychologically J. The question now, is there a perfect set of criteria to judge certain act or thing? Hmm, it boils down again to norm of morality which is for me relative.

            As an educator, the learnings are of great value because it allowed me to revisit basic ideas about the norms of morality. As a teacher and a leader in my classroom, norms of morality must be able to guide me in my decision making skills. Moreover, common sense directs that the dictates of reason should be enough to guide our evaluation of our actions. I am a teacher and a role model and hence, as much as possible, I need to model actions which are morally right and show fair judgment as your audience may emulate the way you are. Doing what I think is right is a rule to follow and ask the question “Is it morally correct?” should be a prelude question every time I do something in class and in school in general. Yes, it is always good to follow your heart but we must learn to never leave our brain out, both dimensions are indispensable and won’t work when one isn’t present. Moreover, the principle of “You are what you choose” must be adhered. It tells us simple lessons in life, if you choose to do the right things, you will expect good and beautiful harvest, but if otherwise, I’m sorry to tell you, Karma is always there waiting for you J. So, be careful what you choose.

            I have no comments or reactions about the content of the report, but it’s part of the paragraph, so I need to. Most of the class commented during the discussion proper about the immoral acts committed by the public officials and I must admit I have committed several of those. I know it was not as grievous as stealing or whatsoever, but at the end of the discussion, I was a bit enlightened and realized something big. Perhaps, being enrolled in this course is such a blessing, it serves as a reminder for me to work  with dignity and morally, because at the end, even if you struggles a lot but if you are doing things uprightly, a good promise and reward will surprise you in the days to  come.

            I need to be honest, I have no idea what to write here. I was asked to write some additional discoveries, insights and questions. Yesterday, because of this part demanding me to write, I spent the whole afternoon chasing my laptop and reading and I found it interesting because as I scrolled down my old mouse, I found something worth writing and reading, which are the different types of conscience and I bet you should know these or review at least if you have met them several times. Conscience is a proximate norm of morality and it has several types. First, an antecedent conscience, it is a though before you act certain thing; second, consequent conscience, it is the opposite of the antecedent; third, true conscience, it is a conscience that comes out when you considers natural and eternal laws which others considers a perfect conscience; fourth, erroneous conscience, it come out when you considers bad acts as good and good acts as bad; fifth, doubtful conscience, this is when a person is not certain about a moral judgement; sixth, scrupulous conscience, this exists when one sees wrong where there is none; and lastly, lax conscience, exists when one fails to see wrong when there is wrong.

            As a conclusion, studying norms of morality will decipher your inner consciousness as to how deep and wide you are in terms of your judgement to certain thing and being aware and mindful that in every deed, there, a consequence awaits.