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Description of Moral Dimension

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Morality, as defined in common language, is that aspect of life which has to do with the rightness or wrongness, the goodness or badness, of human action Most common manifestation = JUDGMENTS regarding the goodness or badness of certain acts

Constitutive Elements
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Essential elements which characterize and constitute moral experience of the moral dimension of our experience: 1. ACTION 2. FREEDOM

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3. JUDGMENT
4. UNIVERSALITY 5. OBLIGATION

ACTION
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Constant Tension between what is and what must be, between what he is now and what his being somehow must ultimately be, what his being ought to realize as its proper immanent telos Because of tension, man as moral being is Action Action is the moving of oneself and taking concrete means in view of the goal or end, which is not yet but somehow ought to be

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First and foremost, morality is ACTION, the doing and realizing of what man ought to be

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Man who is considered as morally good is not necessarily one who has expert knowledge about things, but One who expectedly acts with firmness and constancy accdg. to some kind of lived sense of humanity Lived sense of what man must be = practical wisdom

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Insofar as morality is essentially action, it requires man to

take the means and
to set into motion a course of events, starting from oneself and moving into the world,

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toward what ought to be, toward some future state of being,

which eventually includes both himself and the world

FREEDOM
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Morality therefore requires man to act. This means morality addresses man as a being who can truly act, who can truly be the cause, the origin and initiator of action, and in this sense, FREE

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Man has will and freedom

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In morality, freedom means basically freedom of action Freedom of choice of the means Freedom of choice of intermediate goals Freedom to follow or not mans necessary ultimate end, which whether he chooses it or not, remains his ultimate end

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Human acts vs. acts of man

Human acts = voluntary acts, knowingly and willingly done Acts of man = acts proceeding from man but due to lack of knowledge or consent and control, thus they are involuntary acts

ACTION AS GOOD OR BAD

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There is a different norm or standard corresponding to each of the judgments

Norm of pleasure and pain
Refers to mans physical wellbeing and inclination to physical/sensual satisfaction

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Norm of efficiency or practicality

Use of suitable means in view or previously chosen goals or objectives

Norm of social expediency

Relations with others, to the advantages or disadvantages to be obtained from our social relations

Moral good and bad

Something immanent in man himself

UNIVERSALITY
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Aspect of the moral dimension by which man experiences himself as answerable to an end and a norm common to all human beings To view things morally is to view things in the eyes of all humanity

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In moral experience, man invariably sees himself together with his fellow human beings as oriented to one common, universal norm

OBLIGATION
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The good does not only present itself as being good for all and universal It presents itself as universally binding and obligatory In moral experience, man experiences himself somehow necessarily bound and necessarily oriented to his final end, in view of which he ought to act Moral obligation = sense of being bound or required, beyond mere inclination or preference, to act in view of which he ought to act

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Obligation
means the state of being bound or required to do or not do something Some kind of ought or imperative

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Types:
Technical = suitable means to chosen goals
Social = smooth relations w/ others or group Legal = contract upon two parties Religious = relation to God Moral =

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Reference: Reyes, Ramon Castillo. Ground and Norm of Morality, Ethics for College Students, AdMU Press, 1989.

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